The Environment

The Alchemist

An icon of popular culture and still working at the musical frontiers, Peter Gabriel continues to have the Midas touch wherever he lays his hands. Founder of the WOMAD music festivals,enthusiastic supporter of humanitarian projects and with a growing family to bring up, he is the most earthly of men. Kate Osborne uncovers a vibrant, creative and compassionate soul. Why is Kindred Spirit devoting a feature to a hugely successful commercial talent from the music industry, you may ask. Well, if this helps to awaken wisdom in those seeking enlightenment, so much the better. The main reason why …

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Riding High with Rapanui

Through time immemorial, it has been the habit of the older generation to disapprove of the younger generation. Among one of the most common gripes that current oldieslevel at youngsters is that they are too materialistic and are not as motivated or as passionate about political or world issues as we were in our day. Claire Gillman has come across a pair of young men who are about to make us old grumpies eat our words. The couple in question are two brothers from the Isle of Wight, Rob and Mart Drake-Knight, and their brain-child is Rapanui Clothing, an organic and sustainable clothing …

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A Climate for Co-operation

Can we really lessen the effects of climate change if we remain a set of self-interested states working in isolation or is global cooperation the only solution for a stable climate? Cheryl Jenkins explores the answers… As I was taking the recycling out this morning it struck me that there are so many factors that influence to what degree our actions will reduce the warming that is predicted by climate experts – how do we know how much of a difference we’re actually making? We carry on about our disparate lives putting faith in the governments of the world to set the …

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Ostara - The Spring Awakening

After the cold and frost of winter he earth is warming, plants and shoots of the wild are emerging and coming into leaf, animals are preparing for the birth of their young, and in the countryside farmers are getting ready to plant the year's crops. Moira Stirland celebrates the awakening of the natural world. The spring equinox, on either March 20 or 21, is the Pagan festival of Ostara. The equinox marks the time when night and day are equal in length and the days will begin to lengthen from now until the summer solstice in June. Also known as Eostre or Eastre, Ostara is the Anglo-Saxon …

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The Natural Mind

Our environment is being rapidly destroyed. We are experiencing a widespread, global crisis of unprecedented proportions: climate disruption, global warming, and vanishing rainforests, along with their precious biodiversity. We are now in the midst of the sixth major species extinction since life began on our planet. Through science and engineering, our civilization has developed awesome technologies of destruction (some intentional, some not). Potent nuclear and biological weapons threaten the survival of our species, and much of the rest of Nature. People are alienated from Nature. To …

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Sun Screen

Nicola Flanagan joins Jerry Morgan, proprietor of the Groovy Movie Picture House, to celebrate 10 years of delivering an eco-friendly, eco-conscious cinematic experience The excited chatter softens to a low murmur. The lights go down and the screen lights up, bringing the magic of the silver screen to life. This is not the local Odeon. This is the Groovy Movie Picture House, the world’s first mobile solar powered cinema. We are eating cake not popcorn, drinking tea not soda, and we lounge on coconut mats. In the 10 years since its birth, the GMPH has become a much loved feature of …

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Ringing The Changes

If we were asked to replace our electronic goods every year we would be horrified but we make an exception for our mobile phone. Designed to last ten years, they are changed every 18 months creating vast un-recycled waste, say Claire Gillman. As a result of our thirst for frequent mobile upgrades, out-of-fashion handsets are thrown away at a rate of 100 million a year in Europe alone. With less than 20% being recycled, mobiles are becoming a significant source of un-recycled waste. In January 2007 new European-wide regulations regarding the disposal of waste electrical and electronic …

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Living Lightly on the Earth....

When Dawn Eagle Woman brings her transformational healing work to the UK she leaves behind a major eco building project. Following a spirit-guided endeavour to live in harmony with nature, in accordance with Native American tradition, Dawn Eagle and her husband Brian White are building a house from recycled materials, powered only by nature, in her native Wyoming, high in the mountains between Laramie and Cheyenne. A gifted healer, drawing on her own deep spiritual experience, from shamanic healing to psychoanalytic theory, to weave a …

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