Speaking To The Origins Of The Water Action Community

After being involved for years in regional sustainability efforts and helping teach the Project Drawdown climate change courses, I became more and more concerned about Water and the lack of preparedness and system improvements in the Rogue Valley. Like many places in the country, we’ve rested on our laurels and of late falsely depended on “good luck” for historic average rainfall and snowpack. 

Over 30 years living in Southern Oregon, working and serving in many jobs and community efforts, I was increasingly surprised with the lack of attention to our most essential ingredient necessary for happy lives of all beings and the natural world – WATER: the universal solvent, the very essence of life on this planet.

How could it be that potable water is used for every purpose? – washing cars, watering golf courses, fighting fires, etc.? How could cities and counties ignore ways where treated water could be used for outdoor use? Why did tankers have to be driven from Phoenix and Talent to fill up in Ashland to fight the spreading Almeda Fire in 2020? How could land use be approved to build developments while so many buildings sat empty? How could some domestic and industrial water rates actually decrease the more water a customer uses? Why was corporate agriculture allowed huge water allotments at the expense of small family farms, wetlands and waterways? Why are our aquifers drying up? Why do landowners not growing crops have to flood their fields and wasting water in order not to lose their water rights and have their property values decrease? 

These and other questions, with an almost child-like curiosity and naivety, were what I wanted to find out. Like the kid in the classroom who asks the “stupid” question, I raised my hand and suggested to my fellow Southern Oregon Pachamama Alliance core team members that we host a Water Solutions Summit. It is such a blessing that the professionalism and determination of my team members and those individuals and agencies who responded to our initial Interest Survey stepped forward to make today’s first gathering of the Water Action Community a reality.

The subsequent observations of many who participated and shared their knowledge during the 6-session Water Summit illuminated how woefully unprepared for the future our region is. Our laws don’t reflect the rights of nature, nor give fair treatment to all who have a claim to fairness in water availability. Our water systems and infrastructure are antiquated, and tax dollars aren’t being earmarked for upgrades or new projects. 

The need to do more with less water, in regard to climate change, unmitigated growth and other factors like boosting local food product and best stewardship of all water is real. The complexity of issues and massive overlap of water management agencies has confounded the public in how water could be better managed and has obscured the potential for dangerous flooding even while most of us are frighteningly aware, yet have felt impotent to address, the ongoing and projected droughts in the West. 

And with climate changing it’s not just coastal areas at risk, but every valley can become a water-filled bowl with all the problems that follow. Our forests, the essential birthplace of our water sources, need much attention too.

The original Water Solutions Summit organizing team (Lorraine Cook, Cynthia Taylor, Lauren Oliver and myself) chose to study and educate ourselves and the public on the existing sources and systems before diving in to the solutions. Our approach from the beginning was to know about “What Is” then dream and envision “What Could Be.” We engaged in water metaphors and hosted water blessings, consulted with many indigenous leaders as well as those who’s charge it is to plan well and with earnest for the unpredictable future water scenarios in our region and throughout the State. We are grateful for all those who brought knowledge and courageous ideas to the six Water Summit Sessions. 

Valuable video footage about water and solutions and recorded presentations are available on our website. We believe we’ve laid a foundation for innovative community engagement in solving our water problems in proactive and creative ways and have amassed an incredible amount of experienced or earnest individuals and groups favorable to activating needed change through engaging and amplifying community voices.

Today we are proud and excited about our collaboration with Water League, whose outstanding leadership will guide us to successful and timely implementation of solutions. Our efforts today are the result a year of thought and planning for the Water Summit, followed by the impressive organizing of issues and solutions into four Cohorts that Chris Hall and his well-qualified Water League Board of Directors will be supporting beginning today and throughout 2023. Thank you for being here and continuing with us on this watery journey to envision and implement What Could Be – Equity for all water users and preservation of water well-being in Jackson and Josephine counties, deepening the public’s respect and gratitude for Water as a living being essential to all existence and challenging or collaborating with agencies and public entities for equity, quality, best uses and the very best outcomes.

The Shambhala Prophecy from “Coming Back to Life” by Johanna Macy

Coming to us across twelve centuries, the prophecy about the coming of the Shambhala warriors illustrates the challenges we face in the Great Turning and the strengths we can bring to it. Johanna learned in 1980 from Tibetan friends in India, who were coming to believe that this ancient prophecy referred to this very planet-time. She often recounts it in workshops, for the signs it foretold are recognizable now, signs of great danger.

These are varying interpretations of this prophecy, some portray the coming of the kingdom of shambhala as an internal event, a metaphor for one’s inner spiritual journey independent of the world around us. Others present it as an entirely external event that will unfold independent of what we may choose to do or what our participation may be in healing of our world, a third version of the prophecy was given to Johanna by her friend and teacher Choegyal Rimpoche of the Tashi Jung community in northern India.

“There comes a time when all life on Earth is in danger.  Great barbarian powers have risen. Although these powers spend their wealth in preparations to annihilate one another, they have much in common: weapons of unfathomable destructive power, and technologies that lay waste our world. In this era, when the future of sentient life hangs by the frailest of threads, the kingdom of Shambhala emerges.

You cannot go there, for it is not a place; it is not a geopolitical entity. It exists in the ears and minds of the Shambhala warriors – that is the term Choegyal used, “warriors” Nor can you recognize a Shamhbala warrior when you see her or him, for they wear no uniforms or insignia, and they carry no banners. They have no barricades on which to threaten the enemy, or behind which they can hide to rest or regroup. They do not even have any home turf. Always they must move on the terrain of the barbarians themselves.

Now the time comes when great courage – moral and physical courage – is required of the Shambhala warriors, for they must go into the very heart of the barbarian power, into the pits and pockets and citadels where the weapons are kept, to dismantle them. To dismantle weapons, in every sense of the word, they must go into the corridors of power where decisions are made.

The Shambhala warriors have the courage to do this because they know that these weapons are manomaya. They are “mind-made”. Made by the human mind, they can be unmade by the human mind. The Shambhala warriors know that the dangers threatening life on Earth are not visited upon us by any extraterrestrial power, satanic deities, or pre-ordained evil fate. They arise from our own decisions, our own lifestyles, and our own relationships.

So in this time, the Shambhala warriors go into training. When Choegyal said this Joanna asked “How do they train?” They train, he said, in the use of two weapons.  “What weapons?” And he held up his hands in the way lamas hold the ritual objects of dorje and bell in the lama dance.

The weapons are compassion and insight. Both are necessary he said.  You have to have compassion because it gives you the juice, the power, the passion to move. It means not to be afraid of the pain of the world. Then you can open to it, step forward, act.  But that weapon by itself is not enough. It can burn you out, so you need the other – you need insight into the radical interdependence of all phenomena. With the wisdom you know that it is not a battle between “good guys” and “bad guys”, because the line between good and evil runs through the landscape of every human heart.  With insight into our profound inter-relatedness – our deep ecology –you know that actions undertaken with pure intent have repercussions throughout the web of life, beyond what you can measure or discern. By itself, that insight may appear too cool, too conceptual, to sustain you and keep you moving, so you need the heat of compassion. Together these two can sustain us as agents of wholesome change. They are gifts for us to claim now in the healing of the world.

These two weapons of the Shambhala warrior represent two essential aspects of the Work that Reconnects. One is the recognition and experience of our pain for the world. The other is recognition and experience of our radical, empowering interconnectedness with all life.

The Work that Reconnects belongs to a much larger cycle of time than our fragmented attention spans, so it is very important to just keep on going. Listen to how Poet Rainer Marie Rilke puts it, in a poem in which he lets God speak:

“You, sent out beyond your recall, go to the limits of your longing, Embody me.
Flare up like flame and make big shadows I can move in.
Let everything happen to you: beauty and terror. Just keep going. No feeling is final. Don’t let yourself lose me.
Nearby is the country they call life. You will know it by its seriousness.  Give me your hand.”

From “Coming Back to Life” by Johanna Macy  page 60, 61, 62

https://upliftconnect.com/legend-shambhala-warriors/ 

Message from Mother Nature: Can You Hear Me Now?

Last Saturday was the 50th anniversary of Earth Day. In 1970 twenty million people took to the streets across the US to protest against rivers that were catching fire, cities choking on pollution, species going extinct. 10% of Americans participated and spurred seismic changes -with a few years the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, and the Endangered Species Act were signed into law.

The mass movement that forced progress in the ‘70s has continued to build.  In 2019 over seven million people around the world walked out of their schools, their jobs, and their everyday lives to call for social, environmental and economic justice. Earth Day 2020 was planned for thousands of gatherings worldwide but the current pandemic changed everything. 

For many people Earth Day has become equivalent to only going to church on Easter.  Every day going forward must be EARTH DAY. Our very survival depends on making the changes recommended by the “Voice of the Planet”.

Going from my old radio show “Mother Nature Says Clean Up your Room” to our present situation we see that Mother has effectively sent us all to our rooms where we can distance and contemplate what we can do differently.

Maybe it’s not right to think of the planet in anthropomorphic terms but I do believe the Earth is speaking to us now.  Coincidence that oil prices just dropped into negative territory? No – we have exploited the “100 Year Fuel Oil Party” long enough, and now must cut back and look for sustainable energy sources. We can be grateful for the infrastructure we’ve built and look for other means to maintain it.  Mother says “Oil? – you are done with it!”

The message from Mother Earth is found in the sound of birds now being heard with the lack of cars and planes drowning out their songs.  The skies are clearing and water is recovering, with fish seen swimming again in the canals of Venice.  Children’s voices, when they can come out to play, are louder and more sweet in the silence. People relax their anxiety with space to express themselves in more contented ways, like creating Victory Gardens and helping each other. Lions are sleeping on the untraveled roads and tarmac of Africa and bears, deer and other creatures are running wild once again in Yosemite.  Foxes on the Golden Gate Bridge and bees foraging everywhere undistressed by chemicals.

As difficult as the suffering brought on by Covid 19 is, it also brings an opportunity to hear and see more clearly the path forward to redeem our planet and our relationship with nature. Greenhouse gas emissions have already been cut substantially due to the lockdown and pictures of massive reduction of smog and air pollution over every major city in world are available. We can be made believers, not by rhetoric and pressure to embrace “science”, but by the empirical evidence that Mother Nature is showing and telling us.

The natural world brings us huge benefits – peace of mind, beauty, solace as well as clean water, soil and sustenance as designed.  Without so much interference and our assumed human ideas of “improvements” we can continue to live quite well, even with 7+ billion on the planet, if we make the required changes.

David Attenborough, a world renown writer and educator about the natural world was interviewed by Christina Amanpour on the news yesterday.  At 93, he’s seen the world change greatly in his lifetime. When he began his adult career 60% of the world was wilderness, now its only 25%. The world population was 2 billion then, 7+ billion now. He was asked if Covid 19 was caused by overpopulation and farming of animals and he responded “ Not necessarily – it is the density that makes plagues repeat – the transmission of disease moves very quickly when there are huge densities of population. Covid 19 is not nature having her revenge”. Yet it is a lesson in how we might avoid future pandemics and live more consciously.  Mr. Attenborough had three recommendations: 1) establish no fishing zones to allow oceans and rivers to repair themselves, 2) reduce land farming by half, and 3) phase out fossil fuels.  https://www.cnn.com/videos/world/2020/04/22/amanpour-david-attenborough-climate.cnn/video/playlists/amanpour/ 

Spring is a time of new growth and Mother Earth is asking us to please heed her messages. By staying home, working remotely and paying attention to those closest to us, we are learning that at least half our “busy-ness” is unnecessary and an expensive waste of time, energy and resources.  She is asking us to consider cutting back and making it imperative that we “stop and smell the roses”, that we listen with our hearts, not just our heads, hear and act on what is most important.

Whether we have the strength, resolve and intelligence to embrace this new pattern of reduced consumption and more realistic aspirations and goals is yet to be seen. Can we listen and learn from Mother Nature or do we return to “normal” (which is only a short diversion from the history of humans on this planet). Or will we continue to risk even more destruction to ourselves and all Earth beings?  Listen closely – it’s our choice.

Catie Faryl

April 23, 2020

The Great Re-set

What we have before us is the Biggest Time Out of our lifetimes! “The Great Reset” the coronavirus provides is an opportunity to look deeper into the systems that have gotten us into this mess.

I’ve often seen in my visioning for art and commentary that all communities across the country and the world are like links in a chain, which at some point in time might have to stand apart as single links in a 10 to 20 mile radius.  The ideas of re-localizing food supplies and finding ways to travel and provide necessary energy without furthering the financial advantage and power of corporations and the environmentally destructive nature of fossil fuels has been a goal of “sustainability” folks for decades.  However fascination with technology, addiction to luxury and convenience, the selling of an overly abundant lifestyle by corporations, media  and corrupt leadership have diverted attention, dismantled our safety nets and blocked the way to implementing common sense solutions.

Around 2014 I started substituting the word “sustainablity” with a better descriptor for our times – “Survivability”. Prior to that the grassroots community members in our region attempted in level-headed ways to draw attention to the County Disaster Preparedness manuals.  There is lots of info on what to do in fire, flood or earthquake events, but nothing about the ever-growing threats of our dependence on the grid to deliver energy, our dependence on fossil fuel to bring almost everything we need by truck, ship or plane, and nothing about how vulnerable we have become as the world gets smaller and more populated or how the global economy has eroded the stakeholder status of many people close to home.

It’s too bad that the paths diverged from solutions known to be sustainable into the controversy of climate change. Climate change and all the resulting arguments over the past 40 years has provided a foil, an excuse and a diversion from the path of solutions. It let us talk or not talk, while we ignored the mounting dangers. All the things we have in common stand out in bold relief during a pandemic.  With shock people wake up to the reality that we are very vulnerable due to our over-dependence on so many distant and now uncontrollable factors.

Toastmasters has been a learning experience for me to see my flaws and how over-focus on climate from the left has incited anger from the right.  Now coronavirus shows us just how much we are in this together and how we can open our eyes, hearts and minds to do what’s necessary and right for all of us. My friends who follow astrology say that this is the time when all things not sustainable and all things not aligned with divine presence will fall apart. Maybe that is always true . . . . what has worked for the past century and the beginning of this one was allowed only by grace and momentum and now we must find a better path forward.

I’ve been absent lately from Toastmasters; even prior to this “shutdown” my time was taken in creating a fundraiser to allow implementation of regenerative agriculture projects in our valley.  This is a path that has been made available by nature to solve many of our problems. 

Another path that is getting recognition is the tried and true message from the 1960s – “Live Simply So Others May Simply Live”. We see now how easy it can be to reduce consumption by 30% across the board. This and restoring our respect for the Rights of Nature can go a long way to solving problems.

By distancing I also see that a great deal of what is deemed “important” is unnecessary. I am witnessing how the current limitations on “doing” and “acquiring” are literally clearing the water and air. An interest in “being” is emerging with time to explore some deeper questions.  When this tailspin ends,  attention can be given to reclaiming our regional successes, inventing systems that support all citizens, and committing to local life-enhancing practices to avert future threats.  

To make good use of the Great Re-Set patience and compassion for ourselves, everyone here and across the planet is needed.  Just like the Zero Waste work we’re doing, we must temper the changes and realize we can’t go from 100 miles an hour to Zero in one minute.  Now that the brakes are on and as we slow down, let’s look for the best roads forward, and not at the past detours and disagreements that have landed us where we are today.

Catie Faryl

March 19, 2020

A View from 2050 and artwork from “Bridges to 2050”

Bridges to 2050

Catie Faryl’s art exhibit, “Bridges to 2050” departs from frustration and gloom by offering optimistic portrayals of common sense solutions and hopeful information on better outcomes for people, planet and all sentient beings. With thought-provoking pictures of where we are and new paths open to us, West Coast Artist Catie Faryl gives inspiration for social, economic, political and environmental justice and shares old and new solutions, technologies and ideas to rebalance our relationships to the land and all living creations. Her paintings and writings offer insight into some choices and decisions ahead and contemplate ways we can move in an upward spiral through better stories, community effort and systems both ancient and visionary, for a sustainable future.


EARTH BRIDGE:
Humans Be Still! Make room and care for all elements and sentient’ beings

Key Word Searches:
Albert Schweitzer (1875-1965) Famous for the idea of the Reverence of Life
Buckminster Fuller (1895-1983) neo-futuristic architect, systems theorist, author, designer, and inventor
Antonio (Saudi 1852-1926) Famous for his study of nature applied to architecture

Books:
Frankenstein’s Cat by Emily Anthes
The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History by Elizabeth Kolbert
The Ecology of Eden by Evan Eisenberg

Links:
IUCN Red List of Threatened Species
Center for Biological Diversity
World’s fragmented forests are deteriorating
American Museum of Natural History Extreme Extinction
Globalization— the Good, the Bad and the Ugly
The Extinction of Fruits and Vegetables in 80 Years
The Charter of the Forest
Amphibian Ark: Frightening Statistics
Collapsible woven refugee shelters powered by the sun
Human Population: How Does It Compare To Other Species?
The Most Ancient and Magnificent Tress From Around The World

AIR BRIDGE:
Diminish the gorilla of fossil fuel, expand the human heart

Key Word Search:
The Venus Project
Charles Einstein
Murmuration

Books:
Art as Medicine by Sharin McNiff
Lost Lore: A celebration of traditional wisdom by Editors of Chambers
The Human impact on the Natural Environment: Past, Present, and Future
Geo-Engineering Climate Change: Environmental Necessity or Pandora’s Box? by J.Michael Thompson

Links:
Climate change brings world closer to ‘doomsday’, say scientists
Beautiful Photos Of Tiny Humans Lost In The Majesty Of Nature
Pesticides Kill Us
Pachamama Alliance
Beyond Toxics
Scientists: Human activity has pushed Earth beyond 4 of 9 ‘planetary boundaries’
Clean Energy Breakthrough: Scientists Extract Hydrogen Gas From Plants
Historic thaw in Antarctica may have major effect on coastal cities

FIRE BRIDGE:
Carry the torch of new and ancient solutions

Key Word Searches:
Cellulose 3—D printing
Geothermal energy is renewable
Quantum and magnetic energy
the-powerhouse-inside-the-invention-of-a-battery-to-save-the-world
Tesla

Books:
A People’s History of America by Howard Zinn
The Great Work: Our Way into the Future by Thomas Berry
The Universe is a Green Dragon by Brian Swimme

Links:

Clean Energy Breakthrough: Scientists Extract Hydrogen Gas From Plants
Ancient Technology
Climate change brings world closer to ‘doomsday’, say scientists
Latest Science Inventions
Watch mini Eiffel Tower emerge from goo
New Energy Inventions News Articles
Solutions to the World Energy Crisis
LENR Cold Fusion
NASA Technology Gateway
Biofuel created by explosive technology
Wind turbine creates water from thin air
Drawdown
This machine makes drinking water from thin air
The 10 inventions of Nikola Tesla that changed the world
MSV Explorer amphibious vehicle promises perpetual motion
San Francisco area drivers 1st with algae biofuel


WATER BRIDGE:

Conserve and respect our Mother

Key Word Search:
Water Wise Project
Watershed Sentinel
Gyres

Books:
The Silent Spring by Rachel Carson
The Poison Spring: The Secret History of Pollution and the EPA by E.G. Vallianatos
Cadillac Desert: The American West and its Disappearing Water by Marc Reisner
The World Without Us by Alan Weisman

Links:
Restoration of Ancient Agricultural Technologies to the Negev
Ocean Life Threatened With Mass Extinction, New Study Says
Playground roundabouts are being used in South Africa to solve water supply problems in rural villages
Never Thought A Billboard Could Be Used This Way!
Fog Catchers Bring Water to Parched Villages


 

A Back-cast Vision by Catie Faryl

“HISTORY OF OUR ARDUOUS JOURNEY

& HOW WE ARRIVE SAFELY TO THE YEAR 2050″

2015 – Awareness increases in America and the world that “business as usual” will not be possible in the future

2017 – Recognition that Climate Change is real and that current National leadership is unwilling or unable to address it. The rise of local group, mayors and governors starts filling the void.

2018-2020 – Economic setbacks caused by multiple, massive floods, fires and other disasters continue. Cook stoves and all vehicles are converted to run on clean-burning alcohol fuels made from organic farm waste and materials (with systems like those developed by Blume Distillation in Watsonville,CA)

2021 – Congress with a new president find the BoomerCorp program, and are able to provide “Health Care for All” with a strong, forwarding thinking group of senior citizens who drastically reduce health care costs via prevention and intervention. Toxic products, plastics and other carcinogens are banned and removed from the environment.

2022 – Congress finds the C.E.T.A. Program, adding thousands of people to bring new ideas and innovate to governments and businesses and help their implementation, as climate consequences and other factors further aggravate the safety and livelihoods of citizens.

2025 – Fire and flood management are given top priority. GMO Trees are banned. Jobs are created to do the physical labor of thinning small trees and undergrowth in forests, as well as weed abatement and weed harvesting for biofuels which eliminated the use of toxic sprays.

2027 – Revamping of the entire waste management system via Creative Reuse Depots where “trash” is made profitable by a new work force of traveling, trained people who make it into energy, non toxic fertilizers, soil building products.

2028 – Fracking and export of domestic oil to foreign entities is made illegal. All domestic energy from fossil fuel and GMO are deemed usable only as “bridge energy sources” for new sustainable/renewable energy sources until 2030, becoming illegal for any use on January 1, 2030.

2031 – With the sunset date for fossil fuel extraction and use in sight, a total retrench of the packaging and delivery systems was begun. Sand from dredging to mitigate climate change storm surges is a source for glass factories to spring up on both coasts. Local food and local products are favored and those requiring long transport routes are scorned. It becomes socially unacceptable to buy from far away. The national trucking of goods decreases as local sourcing and public sentiment against long distance “imports” increased.

2031-2034 – New drought concerns and rising sea water force tax dollars be spent to revamp the entire water catchment, treatment and distribution systems. Water catchment, grey water, more reservoirs and elimination of water-wasting plumbing in every structure proceeds. Rivers, streams, lakes and sources are used more efficiently for outdoor uses.

2035-2050 –  American society, seeing the errors made in the last century become interested in values, ethics and education. Postal codes are used to determine what can be legally sold or consumed, so illicit and dangerous items of all kinds are greatly curtailed. The world is recovering from a scary period where our excesses compromised our common sense and our environment. People grow closer together realizing that there is real no other or better way to live than within our means. Reclaiming the commons, all that we share, respect and care for all sentient beings and our natural world is more fulfilling than the treadmill/cancer of endless and unsustainable “growth” — which is actually only resource exploitation, extraction and stealing from the future of the coming generations.

Catie Faryl

www.catiefaryl.net
November 2017, presented at the Bridges to 2050 and “A View from 2050″

The Upward Spiral

The Upward Spiral

The Upward Spiral is a 2011 collection of paintings and monotypes from activist artist Catie Faryl’s exhibition series, Digging Out From The Dirty Decade. Two poems accompany the paintings, “The Shaman’s Dream” and “What’s The Use Lullaby,” serving as the artist’s statement on the collection.

The Shaman’s Dream

A Shaman’s Dream is Waking Life since really there is no such creature as a Shaman’s Dream.
Terrestrials come equipped with a guarding wall, or a curtain at least
While between the worlds a Shaman travels light with only a veil which rent by starlight
Is open to all manner of visions and things.

The Shaman disliked the early morning hours except for the 3 AM holy one yet during infrequent
Air-swimming interludes, at sixes and sevens with cattle calls, he’d ride a wild horse in sleep canyons
And lasso stray goats of prediction to bring back to the tribe.

In the dream desert there were primitive glyphs and newish broken china – with
Delicate color shells like empty  sea homes that fleet teenage crabs had run away from.
Time moved unharnessed until noon and terrain was traversed where dingos had made
Self-deprecating statues to the humorless gods.

In distant hills tongues in trees wagged restless secrets of close encounters.
Nearby cacti tipped their blooms to the intruding gyrations of oil rigs
Pounding out their desperate demands for Earth to obey and relinquish her lubricants.

Small tremors foreshadow vacant times like teapots all tipped over and poured out.
What sprig of fresh promise can a Shaman Dove bring as the midday heat wilts what mortals can see?
Comfort is evening spreading her cape and sprinkling stars to rest our tired eyes.
Sleep deep, Good Shaman, then return to the tribe with advice to look skyward.

-Catie Faryl
December 2011

 

WHAT’S THE USE LULLABY

“What’s the use?”  Does the growing tree say it? Does the water care as it’s carried away yet?
“Use your head” my father said and so I try but find Heart is still my strongest guide.
And in my mind’s eye I see better times, though passing through some troubling blinds;
We thread a difficult needle to stitch up the crimes of those who have trespassed before us.

If everything happens for a reason, then on to the future – it is the season
To stand and assess what destruction has wrought – from rubble and scraps we can salvage a lot!
And when I look into my heart or the eyes of a child, it is chilling, this willing I feel to start.

I SAY “What is the Use” of unwanted freeways ? Those will be platforms for future skyrails!
Or else wide-open bike trails where hikers and horse carts step over snails.

What is the use of billions of cars – when gas runs out and elites move to Mars?
We’ll build sublime towers and shout praises to real stars!
What’s the use of gyres, those islands at sea?  They can be made into harbors to keep our ships free
From evil currents and pirates on climate change seas!

What’s the use of Freeway Rest stops?  Few visitors coming – no traffic, no cops!
No worries dear ones – make Re-Use depots with jobs that won’t stop.
In our forests an Ecology of Eden could be, with careful stewardship we can set ourselves free,
and make markets for farmers and homes for bees.

And what of the herds of white elephant factories?  What possible use can these old things be?
My guess is they’re empty so we can agree to grow food and botanicals when the heat disagrees.
We’ll be using these places to stay safe and free.

So all children, sweetest dreams you deserve.
Grown-ups awake! – rested and cured.
There is use for everything under the sun – though we’re reeling, we’re healing and having some fun.
Awake, you doubters in your dark TV caves; come out in the sunlight and join with the Brave.

-Catie Faryl
From The Upward Spiral 2011

Bridges to 2020 (video)

As a member of the Art Presence Art Center, I had the opportunity to show my collection of monotypes and paintings, Bridges to 2020, at the Medford Library. The show has been held over through the end of July 2015! Below is a video with my comments on the paintings. I’ll post an edited version soon but wanted to get this one out there for people to see. I hope you will find it inspiring, and will come to the Medford Library to see the collection in person before the end of the month!

Don’t Shop With G-Nome Presentation

This is the short version of a Powerpoint presentation I’m using in talks about the dangers of GMOs. You can view this presentation in fullscreen mode by mousing over it and clicking the “double arrow” icon at the bottom.

Art talk – 3/9 “Don’t Shop with G-Nome” 3 pm

Don't Shop with G-Nome, Monotype Print from the "Don't Shop with G-Nome" series by artist Catie Faryl, 2013.

Don’t Shop with G-Nome, Monotype Print from the “Don’t Shop with G-Nome” series by artist Catie Faryl, 2013.

Catie Faryl will be presenting her art and engage audiences in dialogue on the topic of genetically engineered seeds and foods on two dates in March. “Don’t Shop with the G-Nome: How and Why I avoid GMOs” is a painless way to learn more about this difficult and important topic. Using her artwork and writings to expose facets of concern, she has created an ironic and amusing journey from farm to market. She shares some ways to outsmart the “G-Nome” and how to reduce this shadow presence through shining, healing light and creative solutions.

“Don’t Shop with the G-Nome: How and Why I Avoid GMOs”

Art Presence Gallery, 206 Fifth Street, Jacksonville, Oregon

Sunday March 9th from 3 to 4 pm Art & Talk by Catie Faryl

for more information or to schedule a talk call 541 535-1854

Art work will be on display from March 7 through March 30
Fri Sat Sun 11 am to 5 pm
in a group show at Art Presence titled “Journey with Me”

*Art Talk will be repeated at Ashland Library on Monday, March 17th from 3 to 4 pm

Earth Bridge, watercolor / monotype print from the 2015 “Bridges to 2020” exhibition series by artist Catie Faryl.

2015 Bridges to 2020

Bridges to 2020 Artist’s Statement

Those who’ve followed my work since the late 1990s know I’m deeply involved, along with thousands of residents and dozens of organizations and groups, in addressing challenges on all fronts of social, economic and environmental stewardship and justice.

The challenges of our time are extreme and pressing, and will require an educated public to engage leaders in a re-thinking and re-working of existing assumptions, laws, and inequities that block solutions to climate change, drought, corporatocracy and the disenfranchisement of many Americans.

My Bridges to 2020 offer optimistic portrayals of common sense solutions and hopeful information on better outcomes for people, planet and all sentient beings.  I hope my art and writing will inspire you to explore ancient and visionary ideas and that you too will engage in actions to rebalance our human relationships with resources, environment, politics, our region, our world and ourselves.

Join me in contemplating ways we can move in an upward spiral via re-examining existing beliefs and assumptions and exploring ways to replace the laws, practices, traditions, apathy and misunderstandings that encumber the solutions and changes necessary for the very best possible future. there are resources beneath the gallery below with research suggestions and resources. I have also included “Oregon’s Bridges to 2020,” a list of suggested areas of focus that was presented with my exhibition in 2015.

Purchase of originals and prints can be arranged; contact me at catiefaryl@hotmail.com

~ Catie Faryl

Bridges to 2020 book list compiled by Artist Catie Faryl , April 2015

  • Frankenstein’s Cat by Emily Anthes
  • The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History by Elizabeth Kolbert
  • The Ecology of Eden by Evan Eisenberg
  • Art as Medicine  by Shaun McNiff
  • A People’s History of America by Howard Zinn,
  • “The Great Work: Our Way into the Future”   by Brian Swimme
  • The Universe is a Green Dragon  by Thomas Berry
  • The World Without Us   by Alan Weisman
  • Altered Genes, Twisted Truth, Steven Druker
  • The Human Impact on the Natural Environment: Past, Present, and Future Paperback – June 10, 2013
  • Geo-Engineering Climate Change: Environmental Necessity or Pandora’s Box? Hardcover – January 18, 2010 J. Michael T. Thompson
  • Ark of the Broken Covenant: Protecting the World’s Biodiversity Hotspots (Issues in Comparative Public Law) Hardcover – February 28, 2003  by John Charles Kunich
  • Ishmael by Daniel Quinn
  • Listening to the Land by Derrick Jensen
  • Poison Spring: The Secret History of Pollution and the EPA Paperback – March 3, 2015
    by E.G. Vallianatos
  • Silent Spring, Paperback – Unabridged, October 22, 2002 by Rachel Carson
  • The Resurgence of the Real: Body, Nature and Place in a Hypermodern World, Paperback – March 1, 1999 by Charlene Spretnak
  • This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. The Climate, Hardcover – September 16, 2014
    by Naomi Klein
  • Lost Lore: A celebration of traditional wisdom Hardcover – November 7, 2009
    by Editors of Chambers
  • What’s Mine Is Yours: The Rise of Collaborative Consumption. Rachel Botsman, Roo Rogers Paperback – February 1, 2011 by Rachel Botsman

EARTH BRIDGE:  Humans Be Still! Make room and care for all
elements and sentient beings

Earth Bridge, watercolor / monotype print from the 2015 “Bridges to 2020” exhibition series by artist Catie Faryl.
Earth Bridge

Key Word Searches:

  • Albert Schweitzer (1875-1965) Famous for the idea of the Reverence of Life
  • Buckminster Fuller (1895-1983)  neo-futuristic architect, systems theorist, author, designer, and inventor.
  • Antonio Gaudi  (1852-1926)  Famous for his study of nature applied to architecture

Books:

  • Frankenstein’s Cat by Emily Anthes
  • The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History by Elizabeth Kolbert
  • The Ecology of Eden by Evan Eisenberg

Links:

AIR BRIDGE: Diminish the gorilla of fossil fuel, expand the human heart

Air Bridge, watercolor / monotype print from the 2015 “Bridges to 2020” exhibition series by artist Catie Faryl.
Air Bridge

Key Word Search:

  • The Venus Project
  • Charles Einstein
  • Murmuration

Books:

  • Art as Medicine by Shaun McNiff
  • Lost Lore: A celebration of traditional wisdom by Editors of Chambers
  • The Human Impact on the Natural Environment: Past, Present, and Future
  • Geo-Engineering Climate Change: Environmental Necessity or Pandora’s Box?  J.Michael Thompson

Links:

FIRE BRIDGE: Carry the torch of new and ancient solutions

Fire Bridge, watercolor / monotype print from the 2015 “Bridges to 2020” exhibition series by artist Catie Faryl.
Fire Bridge

Key Word Searches:

  • Cellulose 3-D printing
  • Geothermal energy is renewable
  • Quantum and magnetic energy
  • the-powerhouse-inside-the-invention-of-a-battery-to-save-the-world
  • Tesla

Books:

  • Howard Zinn, “A People’s History of America”
  • Thomas Berry,  “The Great Work: Our Way into the Future”
  • Brian Swimme, “ The Universe is a Green Dragon”

Links:

WATER BRIDGE: Conserve and respect our Mother

Water Bridge, watercolor / monotype print from the 2015 “Bridges to 2020” exhibition series by artist Catie Faryl.
Water Bridge

Key Word Search:

  • Water Wise Project
  • Watershed Sentinel
  • Gyres

Books:

  • The Silent Spring by Rachel Carson
  • The Poison Spring: The Secret History of Pollution and the EPA by E.G. Vallianatos
  • Cadillac  Desert: The American West and its Disappearing Water by Marc Reisner
  • The World Without Us   by Alan Weisman

Links:

OREGON’S BRIDGES TO 2020

INSTITUTE INCENTIVE PROGRAMS FOR CONSERVATION OF ENERGY IN EVERY SECTOR.  REWARD LESS UTILITY USE BY MAKING CITIZENS AND BUSINESSES PARTNERS IN REDUCTION OF POWER AND WATER SOURCES.  Most people recycle – we fill the green bins, and that green material is sold to BioMass, to the profit of the garbage companies. Likewise the red bins’ contents are sold and profit the garbage companies.  It is time to allow citizens to participate in this profitable exchange by incentivizing them.  A rewards points system could be developed that gives recyclers a discount on their garbage collection bill. Incentivize people with a low water rate as a reward for the lowest users. Charge the excessive users/abusers a costly amount.

SEEK INVESTORS AND FIND STATE MONEY TO DEVELOP NEW TECHNOLOGIES AND BRING FORWARD NEW INVENTIONS.  STOP REPRESSING NEW AND CLEAN TECHNOLOGIES IN FAVOR OF OLD FOSSIL FUEL SYSTEMS.

USE GAS TAX FOR FUNDING MODERN TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS: Amend the Oregon State constitution and budget to include a portion of the State Gas Tax to build alternative public transportation and new transportation energy technologies and system.

WORK WITH ODOT so that abandoned systems rest stops along I-5 can be utilized as Demonstration Centers for Landfill Diversion and new technologies that use fiber (cleared from State roads and railroad properties) for cellulose building and new energy. A HUGE JOBS PROGRAM COULD BE CREATED BASED ON CLEANING UP THE ENVIRONMENT AND DEVELOPING BETTER WAYS OF HANDLING WASTE such as soil building and energy/fuel generation.

STOP SPRAYING of City, County, State and Federal lands AND CREATE A WEED ABATEMENT PROGRAM TO PROVIDE MATERIALS FOR NEW BUSINESSES USING CELLOLOSE PRINTERS AND NON FOOD BIO FUELS.

DEMAND THAT RAILROADS CONCEDE RIGHT OF WAYS for passenger trains, and stop “hogging” the lines for freight only.

BRING BACK MANUFACTURING JOBS TO OREGON THAT ARE BASED ON LAND AND FOREST STEWARDSHIP.

REMOVE FEDERAL SUBSIDIES FOR GMO FARMING. INCREASE SUPPORT FOR LOCAL FAMILY FARMS

CLEAN WATER:  Clean up the waterways and air through an education campaign about storm drains, unnecessary garden chemicals, and other pollution sources. Innovate new water catchment and remove laws that encumber home gray water and catchment systems.

USE WATER APPROPRIATELY: In rural and agriculture regions rebuild the irrigation districts and improve water catchment, allow gray water systems for homes and businesses, build  cisterns and repair natural riparian systems in order to establish reliable water supplies where outdoor water is used for outdoor purposes.  This would take a great deal of pressure off potable water expense and make more sense to use potable water for drinking, cooking and bathing and outdoor water for irrigation, landscaping, car washing, etc.

Evaluate the riparian waterways and the T.I.D. and M.I.D. systems to see how water catchment, creation of water cisterns, restoration of creeks and streams can provide more conservation and better coordination of how potable and outdoor water can be used for most savings and conserving water. Avoid immediate removal of dams which are providing hydro-power and study more closely the disruptive impacts to environment and communities.

EXPAND JOBS IN FOREST STEWARDSHIP and make new jobs to clear the fallen fire-fuel and small trees before we experience a major forest fire.

WORK WITH THE GREEN GRANGES, and other farm groups to transition all Oregon farms to non GMO, non-chemical, sustainable farming practices.  BAN ALL GMOS IN OREGON TO PROTECT OUR LEGACY AS A SEED SANCTUARY AND A HAVEN FOR ORGANIC GROWERS TO LIVE AND GROW FOOD FOR AMERICA.

DESIGN ALL PUBLIC SPACES, SCHOOLS AND GOVERNMENTAL INSTITUTIONS WITH FOOD FORESTS AND FOOD-PRODUCING GARDENS AND WATER CATCHMENT FEATURES.  SUPPORT HOME AND BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT OF SAME.

STATE OFFER FREE NUTRITION CLASSES to educate people and wean them off refined white sugar, canola oil, GM corn and soy, snacks and processed foods that contribute to rise in diabetes, heart attack and cancers.

LOWER THE USE OF ALCOHOL, DRUGS, pharmaceuticals, smoking, anti-depressants, and illegal drug use through counseling and a jobs program that pays the unemployed or poverty-line retirees for doing prevention, care and community work with those in need.

ENCOURAGE THE MEDIA TO RAISE STANDARDS of movies, TV programming and limit the death, violence, gratuitous sex and carnage, encourage spiritual leaders and trendsetters to raise the bar, restore common sense, human scope and kindness and moral compass to what is produced and shown.

SUPPORT INDEPENDENT MEDIA AND INCREASE VOTER BASE BY CREATING JOBS AND STAKEHOLDER STATUS FOR ALL RESIDENTS.

MAINTAIN A STRONG PUBLIC SCHOOL AND LIBRARY SYSTEM.  MAINTAIN POST OFFICES AND PUBLIC SERVICE NECESSITIES.

RECLAIM RESPECT AND PROPER TREATMENT OF PEOPLE AND THE ENVIRONMENT – Golden Rule as main law, and reduce the patrolling and imprisonment of people through giving them work and positive and attainable goals and rewards. RESTORE RESPECT FOR RIGHTS OF NATURE.

SEND NO SOLDIERS FROM OREGON TO WARS.

REDUCE PACKAGING OF ALL KINDS. Mount a public relations campaign to give people the thought to COMPROMISE BY USING MORE GENERIC PRODUCTS, LESS CHOICES AND LESS GLAMOUR/STATUS IN EXCHANGE FOR FEWER AND BETTER CHOICES.

-Catie Faryl, updated in May 2015 for Bridges to 2020 Art Exhibit at Medford, Oregon Library thru 7/7/15