When Seawater Laps at The Steps of The New York Stock Exchange... (2008)

When Seawater Laps at The Steps of The New York Stock Exchange...

Lately, have you had difficulty keeping track of time?  Do you have to stop and ask yourself whether it is spring or fall?  If so, do not be alarmed.  It is simply your first step on a path towards spiritual enlightenment.  It is not so much that your “forgetting” is good.  The good is that you are loosening the insidious bonds of time from your life.  If we are slaves to the clock or the calendar, we remove serendipity from our lives.

 

When we finally do “let go”, either at death or sooner, if we so choose, the resulting energy shift may be traumatic or sublime.  That depends on how far we have come along our spiritual path before unforeseen events take us rapidly to a new-energy place.  All that is required is a smile and a heady whiff from the smelling salts of gnost before we take the plunge or ascend to dimensions unknown.

 

If fear and old energy concerns hold you back, that is OK.  It may not be time for you to step forward and consciously intersect with all that this life and our universe have to offer.  In the U.S., even the fear mongers have taken up the mantra of hope and change.  They may recognize the power of the rhetoric, but embracing the reality of change is too great a stretch for the unaware or the unenlightened.  Old-energy power does not prevail in the new-energy world.

 

If you have followed what we call the “spiritual movement” over the past several years, or if you are an Oprah fan, you have heard many new terms, such as New Earth, Spirit, New Energy, God Within, Source Energy and Quantum Leap.  If you recognize even three or four of these terms, you are shifting your awareness and awakening to your own spiritual path.

 

None of this need be a problem for you or your loved ones.  The situation stems from an agreement that you made with yourself, prior to birth.  Simply put, you decided to forget your divine origins and to plunge deeply into the “reality” of the physical world in which we live.  For quite a while, that was fine.  However, deep inside you there was always a mixture of yearning and love that you could not gulp back down into its place, to again forget.  All energy seeks resolution and the yearning, love energy within you is no exception.

 

If you question the validity or truth of your own divinity, why are you reading this information?  You came here for a reason.  That reason involves your own personal spiritual quest.  It is your adventure on Earth and the meaning of your life is there for you to discover.

 

Many, having taken this path before you, are waiting to help you along the way.  All you need do is relinquish control and allow your fears to drift away, into the mist.  If fear or doubts persist, verbalize your request for help.  Help well be summoned and delivered to you in a form that you can easily accept and understand.  All you need to do is open up your heart and allow that help into your life.

 

How does this, your life, all turn out?  Do not ask me.  It is your life and you are free to create your own positive outcomes.  I am only here to point out that it is your choice to accept or ignore the many signs around you.  If you look with fresh eyes, listen with fresh ears and open your heart to All that Is, wisdom and truth will follow you everywhere. 

 

One year ago this week, at midnight on September 17, 2007, the earth quietly transformed her energy state.  On that date, over three hundred Shaumbra attended the Quantum Leap Celebration in Taos, New Mexico.  Skeptics will say that scientific instruments recorded nothing and therefore nothing happened.  Some people enjoy saying that if you cannot directly measure something, it cannot be real or true. 

 

Admittedly, three hundred and twenty-five sounds like a small number of people to effect a quantum change in the earth’s energy state.  However, there were far more attendees than the intrepid few mortals who found their way to Taos last fall.  Listening in for three days of live internet broadcasts, thousands more humans received tidings of a new-energy.  Beyond that, there were untold numbers of non-physical beings in attendance.  Slipping into Taos from their home dimensions, they felt what was going on and added their love and wisdom to the mix.

 

Other than a fireworks display and a thunderstorm that visited overnight, there was not much to prove that there had been a worldwide quantum leap in energy.  Some felt it.  Others did not.  Some were skeptical and others were true believers.  There was no correct or incorrect response.  At that time, I was somewhere between the two poles.  If you are unfamiliar with the Quantum Leap Celebration, read the two articles I wrote about it one year ago, at "The Quantum Leap" and "Hasta la vista, Taos, New Mexico". 

 

The moment of the Quantum Leap was September 17, 2007 at midnight Taos, New Mexico time.  I did not stay in the auditorium that night.  Instead, I went out to dinner with friends.  By not staying in the room until midnight, I demonstrated to myself that the new, “quantumized” energy was available in all places, not just at its point of inception.  Tobias, as channeled by Geoffrey Hoppe, had said that September 17, 2007 would feel like any other day.  For me, that was true. 

 

So much has happened since then, for each of us.  Now there is a tremendous change in energy across the land.  No one knows whether fear or hope will win the day.  Even if fear wins, we can still have hope.  Hope is not dependent on the election of any one candidate.  Old-energy, as exemplified by the greed and corruption in our financial markets may soon lose power on Wall Street and in Washington, DC.  Interestingly, under the most conservative administration in memory, the U.S. is rapidly becoming a socialist state.  The U.S. government now owns the two largest corporations in the world, Fannie May and Freddie Mac, as well as AIG Insurance. Nowadays, small fry like Bear Stearns and Lehman Bros. barely warrant mention.  As we went to press with this document, the U.S. government had just injected $180 billion into the international money markets.  Just whose money was that?

 

This week, after twenty-eight confused and violent years, Robert Mugabe gave up power in Zimbabwe.  Zimbabwe is the Heart of Africa.  Its spiritual journey towards hope and freedom, although not guaranteed, has at last begun.  Their new Prime Minister, Morgan Tsvangirai will not prosecute Mugabe for his crimes against the state or humanity.  Mugabe’s new task is to reflect on his prior actions and their consequences for his fellow citizens and all of humanity.  From the shadows of war-torn Africa, a ray of hope now shines brightly, to All that Is.  As we encounter that ray, it penetrates our hearts and allows compassion, for Robert Mugabe, for Africa and for all of humanity.  This is true, for we are one.

 

As recently stated by Deepak Chopra, we have our own shadows to deal with here in America.  Although there are no guaranteed outcomes, the tide is turning.  Regardless of who become the next president and vice president of the United States, the winds and tides of change are now rising to storm-surge levels.  If you need further proof, view post-hurricane pictures of beachfront real estate along the Texas and Louisiana coasts.

  

Such events are not God’s retribution for poorly lived lives.  The cause is Gaia, our own Mother Earth cleaning up her energy before she turns the whole planet over to us – the human beings.  Whether humans caused global warming or not is immaterial.  What does matter is dealing with this energy shift in such a way that we do not knowingly put millions of people back in the path of fiscal or physical disaster.  When seawater laps at the steps of the New York Stock Exchange, will the old-energy players still be ignoring the real issues of our day?

Email James McGillis

A New Energy Weekend - Marina del Rey 2008

 

A New Energy Weekend in Venice, California

Sometimes we forget how nice it is to be on or near the water.  Last weekend, it was hot inland, so we visited WindSong, our 1970 Ericson 35 Mk II sailboat at Marina del Rey (MDR).

 

On Saturday afternoon, we drove to world famous Venice Beach.  For those who wish to be part of the scene, the Venice Beach Boardwalk is the place to be.  For those of us who like a beach sans crowds, the stretch closest to the Marina del Rey breakwater is best.  Despite the dearth of parking near the sand, we decided to try it.   

 

After circling the area for about fifteen minutes, we realized that our Nissan Titan Off-road 4X4 should be able to go where others fear to tread.  We held our breath, dialed in low-range 4-wheel drive, then tapped the throttle lightly.  We stopped on the sand, within yards of the beach.

 

As soon as we parked, another 4X4 truck, with fancy wheels attempted what we had just accomplished.  Even with his lift-kit and aggressive tires, he spun his wheels until all four were kicking sand.  His truck came to rest looking like a 4-wheel drive commercial.  His only problem was that he was stuck there for fifteen minutes.

 

One of the highlights of visiting MDR in the summertime is the unsurpassed day sailing on nearby Santa Monica Bay.  From any boat slip in the marina, you can be sailing on the bay in less than fifteen minutes.  Expect cool and overcast conditions until early afternoon, even in the summer.  The cloud cover keeps you cool and comfortable as you sail past Venice Pier, then on to Santa Monica Pier, where this high-tech trimaran passed us by.

 

Turning at Santa Monica Pier, we tacked towards the MDR South Entrance.  As hoped for, the sun came out, reflecting silver light across the sea.  As we delighted in the brisk breeze, Ben played his "Young Man and the Sea" role, all the while keeping us on course.  

 

Later, the less fortunate received a tow from Vessel Assist, while Bay Watch, LA County stood by.  In the background, you will see your Alaska Pipeline at work.  The tankers moored offshore from El Segundo are unloading there via undersea pipeline, connected to refineries onshore.

 

The first time I saw this sailboat, I did not know what to think.  I have seen graphics on racing sails before, but they tend to be iconic, rather than photographic.  Despite its blatancy, I like it.  Coors has a legendary quality from the early 1970s, when it was in short supply and bootlegged around the country by truckers.  Additionally, one can get quite thirsty while out on the water.

 

Sunset is always a special time of day at Venice Beach, where it meets the Marina.  Having spent as many hours sailing the bay and walking along this shore, I know that the Main Channel at Marina del Rey is at the center of the arc of Santa Monica Bay.  The Sun, wind and waves converge and focus vortextural energies on that place, showering and splashing a joy of life both to and from our universe complete.
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By James McGillis at 04:16 PM | Current Events | Comments (0) | Link

Seattle Gets Its Planning Right - Sort Of 2008

hapter #87: Seattle Shines in the Summertime - August 18, 2008

Seattle (Mostly) Gets Its Planning Right

In the summer months, Seattle, Washington can be one of the most pleasant spots in the U.S. to visit.  During our recent stop there, our only limitation was time.  We had only a few days to see the sights and get the flavor of local cuisine, architecture and culture.  The fact that Lake Union and Puget Sound bisect the metropolitan area, north and south, does not make a short-term tourist’s visit any easier.

 

On our first day, we opted for a visit to Snoqualmie Falls, located north of Interstate I-90 and the town of North Bend, Washington.  Speaking of North Bend, be sure not to confuse this city with either North Bend, Oregon or Bend, Oregon, both of which are many miles to the south.  Although having all the frills of a tourist trap, even in July, the waterfall itself was running high and was a spectacular sight.

 

The next day, we headed for the City of Seattle, but rather than being caught in the traffic and parking jams around the Pike Place Fish Market, we opted to take the ferry to Bainbridge Island, which is only a short trip west from Seattle.  As with much of suburban Seattle, Bainbridge’s architecture features a mixture of “woodsy” and contemporary that is unique in the U.S.

 

Bainbridge Island has a down-home feeling to it, despite real estate prices that would amaze most people.  According to the local newspaper, it can be a curmudgeonly place, where locals have fought for ten years to avoid building a public restroom in the downtown area.  Apparently, they are happy to relieve you of your money so long as you do not try to relieve yourself anywhere in their shopping area. 

 

On the afternoon ferry trip back to Seattle we were treated to harbor and city views.  Large cargo craft were dockside while a cruise ship left port.  Pleasure craft mixed it up with ferry traffic in a slow-motion water ballet.  All of this activity took place with the Seattle skyline as a backdrop.  From the ubiquitous Space Needle to the glass-sheathed skyscrapers of Downtown Seattle, a trip across Puget Sound offers clear views of a great American city.

 

On the afternoon ferry trip back to Seattle we were treated to harbor and city views.  Large cargo craft were dockside while a cruise ship left port.  Pleasure craft mixed it up with ferry traffic in a slow-motion water ballet.  All of this activity took place with the Seattle skyline as a backdrop.  From the ubiquitous

 

Much has changed in Seattle since its Skid Row days and most of it for the better.  Best of all, it has avoided the pitfall of too much self-referential kitsch.  With property prices as high as they are, infill development has kept its core areas vital and alive.  In terms of keeping their older neighborhoods up to date and relevant to citizens and visitors alike, other Western cities, like Phoenix and Los Angeles could learn a lot from Seattle.

 

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By James McGillis at 01:13 PM | Environment | Comments (0) | Link

Oregon - One Step Forward and One Step Back... 2008

Oregon - One Step Forward and One Step Back...

In July of any year, one of the nicest places to visit is the southern coast of Oregon.  U.S. Highway 101 is the primary access route, north and south.  Additionally, several highways cut east and west, winding along the river valleys and upper canyons, providing a change of scenery from the coastal strip.

 

Driving north from California across the Oregon border brings a couple of shocking revelations.  When you arrive in Brookings, which is the first town you will encounter, you will notice that motor gas prices are about twenty cents cheaper per gallon than in California.  The lack of a retail sales tax and lower state fuel taxes makes Oregon a great place to fill your tank.

 

 

Well, maybe not so great, once you realize that Oregon does not allow self-service filling of one’s own fuel tank.  The supposed “positive result” of this archaic law is that it keeps thousands of Oregonians employed as gas station attendants.  The downside is that during the summer tourist season, motorists queue up at the lower-priced stations, engines idling and pollution spewing from their tailpipes as they wait. 

 

Despite the many “Keep Oregon Green” signs that one sees along the highway, old energy and old-style thinking are adding an immense load of greenhouse gases to the Oregon air shed.  If estimates are true that the average vehicle produces about one pound of carbon dioxide for each mile driven, how many additional tons of carbon dioxide do Oregon motorists produce in order to make dead-end jobs for some of their residents?  Additionally, how many hours of lost productivity do Oregonians suffer as frustrated motorists wait in line for fuel that they could safely pump without assistance?

 

Once you get past the pros and cons of Oregon’s fuel pricing and dispensing methods, you can breathe a sigh of relief as you motor north towards Gold Beach, some twenty-five miles beyond the California border.  If you have breakfast or lunch in Gold Beach, you will notice that the pace of life is a bit slower than California.  If you allow yourself to slow down and match the natural pace in Southern Oregon, you will enjoy your experience far more than if you simply rush towards your destination.

 

In the early days of travel along the Oregon Coast, towns sprang up along the highway approximately every twenty-five miles.  The ostensible reason for this spacing related to how far a horse-drawn vehicle could travel in one day.  With that idea in mind, twenty-five miles north of Gold Beach is the sleepy town of Port Orford, famous in its heyday for the “Port Orford Cedar” trees that covered its coastal slopes.

 

Although hidden from the highway in many places, the coastal strip between Gold Beach and Port Orford has several direct openings to the sand and surf.  Owing to the gentle slope of the continental shelf in this area, low tides pull far out from the beach and high tides rush in on large breaking waves.  Flotsam from Asia and driftwood from the Pacific Coast are among the prizes awaiting the intrepid beachcomber.

 

Although the commercial port at Port Orford is so small that they haul out the fishing fleet with dockside cranes, it is the only deep-water port along the coast between Portland, Oregon and the San Francisco Bay.  Protected by headlands to the north and west, the small port remains vulnerable to storms approaching from the southwest.

 

As with several other Southern Oregon coastal towns, much of Port Orford lies within the “tsunami zone”.  Once erroneously called “tidal waves”, Americans have adopted the Japanese word “tsunami”, which means, “One or a series of huge sea waves caused by earthquakes or other large-scale disturbances of the ocean floor”. 

 

Nearby Crescent City and Eureka, California has each experienced tsunamis in the past fifty years.  Many places along the Oregon coast show geological evidence of large-scale tsunami activity, although contemporary coastal dwellers tend to downplay or ignore the potential threat.  At Port Orford, one has to travel nearly a mile inland to find ground high enough for the state to declare it a “tsunami safety zone”.

 

Whether it is for reasons of tsunami safety or lack of sewage plant capacity, Port Orford qualifies as the only town along the highway where recent commercial development is almost unknown.  Although there is a new library adjacent to the highway, there are no chain restaurants in town.  The pharmacy closed its doors a few years ago, leaving only a clinic to tend to the healthcare needs of the many retired residents.  The infrastructure is so antiquated and poorly documented that the local water system was recently losing between one third and one-half of its stored water to leaks in the system.  Many leaks are nearly impossible to track down and fix in the wetlands and other marshy areas around the town.

 

Founded in 1851, Port Orford is the oldest town along the coast.  Its population of less than 1500 is not much different than it was in the late 1800s.  In its heyday, Port Orford featured a sawmill that efficiently transformed the old-growth Port Orford Cedars into planking for sailing vessels and later for insect and mildew resistant cedar-shake shingles.  Both the sawmill and the old-growth cedars are gone now, leaving retirement living and tourism as the top two economic engines for the town. 

 

If you are looking to live far away from city life and can accept that the nearest major medical center is in North Bend, almost sixty miles away, Port Orford allows a pace of life and a heavily wooded landscape not often seen in contemporary America.  If you do build or buy there, you might want to check the tsunami map before doing so.  There has been no tsunami lately, but that is no guarantee of future calm waters

 

Unlike coastal areas farther north, the Southern Oregon coast rarely experiences frost, although the area can be windy and rainy in the fall, winter and spring.  During the summer months, the weather can be clear and beautiful.  It can also be overcast and gloomy, but rarely is the area hot, when judged by standards of the inland Western U.S.

 

Viewing the area from the air for the first time can be quite a shock.  What looks like untouched forests, when viewed from ground level, looks like a logger’s paradise from the air.  Often loggers leave only a fringe of untouched forest along the highway.  Forest products are an essential industry in Oregon, but every time I see a load of scraggly and twisted old-growth tree trunks barreling down the highway towards the chip mill, I cringe.

 

With its many coastal state parks, Oregon makes amends for its questionable logging practices.  To its credit, forward thinking Oregonians, such as the 1960s Governor Tom McCall helped pass legislation setting aside most of Oregon’s 363-mile coastline as parkland or open space.  No other coastal state can boast such forward thinking in its use of irreplaceable coastal environments.  Additionally, there are many public campgrounds and private RV parks tucked into the shady groves along Highway 101.

 

If you have an RV and have the time, a trip north or south along Oregon’s Highway 101 is well worth your time.  Just don’t let your engine idle while you wait in line for fuel.

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By James McGillis at 07:58 PM | Environment | Comments (0) | Link

Translate this website from English into any one of twenty-nine languages now - 2008

Translate this website from English into any one of twenty-nine languages now.

 

 

Our website, JamesMcGillis.com announces instantaneous translation into any one of twenty-eight international languages, plus a “text only” version.

 

Languages include Arabic, Bulgarian, Chinese, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Icelandic, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Slovakian, Spanish, Swedish, Tagalong, “Text Only, English” and Turkish.

 

Admittedly, there are large populations not represented here.  For instance, 575 million people speak Hindi or Bengali as their primary language.  Only the lack of an adequate web-based English-to-Bengali (or Hindi) translator prevents their inclusion.  Still, the languages represented at https://jamesmcgillis.com cover 3.5 billion (or 51%) of a current worldwide population of 6.8 billion souls.

 

In order to try our translator, simply click on the flag that represents one of the languages listed above.  Within a few seconds, you will notice a “redirect” of your browser to the selected translation website.  Moments later, you will see the current webpage rendered in your selected language.

 

With some browsers, you may click from language to language, but with others, you may have to select the “Back Button” on your browser to reload the original English language version, from which you can then access any other language flag.

 

If you are a native speaker of any listed language, this should make our website easier to read.  If you are a language student, you now have an interesting way to compare the meaning of any particular word or phrase in another language.

 

Please keep in mind that all such translations are only as good as their vocabulary and syntax editors can make them.  In checking several of the different languages, we found that the common internet vocabulary word “link” translated as “golf course” in several languages.  Although we try to write in simple and direct language, we are sure that bilingual individuals will find some interesting or humorous translations.

 

If you try our language translator, we would love to hear from you about your experience.  To do so, simply click on the “Comments” link at the bottom of this post or the “Email” link you will find there, as well.

 

Author's Note: After I published this article, "Google Translate" made my custom translator obsolete. Now you may translate any article on this website from English to any other popular language. To do so, simply click on the "Select a Language" drop-down menu at the top of this page. Then, select a language and start reading this website in the language of your choice.

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Welcome to My Yacht... Marina del Rey 2008

 

Welcome to My Yacht...

 

Occasionally, we see a manufactured object that is truly amazing.  Last week, at Marina del Rey in Los Angeles we saw the motor yacht Princess Mariana.  With an overall length of 252 feet she is arguably the largest private yacht ever to visit Marina Del Rey.

 

Although some might see her as the ultimate in conspicuous consumption, her lines and form are so pleasing to the eye that one cannot help but be impressed when she is in view.  With a top speed of eighteen knots, she is not a fast yacht, but even at dockside, she appears to be moving forward.

 

If you Google the name “Princes Mariana”, you will find many websites with detailed information about "The Princess", so I will not provide that information here.  However, according to Power & Motoryacht, she is in the forty-second largest private yacht in the world.

 

Last Sunday, we happened to be near her mooring at the Marina del Rey gas dock when she executed a turning maneuver.  Although it took quite a while to cast off her many dock lines, the 180° turn took only a few minutes.  From our vantage point, we were able to view her from every angle.

 

Although most of us will not experience the pleasure of having twenty-six crew members servicing only twelve guests, watching from afar was pleasure enough for us.  After we had our fill, we returned to our own personal yacht, WindSong.  With an overall length of 35 feet, WindSong is seven feet shorter than Princess Mariana’s beam.  However, WindSong carries no loan or mortgage.

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By James McGillis at 04:15 PM | Personal Articles | Comments (0) | Link

"They Took Out All The Trees and Put Them in a Tree Museum" - 2008

"They Took Out All The Trees and Put Them in a Tree Museum"

 

On July 21, 2008, a dry lightning storm of unprecedented size and activity swept over much of Northern California, igniting over 1000 separate wildfires throughout the area.  Within two days, the smoke had drifted as far south as Los Angeles and affected air quality throughout the Western U.S.  By July 25, 2008, there were over 12,000 people working to suppress these fires.

 

On July 28, 2008, we headed north from Simi Valley, (home of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library) to Red Bluff, California, a distance of 500 miles.  While descending “The Grapevine” on California Highway 99, we encountered smoky haze far thicker than that we had seen in L.A.  As we transitioned to Interstate I-5 North, the visibility dropped to less than ten miles.  The farther we traveled, the thicker the smoke became, reaching as low as three miles visibility.

 

The following day our eyes were dry and our throats felt like we had smoked cigars all night.  Reaching Medford, Oregon in the afternoon, we discovered that the smoke had preceded us there, as well.  When, we asked, would our lungs get the opportunity to breathe freely?

 

Later that day, we proceeded southwest on U.S. Highway 199, heading back into California, as we traveled.  By early evening, we had reached our destination, Jedediah Smith Redwood State Park.  

 

Jedediah Smith was a mountain man and explorer of what later became known as the Spanish Trail, crossing the Mojave Desert at Needles, California.  On his 1827 trek, before reaching Los Angeles, Jed turned north and explored the San Joaquin and Sacramento Valleys, both of which we had traveled through just the day before.  Smith’s status as the first white man to explore the Oregon, California border area earned him such immortality as the naming of a state park affords.

 

The Smith River, which is the last major free flowing river in California, bisects the park’s old growth coastal redwood ecosystem.  Almost all of the parkland is watershed for the Smith River and Mill Creek, one of its major tributaries.

 

Upon arriving at the park our first feelings were of relief.  The dense redwood forest limits one’s view, so if there was smoke in the area, we could not see it.  It was a case of “Out of sight, out of mind”, as the saying goes. 

 

Unlike other more arid western forests, a coastal redwood forest retains a great deal of moisture.  Although little rain falls in summer months, fog often envelopes the coastal valleys and river canyons.  Directly absorbing much of that moisture, allow coastal redwoods to grow taller than capillary action alone would allow.  Some of the moisture that is not directly absorbed by the redwoods drips from their branches, thus replenishing the local groundwater.

 

Another factor in our respiratory relief was the effect of photosynthesis, which removes carbon dioxide from the air and replaces it with life giving oxygen.  When one reflects on the sheer mass of plant life in an old growth coastal redwood forest, it becomes obvious that it is a very efficient scrubber of what we call “greenhouse gases” and an equally proficient oxygen generator.

 

According to scientists, the oxygen content of Earth’s atmosphere peaked at around 35%, during the Permo-Carboniferous period.  With current oxygen levels at around 21%, one wonders how much oxygen depletion may have occurred on Earth during our current industrial age.  Although my evidence is anecdotal, the sweet, clean air of this forest elevated our moods and made everything seem all right with the world.

 

Unique to the Northern California coastal strip, these redwoods are a relic of vast forests that covered much of the temperate zones of the U.S. West Coast and Asian East Coast.  As such, they are a living museum of the way life used to flourish on Gaia, our Mother Earth.  Older than any living thing, other than the ancient Bristlecone pines of the White Mountains in Eastern California, the coastal redwoods appeal to us visually through their magnificent size.  Not only among the oldest living things, at up to 378 feet, they may also be the tallest trees on Earth.

 

Although the battle to save the redwoods is not a politically hot topic today, when Ronald Reagan successfully ran for Governor of California in 1966, it was.  Although he did not say, “When you’ve seen one redwood, you’ve seen them all”, he did say, “I mean, if you’ve looked at 100,000 acres or so, of trees – you know, a tree is a tree; how many more do you need to look at”.  In 1967, as governor, he visited an old growth coastal redwood grove and said, “I saw them; there is nothing beautiful about them, just that they are a little higher than the others”. 

 

The king of the conservatives was obviously not the darling of conservationists.  With Reagan’s stubborn refusal to help protect these unique and special trees, loggers felled all but the last three percent of the old growth coastal redwood forests during the balance of his life.  Although his lack of environmental consciousness does not make him a villain, I would like to know what we gained by destroying most of that unique environment, other than some nice looking redwood decks some short-term profit for the forest products industry.

 

As Joni Mitchell sang in the 1970 song, Big Yellow Taxi,

• “They took all the trees and put them in a tree museum. 
• Then they charged the people a dollar and a half just to see 'em. 
• Don't it always seem to go, that you don't know what you’ve got ‘Til it’s gone?”. 

As it turns out, the coastal redwoods are not all gone and it is free to see these forest giants at Jedediah Smith Redwood State Park.  Its verdant groves are the best place on this Earth that I know to take a deep breathe and feel at peace with All that Is.

 

As it turned out, the coastal redwoods are not all gone and it is free to see these forest giants at Jedediah Smith Redwood State Park.  Its verdant groves are the best place on this Earth that I know to take a deep breathe and feel at peace with All that Is.

 

As a postscript to this article, The Los Angeles Times reported on July 31, 2008 that "the Mendocino Redwood Co. (controlled by the founding family of Gap Inc.) paid more than $550 million to creditors (of Maxxam Inc.) to gain control of 210,000 acres of timberlands in Humboldt County, California and a sawmill owned by (Maxxam's subsidiary) Pacific Lumber, which filed for bankruptcy protection in January 2007".

 

In 2008, the Gap Inc. website declared,  "Our business operations rely on our planet’s natural resources. We believe that our success should not come at the expense of the environment, so we strive to operate in a way that is mindful of long-term environmental sustainability."  

 

Author's Note: By 2015, the above quote had disappeared from the Gap, Inc. website. Has a gap developed between Gap Inc.'s founding family's promise to "walk the walk", or will they simply "talk the talk". 

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By James McGillis at 02:13 PM | Environment | Comments (0) | Link