Kiara Hughes is One Month Old!

Three is the Magic Number

Mama Isabel y Baby Kiara

Kiara - Back at Day Two

It is a belated announcement, that of the birth of Kiara Hughes at 7:45 PM on Wednesday, October 21, 2009, yet her one month birthday celebration is going on tonight and this post is just in time for that! It is a party night--lots of naps and sleeping and sooner or later more eating! Looking at it that way, everynight is a party night!

Kiara was born at 7 lbs. 13 ozs (más de 3 kilos 500 gramos) and is now grown to over 8 lbs. Thanks to everyone who has sent us greetings and energy. We wish that all might have wellness, abundance, and safety as part of the holiday and new year.

Welcome Kiara! We hope our parenting can do your beautiful nature justice.

Oh yeah!

Nesting Birds and Bouncing Stones

With a smile on our face we watched the nesting Downy Woodpeckers through the spring. Though they left us some while back, the nesting lessons are still appreciated. Natures teaching and the creative expression of art and music are staying with us as we prepare for our own nesting moment. It will probably be a lot of work, but, as well, this is going to be fun!

Along with her photos of el carpintero (la carpintera!) (and her blog of adventures), here is Isabel's Mandala, helping us focus and relax.
And, lastly, I post a fantastic music video, Bouncing Stones. It's a wonderful mix of the contemporary guitar of our friend Bodhi with the Aussie late-night favorites Spoonbill, all thrown down with some very cutting edge video production. Do enjoy!

Radio Globo Honduras

Those few folks who might drift past this Una Voz por lo Silvestre blog from time to time have probably noticed that I am not posting many photos or news here in the last months. Nevertheless, I have continued to blog with regularity as an important part of my position as the Patagonia Campaign Coordinator with International Rivers. You can check out that newer blog right here, and stay up to date on our work to protect rivers in Patagonia from massive hydroelectric development.

I am inspired this evening to rapidly post a link to an internet broadcast of radio news programming supporting the resistance to the military coup in Honduras. Radio Globo Honduras has been an amazing source of news and insight into the non-violent resistance to the military golpe del estado that occurred on June 28. I highly recommend giving a regular listen to Radio Globo Honduras, as a means of getting a true picture of what is happening in this small yet critical Central American nation.

While listening online I have heard on the street reports of many amazing political actions, even accounts of violent repression of protests by the military regime, making for absolutely breathtaking radio. Radio Globo Honduras has been a total inspiration to my community radio sensibilities, as they stay on the air amidst threats from the military regime to shut down their broadcasting, and remain firm in their opposition to the golpe. Not only that, last Saturday they played several hours of great cumbia--definitely a revolution that I can be a part of!

This is a must listen for anyone who is fascinated by how community radio can contribute to social movements.

Check it out!

Patagonia and Radio Universidad de Chile

I just made my quickest trip ever to Chile. I touched the Baker river, and I charged my batteries for the next months of work. And I was a guest on the show Semaforo Cultural -- Cultural Traffic Light -- at Radio Universidad de Chile. The show is a very interesting discussion about the international day of water and issues around agua in Chile. I got to speak about the harsh situation in rural Cochrane after the multinational corporation has invaded, and how it appears through the eyes of a foreigner. I am by no means the only person on the show with something interesting to say - give it a listen, especially si es que hables español.

The fotos are from the International Day of Action Against Dams celebration in Río Ibañez. The two upper photos are courtesy of friends at Aysén Reserva de Vida, and the photos below are mine, of some people that I have met and who inspire me in this work.

My batteries are charged, and at International Rivers we are on a good advocacy roll.

Free Flowing Rivers -- An Investment In A Better Future

I thought that I might get motivated to put together some text and try to blog about learning to dive and getting my PADI certification when we went to Utila, Honduras, in January. I am not a marine biologist, but Coral Reefs are one of the reasons why there is life on this planet, and I am glad to have gotten closer to this severly threatened ecosystem type.

Perhaps I should blog about all the radio I do with Redwood Community Radio--but I can't this time because I have not been doing any radio lately.

What I will blog about rapidly, for the first time in several months, is my committment to advocate for free flowing rivers and responsible investing in a time of severe economic meltdown. I am working full time to protect the wild rivers of Patagonia, and I share here what I believe is the most politically and economically compelling argument for cutting off all monies to mega-hydroelectric development in Patagonia, and beyond.

The protection of free flowing rivers is an investment in a better future!