Faith and Nature

Archive for the ‘nature’ Category

My trip to the AGO meeting in Davis turned out to be an all day affair if you take into account the bike and train commute. I hopped on my bike at 7:20 am and pedaled to the Berkeley Amtrak station. The day started cold, foggy and breezy waiting for the train. I used to know my way around Davis like the back of my hand, having spent four years there as an undergrad. But my memory failed me, and the campus has expanded, and I ended up a bit disoriented, but fortunately found a sign and a fellow attendee to point me in the right direction. I arrived at the meeting location, the Mondavi Center at 9:50, with a little more than an hour to spare. I took the liberty of introducing myself to a few other early arrivals, including the Executive Director of the Stewardship Council, the Associate Dean of the College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, a former dorm mate from my undergrad years at UCD, and the California Wilderness Coalition.

The session went from 11:00 until about 12:15, with most of that time taken up with the audience listening. If you are interested you can download the agenda. Of the various presenters the presentation that left the most impact with me was Andy Beckstoffer, from Beckstoffer Winery talking on the benefits of private conservation easements in California. With the pressure to expand development up and down the Central Valley, easements may play a key role in protecting land and sustaining agriculture. Phil Martainelli talked about reintroducing Elk into California, including two areas that I’ve visited while taking photos for The Nature Conservancy, The Carrizo Plain and San Antionio Ranch.

But the real focus of the meeting was to give the people attending the event the opportunity to tell their stories. The stories continued for an additional 45 minutes beyond the 45 minutes allotted, and they could have gone on for another two hours. There were, in my estimate, about 200 people attending. We heard from fly fishers, mountain bikers, off road vihicle enthusiasts, rock hounds, hikers, land trusts, cattlemen, farmers, ranchers, environmental educators, including Natures Theater just to name a few. Some of the issues that came up included the Berryessa Snow Mountain proposed national conservation area, with stories both for and against the proposal, the wilderness status of Drakes Estero (the photo above is from Drakes Estero), invasive species such as the Zebra Mussel, and restrictive nature of the Land and Water Conservation Fund.

I left the event with a new awareness of the opportunities that exist to connect people with nature by helping them share their stories.

I’ll be attending the America’s Great Outdoors listening session hosted by Congressman Mike Thompson tomorrow, with the intend of expanding my network people that are interested in connecting people with nature.  A number of organizations involved with nature, conservation and land protection are expected to be there.  And to help celebrate America’s Great Outdoors here a photo of on of my favorite places, the Carrizo Plain

I’m reading Gary Snyder’s book Back on the Fire, which is a thought provoking collection of essays, I was particularly struck by the following from pages 34-35.

Gift economy? That might be another perspective on the meaning of ecology. We are living in the midst of a great potluck at which we are all the invited guests. And we are also eventually the meal. The Ainu, when they had venison for dinner, sang songs aloud to the deer spirits who were hanging about waiting for the performance. The deer visit human beings so that they might hear some songs. In Buddhist spiritual ecology, the first thing to give up is your ego- The ancient Vedic philosophers said that the gods like sacrifices, but of all sacrifices that which they most appreciate is your ego. This critical little point is the foundation of yogic and Buddhist askesis. Dogen famously said, “We study the self to forget the self. When you forget the self you become one with the ten thousand things.” (There is only one offering that is greater than the ego, and that is “enlightenment” itself.)

The being who has offered up her enlightenment is called a Bod-hisattva. In some of the Polynesian societies the Big Person, the most respected and powerful figure in the village, was the one who had nothing—whatever gift came to him or her was promptly given away again. This is the real heart of a gift economy, an economy that would save, not devour, the world. Gandhi once said, “For greed, all of nature is insufficient.” Art takes nothing from the world; it is a gift and an exchange. It leaves the world nourished.

“Ripples on the surface of the water— were silver salmon passing under—different
from the ripples caused by breezes”

A scudding plume on the wave—
a humpback whale is
breaking out in air up
gulping herring
—Nature not a book, but a performance, a high old culture

Ever-fresh events
scraped out, rubbed out, and used, used, again—
the braided channels of the rivers
hidden under fields of grass—

The vast wild
the house, alone.
The little house in the wild,
the wild in the house. Both forgotten.

No nature

Both together, one big empty house.

Join Jan Steffe and me for a six week course titled Finding Joy and Generosity in Creation.  The class will look to the natural world and our experiences within it to better understand living with joy and generosity while surrounded by pain and scarcity. In response, we hope to rejoice in our responsibility and commit to generously caring for the resources with which God as entrusted us. The course will be offered at First Presbyterian Church of Berkeley, 2407 Dana Street, Berkeley, CA,  starting Sunday January 10,  2010 at 11:30.  You can download the Winter Institute Program here, or register for the class here.

Sometimes the signs along the journey of life leave room for interpretation. Here’s a trail marker which normally points to the direction for hikers, but it has come off of it’s anchor and my daughter Amy has it pointing in a new direction. A reminder that perhaps one greater than us is at work here, but I’d prefer to feel the presence of the creator through the creation rather than the clouds. We found this sign along a trail on Ring Mountain,  a small nature preserve on the Tiburon peninsula.  What makes Ring Mountain special in my mind is that you can feel a sense of peace and solitude in nature while being surrounded by the bustling urban life of the Bay Area. From the top you have a view of San Francisco to the North, Mount Tamalpais to the South, and Mount Diablo to the Southeast.  The soils of Ring Mountain also make the location unique.  Rocks such as blue schist and green schist, and serpentine, discourage many of the local native plants and give rise to some unique plants such as the Tiburon Mariposa Lily which is only found in this preserve. Since we would occasionally visit the preserve on family hikes when our kids were small it’s fun to come back and reminisce about visiting the preserve in years past. More photos of the preserve are available here.

The day after Thanksgiving found us hiking on Angel Island. It was a blustery day, with the threat of rain showers as dark clouds drifted by the island. We felt a few drops but were spared the rain. We hiked the North Ridge trail to the top of the Island, Mount Livermore, which gives one a 360 degree panoramic view of the Bay Area. Angel Island is an island of peace and solitude surrounded by cities, San Francisco to the Southwest, Oakland and Berkeley to the East, Sausalito and Tiburon to the Northwest. We hiked through ferns and mossy oak woodlands on the Ridge Trail, returning through chaparral and the recent burn on the Sunset Trail. It was a good way to work of some of the extra calories from Thursday’s feast. It was also good to be reminded that one doesn’t have to travel far to find peace and solitude in the busy Bay Area. You can view more photos here.

There’s a blustery fall wind blowing today, and wispy clouds, with a sense of foreboding. Change is in the air. Sycamore leaves reel down the street doing cartwheels driven by the wind, and the Chinese Pistache trees are turning color. Here’s an image taken while walking I was out walking the dog a couple or days ago.  There are two trees that catch the later afternoon sun and look ablaze.

As I walk up a neighboring street I see pumpkins on front porches. The apples on my apple tree are just about all picked. They’ve been sliced and dried or cooked and frozen to enjoy as savory hot apple sauce on a cold winter’s day. Fall is about change, and the coming adversity of winter. I found this quote from Arthur Golden

Adversity is like a strong wind. It tears away from us all but the things that cannot be torn, so that we see ourselves as we really are.

The Nature Conservancy turns 58 today, having incorporated on this day in 1951. I’ve been involved with TNC for over 20 years, helping organize and lead tours of some of the preserves, and then providing photographs to help with fund raising and promotion of some of the projects. One of my favorite TNC projects is The Carrizo Plain. This is a broad expanse of land on a plateau between the Caliente and Temblor ranges.  It’s notable because it comes close to representing what the Central Valley looked like before irrigation and farming. In the spring time it becomes a carpet of wildflowers, and a sense of exapansive open space. When I first visited the Carrizo in 1987 or so, it was the domain of barb wire, Peruvian sheepherders, and a few staunch coservationists and researchers. It is now a National Monument with hiking trails, an interpretive center, the Guy Goodwin Center.

So once again I find myself on the water, contemplating the peace and solitude of Tomales Bay on a beautiful weekend. We loaded the boat with camping gear and paddled from Nicks Cove to our favorite camping spot at Pelican North Beach, set up camp, and with paddled up the Peninsula, out the entrance to the bay and out to Tomales Point, where the calm of the bay gave way to the ocean swells which were rolling under us.  I am reminded of one of my favorite quotes about boating, from Kenneth Grahame and his book The Wind in the Willows

Believe me, my young friend, there is nothing- absolutely nothing- half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats.

When we turned around to paddle back into the Bay we discovered that some of the swells were starting to feel bottom on rising rather steeply. We had a rather thrilling ride down one wave, which was starting to break on both sides of the boat.  I had a strong and fearsome sense that I was not in control, that all I could do was guide the boat and let the forces of nature carry me along.  Sometime I think I could live with a stronger sense of grace if I could apply that to other areas of my life. Admit that I am powerless, that there is a power greater than me to which I must submit.  And to let that power carry me along, rather than try to assert my own agenda.

Click here to view more paddling photos.

I slide my paddle into the calm water, rotate my torso and the boat moves forward, gliding silently.  Not a sound. The fog is starting to clear. Or is it? There are four of us in three boats. We’ll paddle down the Estero to Drake’s beach where’s well have lunch and watch the wildlife. You can view more photos on Photoshelter or Flickr.

I equate kayaking with hiking. It’s like taking a hike on the water, except your legs don’t move much. In a sense, you wear a kayak, it becomes an extension of your body, or at least that’s the case in a single kayak, the two companions in the double have a different experience, but in either case we cover the distance to the beach with ease.  We keep looking for the beach to appear through the fog. The fog lifts a bit and I think I see the beach, or is it just the next bluff? And there, those birds must be on the beach, but no that’s just a sandbar.  Like much in life, we have to be diligent about maintaining our sense of direction, and proceed with patience and diligence. And I ran across this quote recently that I thought was appropriate.

And so in time the rowboat and I became one and the same–like the archer and his bow or the artist and his paint. What I learned wasn’t mastery over the elements; it was mastery over myself; which is what conquest is ultimately all about.

by Richard Bode