The Green Flash

Greetings Green Ones,

I happily invite you to spend some time with us this Saturday and Sunday afternoon, Feb. 27th and 28th, 2021 enjoying The Power of Collective Climate Action. Hosted by Citizens’ Climate Lobby, it promises to enlighten, educate, and empower your environmental work. Brimming with a lineup of great speakers including 3 sitting Congress Members: Mike Levin, Lou Correa, Mark DeSaulnier, and Irvine’s Mayor Farrah Khan. No matter where you are in the U.S., or whether your focus is on Youth Action, Environmental Justice, Engaging the Economy, Business, Labor, Communicating with Progressives, Conservatives, or beyond, peruse the extensive 2-day program and hop onto whatever topics most interest you.

Check it out and register HERE. Also, please make sure to tune in for this Sunday’s 3:15 pm Breakout (Track 1) where I’ll be speaking on… Magnifying Your Message – Harnessing Media Opportunities Getting priceless news coverage is easier than you think. Whether you’re working to save our climate by putting a price on carbon, lessening plastic pollution, supporting community choice energy, or any other worthy environmental endeavor, we want to help you succeed in magnifying your message in a BIG way! Let’s enlist broadcast media to win hearts and minds, increase public awareness, and make miracles together. Join us for an inspiring session that will expand your skills whether you’re wooing Congress, broadcast media, or your new best friend.

As always, I’m grateful for the noble work you do! – Eve Simmons

If you know anyone who is wavering about who to vote for in the upcoming presidential election, please send them this excellent, well sourced, new article from the New York Times. It demonstrably shows how President Trump has turned the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency into a wrecking ball to our environment. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/climate/trump-environment-rollbacks-list.html

It’s not easy to cope right now, so for those of you who are holding the light during the apocalypse…

My family is lucky. We live in an urban oasis with glorious west facing views from the front of our home. They extend to almost every room in the house. But from the south side, not so much, and that was depressing. There’s lots of necessary asphalt, neighbors trash cans, many cars and an RV. It may seem trifling considering the times we’re living in, but because our home has long served as a sanctuary for me, those unpleasant views had challenged my positive outlook – literally. Finally, a solution presented itself. My husband recently retired and one of his hobbies is crafting stained glass. I designed a simple pattern with nautical bevels, clear water-glass and a ribbon of color around the edges. Tom executed it beautifully. Now, instead of feeling frustration and anger about views beyond my control, I’m transported by prisms of sparkling light, light that was always there, it was only my perspective that has shifted. Our vista isn’t completely obscured, just softened. I know exactly what lies beyond, but appreciation becomes my main focus. I’ve accepted what I couldn’t change, the ugliness, and enlisted help with changing the things I could, for the better. There’s truth on both sides of the glass, but with a bit of creativity and determination, my gaze now lies upon the beauty, the serenity, the light. It seems a good analogy for coping with life these days. If you’re feeling this world’s a mess, grieving over what’s lost, I hear you, I feel your pain. And then I surrender to the joy. So do what you can to make a positive difference, appreciate your own good work and those who’ve helped along the way, then look for the beauty in yourself and in any given situation. Remember the water-glass, and let that soak into your soul.

Don’t miss this rare, free, live opportunity to Zoom with renowned climate scientist Dr. Michael Mann, on Thursday, July 9th, 4 pm PST. This event is brought to you by my good friends at North County Climate Change Alliance.

Register now while spots are still available. You can even submit a question to Dr. Mann.

Have you ever gone through a difficult or painful experience and later realized the positive lessons you’d gained by going through that particular challenge? Perhaps you’ve grown into a more insightful, wiser, stronger, or kinder version of yourself. You may have become more compassionate to others who’ve experienced similar difficulties. You’ve gained a deeper understanding of why you suffered through a certain situation.

If you’re feeling discouraged about the climate crisis, trust me, I know your pain – I’ve lived with it for 30 years. Or you may be experiencing a whole host of unsettled feelings because of this pandemic. Either way, your aching for Mother Earth, for Humanity and Nature, reflects your awareness and compassion, THANK YOU.

Lately we’ve been reminded to wash our hands frequently. What if, when we do this, we also mentally clear our thoughts of negativity? We can “wash away” fear, resentment, anxiety, etc., and cleanse our energy by relaxing into love.

Look, I know it’s a big ask to hold the Light right now, to hum along in a vibration of LOVE. But YOU, coming from a place of Love, Appreciation, and Joy, are exactly what the world needs right now – and perhaps it’s exactly what YOU need right now too.

Scientific historian Naomi Oreskes makes the case beautifully… again. Partnering this time, with Harvard’s Erik M. Conway, they lay out why we find ourselves so very unprepared for this pandemic at the federal (and sometimes state) level. “You’re not the boss of me.” anti big government, anti science, anti experts rhetoric was fostered in the Reagan era. Our 40th president may have possessed an avuncular charm, but his backwards thinking has left a legacy of pain. Here’s the link to this excellent, short, Los Angeles Times article.

Those that think, “I’ll be damned if anyone’s going to tell me what to do.”, may get their wish.

https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2020-04-09/op-ed-trumps-coronavirus-failures-thank-ronald-reagan

NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo is navigating the COVD19 crisis with courage, compassion, and common sense. My personal favorite recent phrase of his is a philosophy that we can all employ… “Love wins”.

Though our collective mood may be understandably gloomy, it’s essential that we try to focus on the positive whenever we can. This boosts our immune systems and improves our mental health. There is much to be grateful for and any silver lining is an opportunity to raise our consciousness.

“Everything is energy, that’s all there is to it. Match the frequency of the reality you want, and you cannot help but get that reality. It can be no other way. This is not philosophy, this is physics.” Albert Einstein

Be well, save lives by staying home (whenever possible), and be glad to be alive. Our world is better with you in it.

The climate movement lost a magnificent hero last Friday, December 27th. Marshall Saunders, the founder and president of Citizens’ Climate Lobby passed away after a long fought illness.

To me, Marshall was the “Mr. Rogers of Climate”. Like Fred Rogers, Marshall believed wholeheartedly in kindness, inclusivity, and in finding the goodness in everyone. Marshall and Fred were both such wise, gentle, and optimistic father figures, and both embodied a tenacity for fairness. And much like Mr. Rogers, Mr. Saunders leaves behind an enormous legacy of inspired and uplifted souls. I’m so grateful to be one of them. Every day Marshall modeled a life well-lived. His influence and ability to bring together disparate voices to work together on the climate crisis and empower citizen activism on a large scale, was nothing short of miraculous. He was, and still is, an Angel among us.