Unveiling a new novel, I AM the wolf, a novel of ecology and rewilding--#govegan #amreading #uu #EarthFirst

As part of a Unitarian Universalist service focused on animals and the earth, I reflected on the concept of rewilding. The talk is on YouTube, and below the video is the text.

Hello

‘Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world: indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.’

--Margaret Mead

We are all animals and have much to learn from other, nonhuman animals.  My little cat reminds me to be content and happy with the simple things in life—a place to sit (a windowsill will do); something to eat, and pleasure and curiosity. Peanut came to us several Mother’s Days ago, when abandoned and starving, she showed up in our backyard. She is a reminder of how a little being can come into your life and make a world of difference. This morning, when she woke me up by licking my arm—she reminded me of the power of love, as always. I am honored to have her sit with me when I write.

I am very happy to have the opportunity again to work with Shaie Dively and to bring you these words about rewilding. Rewilding is a process of letting nature return to its original state—sometimes with the introduction or reintroduction of a wild species, such as when the wolves were reintroduced to Yellowstone National Park (which I’m going to talk more about shortly), with the result being that entire ecosystems were restored. The Earth needs these ecosystems to live, and we need the Earth to live.

The term rewilding has been around since 1990, when members of the grassroots network Earth First coined the term and used it in print.  I first heard about rewilding after my partner Barbara and I went to a plant-based diet, now more than six years ago. The idea is that the land that is used to raise cattle will eventually be returned to its natural state, and the animals that live in the wild, such as coyotes, foxes, and wolves, will come back and restore the ecosystems that the Earth needs to continue living. This is an enormous amount of land.

The Amazon rainforest, which is mostly in Brazil, where forests have been and are being raised and which are also being cleared for the planting of crops to feed the cattle, is the size of Australia. In just the past fifty years, twenty percent of the Amazon rainforest has been destroyed, and if humans don’t change their ways, the entire Amazon rainforest could collapse by 2050, which is twenty-five years from now.

I was shocked (but maybe I shouldn’t have been) to find that the indigenous people who live in the Amazon are being murdered.

And while they don’t speak much English, they know the term “agri-business.”

Agri-business is a problem, to say the least.

When researching the novel I am currently working on, I AM the wolf, a novel of ecology and rewilding, I again came across this quote from researchers at the University of Oxford:  “A plant-based diet is considered the single most important thing for the environment.”

Researchers also found that vegan diets generate healthcare-related savings and reduce food costs, as well as greatly decreasing water usage and greenhouse gas emissions.

The wolves were killed off in Yellowstone Park in the 1930s, when people thought that wolves were dangerous to them. But over the years, there has been mounting evidence that wolves are shy creatures and rightfully more afraid of humans than humans are of them. So, they were reintroduced seventy years later in 1995, and guess what? An entire ecosystem was revived.

The wolves kept the elk population in check. Wolves are natural predators of elk, and in chasing them, the wolves kept the elk from damaging the willow trees. As a result, both the elk and the willow trees thrived. Without the wolves, more elk were eating the willow trees, and the absence of willow trees made it harder for the beavers, who also relied on the willow trees as a food source.

With the reintroduction of the wolves, the willow trees became stronger, providing shade for fish. Even the rivers and the creatures who live in them came back. Now the willows provide refuge for songbirds, and that’s how an ecosystem works.

An ecosystem is embodied by the Seventh Unitarian Universalist Principle: “Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.”

Please take a breath with me as we send compassion to all the animals, including the other human animals and ourselves, and to this beautiful home we call planet Earth.

We’ll breathe in to a count of three and exhale to a count of five.

Breath –

Remember, nature – like the human body – has the power to heal itself and to heal us if we let it.

We are all connected.

--Namaste

CINNAMON, my most recent novel, is available  on amazon.com: Cinnamon: A dairy cow’s (and her farmer’s) path to freedom: Mason, Janet: 9781958419786: Amazon.com: Books

CINNAMON is also available through your local bookstore and library

(just ask them to order it if they don’t have it).

For more information on my novel THEY, a biblical tale of secret genders published by Adelaide Books click here.

To learn more about The Unicorn, The Mystery, click here:

The Unicorn, The Mystery now available from Adelaide Books — #amreading #FaithfullyLGBT

For more information on my novel Loving Artemis, an endearing tale of revolution, love, and marriage, click here.