Back in the late summer of 2016, three of my closest friends and I canoed the Yukon’s Snake and Peel Rivers, coursing our way from the vast alpine meadows and soaring summits of the Mackenzie Mountains, down onto the storied Peel Plateau past the Arctic circle. A three-week journey over 500kms, through one of the most remote and undisturbed watersheds in North America – an area over twice the size of Vancouver Island, without a single year-round inhabitant.
It is home instead to Caribou, Grizzly, Moose and Porcupine; Wolverine, Wolf, Lynx and Fox. A land that is as it has been, for hundreds of millennia, unsullied by our hand. A month’s hike or more from the nearest gravel road, it is a place where the long low arc of the Arctic summer sun sets slow and brilliant. Where the aurora light up the night sky in emerald and crimson as the caribou migrate by the thousands in their thunderous chorus of vitality. It is as wondrous a wilderness there is.
And it is under threat. To feed our ever growing appetites for fossil fuels and ore, burdened as we are by old habits we can’t kick. What’s more, the same Yukon government that commissioned the very study that strongly concluded the Peel Watershed much too culturally and ecologically significant to allow for such extractive industries is now vying for just that. It has turned into a much-publicized clash, between the short-sighted interests of industry and government, with those of the Tetlit Gwich’in and Na-Cho Nyuk Dun First Nations, the original stewards of this pristine land. Now after many years of legal battles and countless appeals, the case finally went to the Supreme Court of Canada just this past March, and a verdict is expected by the end of 2017.
Much more than a river or a part of the Boreal forest is at stake here: with this place comes the possibility of improving ourselves as individuals and a society. To know that such a place still exists, where the waters run undammed and untouched for a thousand kilometres and more, where the wolves have played with their howls in the fading twilight under a million passing moons, where we are but transient guests and the more-than-human world rests in all its superlative grandeur – this is enough to know that the wild world is worth more than we can fathom. And with its potential loss, we risk tearing away that much more from our hearts. We risk our ability to look ourselves in the face and not wince. We risk our sanity – spiritual and physical. For what can be said of a culture that knowingly poisons the well it draws its water from? That sells each and every one of us the myth of the Independent Self? And towards this end, pursues profit at the cost of all other things? We can say that that culture is doomed.
When moving with the river for three weeks, by the rhythms of the sun and stars, one has nothing but time to ruminate on the big and small things. The comic tragedy inherent in so much. Our incredibly inspired yet inept species. And the fate of so much resting in the palms of our fumbling hands. Never have we been so out of balance with the world, and never have we been more capable of remedying that. The tension resides within each of us, and it is palpable: we know deep down that something is awfully awry with our species. There is a pervasive sickness inherent in our collective detachment, disillusionment and disrespect; a crisis of attitude and identity that have led us astray. And if one thing remained certain throughout our journey on the Snake, it was this: that true wilderness is essential to human health. It is our oldest most eloquent teacher. It is where we learned of ourselves, where we gathered our stories and strength. Where we learned fortitude, patience, resilience. Family, community, society. We must reclaim its teachings and spread the ancient word. Without wilderness, we are all truly and totally lost.
Tayu Hayward is a fine-art landscape photographer and budding filmmaker based in Vancouver, B.C. His abiding love of the outdoors, instilled at a young age exploring the natural wonders of British Columbia, has driven his passion and life’s central focus: capturing and celebrating the wild beauty of this most precious planet. For Earth’s entirety is under our hammer, and try we must to change course from our rapacious ways. We are ultimately lost without the teachings of Mother Earth, without communion and reverence for the wilds that bore us – it is our birthright, our most essential story. And Natives though we may be, we are long estranged from Nature’s narrative. So it is his abiding hope that through his work, he can help give voice to this bewilderingly beautiful Home we must do so much more to listen to.
So I invite you to watch my first attempt at making a full-length film, and I hope you might be intrigued to find out more for yourself on the peoples and places of the Peel. A great resource and place to start would be the Protect the Peel website
ECO Solutions with Sara Troy and her guests Yevgen Erik and Mariana Mykhailyshyna, ON AIR FROM JUNE 20TH
Yevgen Erik
CEO & Founder
Top decision maker @ SolarGaps. Master’s degree in Computer Science, expertise in project management and real estate development. e@solargaps.com
Mariana Mykhailyshyna
CMO
Responsible for marketing strategy. Master’s degree in Science & Technology Studies, expertise in marketing, outreach, sales and customer relations. m@solargaps.com
SolarGaps. The obvious solution for those who can’t (renters) or don’t want to install expensive rooftop solar panels.
SolarGaps is a home automation product that combines solar panels and blinds. It allows home or business owners to generate their own electricity and reduce their energy bills.
SolarGaps integrates with Google Home and Echo (for voice control), plus other devices like the Nest thermostat which are an essential part of your smart home.
SolarGaps are the world’s first solar smart blinds that use solar energy to generate electricity for your home or office. Unlike other smart blinds on the market, which generate only a small amount of electricity to power the control, SolarGaps produces enough electricity to power your devices, thus lowering your energy bill by up to 70%.
Once installed over a window – inside or outside your home – the smart blinds with built-in solar panels can instantly generate up to 100-150 W or 100-150 Wh in an hour per 10 sq. ft. (? 1 m2) of a window, which is enough to power 30 LED light bulbs or three MacBooks.
Energy surplus can either be stored in a battery for later use or sold to your electricity company as green energy – for a higher price – although to do this a two-way meter has to be installed by the utility.
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ECO Solutions with Sara Troy and her guest Christina Hill, on air from May 9th
WHAT DOES BEING VEGAN MEAN FOR OUR ECOSYSTEM?
It has long been understood by indigenous peoples that our relationship to Mother Earth is spiritually as well as physically sustaining. For indigenous peoples, this is often included in their way of life, and expressed through their daily rituals, even in the way they eat.
In Western culture, we may sense this spiritual nourishment once we depart from the material world and spend some time in the natural world just outside our door… we can feel Mother Earth’s beauty, peace, and we can find refuge in her no matter if it’s at the base of a waterfall or by following the flutter of a butterfly as it passes by. This spiritual nourishment is a quality of life rarely valued by our solely economic images of progress. And yet we are sustained and supported in ways we cannot easily measure with exacting science. In the words ofSatish Kumar: “The contemporary environmental movement, in the main, follows the path of empirical science, rational thinking, data collection and external action. This is good as far as it goes but it doesn’t go far enough. We need to include care of the soul as a part of the care of the planet.”
The vegan lifestyle is one such way of both caring for our soul and our blessed Mother Earth, and its’ health benefits are far reaching. Simply put, when you are consuming only high vibrational foods (plant foods that have felt the sun’s rays and have come from Mother Earth with little to no processing in between harvesting and entering your body) then you yourself are sustaining the planet’s vibration as well as your own. All life on Earth comes from the sun. When the sun touches a plant on Earth, it creates a specific vibration. That vibration is what we then eat. The human body consumes this energy (the food is just the physical form which houses that energy). Food related to death or killing is in a lower vibration. Humans don’t need to eat these foods, we need to go back to where we were, in harmony with Earth and where the energy we consumed was not coming from dead animals. By eliminating the consumption of meats/dairy/fish/eggs (or any animal by-product) you are coming back to your own natural human form. Your human form constitution is energy and water, first and foremost. Think about all the plants that offer you their light energy and water! When you choose to consume only those types of foods, you become more like your Mother Earth. Other humans will sense this and they too will want to do the same. As we continue to transform, Mother Earth will heal and replenish herself, providing ample bounty for all human life to eat in a vegan way!
Christina Hill, CHt, is a Washington state certified hypnotist, spiritual life coach, and a renowned psychic channeler. She is a certified Acutonics practitioner and a Reiki Master. A gentle, loving leader and facilitator for change, she partners with her Spirit Guide, Athella, to bring healing and divine guidance to clients around the globe.
Spanning well over two decades is a self-taught, self-evolved psychic and open channeler who has also surmounted immense life challenges and triumphed through life school, despite overwhelming circumstances including poverty, addiction, disease, abuse, and adversity. Christina’s coaching and teachings through Athella have led many thousands of people to spiritual enlightenment and the realization that “enlightenment” is here and now, stemming from one’s own inner resources!
Christina embodies the essence of living a present moment life and endeavours to shine that light on others in her private coaching practice. A vibrant presence and a naturally gifted empath, she draws from both her extensive hypnosis work and energy healing modalities, to offer a sacred space where clients can experience release… returning to truth, balance, and wholeness.
ECO Solutions with Sara Troy and her guestLetrece Harris, on air May 2nd
WHOLEROLL Saving money, saving time, saving the environment
San Francisco, CA April 10, 2017 – WHOLEROLL Inc., an e-commerce subscription tech startup with a global mission to help end deforestation and combat climate change with their sustainable bathroom tissue, is offering a timely solution for the consumer. For those needing to restock their bathrooms with a sustainable brand of bathroom tissue, or wanting to plant a tree for Arbor Day or Earth Day to decrease their carbon footprint: WHOLEROLL is their product.
“The average consumer has no idea that 98% of the bathroom tissue on retail shelves is made from the virgin pulp of full grown trees that manufacturers chop down. You have to ask does it really make sense to destroy forests to make disposable products? Climate change is one of the greatest challenges of our time and trees are the number one sequestration of carbon out of the air, so why would we cut them down.” says WHOLEROLL founder Letrece Harris.
WHOLEROLL is launching a global Indiegogo campaign on April 11 hoping potential backers will see the impact that can be made globally if more people would transition to a more sustainable bathroom tissue roll. Anyone can be a part of the campaign to support the project.
Each roll is made with 100% high-quality fibre pre and post-consumer paper and whitened with non-bleach materials. Each WHOLEROLL box will include a unique reusable bag to help offset the use of plastic bags, and a tree will be planted for each box purchased, through their One Box One Tree commitment that’s fulfilled through their partnership with the Arbor Day Foundation.
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“There are 3.5 billion people in the world that use toilet paper. Only 10% use a sustainable brand. We’re going to change that.” says WHOLEROLL founder Letrece Harris.
WHOLEROLL is launching its direct-to-consumer ecommerce business focused on subscriptions in the fall of 2017, to provide the convenience of home delivery and savings which were reported as key issues when the company surveyed people around the globe during product development.
About WHOLEROLL Inc.
Founded in 2015 and based in San Francisco, California, WHOLEROLL Inc. is an ecommerce subscription tech startup and UN Business Hub Project that supports the Sustainable Development Goals. RECYCLE10 is the vision of the company to transition 10% of the global population from using bathroom tissue made from virgin pulp and to begin using their sustainable solution. Founder, Letrece Harris who is a social entrepreneur with a degree in Toxicology/Environmental Science and who is also an Al Gore Climate Reality leader, leads the team.
Letrece Harris is a social entrepreneur and the found of an ecommerce subscription startup and social enterprise called WHOLEROLL that is set to officially launch September of 2017. WHOLEROLL is a sustainable brand of bathroom tissue that she has created with the purpose to help transition 10% of the global population from using bathroom tissue made from virgin pulp and to begin using this sustainable solution brand.
In 2016 she was selected to be a part of Al Gore’s Climate Reality Leadership Corp where she was trained and equipped on many aspects of the climate crisis. She is certified to make presentations on the climate crisis and encourages and educates the community on climate change through the company’s blogwww.wholerollaroundtheglobe.com. Her mission through the blog, is to promote sustainable living, sustainable solutions and provide simple green habits that anyone can incorporate into their lives in order to help address the global crisis of climate change.
Letrece Harris is also the patent pending holder of a sustainable product she calls WHOLEROLL that combines both the toilet paper spindle and toilet paper roll in one.(the whole roll) This product was created to provide convenience for the user in changing out the roll and to help reduce toilet paper usage by providing resistance in the spin.
She is currently working on her first publication about sustainability called “Startup Thinking Green” to be released in 2018 with hopes to inspire others to take on that one simple green habit and stay committed to it.
Letrece Harris is a graduate of the University of Louisiana Monroe where she earned a Bachelors of Science degree in Toxicology and Environmental Science. She is married to former NFL Veteran Jackie Harris and they have 3 adult sons.
ECO Solutions with Sara Troy and her guest Rennie Davis, on air from April 18th
A New Way of Living
The New Humanityis a treasure for today’s emerging movement and Protest Nation. Delivering inspiration and know-how for building a movement, Chicago 7 legend Rennie Davis, one of America’s most experienced movement leaders, brings you a roadmap for how to change the world today. Buy book here.
Our civilization is global and growing but our oceans are dying.Ecosystemm collapse is accelerating. Some scientists claim we passed the point of no return on climate change some time ago. Others believe we still have time. What we know for sure is that our global economic model based on endless growth and consumption has made real solutions to an unsustainable civilization seem distant and remote. The Colorado Sustainable Showcase is a new option to an unsustainable world–a new-living system that can support any farm, community, government or nation seeking solutions to the long historical disconnect between people and nature. A unique breakthrough technology is integral to our design. With the turn of the last century, five breakthrough technologies—structural steel, the Otis elevator, line electricity, the telephone and the light bulb— redefined the modern world. We define a breakthrough technology as a discovery that changes the daily life and basic understanding of most people in the world should it reach mainstream commercial markets. Our mission is to bring technologies new to the world out of obscurity and into an evolution of living. The Colorado Showcase is guided by a multi-disciplinary team of experienced professionals who share a common objective. Any big idea must be practical. A new way of living has to work in regions struggling to cope. A new economic model must stand up to scientific scrutiny. Since a virtually free, zero-emission portable power system has eluded every previous generation, can we achieve what others could not? Can a new world option to modern agriculture.
The Colorado Showcase is guided by a multi-disciplinary team of experienced professionals who share a common objective. Any big idea must be practical. A new way of living has to work in regions struggling to cope. A new economic model must stand up to scientific scrutiny. Since a virtually free, zero-emission portable power system has eluded every previous generation, can we achieve what others could not? Can a new world option to modern agriculture’s ploughing, chemicals and single-crop planting be based on the intelligence of nature and still feed the population. Can any town, village or community live and thrive without employing a single unsustainable practice? To answer these questions, every system and technology introduced into our new living design will be evaluated by rigorous standards and principles. Following your review of this presentation, we will welcome your suggestions and support. –Rennie Davis and Kirsten Liegmann Our vision is a new way of living that can support any farm, community, government or nation seeking solutions to the long historical disconnect between people and nature. 3 Colorado Sustainable Showcase A unique property in the Boulder Longmont region of Colorado is available. The location is a stunning natural wonder consisting of four adjoining parcels totalling 163 acres. Facing the Rocky Mountains to the West, the property is located in a highly desired area. Demonstrating a new way of living rooted in the intelligence of nature, our vision is to showcase and deliver a practical option to any region struggling to cope and yearning to live and thrive sustainably. The Colorado Showcase is a new option to an unsustainable world.
Colorado Sustainable Showcase. A unique property in the Boulder Longmont region of Colorado is available. The location is a stunning natural wonder consisting of four adjoining parcels tong 163 acres. Facing the Rocky Mountains to the West, the property is located in a highly desired area. Demonstrating a new way of living rooted in the intelligence of nature, our vision is to showcase and deliver a practical option to any region struggling to cope and yearning to live and thrive sustainably. The Colorado Showcase is a new option to an unsustainable world. Its new living solution employs a unique know-how for disconnecting from every unsustainable practice without hardship and struggle. One of its cornerstones is a portfolio of breakthrough discoveries integrated into whole system solutions. Three of the four parcels are approved for development. Our development plan includes a visitor centre circled by eco-huts providing comfort and weather protection for multi-seasonal use by hikers, cross-country skiers and eco-tour visitors. All our esthetic, energy-efficient living quarters employ unique power systems including thermoelectric generation, magnetic motor electricity or off-the-grid energy sources new to the world. The Colorado Showcase employs building technologies that draw warmth from the sun and coolness from the ground to deliver low-cost heat in the winter and virtually free air conditioning year round in a natural wilderness area. Our showcase is a 3rd-millennium vision that can have immediate practical relevance to struggling regions to cope. 4 Design: Our inventions will be integrated into building structures currently on the property where they can be experienced by visitors. New technologies woven into existing structures will include a 19,000 square foot Ranch home described herein. iPOWER Living LLC is a Colorado company that will bring the working prototypes of our breakthrough discoveries into commercially ready products. Our technologies significantly lower the human footprint while enhancing the efficiency of any home or business. Our technology toolbox presents solutions and new approaches to home building, road construction, structure heating and cooling, off-the-grid power, self-sufficient food production, soil regeneration, water purification, water structuring, and other discoveries, many of them new to the world. IPower Living is a technology incubator supporting the technology component of the Colorado Showcase. The Foundation for Humanity is a non-profit Colorado organization supporting the educational and world training component of the Colorado showcase.
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