Changing Myself, for the Sake of Changing Myself

I'm not here to change myself for the world.

I am here to change myself for myself.

I am here to live in 100% integrity and divine love.

I am here to not hurt my surroundings but to be an inspiration and a benefit.

I refuse to give up.

I refuse to stop talking.

I refuse to die, without having said, "I did the absolute best, that I could have done, to live in truth, integrity and divine compassion"

This is my life purpose.

Most Eco-friendly Careers

This list may not be as comprehensive as it could be.. so feel free to add a comment and continue on..

Land Based Careers:

1. Wild Food Forager-

That is, as long as you are leaving enough of the product behind that its able to still reproduce and keep at the same numbers that it has always been, or even better that its population is able to grow even while you are collecting whatever you are collecting. 

This is local, it requires you to use your observation skills, you are obtaining nutritionaly superior foods, above anything in the grocery store, you are adding to people's knowledge of local wild foods, to their health and attracting interest to conservation of local wilderness.  Great job! 

2. Vegan, Chemical free Farmer -
You are an amazing example to the world that it is possible.  You are free of toxic residue on your plants and in your soils.  You are off the hook from being blamed for degraded water quality.  In fact your site serves as a water purifier with all of your green plants and organic compost piles.  You are not contributing to animal suffering, hopefully you are using as many wild local plant varieties as possible, to reduce your need to interfere too much with the process.  You are supporting your local community by giving them excellent non contaminated food options, teaching them the importance of local, organic, toxic free food! 

3. Sustainable Land Designer-
Permaculture consultants, Eco-village creators, Green City Designers, etc.  These careers, help everyone become more aware of the land that they are using and how to best incorporate wild life aspects into their development.  How can we spend less money, work with nature, use less energy, be more connected, have a better community, etc.  What are the ways in which we can integrate with our surroundings in a more peaceful way! 

4.Professional Tree Planter-
You may or may not be able to be paid for this one, unless you make a NGO or you are involved in planting trees for people's excess carbon points.  There are places in the world, who will provide you food and shelter (this would be for long term volunteers > 1 year) for merely planting trees and helping in water conservation work. 
http://sadhanaforest.org/wp/volunteers/

5. Ecological Restoration-
There is amazing work being done in this field at the moment, Paul Stamets has written an incredible book, "Mycelium Running"  He hosts workshops worldwide on mushroom cultivation and how to remediate toxic soils with these methods.  Recently he has gained a lot of recognition from the government as well as a variety of Universities.  Check out his work:
http://www.fungi.com/blog/items/fungi-perfecti-brings-mycorestoration-to-south-africa.html

http://www.fungi.com/blog/items/mycofiltration-for-urban-storm-water-treatment-receives-epa-research-and-development-funding.html

Healers and Teachers

6..  Energy Healer -
The great thing about this, is that absolutely no medicine, or lengthy scary treatment is needed for this!  Everyone feels more relaxed and at ease because of it, and nothing has been injected, no scary side effects and no contaminents contributed to the water supply.. awesome!

7. Nutritional Health Coach-
Teaching people the miracles of food!  How wonderful, showing them it's possible to reverse multiple disorders from food alone!  Teaching them the wonders of plant based foods, and vegetable juices! 

8. Chiropractors - 
Are probably one of the most sustainable doctors around, they are actually trained more in nutrition and anatomy than your family physician!  Simple adjustments can go a long way and can reduce significantly your need for medicine! Wonderful :)

9. Therapist, Life Coach, Counselor-
All you need is a room, and a voice or an ear or a mind to comprehend what is being said and maybe some helpful advice or a bit of compassion for the other.  You are helping the world in a very simple way!  It's great!


Teachers who get you active!

10. Yoga Teacher -
Assuming you are providing eco-friendly mats, this is a very wholesome career!  Teaching people how to come into themselves and be more loving as well as flexible!  Learning to listen to their own bodies and build strength and wonder through simple movements, this is a fascinating discipline and always something beautiful to learn!  Thank you for the work you do! 

11.  Hula Hoop Instructor -
Assuming that you use spent pieces of pipe for your hula hoop??  This is just fun.  It gets you in shape, it gets you, again, more in tuned with your body.  This is an awesome way to spend your time, it means less time online or watching TV.  Way to be :) 

12.  Dance and Exercise Instructors
Same thing, assuming that they have eco-friendly costumes and props, this is an awesome career.  Getting people moving and active, connecting more with themselves and their inner creativity and energy. Wonderful!

Artists

13. Local Singers
Support your local artists!  They bring so much beauty to our world.  You don't have to travel to see them, they don't have to travel to see you!  It builds community and if the crowd are all of your neighbors in a local hub- most likely a microphone won't even be needed. 

14. Sculpturers and Designers
I'm talking about those who are using re-usable, recylable materials - or even better those items that would have been classified as waste.   Spent plastic forks or knives...
http://www.amusingplanet.com/2011/06/recycled-plastic-sculptures-by-sayaka.html

Green Technology

15. Small scale, green technology for home and business use. 
Sometimes the effectiveness of using huge plots of land for solar or wind energy, is depleted as the local wild life diminishes as a result.  Its about being integrated with nature not obstructing nature.  Granted alternative energy is better than fossil fuels, but in order to make most use of it, it needs to be on a small scale.  Solar paneled roofs and energy efficient building techniques.

16.  Natural home builders
- how about a home made of clay?  In a place that gets hot, this is a wonderful way to keep your home cool! 

17. Green Tech Inventors
Make sure all parts are sustainably sourced and you are good to go!  How about a solar powered blender?  The more green gadgets we have the better off!  The less we consume unsustainably from the grid. 

Commercial , Political Advertising, Politics
 I don' think this kind of a job exists as of yet.  But it needs to!

18. Wild Native food, Vegetable Lobbyists and Campaigners
Stick with me on this one.  Right now, we have a ginormous Milk and Meat Industry and Insurance and Pharmaceutical industry which are pretty much running the country.  We need people whipping up incredible advertisements on the healing benefits of plant foods.  The wonders of the natural world, throwing buckets of money at political leaders to save  beautiful wild places, listen to indigenous people of the world, fund organic vegetables, non-gmo produce, local vegan farmers!! This would be amazing.  Fund tv shows like: Reversing Diabetes the natural way, How to meditate, 60 days on a juice fast! Best green technology of 2013, how to make your car run on algae oil - how to make your own algae oil (check out my previous blog on sustainable technologies :) )
If there is a will there is a way.  Maybe it can start out as an NGO and gain enough momentum and popularity to become the biggest lobby in the nation.. :)

19. Environmental Policy Maker/Anyone in office who can vote for environmental causes, or create change.
Unsustainability is so interwoven into our system at this point, it's going to take much more than just individual efforts to make an impact  (Unless every person literally moves to an eco-village in a place where there are no government taxes, spends their time developing ecosystems, never visits a government regulated hospital or restaurant - however the likelihood of this happening is.. definitely less than 0%).  The truth is, that the majority of the population (at least in USA) believe in the way we do things, and even if they don't, they are 95% clueless how to make it any different, and frankly, afraid of it becoming different.  It's important not only to have personal commitment, but also a commitment from our government to transition to eco-friendlier policies.
For example I was thinking just about plastic.  Many people have switched over to canvas bags.  And every bag, makes a huge difference.  However, even if everyone in their personal lives decides to omit plastic from their lives.  We cannot escape the reality of our 'hygenic' codes and laws in our restaurants and hospitals, which states we have to use plastic.  In restaurants in America, you are required by law when handling food, that the food handler must wear plastic gloves, and every time that person switches a task they have to throw away those gloves, wash their hands and put on a different pair of plastic gloves.  I watched an interview of this guy who said he typically would wash his hands 25x in  day!! That is a lot of plastic gloves we are shifting through.  That is only 1 guy in 1 restaurant.  How about all of the people who work in the food industry as well as hospitals where they have similar codes.  How can we develop technology to help us use less plastic - and more re-usable wear and sanitary items.  We need people working in places in the government to help make these new kinds of codes and vote for them.


Cross-Cultural Affairs

20. Translator/Anthropologist
This is a big one. Currently we are living in a world where it is cheaper to buy a product which was designed in USA, assembled in China-with parts coming from mines located in 4 different countries, packaged in England, and distributed from Chicago, then it is to buy something made by a local artisan in your town.  We all know that we live in a fully connected globalized world, but we don't allow ourselves to really become too involved with what it means to those countries making the products for us or what it means for our own country.  We still have pride in "our" nation, whatever that Nation may be, and we hardly make an effort to learn a second language - if English is our own.  Many Americans say that English is the language of USA, and that others should learn it before they come.  However, if we were to be a little more politically correct, perhaps we should be learning the languages of the native Americans who were here before us.  The more we can understand, different cultures fully and wholeheartedly, the more we can work together and care about the same things.  Instead of only caring whether or not a landfill is created right next to our home, the more we learn about other people around the globe and the trials they face, the more we will care if a landfill is put right next to their home.  We live an absolutely interconnected world, the more we can understand each other, the better.  The more sustainable we will end up being. 

Professional Sports
Not all sports are created equal.  After a good amount of time thinking, I came to the most sustainable sport being,

21. Surfers
- No park is needed, not too much of crazy equipment or energy needed - perhaps a part from a ride to the beach - which could be done on a algae oil bus?? :)
-The only needed equipment is a surfboard and a swimsuit - both can be eco-friendly made:
http://www.faeriesdance.com/swimwear-c-25_13.html
http://www.btcelements.com/products/?view=sub_product&sid=2498&cid=391
http://www.firewiresurfboards.com/news/firewire-launches-new-sustainable-surfboards-verified-by-sustainable-surf/

22. Street Skaters
- Hey no carbon usage in the use!  Get around for free :) 
again no parks need to be made and ecofriendly boards are available:
http://inhabitat.com/bamboosk8-eco-friendly-skate-decks/

23. Chin lone-
Check out this amazing Myanmar sport.  It reminds me of a jazzed up, meditative version of hacky sack.  They need a small soccer-like ball and a people standing in a circle.  It's beautiful to watch, and it can be done anywhere :)  It's not about winning or losing, but how beautifully the game is played. 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nnB42yX-kA

If the environment needs to be altered too much for the sport to take place.. I would say its a no go. 
 

Football, soccer, even snowboarding take a lot of resources to maintain environments in a certain way.. not to mention golf.  They can also leave behind quite the consuming trail - from out of towners and everyone knows the kind of junk eaten on game days! 

NGO's -- And these aren't necessarily green, but if the management is done right, they can definitely be green and wonderful additions to all communities.

24. Animal Sanctuaries
Taking in abandoned animals and nursing them back to health

25. Orphanages
Taking care of those who have no homes

Choosing between more Education and more Experience

So I have been in this sort of toss up for a while.  Especially after getting married.  My husband is an inspirational teacher, so he is often on the road, and I'm often on the road with him.  He teaches in the States, Europe, Australia, different parts of Asia and of course across India.  It's fun travelling with him, but I do feel I've become a bit idle when it comes to the work that I feel really passionate about.  Which is green communities and creating green communities.  I love every aspect of it, from the idea of reinvigorating old buildings to become new thriving works of art, to reinvigorating areas of town to become the new cool centers.  Through a variety of means but mainly creating green spaces, community gardens and not to be without strips and patches of native plant communities to support wildlife-wildlife coordidoors :).

This is would include patio gardens, rooftop gardens, native and food plants filling the streets and windows.  Fruiting vining plants up sides of buildings.  Buildings built in perhaps more pyramid-like shapes in order to support more plants!  Banning vehicles in certain parts of town, more walking centers, more bicycle friendly roads.

Reinvigorating our soils, I would love to learn remediation techniques where toxins can be broken down to harmless particles.  The book, Mycelium Running, by Paul Stamets is excellent!  He talks about how mushrooms can break down different sorts of petroleum compounds into safe substances!  Even some of the mushrooms once grown in petroleum filled soil, have been tested safe for consumption!  (please don't try this at home, because I can't remember the exact details of the exact experiment, but it shows the potential possibility of how bioremediation could really benefit our lands!)

Not only remediating our soils, but taking care of it in such a way that it can thrive!

Of course, in places which are colder, building structures - green greenhouses.  Meaning no fossil fuels are used, but perhaps natural building techniques combined with efficient water recycling systems and perhaps solar panels.- just some ideas.

Creating a culture where nothing is thrown away, everything can be either washed and reused or composted.  Containers which are composted, are only made from sustainably harvested materials, and nothing is really produced on a large scale.

Because of the healthy soils and plants which would inundate the cities, the air would be fresh and clear.  There would also be many greywater gardens, and either natural or man-made wetlands in order to naturally filter our water.  Clean water and foods (from plants!)  would be available to all.

Buildings would be made of natural materials, and everyone would learn in school about taking care of soils, plants and natural buildings.

Everyone would then have full access to food, clean water, and shelter.

This would free up ALOT of time.  We could dedicate our lives to creativity, connection and not taking life too seriously.

We could share in each others gifts, hand made bamboo clothes, beautiful music, dancing, poems  sharing of stories and the playing of many games, as well as playing in natures abundance (haha am I a total hippie or what?) swimming in clean water, climbing trees, etc.

Welcome to my dream world!! I hope you enjoyed it :).

Anyway back to reality.

I went off on a slight tangent, but my point in this, is that my interests are focused yet.. I mean come on for me to learn all the details of how to create everything I just listed above.. well it may or may not be realistic but haha I guess that's what dreams are for, right??

And of course there is another slight addition to everything above, of course this is from my perception.  But I do believe all of our health problems today are because we've really lost touch with joy in our lives. We've lost touch of that connection to ourselves, to our community, to our lands and animals.  We have lost touch with wholesome food - both physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually.

I believe that if we can start taking steps towards more wholesome environments, we too can become healthy.  Atleast a little more than what we are today, with all of the flying figures of terminal diseases and what not we have today.

So, see how many tangents I have a tendency to go off on?

My point is, after many circles of where I should focus my energies, what should I learn first.  I feel that what I have boiled it down to is soil science -agroecology.

Before I have a chance to live in my perfect little world (the descriptions found above)  I live in this one.  And I would love the opportunity to learn a little more in depth about why soils function the way they do, and what are the best ways we can make them healthy?  Once soil becomes healthy, then everything that comes out of the soil must also be healthy?  Right?

It may or may not be true, but I would love to learn more about it.  I would love to be able to visit these organic farms and understand more indepth why they have the certain pest problems they do, how they can adjust their farming practices to enable their plants more resiliency for the challenge of climate change.  Right now, we have a lack of people really skillfull in this area, in developing and planning landscapes to be healthier and more productive- in a sustainable way!

- And of course, I always have ideas and thoughts about why certain plants are not growing well, etc, and ideas for change, but whether or not that is the BEST solution, I can't know for sure.

I have thought so much about whether or not college is the best option, or if just experimenting on my own is better or picking up jobs with people who are really doing awesome work.  But what happens is, I see that I end up not really pushing myself to learn as much as I could.  I buy a lot of books, I am always reading, but the retention of knowledge is sometimes there and sometimes isn't.  And of course, I end up travelling a lot, which doesn't really help in my will to really sit down and study one thing for a long time.

So I feel pretty strongly at this point to go back to school.

However, I'm thinking of going back to school in the states, and currently I am in India.

Which does create a bit of turmoil inside of me.  Because there are a lot of really amazing things happening in India at the moment.  For example, I've recently met someone who is an amazing vegan chef and together we make an awesome team!  And she is really into this idea of working together and creating a vegan business, hehe I even shared our menu on this blog.  We do have amazing food if you all are interested in us delivering :), our prices are negotiable as well.

We are also really into sustainability, so if we start something, I want to make sure all of the containers we use are reusable.  If we open a restaurant, I want to invest as soon as possible in alternative energy, grow our own food... etc etc.  It would absolutely be an amazing place.

As of now, I feel this kinda pull.  Is it possible to do both?  (go back to school in utah plus have this business in India .. lol)

The edge of a decision!! The funny thing is I'm about knee deep in both options at the moment.  I've already been corresponding with the school back in Utah, they are expecting my application, and I have already started my application, everything.  And I have been working with my friend on vegan healthy foods and selling stuff- which has been a lot of fun.

hehe. What to do.

But I realized one thing, I learned something really nice from my dear husband, whatever advice you try to give others, is actually only meant for yourself.  So haha of course, like usual my mind was playing over a conversation from another time, and I felt like I had just found the solution to one of my friends problems.. LOL i know right, pretty pathetic... but I turned it around.. and decided to apply it to my situation.

I've been feeling a bit stuck in my current situation.  I think because I am not fully involved/dedicated really in anything, and it's difficult for me to become fully involved in anything because I have a tendency to want to be involved in EVERYTHING.

I keep expecting an external environment to grant me freedom, to be soooo appealing to me that I do dive in head first.  I want to be free of this stagnation I have been feeling.

but only WE can grant OURSELVES the freedom.  It has nothing to do with our external situations.

Ugh, tough lesson to learn.  India is good at teaching those ones!

Anyway the thought that I am the only one actually in control of my freedom was relieving.
I guess the point is, I can be happy no matter what I do.  I can be happy no matter what the outcome is.

I can appreciate and love the world just the way it is.  I can appreciate and love myself just the way I am.

Nothing needs to change in order for me to be happy.

and in this, my freedom is granted.

I can still apply for the school.  I can be honest with the people around me about how I feel.  I can still put my all into vegan cooking as long as I am still in India.  And I can leave the rest to fate.

And I can still be free.

And I can still be happy.

SO thanks guys for listening to my internal discussions on whether I should go back to school or not!!

Hehe come again. :)