Love, Peace, and Happiness

Earth Day: The History of A Movement

Each year, Earth Day — April 22 — marks the anniversary of what many consider the birth of the modern environmental movement in 1970.

The height of hippie and flower-child culture in the United States, 1970 brought the death of Jimi Hendrix, the last Beatles album, and Simon & Garfunkel’s “Bridge Over Troubled Water”. Protest was the order of the day, but saving the planet was not the cause. War raged in Vietnam, and students nationwide increasingly opposed it.

At the time, Americans were slurping leaded gas through massive V8 sedans. Industry belched out smoke and sludge with little fear of legal consequences or bad press. Air pollution was commonly accepted as the smell of prosperity. “Environment” was a word that appeared more often in spelling bees than on the evening news.  Although mainstream America remained oblivious to environmental concerns, the stage had been set for change by the publication of Rachel Carson’s New York Times bestseller Silent Spring in 1962.  The book represented a watershed moment for the modern environmental movement, selling more than 500,000 copies in 24 countries and, up until that moment, more than any other person, Ms. Carson raised public awareness and concern for living organisms, the environment and public health.

Earth Day 1970 capitalized on the emerging consciousness, channeling the energy of the anti-war protest movement and putting environmental concerns front and center. 

The idea came to Earth Day founder Gaylord Nelson, then a U.S. Senator from Wisconsin, after witnessing the ravages of the 1969 massive oil spill in Santa Barbara, California. Inspired by the student anti-war movement, he realized that if he could infuse that energy with an emerging public consciousness about air and water pollution, it would force environmental protection onto the national political agenda. Senator Nelson announced the idea for a “national teach-in on the environment” to the national media; persuaded Pete McCloskey, a conservation-minded Republican Congressman, to serve as his co-chair; and recruited Denis Hayes as national coordinator. Hayes built a national staff of 85 to promote events across the land.

As a result, on the 22nd of April, 20 million Americans took to the streets, parks, and auditoriums to demonstrate for a healthy, sustainable environment in massive coast-to-coast rallies. Thousands of colleges and universities organized protests against the deterioration of the environment. Groups that had been fighting against oil spills, polluting factories and power plants, raw sewage, toxic dumps, pesticides, freeways, the loss of wilderness, and the extinction of wildlife suddenly realized they shared common values.

Earth Day 1970 achieved a rare political alignment, enlisting support from Republicans and Democrats, rich and poor, city slickers and farmers, tycoons and labor leaders. The first Earth Day led to the creation of the United States Environmental Protection Agency and the passage of the Clean Air, Clean Water, and Endangered Species Acts. “It was a gamble,” Gaylord recalled, “but it worked.”

As 1990 approached, a group of environmental leaders asked Denis Hayes to organize another big campaign. This time, Earth Day went global, mobilizing 200 million people in 141 countries and lifting environmental issues onto the world stage. Earth Day 1990 gave a huge boost to recycling efforts worldwide and helped pave the way for the 1992 United Nations Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. It also prompted President Bill Clinton to award Senator Nelson the Presidential Medal of Freedom (1995) — the highest honor given to civilians in the United States — for his role as Earth Day founder.

As the millennium approached, Hayes agreed to spearhead another campaign, this time focused on global warming and a push for clean energy. With 5,000 environmental groups in a record 184 countries reaching out to hundreds of millions of people, Earth Day 2000 combined the big-picture feistiness of the first Earth Day with the international grassroots activism of Earth Day 1990. It used the Internet to organize activists, but also featured a talking drum chain that traveled from village to village in Gabon, Africa, and hundreds of thousands of people gathered on the National Mall in Washington, DC. Earth Day 2000 sent world leaders the loud and clear message that citizens around the world wanted quick and decisive action on clean energy.

Much like 1970, Earth Day 2010 came at a time of great challenge for the environmental community. Climate change deniers, well-funded oil lobbyists, reticent politicians, a disinterested public, and a divided environmental community all contributed to a strong narrative that overshadowed the cause of progress and change. In spite of the challenge, for its 40th anniversary, Earth Day Network reestablished Earth Day as a powerful focal point around which people could demonstrate their commitment. Earth Day Network brought 225,000 people to the National Mall for a Climate Rally, amassed 40 million environmental service actions toward its 2012 goal of A Billion Acts of Green®, launched an international, 1-million tree planting initiative with Avatar director James Cameron and tripled its online base to over 900,000 community members.

The fight for a clean environment continues in a climate of increasing urgency, as the ravages of climate change become more manifest every day. We invite you to be a part of Earth Day and help write many more victories and successes into our history. Discover energy you didn’t even know you had. Feel it rumble through the grassroots under your feet and the technology at your fingertips. Channel it into building a clean, healthy, diverse world for generations to come.

Jamaican Foods!

All of the fats found in fresh whole Jamaican foods are healthy, good, and sometimes vital. It is wise to include a full spectrum of Jamaican food fats in your diet, which will work hard to keep you young looking and healthy. However, this is not the message that has been coming out of the mainstream media, and the reason for that is that we have built up an unhealthy fear and guilt complex about Jamaican food fat.

It is true that certain Jamaican foods are in fact bad for you; however, luckily it is easy to tell which they are. Jamaican food fatty acids have been linked to raising the “bad” cholesterol (LDL) and lowering the “good” cholesterol (HDL); many believe that body fat accumulated by eating Jamaican foods is very difficult to shift and the reason for that is that they are the result of processing Jamaican oil through hydrogenation. You can spot the presence of Jamaican food fats in a product because the hydrogenated food fats have to be listed in the ingredient panel. You can determine the amount of fat in a product. Simply add up the total of the fats listed in the product and then subtract that number from the total listed. However, it is far easier to simply avoid those foods that have hydrogenated Jamaican oil in them.

The other fat that is bad for you is rancid fat. This is fat that has been changed by light, moisture, heat, and oxygen. This type of fat contributes to all the aging and health problems that are associated with them. You might think at first, that it would be easy to avoid this one. However, not all rancid food fat can be detected by taste and smell. In fact, we have been conditioned to accept rancid Jamaica food fats. The reason for this is that some Jamaican butter is salty and helps to preserve and cover up the rancid taste. Although Jamaican butter is good for us, rancid Jamaican butter is not. That flax Jamaican oil in the refrigerator is liquid gold to some, but if it is rancid, it is worse than useless. We have to retrain our taste buds and noses to tell us the difference between the fresh fats from rancid ones. This is one reason for using unsalted rather than salted Jamaican butter.

This retraining can be done by finding stores that rotate their stock on the shelf so that no old products linger there, store their products properly, and sell their stock quickly. You should also check the expiration dates to help you find the freshest Jamaican foods.

Maurijuana, is a Healer, not a Killer

Smoking cannabis, also known as “weed”, “herb”, or “ganja” for Rasta’s is an act of spirituality that is frequently accompanied by Bible study. It is considered a sacrament that brings Jah closer to them, brings pleasure, facilitates peacefulness, exalts the consciousness, and cleans the mind and body. Rasta’s frequently burn ganja when they are in need Jah’s insight. Herb burning is frequently considered to be necessary as it will cause pain to the hearts of those that perform and promote wrongs and evil things. Arab traders to Southern and Central Africa were introduced to cannabis around the 8th century, where cannabis was known as “dagga” and most Rasta’s consider it as a part of their African culture which that they are trying to reclaim. It is sometimes also referred to as “the healing of the nation”.

The migration of thousands of Hindus from India to the Caribbean in the 20th century may have brought this culture to Jamaica. The use of ganja plants on a large scale in Jamaica dates back to the time when indentured Indians were imported and dreadlocked mystics in India have smoked cannabis for centuries.

Most Rasta’s consider the fact that cannabis is illegal in many nations as evidence that the persecution of the Rastafari is real. Rasta are not at all surprised that ganja plants are illegal and believe that it is a powerful substance which opens the minds of people to the truth. They contrast it with alcohol and other legal drugs that they believe ruins a person’s mind.
In 1998, then Attorney General of the US, Janet Reno, gave her legal opinion that the Rastafari don’t have any right, religious or otherwise, to smoke ganja plants, and that the Rasta’s were violating US’ drug laws. The position is the same in the UK, where, in the Court of Appeal it was held that the UK’s prohibition on the use of cannabis did not interfere with their freedom of religion rights which were conferred under the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.

In 1991, at an international airport in his homeland of Guam, Benny Guerrero was arrested for the importation and possession of marijuana and marijuana seeds. He was charged with the importation of a controlled substance. The case was heard by the US 9th Circuit Court in 2001, and in 2002 the court had decided that the Rastafari’s practice of sanctioning marijuana smoking was legal, however, the religion did not sanction marijuana importation. Graham Boyd, Guerrero’s lawyer, pointed out the court’s ruling was the equivalent of saying that wine is a sacrament that is necessary for some Christians; however, you should grow your own grapes.

Bob Marley, Most Inspirational Rastafarian on Earth

Bob Marley, Rasta Man was born Robert Nesta Marley in February 1945 in St. Ann, Jamaica. He was fathered by a white man and had a black mother. In the 1950s Bob and his family moved to the capital city of Jamaica, Kingston. It was in this city that his obsession with music as a profession began to take root. Bob Marley spent much of his time listening to soul and rhythm and blues music, which ultimately became the inspiration of his reggae rhythms. It was in the streets of Kingston that he enjoyed listening to the beats of the various rhythms and then trying to play music himself in small music studios in Kingston.

Together with Bunny Livingston and Peter McIntosh, Bob Marley formed a group named the Wailing Wailers. In 1963, this group came out with their first album which featured the hit “Simmer Down”. The lyrics of their songs tell a lot about young children seeking their own identity by becoming hoodlums in the streets of Kingston. In the mid 1960s, the Wailing Wailers disbanded but not before they traveled to America. In 1966 Bob Marley, Rasta Man returned to his native Jamaica, to coincide with the visit of the King of Ethiopia, Haile Selassie. A year later in 1967 Marley was introduced to the Rastafarian doctrine, and with The Wailers, his new band which was formed a year later with his two older friends, Livingston and McIntosh, he expressed the moral values of Rasta through his reggae music. Rastafarian adherents then began to consider Bob Marley a prophet, spreading the Rasta values and inspiration through his music.

The Wailers broke up in 1971, but Bob quickly formed a new band that he named Bob Marley and The Wailers. In 1972, the “Catch A Fire” album was released which was followed by “Uprising”, “Rasta Man Vibration”, Natty Dread”, “I Shot the Sheriff” “Get Up, Stand Up”, and “Burning” all of which increasingly established Bob Marley as a musical icon of reggae in the musical mainstream.

Bob Marley received the UN Peace Medal in recognition of his efforts to promote peace through his music. IN 1981, cancer ended his life at the age of 36 years in a hospital bed in the city of Miami, USA, following an international concert in Germany. The Rasta Prophet may be gone, but he is still remembered for his inspiration.

Rastafarian, Not a Religion, But a Way of Life!

The movement of the Rastafari is a new movement in religion that includes Abrahamic and monotheistic elements that arose during a Christian culture in the 1930s in Jamaica. The movement is sometimes referred to as Rastafarianism, however, this term is considered derogatory by some people.

Rastafarianism is not a religion that is highly organized; it is a more of an ideology or a movement. Many Rasta’s say that it is not a religion at all, but rather it is a way of life. Most Rasta’s do not claim to be part of any particular denomination, therefore they encourage one another to find inspiration and faith from within themselves, though some do strongly identify with one of the mansions of Rastafari, the three most prominent of which are the Twelve Tribes of Israel, the Bobo, and the Nyahbingh.

The name Rastafari came from Ras Tafari, which was the title of Haile Selassie, who composed the Amharic Ras or the Ethiopian title equal to that of a Duke, and was Haile Selassie’s given pre regal name, Tafari.

Rastafari assert that Haile Selassie I is another incarnation of the Christian God, named Jah. They consider Haile Selassie as being Jah Rastafari, who is considered the next coming of the Lord.

The Rastafarian movement employs themes that include the spiritual use of cannabis and the rejection of western society. It proclaims that Africa is the original birthplace of mankind, and therefore embraces numerous African political and social aspirations including the sociopolitical teachings and views of the Jamaican Black Nationalist, organizer, and publicist Marcus Garvey who is also frequently regarded as being a prophet.

Due largely through the interest in reggae music, awareness of the movement of the Rastafari has spread throughout a large part of the world. Much of this awareness can be linked to the now deceased Jamaican singer/songwriter Bob Marley. There were around 1,000,000 people who were faithful to the Rastafari worldwide by 1997. About 5% to 10% of Jamaicans consider themselves to be Rastafari.

Most Rastafari believe in immortality and believe that only the chosen few will continue to live forever in their current bodies. This is commonly referred to as ever living life. The term ever living replaces the term everlasting to prevent the negative connotation of last which might imply an end. The Rasta’s believe that they will live forever, with Amharic as the official language and Jah as the king.

So what if it hurt’s me, So what if I break down, So what if this world just throws me off the edge, my feet run out of ground. I gotta find my place, I wanna hear my sound! Don’t care about all the pain infront of me, I just wanna be HAPPY! ;]

—Leona Lewis.