LRFF In Bend, Oregon

    Thanks to our friend and associate, Mary Blizzard-Kelly, we were invited to give a presentation on October 22, 2007 in Bend, Oregon at the Central Oregon Environmental Center. We arrived two days early because there was to be a party given at Mary and Richard’s beautiful home in our honor, as well as a radio interview at KLOV, the local station on the 21st.

    Travis of KPOV interviewed us on Sunday morning and early that evening the great party began. The five person group, Moon Mountain Ramblers, who have what I call a bluegrass/jazz/alternative style, played their EXCELLENT music for everyone’s enjoyment. The wine flowed, the great local, micro-brewerie' s beers were quaffed, the delicious foods that Mary prepared were dished up helping after helping and there was much talk and dancing.

    We found the majority of the guest very receptive to what the La Reserva project is trying to accomplish and why. In fact, we talked so much there wasn’t much chance for us to heap our plates or enjoy too many beers.

    This area of central Oregon is a high desert that is extremely dry and cold, yet clear and sunny. The large, western facing windows of Mary and Richard’s house give a incredible view of ALL the famous mountains in this section of the Cascade range. The first snow had fallen the night before and their tops were pure white. At dawn every morning the rising sun shone it’s rays upon them causing their tops to turn pink. Mary said that this is called the alpenglow. This environment, it’s vastness, the cold, dry climate, the people we met and their open-hearted acceptance of us, which includes a TRUE desire to help our environment, was an inspiration.

    Monday we went to the Environmental Center early to clear up any glitches that might exist with the computer/projector compatibility, and of course there were some. The local coffee store, “Strictly Organic”, donated the coffee in big silver urns for the presentation and the cookies came from none other that our friend Mary. The presentation went very well. I spoke from my heart the words I had written for them. The people responded to them and the slides we showed as illustrations. We also showed a movie that our friend, Chris Sullivan (the blues man) created of the La Reserva forest tour. There were many questions and we spoke individually with everyone afterward. They all said they are planning or want to come visit La Reserva in the very near future. One young man, Ryan, who is the president of the local high school’s “Roots and Shoots” club was enthused about the possibility of the club sponsoring one hectare of land for five years. He said this would be a great legacy for him to leave when he graduates this coming year, and they already have most of the funds saved. He was sure that this could be done by the end of this year.

    Thanks to all of these wonderful, sincere people, we collected some donation, sold a few of the new, La Reserva Forest Foundation “Let’s Get Planting” caps ($20/cap plants 10 trees in the tropics), but most importantly, we put the LRFF’s plan and philosophy directly into the consciousness of all the people we came in contact with on our travels. We did reach many people and felt that our biggest accomplishment was beginning to build the positive, human network that will work as one to heal our ailing Earth.

    Upon or return to Costa Rica my dear friend, Elena, said to me, “Roberta, what are we going to do here, there is so much rain. Many people have died, many others in the city have lost their homes and the mosquito borne Dengue fever is in epidemic proportions?”

    It was raining non-stop torrents when we left on October 15th, it rained here the entire two weeks of our trip and has continued to rain since our return. There is so much suffering in all the rest of this world, yet in my perception of the general attitude we encountered in the United States, they are semi-oblivious to all of it. As I wrestled with the reasons for these contradicting lifestyles yesterday this revelation came from within.

    In the United States, and I can’t speak of the other developed countries because of my complete ignorance, mundane life is almost effortless. Gas prices and cars are less than half the price than in Costa Rica. Their dirt roads, streets and super highways are unblemished with ample shoulders allowing them to drive fast in a carefree and one-handed manner while eating or drinking at the same time. In Costa Rica, being alert for holes, slides and big trucks is a life and death necessity for pedestrians, bicyclers and motorists alike. We wouldn’t dare go over 50 miles per hour here and that seems very fast. If a person steps off the curb in Bend, Oregon all traffic stops in both directions. The enormous variety of goods and services are in abundance and virtually at the tips of one’s fingers because of the qualities mentioned above. The list could go on, but this is not the point.

    The point is that the majority of the people are asleep to what is happening to our Earth. In the United States there are signs of the environmental crisis, i.e. whole evergreen forests dying, drought, glacial melting etc, but it is hidden behind this façade of easy living and media hype. While here, in the developing world, we struggle with sharply rising petroleum prices, topped by an horrendous % of taxes, that not only hurts the gas consumer but the poorest of the poor most drastically. Everything goes up because of the transportation costs, all the way down to the price of a cracker in the neighborhood “pulperia”.

    I looked at my friend, Elena, and felt her desperation. This is something all of us Tico’s share, although in a a good-hearted way. The only answer I could think of came into my head, that ringing motto that you have all heard time and again, and I said…

                                                            

                                                            LET’S GET PLANTING!!

   

This poem showed up for me on this exact day, today. I think it  fits in right here very well.

Wings of Desire

People are distracted by objects of desire,
And afterward repent of the lust they’ve
   indulged,
Because they have indulged with a phantom
And are left even farther from Reality than
  before.
Your desire for the illusory could be a wing,
By means of which a seeker might ascend to
  Reality.
When you have indulged a lust, your wing drops
  off;
You become lame, abandoned by a fantasy.
Preserve the wing and don’t indulge such lust,
So that the wing of desire may bear you to
  Paradise.
People fancy they are enjoying themselves,
But they are really tearing out their wings
For the sake of an illusion.

Mevlana Jalaludden Rumi
Mathnawi III, 2133-2138
(translated by Kabir Helminski and
                        Camille Helminski)
The Rumi Collection