LoraKim Joyner's Blog, page 9

Child Protection Services for Parrots

(originally published July l6, 2016 about the La Moskitia, Honduras project 2016))We are only beginning to learn about the bond between parrots. I have seen myself parrots become depressed (decreased activity and not eating) after the death of a mate. When one parent has been killed or taken by a poacher, I have a sense of what this means for the surviving mate. There is also a strong relationship between parents and offspring, and it begins in the egg. One recent study showed that some bird chicks in the egg learn their parent’s specificindividual call, and that later in development, some parrot chicks, Parents perched nearbySometimes when we climb nests to examine the nest status and health of the chick, the parents sit quietly nearby. Other times they circle the nest a few times, calling, and then leave the area. Sometimes pairs circle 20 or more times, calling, swoop close to the climber up in the tree, and if they leave the area, soon return to call and watch over us. Though I have not seen evidence that our presence permanently harms the macaw family, there is stress and uncomfortable feelings for the parents.Scarlet macaw chick (1-2 days old) and egg she just hatched fromOne scarlet macaw pair this year in our study area near the village of Mabita, Honduras, showed surprising interest in a cavity late in the reproductive season. When we went to climb the tree the female ducked into the cavity and did not come out even though we were talking directly below the nest. We immediately left the area because experience has told us that if a nest is disturbed in early incubation there is a greater chance the nest will be abandoned. She did not abandon the nest nor when we climbed it a few weeks later when there were eggs, and then again when the chick was only 1 day old. Today the chick is a healthy and huge, due to fledge in early September. This is the latest fledging date we have of any scarlet macaw at this point in La Moskitia, Honduras.Two pairs of adults circling a nest we are climbingPerhaps this even extends to other adults in the area. This year, a nest with a chick was protected by a pair other than the parents, who circled several times calling. Then to our surprise, a nearby pair joined the parents to circle the tree we were climbing. The extra pair soon left but the parents remained perched nearby. I imagine that the parents are torn between self preservation and care for their chicks (as probably are most parents), and our presence elicits many emotions and decisions that must be made.The chicks too warn us off. We can hear the chicks vocalizing with each other if there are two, and sometimes even one chick will be chatting in the nest as we approach. Once the climber gets up the tree a ways, the soft murmurings turn into loud squawks, which can continue until the chick realizes that no harm will come to them. These cries often bring in the parents if they are nearby, and our research team is bombarded by macaw warning calls.Chick ready to fledge at nearly 3 months of age, but waiting for parents to escort her awayOur climbers have never been attacked, but in one study area, the macaw parents attacked a forest falcon who was carrying off one of their chicks. There is risk for the parents to attack a predator and to defend their nest when predators are present, such as we humans. Parents also protect their chicks after they leave the nest, for months. Sometimes when the chicks fledge, they do so unsuccessfully and fall to the ground. Parents too will perch nearby and guard their chick. If we find a chick on the ground, we put the chick back into the nest cavity where there is greater protection and the chick can try again. The parents accept this manipulation on our part. If the chick falls a second time, we bring him to the rescue center because the risk of predation is great with a bird on the ground, such as the case of this chick in #55 where it was found under the nest tree, with blood and a pile of lost wing feathers around her. We don’t know the story here, whether the chick or parent fended off a predator, but the chick survived and is now in our rescue center where she will soon fly free. Chick on ground after some predator attack (picture taken by cell phone, then picture of phone taken, then team climbed a hill to get a phone signal from Nicaragua, and then sent it on Facebook)Even when chicks are not present, I have heard the calls of parents circling a tree where a chick has recently been poached. The calls to my ear take on a different tone and pitch; what I would describe as plaintive.All of this experience informs me that one does not manipulate wild parrots without due cause and not without some heartache on the conservationist’s part. Hunting and poaching of parrots breaks up family bonds that is stressful to the birds for their emotional and mental state, and also usually has dire physical and health consequences for the chicks what unwillingly become part of the illegal wildlife trade. The parrots are evolutionary tuned to protect their chicks and eggs for nearly 4 months in the nest, and then for many months after the chick leaves the nest. This is a huge investment of time, suggesting that the bond is strong to keep parents attentive to their maturing chicks.School presentation with a parent and chick puppet to help children understand the biology, ecology, and conservationWhen I give presentations or work with school and community groups, I speak about these bonds, and how some parrot parents “name” their chicks. I also share how some parrot species have the intelligence of a 3-5 year old human child (in some cognitive function tests). I then ask, would you want your child or sibling taken from you and placed into a cage for the rest of his life, with no family, no diversion, unable to run, with inadequate food and healthcare, often with injuries sustained during the kidnapping? The answer I hear is always no, as it should be for all children of earth’s family.Please be part of our parrot child protection services and say no to poaching, no to being part of the illegal wildlife trade, and no to disengagement.How can you do so?Keep reading here about the lives of parrots and people and how they work together to protect our families of many different kinds of species. Then share these stories, and if possible, your time and financial resources, so that as these stories are spread there is a greater chance for parrot wings to spread and fly free. As this is the time of nesting and fledging in most of our projects in Central America, we find our projects busy and expanding to meet the needs of the parrots and teams on the ground. Would you please consider donating today during our April Chick Fund Raiser?

Parrots on Organizational Boards

Listening to what the parrots say (Dr. Joyner with Tezla Gonzalez in Mabita, Honduras)Many boards have members that parrot (mimic) what others say, perhaps timid to put forth their own opinion that might clash with the ideas of others. Here at One Earth Conservation we have true parrots on our board who do not imitate anyone. They speak for themselves, as long as we never forget to ask, “What does the parrot say?”To ensure that we don’t get swept away with human "exemptionalism" and exceptionalism, we have 3 parrots on our board. Why is that?If we only have one bird on the Board, then they would not have allies, remaining a marginalized and often silenced demographic. It is common practice to not “tokenize” or “patronize” minorities by placing them on a board until a board has done their anti-oppression work, candidates have allies on the board in solidarity with them, or they have an ally from their same demographic. We also have three for varied representation, including one whose demographic is from a Neotropical lineage of parrots (wild and rescued Central America scarlet macaw Rosa - Ara macao cyanoptera) and since she has died, her positions invites us to think of all endangered or extinct wildlife. Rosa's inclusion invites us humans to openly mourn and share our grief work together. The other two come from the Afro-Asian lineage of parrots ( homed Myer’s Parrot Pluto - Poicephalus meyeri - whose ancestors are from Africa, and homed cockatiel Dusty - Nymphicus hollandicus - whose ancestors are from Australia).Okay, that answers the question of why three, but why any at all?Having parrots on our Board helps us in a ritual and symbolic fashion, serving as a Council of All Beings. We seek more than empowering the voices of despair and worth in other beings; we aim to act upon what they specifically tell us in relation to our work. Boards are charged with having connection and linkage to their constituents, which in the case of One Earth Conservation, includes parrots. By having them present in our hearts and minds when we make decisions, we hopefully cannot stray too far from hearing their voices and remembering their needs. Boards are also charged with being accountable, especially to marginalized groups that may not serve on a board. Our current Board is mostly made up of white people from the USA, and one person from Honduras. Our partners in Latin America are diverse, and as we work in collaboration with them, we have to be accountable to them as we work on projects. To further increase our accountability we have begun a Conservation Council that helps us link to the lived reality of people from this region. Regions are represented by native Latin Americans who work on our projects, to whom we look for honest feedback and guidance, and for whom we muster all the transparency that we can. This same process needs to happen with other species as well. We deliver our “product” of supporting life and need to know how we are doing, and what we could do differently. By having parrots on the Board we hear their voice, their needs, and their skilled and embodied opinion “on being parrot.”So how does a different species interact with a human legal entity? It is true that New York State, in which we are incorporated, does not specify what species a board member be, and we assume that “competency” guidelines would not admit that a parrot might contribute anything more than a great ape might. So instead we are enacting our own policy that asks with every new project, vote, or in depth discussion, “What would the parrots say?” The parrots cannot speak for all of life, so we also ask, “What would our partners say? What would the people of the world say? What would life say?”And in all these cases there is no rote or easy answer. For each time we ask this, we hear about the needs, feelings, sufferings, and lives of other beings. If we are to truly serve life in our nonprofit organization, we must listen to life, and connect to life, which is a messy and painful affair.You might wonder how a parrot can communicate with us, especially one that is dead, such as Rosa. If a human is speaking for a parrot, aren’t we susceptible to our own ego protections and perceptions? Well of course! However we have mechanisms that ask us to maximize our empathy and bring to awareness that we are also the other.First we study as much as we can know of a parrot’s life – their behavior, feelings, needs, motivations, physiology, health, and conservation status. When we ask “What would the parrot say” we reflect most directly on their welfare status as affirmed by the “Five Domains.” If we were a parrot, what would our needs be, and what might their subjective experience be? It is far from perfect, but I believe that it gets us closer to those we serve, and also, connects us strongly with life. When we ask, “What does the parrot say,” there is a shift in the room (virtual or otherwise), a lightening of the heart, an alignment of our values, and a deeper connection to life.We have parrots on our Board because we hope that it is good for them, and we know it is good for us. A native North American parrot, the Carolina Parakeet, now extinct for over 100 years. Might they still be here if we had listened to them?

Parrot Conservationist Works for Peace and Helps Heal the Past

In 2017, LoraKim wrote a memoir about her life and work in Latin America, which was published by One Earth Conservation. The book, Conservation in Time of War, is a compelling autobiography that focuses on how, over more than 30 years, the beauty and power of the people and parrots there draw her to be in solidarity with them and to witness and share their struggle. Sustained by a deep understanding that everything is connected in beauty, she offers healing and hope to the parrots and people of Latin America, and to a world where climate change, terrorism, political polarization, and loss of biodiversity threaten us all.On April 7, 2018, LoraKim will be leading a live discussion about Conservation in Time of War in Manhasset, NY. If you live in the NY metropolitan area, you are very welcome to come to hear her speak, first hand, of her willingness to protect this beautiful earth against daunting odds. You will learn how failure has given way to success and how parrot conservation is flourishing, despite war and violence. You’ll also learn how you, too, can participate in this work to save the planet’s most threatened bird species.The book discussion will be followed by a travelogue of a recent trip undertaken by LoraKim and Gail to Nicaragua’s Ometepe Island to conduct parrot conservation activities there helping threatened yellow-naped amazon parrots. For more information, see the event listing on One Earth Conservation's Nurture Nature page by clicking here.Juvenile yellow-naped amazon

Climate and Connecting

Climate March in Washington, DC 2017 A couple of weeks ago I blogged about how wildlife conservation work connects people on many levels. This week I’d like to explore how work related to the climate crisis is similar to conservation work.I have been a climate activist for many years now and trained with Al Gore’s Climate Reality Project to become a Climate Leader in 2013. Like conservation, this is work that can bring much anxiety and despair as we watch other human beings destroy what is important, precious and vital to our survival, either through purposeful actions, indifference or benign neglect. There is also a great overlap between wildlife conservation/biodiversity loss and the climate crisis. To some extent, one may “feed” off of the other when, for example, melting polar ice leads to the disappearance of wildlife that depends on that ecosystem. Or when the loss of a predator species leads to the increase of a pest species that then exacerbates climate change by damaging plants that absorb carbon dioxide. And so on and so on…All, however, is not gloom and doom. There is little that is more inspiring than marching with hundreds of thousands of people who all know that action must be taken as soon as possible to halt and reverse climate change as much as possible. Or than attending a climate organizing meeting that is standing room only. I have recently become more involved as a climate activist on the local level and have met a number of amazing people who restore my faith in humanity – perhaps not all of humanity, but enough to keep me going. The combined creativity, wisdom and energy of climate and other environmental activists has already achieved much and I’m hopeful will achieve much, much more – even, perhaps, the impossible.Science March in NYC 2017 Climate activists care deeply about the future of humankind, other species and the environment upon which we all depend. As with wildlife conservation, there is much hope and meaning that comes from the work we do and as we support each other and celebrate our successes, however large or small. And, perhaps unlike wildlife conservation, climate activism can be done by anyone, anywhere and at any time. Below are links to some climate groups from which you can learn more about how you, too, can become involved. Humanity needs all the help and inspiration it can get.350.orgCitizens Climate LobbyClimate Reality ProjectGreenFaithNY RenewsPeople’s Climate MovementThe Climate Mobilization

Understanding Intersectionality for the Freedom of All

(First delivered as a sermon on Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday weekend 2018 at the Community Unitarian Universalist Community at White Plains, NY. Be sure to check out the "What You Can Do" section at the end of this blog.)I was born into a racist culture and family – specifically in Atlanta, Georgia. We moved to Northern Virginia in 1968, only a few months before Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. My parents enrolled me in Louise Archer Elementary School, an all African American school founded in a black neighborhood mostly fenced off from white suburbs. I started only a few months after the school had been desegregated and I was in the first batch of white children to attend. I found myself making friends quickly, including Thea, who I invited home so that we could practice a school play. She lived nearby, but on the other side of a fence, which we climbed to get to my house. My mother came home from work and saw us playing in the living room and told me to ask Thea to leave. As soon as she left my mother slapped my face and said, "Don’t you ever bring another _______ into this house again!" My family has a lot of work to do and so do I to combat that training of seeing more worth in some than others and undoing the fear that I would be loved less if I thought any differently. Though my example is more extreme than many, none of us totally escape this enculturation.My family is not just my biologic nuclear family, but it is my cultural family anchored here in the USA. I didn't know how that family had trained me into a dominating colonizing culture until I started to work in Latin America, consulting with the Puerto Rican Parrot Recovery project. Once a million of these birds lived on the island (pre-colonization), but by 1973, only 14 remained The indigenous people in Puerto Rico were long gone due to European colonization, and the parrot nearly went extinct due to the large deforestation of the island after the USA invasion and colonization in 1898. The USA collapsed the Puerto Rican economy and planted sugar cane all over the island. Due to extreme efforts, the parrot numbers somewhat rebounded. But the recent hurricanes this late summer, Irma and Maria, devastated the people and the parrots there, who were vulnerable due to past and ongoing extraction economies and institutionalized racist and speciesist business, taxation, and aid practices. My human, USA family has a lot of work to do, and so do I, because I benefited from such practices and continue to do so at the cost of the many. None of us escapes the work to stop such extraction and domination economies that marginalize and colonize others. I have responded to the work my human family and I have to do by taking up the call to Unitarian Universalist (UU) ministry. My sense of family grew to incorporate Unitarian Universalism. While preparing for the ministry I learned the long, hard, and painful history of how Unitarian Universalists had made many mistakes regarding how people of color were treated in our movement, as evidenced by the book, "Black Pioneers in a White Denomination," multiple painful episodes since, and ongoing ones as illusrated in this book.My UU family has a lot of work to do. I know this because I am at the forefront of a UU movement to understand how what harms animals, also harms humans. We ask how extending our sense of the inherent worth and dignity to individuals of all species helps humans too. This work brings up the pain and loss of how deficient UUs have been with people, as well as other species. This is uncomfortable, painful, and stressful, and it seems that none of us can say or do the right thing. Sound like fun (not!)? It is hard, but there is a tang of freedom in the air. Even if you aren't UU, join usas various possible denominational change, votes, and study groups are coming in the future. My family is doing the work, and we need to do more, for we have not won freedom for all yet Our work for freedom means addressing intersectionality. Intersectionality means that oppression is experienced differently based on our various identities. Women experience oppression differently than men, and blacks different from whites, and hence black women experience oppression from being both black and female. The corollary is also true - we benefit from a system that oppressed others based on our identities and locations of privilege. I am white human North American from the lower middle class -this gives me privileges that others have, and oppressions that others don’t have. Intersectionality also means that there are core oppressions that intersect all identities. Some call this core oppression patriarchy, which isn't really about men, so relax guys. It is a culture based on seeing different others as less than, which is tied to dominance, power over, white supremacy, and inequality, all of which catch each of us in a sticky web of harm and benefit. What does the work of intersectionality look like? First off, it is not shame or blame or pointing fingers at who oppresses more or is oppressed more. We all are enculturated to be oppressors and oppressed. We are not to blame, but we are responsible. All of us. The world has lived with 500 years of modernity and colonization to hide the reality that we are inextricably tied to one another and all life, in beauty, tragedy, and death. "Wishing for life at any price continuously calls forth death - the death of other people, other beings, the extinguishing of languages, ideas cultures, and worst of all, possibilities and degrees of freedom" (Andrea Weber). We all are trapped. Our work for freedom is undoing core oppression for our co-liberation. For this liberation we must learn to "live without fear and to die courageously." This is a death of individualism so that all are centered. In the circle of life, the suffering of another is also ours. In the countries I work in Latin America there is constant evidence of the devastation of colonialism and USA foreign policy. The people I work with, descendants of disappeared indigenous cultures and slaves, (and the dearth of wildlife) do not let me forget it. But I am so alive there for it takes everything I’ve got to show up and be vulnerable. What began as a wound ends in a caressing touch. I’m undone and then made whole. The work for freedom means we center the marginalized voices. Our individualism dies every time we allow another to speak. And we are born again. We must center what we marginalize within ourselves. Miki Kashton, a leader in Nonviolent Communication, told me a few weeks ago to not believe a thing you grew up thinking or doing, for it was all based on core oppressions. We need to lay aside the armor that doesn't protect us, but fetters us. Let us lay that burden down. We must center ourselves in history, ecology, and biology. We must look at past societal practices and how we have been harmed and benefited. Thank goodness for our neuroplastic brains, which are ready to believe that "power over" is the only way to meet our needs, but can also learn that cooperation and co-liberation brings flourishing to many lives. We must accept that we will die and no level of control will stop that. We must embrace reality - to accept all that is now and also, paradoxically, do everything in our power to change it. We are so powerful in freedom's return embrace. (photo by Dagmar Ollman)We need resilience because we tread a fragile path of feeling shame, separation, and oppression, but there is joy lurking in that journey. We can take a beginning step by sharing our social location when we meet with others, without shame or blame, being honest about our privilege and oppression. We confess. Here is an example. "My name is LoraKim Joyner. I identify as a white, human, heterosexual, female of European descent raised in the southern USA in the lower middle class, two generations from Alabama sharecroppers, currently living outside of NY City. My childhood was full of experiences and hard lessons taught from family, friends, the surrounding society, and a dominant oppressive culture that acculturated within me the trappings of privilege, white domination, human domination, as well as victimhood. I am also a mother and grandmother of people who identify as of European/indigenous descent from Honduras. My work in the world is as a conservationist throughout Latin America, wildlife veterinarian, Unitarian Universalist minister, and a Compassionate Communication trainer and practitioner." All of this history and categories of oppression and oppressor cannot be unwoven from my relationships. They form me, but they do not bind me. We can help each other loosen these chains of bondage by sharing how this message intersects with your identities, experiences, and locations of oppression and privilege. I am held rapt by the power and hope of freedom won together, for none are free until all are free. My father in his older years nearly died of heart failure, but miraculously a heart match was found for him quickly. He was a small man so the heart of an African descent girl who had died in a car accident became his. My parents were grateful, and softened. Let us not let death, or the fear of death, keep us from giving our hearts to one another.They who bind to themselves a joyDo the winged life destroyBut they who kiss the joy as it fliesLive in eternity's sunrise(adapted from William Blake)What You Can Do1. Join our new Freedom Project. This is an international campaign aimed at stopping the wildlife trade - most notably in parrots, but also in other wildlife. We will use multimedia to illustrate the vision of all beings being free, such as the picture below of a rescued yellow-naped parrot chick who almost ended up as a pet, but was released to fly free. Materials and resources will be available that highlight our slogans, "No Cage is Big Enough," "None are Free until All Are Free," and "Tu Casa No Es Mi Casa." (photo by Christianna Martynowski)2. If you are Unitarian Universalist, join the First Principle Project and engage in the work of intersectionality.

Conservation and Connecting

LoraKim and Manuel in Guatemala now (March 2018)It’s quite inspiring to me how conservation work can bring people together. I experienced this firsthand last month when LoraKim convened the first video meeting of One Earth Conservation’s new Conservation Council.To back up a bit, the beginning of 2018 brought a slight restructuring of the way One Earth Conservation works with volunteers. Instead of our one Advisory Team, we divided it into an Advisory Board and a Conservation Council. The Conservation Council is made up of one representative conservationist from each country in which One Earth works (that is, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Nicaragua and Paraguay) and other people here in the USA (so far) who are aligned with One Earth’s parrot conservation work and want to help however they can. The people from the USA, in addition to LoraKim and me, include the Executive Director of the nonprofit organization Foster Parrots, a high school senior who has volunteered with us for a while, an avian veterinarian and a pharmacist who traveled with us to Ometepe Island. (FYI – The Advisory Board consists of volunteers who offer their help with One Earth’s other programs.)Facilitating a video meeting of people from many far-flung places has its challenges. There are technical issues, of course, related to internet speed and even just getting a signal in some remote areas. And there is also a language barrier, which is overcome mostly through LoraKim’s translating skills (into English and Spanish) and a smattering of individual understanding of each other’s languages amongst the Council members. Conservationists in La Mabita, HondurasDespite all that, we were able to engage in our first meeting, which was mostly a time when everyone was able to introduce themselves and talk about their work. On the first call were Andres Alvarez from Paraguay, Roger Flores from Honduras, Norlan Zambrana Morales from Nicaragua, Manuel Gallino Vasquez from Guatemala, Karen Windsor from the USA, me and LoraKim. It is one thing to learn in the abstract about different projects and the work the people are doing. It is quite another to see the people’s faces, hear them speak and learn about the similarities and differences between the projects. In future meetings we plan to focus on the logistics and challenges of wild parrot conservation and how we can learn from each other’s experiences.Overall, what unites and energizes us all is the deep love we feel for wild parrots and the people who care for them, the hope and meaning that comes from the work we do and sharing our trials, tribulations and triumphs!Some of the team in Ometepe Island, Nicaragua.

Broken Hearted but Flying Free

Pranza is a medium sized Miskito village in Honduras. When I visited there in 2016 I filmed a young girl with a scarlet macaw. The macaw had been rescued from a forest fire as a chick and had been raised with the girl. The girl, Cynthia, was the only one who could safely interact with the parrot, and they did constantly (as you can see from the film). The bird's wings had not been clipped, but never flew far from the house. People always ask me about the bird and the girl, for the video is quite captivating.I was back in Pranza en January 2018 and had a chance to visit this same house and talk to the grandmother. "What happened to the macaw and the girl," I asked, for neither were there. She then proceeded to tell me the story, which is captured here on video.Cynthia's mother had to move to Tegucigalpa, and leave the scarlet behind. The day of the move came, and Cynthia was screaming and crying, "My macaw, my macaw!" The mother bought Cynthia snacks to help her feel better, and I told her that the macaw would come the next day, knowing that this would not happen. Cynthia left Pranza crying and then called me all the time asking about, "My macaw, my macaw?" Shortly after she left, the macaw pulled his feathers out (a common stress reaction), and walked all over the house looking for Cynthia. The feathers eventually grew back in and the macaw began to fly further and higher. It was like there was no reason to stay if there was no Cynthia. One day a group of 4 wild macaws flew over, and our macaw joined them. I haven't seen him since.""How did you feel about this?" I asked. "It was so hard to see the bird go, but.....pree palisa (Miskito for Fly Free). We humans are not prisoners, and so the animals they want their liberty too. I feel such pain that our parrots are taken from their nests and sold for pets."The current parrot of this household is a yellow-naped amazon. She had fractured wing that happened when poachers had cut the nest tree down so they could sell the chicks. The parrot is a timid thing with poor feather quality, and when I saw her all she did was grow and try to not fall to the ground when startled, for her wings are useless. Parrot showing wing out of position and faded green feathers (the bird is also very small, probably a sign of malnutrition)There is such heartache between people and parrots. We love them so much, and sometimes they love us. But it can come at a great cost to the innocent. Science is showing that even time cannot cure all broken hearts. That's why we do all that we can so that breaks never happen - of wings or of relationships. Conservation then is a work of healing so that all beings may fly free.

Loving Animal Nature: Saving the World Means Loving All of It

Loving Animal NatureWe can't save the world unless we love every part of it.Unitarian Universalists have a First Principle - "the inherent worth and dignity of all people." Some change the ending to "all beings" or all "persons" so as to include nonhuman species as well. Either way, I often hear how the First Principle is a slam dunk - that of course we see the worth and dignity of other individuals! I think that perhaps we do so cognitively, but behavior is an embodied, effectual, and largely subconscious affair. This means that our actions, words, and thoughts often do not match our cognitive or conscious affirmation, especially if we are under stress or our needs are not getting met. Furthermore we all have been acculturated since an early age to fit into a society that hierarchalizes the “other” into subhuman or less worthy categories so that certain groups can exert power, domination, and control over economic resources. In other words, we have much work to do to actually treat all as if they had inherent worth and dignity.This includes ourselves. How often do you find yourself thinking or behaving towards yourself less charitable than the remarkable beautiful being you are? It is possible to love yourself, but that means loving all of your animality, and the animality of others. By animality I mean the perfection of who we are that responds to the world as a sensing body and not a machine guided only by human cultural constraints. By love I mean being open to the needs and feelings of others without judgment. This is empathy. Krishnamurti writes, "observing without judging is the highest form of human intelligence." Such empathy connects us deeply to life and nourishes us, others, and our relationships and goals.All of us can grow in intelligence, which comprises emotional, social, and multispecies intelligence. These intelligences ask us to consider how we, other humans, and other species are feeling and what we are needing. We can train ourselves to be more impartial, scientific observers by quieting our costive loops of judgment, and instead translate everything into feelings and needs. The world needs us to do this inner work of accepting all of who we are as great apes who live and die imperfectly, so we can do the outer work to preserve and cherish life and well being. If we marginalize anything within ourselves as “wrong” or “not part of the whole” we will do this to others, either individually, or subconsciously by accepting a society that exploits beings and extracts health from the environment so that that fewer can have greater privilege than the many.We evolved to have a loving animal nature, to be attuned intimately to and in relationship to life around us without judgment. Loving animal nature means that as we open ever more greatly to the biology, needs, feelings, and subjective experience of all we move towards co-liberation. Undoing the enculturation that traps us, frees us as well as all beings.This requires of us the work of learning to live without fear and to die courageously. The rewards can be great, for if we can embrace the reality of our shared and interdependent animal nature with all life, removing hierarchal evaluation of others, we will be embraced in return by nature. We will know that we belong, and in our actions can welcome the many to a flourishing life.

Nicaragua Musings

I can’t believe it’s been two months since I traveled with LoraKim and a small group of other people from the USA to witness first-hand, and for my first time, one of One Earth Conservation’s parrot projects in Latin America. There were seven of us who met LoraKim in early December 2017 on Ometepe Island for what turned out to be an amazing trip that we now refer to it as our Nicaraguan Journey. LoraKim’s husband, Meredith Garmon, already posted a detailed blog in December about many of the activities in which we participated. I’d like to add some additional musings to what Meredith wrote in his blog.1. A sense of awe – from the ferry ride that took us from the coast of Nicaragua to Ometepe Island, to moving ever closer to the splendid twin volcanoes (Concepción and Maderas); from the thrill of seeing my first ever free flying, wild parrot in its native habitat, to glimpsing with delight my first ever wild monkey; and from watching the waves of Lake Nicaragua lap at the shore next to our lovely, small hotel, to watching amazing sunsets over the tropical forest, I felt a daily sense of awe, wonder, and gratitude. All these things, and more, added up to a truly unique and even spiritual experience for me.2. Connecting with others – one of the best parts of the trip was the new relationships I formed with our Nicaraguan partners and with my fellow travelers from the USA. Despite some language barriers (and LoraKim did a yeoman’s job of translating for us all!), we connected on multiple levels, not the least of which was over our common love and concern for the gorgeous wild parrots on Ometepe Island. Delicious Nicaraguan cuisine, enjoying a traditional dance performance by local teenagers, and taking tours of nearby sustainable fincas (farms or ranches) were some of the activities in which we all engaged together and got to know one another. And the story of the parrot chick, Time Bomb, which you can read here, was icing on the already delicious cake!3. Experiential learning – all of the visitors from the USA were given the chance to help LoraKim and the local conservationists with their work by learning how to do wild parrot counts in the field. Starting at about 4pm in the afternoon and continuing until it got dark (for about two hours), we stood in small groups in pastures, at crossroads, in a schoolyard, on docks, and on the slope of a volcano, learning how to recognize flying yellow-naped amazons and other parrots, yelling out the number and species of birds we saw and the direction in which they were flying. It was challenging to not “double count” the same birds (some of who like to fly back and forth!), to avoid attacks by fire ants (some “got” LoraKim!) and protecting ourselves from the tropical sun and heat. One evening after it got dark, LoraKim, our fellow traveler Christianna, and I were “rescued” by a dark, handsome man on a white horse (really!) when we wandered off in the wrong direction trying to reach the road. He led us to the road on his horse as we followed using the flashlights on our cell phones (technology can come in handy even in the field!). And on another day, I got my first ever ride on a motorcycle, clutching onto Emerson (one of the conservationists) with only some trepidation, to accompany him to the site where the two us counted birds one evening.4. A fuller picture – I now have a much fuller picture of what wildlife conservation work entails and how committed our local partners are to this work. I felt a real sense of kinship with the people of Ometepe Island, as we all care about protecting the beauty of this world, one parrot, and one person, at a time.LoraKim will be leading another journey in fall 2018, with details to come. If you are interested in having an amazing experience, I highly recommend you consider joining her.

Nicaraguan Musings

I can’t believe it’s been two months since I traveled with LoraKim and a small group of other people from the USA to witness first-hand, and for my first time, one of One Earth Conservation’s parrot projects in Latin America. There were seven of us who met LoraKim in early December 2017 on Ometepe Island for what turned out to be an amazing trip that we now refer to it as our Nicaraguan Journey. LoraKim’s husband, Meredith Garmon, already posted a detailed blog in December about many of the activities in which we participated. I’d like to add some additional musings to what Meredith wrote in his blog.1. A sense of awe – from the ferry ride that took us from the coast of Nicaragua to Ometepe Island, to moving ever closer to the splendid twin volcanoes (Concepción and Maderas); from the thrill of seeing my first ever free flying, wild parrot in its native habitat, to glimpsing with delight my first ever wild monkey; and from watching the waves of Lake Nicaragua lap at the shore next to our lovely, small hotel, to watching amazing sunsets over the tropical forest, I felt a daily sense of awe, wonder, and gratitude. All these things, and more, added up to a truly unique and even spiritual experience for me.2. Connecting with others – one of the best parts of the trip was the new relationships I formed with our Nicaraguan partners and with my fellow travelers from the USA. Despite some language barriers (and LoraKim did a yeoman’s job of translating for us all!), we connected on multiple levels, not the least of which was over our common love and concern for the gorgeous wild parrots on Ometepe Island. Delicious Nicaraguan cuisine, enjoying a traditional dance performance by local teenagers, and taking tours of nearby sustainable fincas (farms or ranches) were some of the activities in which we all engaged together and got to know one another. And the story of the parrot chick, Time Bomb, which you can read here, was icing on the already delicious cake!3. Experiential learning – all of the visitors from the USA were given the chance to help LoraKim and the local conservationists with their work by learning how to do wild parrot counts in the field. Starting at about 4pm in the afternoon and continuing until it got dark (for about two hours), we stood in small groups in pastures, at crossroads, in a schoolyard, on docks, and on the slope of a volcano, learning how to recognize flying yellow-naped amazons and other parrots, yelling out the number and species of birds we saw and the direction in which they were flying. It was challenging to not “double count” the same birds (some of who like to fly back and forth!), to avoid attacks by fire ants (some “got” LoraKim!) and protecting ourselves from the tropical sun and heat. One evening after it got dark, LoraKim, our fellow traveler Christianna, and I were “rescued” by a dark, handsome man on a white horse (really!) when we wandered off in the wrong direction trying to reach the road. He led us to the road on his horse as we followed using the flashlights on our cell phones (technology can come in handy even in the field!). And on another day, I got my first ever ride on a motorcycle, clutching onto Emerson (one of the conservationists) with only some trepidation, to accompany him to the site where the two us counted birds one evening.4. A fuller picture – I now have a much fuller picture of what wildlife conservation work entails and how committed our local partners are to this work. I felt a real sense of kinship with the people of Ometepe Island, as we all care about protecting the beauty of this world, one parrot, and one person, at a time.LoraKim will be leading another journey in fall 2018, with details to come. If you are interested in having an amazing experience, I highly recommend you consider joining her.