The Empty Space of the Internet Looks Better With Kiara's Fotos

This blog could be an example of the lamest blog ever -- except for the subject of the fotos! If it were not for my daughter, I really would not have any reason to be posting on the Internet. The net can be nasty for a slow thinker like myself. I continue to have experiences where I attempt to contribute a difference in opinion to the comment section of a blogger or writer in which I get totally flamed in the net wars. Perhaps it is because I fall prey to trying to be a smarter ass than the ass who entraps me with their competitive style, which is not really my preferred style of communication.

The Internet is an amazing tool, but the on-line community continues to sap my soul of much faith in the future. Perhaps it is my own incompetence as a communicator, perhaps it is because the alienation of a computer centered life really is eating at the very essence of what is magic about human community and there are a lot of sad and frustrated people out there. I hate it when I write something and I note that I ended up sounding like them. It is like the Internet can bring out everyone's most base communication. Fortunately, the landscape and the family and the immediate real community around me continue to be fun and encouraging and tangible and present, helping shake off the disappointment of being involved with rock throwing contests with people who are just more versed in such communication than me.

Though I have the right to opine in these pages about the pros or cons of this or that political phenomena, the fact is such ranting and raving only hurts my soul. I am tired, let's let Kiara do the talking. Here are some photos that I should have posted a long time ago.

How Wild Is Your Iris? Part II

It certainly is a competitive world in the blogosphere. I have been encouraged to be more productive from several different angles! Well, it might be a while before I post here again, but I am here to share a graffiti photo of petro-locura from travels past, and to let you all know that I was a guest on the Environment Show at Redwood Community Radio-KMUD last night. We discussed the work of EPIC and other collaborators to promote conservation and appropriate stewardship of our regions State Parks, especially as Richardson Grove becomes an inconvenient speed bump for the petro-locura that has gripped our planet.

Give it a listen!

PS. We have managed to get coverage of the Patagonia dams issue in the ever so glossy Outside Magazine, both online as well as in a feature article in the print version of their June 2010 issue. Check it out when you can, the article is really quite good and pro-Patagonia.

PSS. And as a last addition to this post, check out this video that is a brief and creative expression of the responsibility that we can choose, or not, to accept for the planet.

How Wild Is Your Iris?

It rained again today, solidly. Though the front has let up, the afternoon is grey, and cold, and we are just barely getting a solar charge for the batteries—and all the while the mixed forest of the hills is drinking up the moisture, the mist, the drizzle, the fog. This later May maritime system is a total miracle of precipitation, diffused light, and celebratory frog song. Unstable as it is, in terms of low atmospheric pressure and heavy weight of h2o on all the flower bearing branches out there, it is still a welcome gift—water is life!

How lucky we are, to have so much good wildness around us, falling today in the shape of rain. Sometimes, though, I wonder—does familiarity breed contempt? Is that why we can get sick of the rain? Or do the elements and special places of nature really seem more potent when they are new? And less significant when one has already seen them a thousand times? What has happened to a person when they are tired of seeing the bloom of the wild irises?

Seeing the everyday splendor of our planet in a late May rain in Humboldt County is a part of understanding the harsh realities that wild nature everywhere is facing. Even though my quiet reality at home is so aesthetic, it is not so difficult to feel the fragilities of our existence when looking at the Golfo de México and the Redwoods (or even back once again to Patagonia!) through the iris of a person who is about to complete seven months of life. What will happen to our planet in the next seven months, seven years, or seven decades? What will Kiara see in her life that I have always feared we would see? Can your iris to the world see the interconnected complexity of the issues confronting the next generation? With which lens do you see the planet, and your place on it? Frankly, while I ask "how wild is your iris?," I know that my wild iris is looking a long ways ahead.

And, because of todays rain, Kiara is smiling every step of the way!

P.S. The first foto is from Cuernavaca, Morelos, México, Kiara's first holiday down south! Though I started this blog what seems to be quite a long time ago, I don't always get fotos up in a timely fashion. Such is the internet for me--too much work and not enough play. Hopefully this post will whet people's appetite for a while, or maybe not? We will have to see...in the meantime, enjoy the images!

First Flowers -- Primeras Flores

The first flowers of spring -- las primeras flores de la primavera -- are appearing here in Northern California. February still has a chill in the air, and the days are still exceptionally short, but the first flowers are making their brave appearance.

What is it about having a new baby girl that makes the magic of natures creation that much more impressive? Why is the amazement on her face when taking a close up look at the new flowers so inspiring to me? Thanks Kiara for all the lessons you are giving to me, and thanks to the flowers for hinting at winters passing and the accumulation of life lessons.

The lessons of life that come with a child certainly are numerous. For instance, new positions for getting rocked to sleep go right along with learning what music she likes best. Seems that Boards of Canada for all their gothic electronics and Bluetech for the deep groove are both bands that Kiara loves -- or else I just tell myself that so I can put some calming music on for myself cuando la hora de su siesta nos haya llegada.

Kiara came down with us to town on Friday and stepped in briefly (well, got carried in...) to the KMUD studio when I did my latest Febrero Hip Hopero set for Latino America Sonando. She is just four months old, and really can't make any sense out of any of it (any more than she does for the Yard Dogs Road Show though she seemed to dig it anyways). It is fun to think that our love for music and the wild edges of nature are soaking into our daughter because of the style of life we maintain. She will do what she will do that much is for sure, she will be her own person and we will just have to celebrate that, especially when she starts to let us know that our taste is old and out of date.

But first flowers are always timeless, just like the amazing expressions dancing across a babies face. We just have to enjoy every minute of them.

Wild Things

We live in a very wild place, absolutely full of wild things. No matter how hard some people might abuse the land, Northern California always has wild phenomena to keep one close to the power of the earth.

For instance, we had another earthquake on the Lost Coast today. I was the only one that noticed at first, but the way things kept shaking definitely made the deep earth vibration unmistakable. The temblor might have been subtle, but we all, however, noticed immediately the new storm of river swelling rain that is drenching our mixed forest stands. Our rainfall is just barely average this year -- yet it is still twice what we have received in the last couple of years. Life giving rain, just another one of those little miracles we learn to treasure.

As they say, nature works in mysterious ways. We love the mystery of the wild life revealing itself to us in the rapid growth of Kiara. There's bears loose in our neck of the woods!

And, speaking of the wild, as an update about Patagonia I recommend checking out the February 2010 National Geographic with the article Patagonia's Peril -- great coverage about one of the planets last wild refuges, and burning descriptions of the threats looming over the region. There is a lot happening these days in Chile, including a change in government, and we will be sure to share more news in the next months. In the meantime, enjoy this video put together by colleagues in Chile using footage from our trip to the Pascua in 2008.



And in English this time, the same video!

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!