I simply love it when I am in the presence of organically responsible folks who allow nature to provide the means to care for ourselves in a manner which speaks to my ecolological personality. I am a firm believer in growing and producing our own products to enhance our lifestyles in a natural manner which does not take away from the land, or the environment. Why would I pay extra money to import a product which could be produced right in my own backyard? Each of us are responsible for the impact we have on this planet and our carbon footprint is the legacy we leave our future generations. I would like my own presence to blend in with nature as much as possible.

I truly delight in finding treasures which bring me the quality I seek, and I am quite positive the sustainable wool apparel which can be found at Ramblers Way Farm brings a great natural energy into the making of their natural wool products. This is a generational, family owned eco-friendly business, who appear to exemplify the high standards of ecologically friendly business ethics I look for on a daily basis. I am excited to try a sample of this next-to-skin soft material which is grown and made right here on American soil. The humane practices of this family impress me with the love and care they have for the sheep, in not treating them simply as a commodity, yet as fellow creatures who deserve respect in dwelling beside us on this planet.

I would never compromise quality for quantity, and I love the lasting quality of wool. Wool is a natural, renewable fiber with multiple uses, and truly is a complex fiber with properties for superior insulation, water repellency, water absorption and odor control. Wool naturally resists wrinkling and soiling, and is flame resistant. At Ramblers Way Farm, the wool garments are natural, non-synthetic, and chemical-free.

At Ramblers Way

What makes our worsted wool products sustainable?

On our American Farms
~ We use organic, no-till, and best management practices.
~ We protect wildlife habitat and preserve critical ecosystems.

For our Sheep
~ Our sheep breed and lamb naturally, graze rotationally.
~ We use gentle combs and humane handling systems when shearing and sorting.
~ We employ trained animals to protect and move our flocks.

In our Manufacturing
~ We partner with Rambouillet sheep farmers only in America
~ Our environmentally-sensitive enzyme wash is a chlorine-free, patented treatment.
~ We use minimal packaging, made from reclaimed materials that are compostable and recyclable.
~ We generate our own renewable solar and geothermal energy.
~ We use bio-fuels in our trucks and tractors.

For the Community
~ We give 10% of our profits and 5% of our paid time back to our community.
~ We create worsted wool from natural, renewable fibers that are durable and non-toxic.
~ We connect American farms with American manufacturing, we invigorate local economies.
~ We preserve open space, farmland, and working landscapes.
~ We are web-based, connecting with our customers, with low-impact on the environment.

Wow! This really tells me a lot about this family owned business. Sound, environmentally responsible business ethics, coupled with a eco-friendly product my family can really use makes this a company I would absolutely delight in doing business with! I love to share these rare and wonderful finds, and hope this helps those of like mind in finding that which makes this Life a unique and blessed experience.

Wilderness protection for Oregon’s Yellowstone

By Guest Columnist
April 19, 2010, 7:00AM
By Erik Fernandez

The Siskiyou Wild Rivers area in southwest Oregon is one of the most important and unique natural areas in the state. Sadly, as The Oregonian editorial board recently pointed out it’s also one of the most threatened.

As the largest, most intact and most biologically diverse wild area in the state, the Siskiyous are Oregon’s very own Yellowstone. Known historically for healthy salmon runs, the region is gaining an unfortunate reputation of late for anything-goes mining. Congress and the Obama administration need to act to ensure that this natural treasure receives the protection it deserves.

Southwest Oregon has a history of mineral extraction, but we need to ask ourselves if harmful mining should take place in one of the most sensitive natural areas in Oregon. Should diesel-powered suction dredges be set loose to excavate critical spawning habitat for steelhead and chinook and coho salmon?

This isn’t the first time this corner of our state faced threats from harmful extractive industries. And those who care about clean water, wildlife and quiet recreation haven’t always been able to beat back misguided schemes.

In 1994 Congress green-lighted logging without laws with the infamous “salvage rider.” When President Bill Clinton signed the salvage rider, many acres of ancient forest in the Siskiyou Wild Rivers were toppled by chainsaws. After the Biscuit Fire of 2002, the Bush administration proposed the single largest logging project in Forest Service history.

Today, the area faces threats both new and old. No doubt, until Oregon’sYellowstone is permanently protected, private special interests will always work to reap a profit from these public lands. That’s why Congress should pass Wilderness and Wild & Scenic Rivers legislation for the Siskiyou Wild Rivers. Wilderness designation remains the surest and most lasting way to ensure no further harm comes to this internationally significant landscape.

While Oregon has a green reputation, we don’t always live up to it. Nowhere is that more true than when it comes to protecting our natural legacy. Sadly, only 4 percent of the entire state has been permanently protected as wilderness, compared to 10 percent in Washington, 15 percent in California and 8 percent in conservative Idaho.

Protecting Oregon’s Yellowstone as wilderness would safeguard amazing salmon runs in the Chetco River, the unparalleled wildflower diversity of Rough and Ready Creek, and the only redwoods in Oregon that grow to a massive 15 feet in diameter.

Luckily, momentum is already building. Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley, along with Rep. Peter DeFazio and Gov. Ted Kulongoski have all called for increased protections for this area. In the short term, the Siskiyou Wild Rivers need an immediate timeout on mining so that Congress can address the broader need for wilderness protections. The Obama administration could easily and quickly enforce a mining timeout through an administrative withdrawal for the threatened wilderness areas.

While a timeout on destructive plans for this unique region is certainly necessary, it is but a short-term fix. For the salmon that swim its wild rivers, the rare flowers that bloom only from its unique soils and the many thousands who camp, fish and hike along its trails, wilderness is the long-term solution for the Siskiyou Wild Rivers.

Erik Fernandez is the wilderness coordinator for Oregon Wild.

I ran across this very interesting article over at Organic Consumers Association, written by Ronnie Cummins and Will Allen. Please take a few moments to read, and follow the link provided at the bottom of this message to read more, and visit Organic Consumers Association to learn about ways to promote a beautiful and healthy planet Earth. We are each of us equally responsible as stewards on this planet. We do not deserve such beauty and wonders if we take no heed of the preventable damage being done to Mother Earth on a large scale.

“Climate Catastrophe: Surviving the 21st Century” written by Ronnie Cummins and Will Allen

Climate Stabilization Requires a Cultural and Political Revolution

The climate, energy, and political catastrophe we are facing is mind-boggling and frightening. Yet there is still time to save ourselves, to move beyond psychological denial, despair, or false optimism. There is still hope if we are willing to confront the hydra-headed monsters that block our path, and move ahead with a decisive plan of action. The inspirational message we need to deliver is that we’re not just talking about drastically reducing fossil fuel use and greenhouse gas (GHG) pollution, but rebuilding society, creating in effect a New Woman and a New Man for the 21st Century. What we are witnessing are the early stages of a mass grassroots consciousness-raising and taking back of power from out-of-control corporations, banks, corporate-controlled media, and politicians. This cultural and political revolution will empower us to to carry out a deep and profound retrofitting of industry, government, education, health care, housing, neighborhoods, transportation, food and farming systems, as well as our diets and lifestyles.

The scale of human and physical resources needed to turn our current suicide economy into a green economy is daunting, but absolutely necessary and achievable. The only viable roadmap for survival-an 80-90% reduction in fossil fuel use and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2050-means we must force a drastic reduction in military spending (current wars and military spending are costing us almost one trillion dollars a year). We must tax the rich and the greenhouse gas polluters, and bring our out-of-control politicians, banks, Federal Reserve System, and corporations to heel.

The good news, as Van Jones and others have pointed out, is that this 21st Century green economy will not only stabilize the climate, but enable us to retrain and reemploy the U.S. workforce, including low-income youth and 16-25 million unemployed workers, as building retrofitters, solar and wind installers, recyclers, organic gardeners, farmers, nutritionists, holistic health care providers, and other green economy workers.

Please visit –> Organic Consumers Association <-- to read more on this very important subject of our Climate and the Environment, and what we face on a Global level today.

Dear Teri,

Last fall, we told you about Oregon’s 10 Most Endangered Places. Coming in at #8 on the list were the Tillamook and Clatsop State Forests, threatened by a proposal to ramp up clear-cut logging.

Now, the Oregon Department of Forestry (ODF) is set to approve this logging increase, and they need to hear from you! Tell them our state forests are vital for the salmon, wildlife, clean water, and recreational opportunities they provide!

Write a letter to ODF today and tell them to protect clean water, salmon, and recreation opportunities in our state forests.

Oregon prides itself on protecting its natural heritage, but what is being done to our state forests should be an embarrassment to every Oregonian. Instead of a legacy of abundant wildlife and clean water, we are leaving our children a heritage of clear cuts, mud slides, and wrecked rivers.

For decades, all forests in Oregon (including the Tillamook, Clatsop, Elliot, and Santiam state forests) were managed primarily for industrial timber production. As a result, most of our old-growth is gone and the species that rely on complex native forests are still vanishing.

Finally, in the 1990s, forest managers began using science to determine how their logging activities would impact things like salmon populations and water quality. Not surprisingly, clear-cutting doesn’t do wildlife and favors and doesn’t keep streams more pristine. Recognizing this, ODF refocused some of their management plans towards restoring more old-growth forest habitat, calling for an even 50/50 split between timber emphasis and forest protection.

Now, they plan to do away with any sense of balance and ramp up clear-cutting on up to 70 percent of State Forest land.

We need to tell them that protecting only 30 percent of our state forests isn’t enough. Write a letter before the January 29th comment deadline here.

With approximately 50% of Oregon’s forests in private hands (and subject to a constant rotation of industrial logging), it is imperative that we protect the small portion of forest land that we all own as Oregonians.

Thanks for standing up for the Tillamook and other state forests.

For wild forests,
Sean Stevens
Communications Associate
Oregon Wild

Salmon survival is at stake in the ODF decision to ramp up clear-cutting. (photo courtesy Wild Salmon Center)

The damage to the environment and precious wildlife is a travesty which has been visited too many times upon this planet. In the heart of Wyoming’s heavily developed Powder River Basin lies the area’s last pristine haven for wildlife: the 120,000-acre Fortification Creek region, home to sage grouse, pronghorn, bobcats, songbirds and elk.

With more than 25,000 natural gas wells already surrounding Fortification Creek, agency officials are now targeting this rare wildlife oasis for industrialization. The Bureau of Land Management is drawing up a plan for coalbed methane gas development in the region, but it has begun issuing drilling permits before a full environmental analysis is completed. Without a thorough scientific review, the agency has no way of knowing the full impact of roads, power lines, pipelines and other infrastructure on this sensitive wildlife habitat.

We need to Take Action Today to prevent this from occuring. Wildlife habitats are in danger whenever we choose to gather resources in such a reckless manner, and develop in places where such actions will devestate the natural order of Life. Mother Earth is a living being, and will not tolerate this destruction much longer.

Please take a few moments to send a message to the Obama Administration with your objections to this latest move to gather resources from our pristine wildlife habits in Yellowstone and the Greater Rockies!

Here is the latest news from Robert Redford, who is taking this to the courtroom to fight to keep our lands free and beautiful…

My daughter and are at present studying the Biomes of this planet, and the Rainforest. In our home studies we must learn those integral parts that make up this Earth. The biosystems, ecosystems and all that lives in the natural world and keeps this planet in balance. It is quite disturbing to try to answer her many questions, and she is becoming quite alarmed with the current events happening around our planet, and with good cause. It is sad to think of what the world will be when she is grown, and the daunting task we are setting forth for our children. She asks me “What will I tell my children, Mama?”.

I try so hard to paint a picture of all the wonders in nature, yet it is quite difficult to do when nature is disappearing so rapidly. The virgin Rainforests are home to 61.8% of all the biological diversity on Earth. In this, the richest environment for life, we are destroying a land area which is equivalent to the size of the city of Tokyo Japan ( 240 square miles ) every day. This equals 6417 acres per hour, 107 acres per minute or 1.78 acres per second. This issue of Rainforests destruction and mass species extinctions is the #1 issue facing humanity. If we do not stop this NOW, it will be too late.

It is believed, based on the Fibonacci series of numbers which are found throughout nature, that there are approximately 560 Rainforests species extinctions per day. This equals one Rainforests species extinction every 2 minutes and 33 seconds. We are but a strand in the fabric of life, all intricately interdependent on one another. And yet here we are, in the mere geological blink of an eye, eroding the very foundation of our own existence with mass species extinctions. This 6th great mass extinction period on Earth that we are insanely causing by the suicidal annihilation of the Web of Life, will very soon bring about our own extinction.

The Omega Point is the point in time, when all of the devastation we have inflicted over the years to our life support ecosystems finally becomes too much and they irreversibly fail, no longer able to sustain Homo Sapiens. What this translates into for our future generations is an ever increasingly nightmarish slippery slope to extinction.

Rainforests are some of the world’s most ancient and complex ecosystems. They cover a mere 2% of the Earth, yet more than half of all plant and animal species live there. The rainforest is home to creatures as famous as the jaguar and poison dart frog, as well as lesser-known and even unidentified species.

I will be following up soon with more about the life that still exists within the rainforest.

“This we know: The earth does not belong to man, man belongs to the earth. All things are connected like the blood that unites us all. Man did not weave the web of life, he is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself.”
Chief Seattle

The Bush administration wants to sacrifice some of the wildest regions of Colorado, Utah and Wyoming to produce fuel from two of the most polluting sources: oil shale and tar sands.

This proposed development — spanning an area of more than two million acres of wildlife habitat and outstanding recreation areas across three states — could pollute air and water, jeopardize human health and dramatically worsen global warming.

Please go to http://www.savebiogems.org/yellowstone/takeaction and tell the Bush administration to protect these sensitive wildlands for future generations and promote cleaner sources of energy instead.

Oil shale is rock that produces oil when heated to extreme temperatures. Tar sands contain extremely heavy oil mixed with sand and clay. Tar sands development in Canada has displaced wildlife, created toxic waste sites that go on for miles and generated three times the amount of global warming pollution per barrel produced as conventional fuel.

We must act now to shield our own western wildlands from thisnightmare scenario. Oil shale and tar sands development could release dangerous toxic elements such as arsenic, selenium, and boron into the Colorado River watershed — a vital source of drinking water for local communities.

This area is also home to mule deer, elk, mountain lions, black bears, bald eagles and great horned owls and offers exceptional outdoor recreation opportunities.

Go to http://www.savebiogems.org/yellowstone/takeaction and tell the Bush administration to put the brakes on dirty oil shale and tar sands development in America’s West.

Thank you for helping to save our last western wildlife habitats from destructive development.

Every day, all over the world, women make countless choices that affect the environment. In their hands lie many decisions about the use of community resources – water for the household, land for agriculture, wood for heating and cooking, plants and animals for food and sale.

Yet women often lack the education to make responsible conservation decisions and are denied the resources and opportunities to control their own economic destinies. Without intervention, the cycle of poverty and inequality is repeated from mother to daughter.

Recognizing the different roles of women and men in natural resource management, WWF works with both groups to enhance their stewardship of the environment and improve livelihoods. Successful women’s programs include small business development, access to health services like family planning and maternal and child health, efficient and sustainable agriculture techniques and literacy programs.

WWF empowers women and girls – building a future where human needs are met in harmony with nature. Here are their stories…

~Today’s Girls – Tomorrow’s Leaders

~Biogas is Better – Jari Leads the Way

~Meet Shushma and Zahra 

Enjoy!

Mr. Sadaka earned his law degree from Washington University in St. Louis where he served as an Editor of the Journal of Law and Policy Law Review. He has a solid commitment to defending those who cannot defend themselves against companies with nearly unlimited resources. Please take the time to visit PharmaWatchDog.com and find out about the truth concerning toxic substances and the dangers to public health. We are poisoning ourselves and we owe it to our loved ones, and ourselves, to discover how we can prevent further tragedies in our lives and live toxin free.

I am adding PharmaWatchDog.com to my blogroll, and hope my blogging friends will do so as well, and help spread the word.

Our family and friends are dedicated to re-learning how to live in Balance with Nature. As such, we are learning how to grow our own foods, studying herb lore and wilderness survival, as well as how to travel through nature as softly as possible so as not to disturb the Balance. Also, we are keenly interested in how to build our homes with the Power of Nature in mind.

It is so very important to the health of this planet and her inhabitants to find the cleanest sources of power. The ebb and flow of our Ocean tides are efficient, consistent, clean and free. Empty of emissions, carbons or combustibles, the currents created by the tides can provide a conscious alternative to the fossil fuels that now power most of our electrical needs.

Until now, the potential of the tides and the gravitational lunar pull upon them has remained relatively untapped. That’s where Florida Keys Hydropower Research Corporation steps up to make a difference.

Keys Hydro Power is a Florida alternative energy company providing clean power from tidal turbines. This non profit environmental project uses water power as a clean renewable energy source.

Integrating action into awareness, Keys Hydro Power will reduce human-caused sources of global climate change by working with nature to harness an environmentally viable form of energy—through the research, development and implementation of tidal current turbines in the Florida Keys. By producing a clear, feasible concept and demonstrating its success, Florida Keys Hydro Power (a nonprofit Florida corporation) will generate power from tidal turbines to feed local electric grids.

The results will create both a local and global impact, propelling others to explore this sustainable form of alternative energy. This is NOT a new concept, as the Ancients knew how to utilize this form of clean power which our waters so generously provide. Now, isn’t that just what those of us who are in tune with Nature are looking to revive? It gives me hope for a better future for our generations and the Earth. Just imagine the possibilities…

I would like to share a message from the President of Florida Keys Hydro, Douglas Bedgood…

“Nature intended coal, gas, and oil to be buried forever. They represent death and decomposition, dead vegetation from old swamps under pressure for millions of years. These carbon fossil compositions we use for fuel also represent death today. There is death to the land above the open pit coal mines, poor health and death to the mine workers, death to the atmosphere after combustion, death to nature’s life support systems that took millions of years to develop, and eventually death to the fragile organic skin of our host planet.”

To learn more visit Keys Hydro Power Tidal Turbine Farm.