Issue 16

It seems unthinkable, but for the first time in human history, ice is on course to disappear entirely from the North Pole this year. The disappearance of the Arctic sea ice, making it possible to reach the Pole sailing in a boat through open water, would be one of the most dramatic – and worrying – examples of the impact of global warming on the planet.

“The mind is a house of questions, and the heart is a library of answers”

I have worked for over 35 years as a nursing sister, midwife, practise nurse, in a war in the Middle East and various fields of Western medicine, but I had never heard of anyone suffering from what has been termed ‘electrical sensitivity’.

So I’m sitting on the couch, minding my own business, when out the corner of my eye I notice that my girlfriend’s cellphone has surreptitiously angled itself with a bee-line for my cranium. My ears detect the furious pitter-patter of typing, and before my tongue can be whipped up to issue a harsh rebuke, I hear no more, and she’s sent one of those text-message thingy’s through my soft tissue.

Imagine if you will, a village where people of all ages live together in harmony. Where diversity is celebrated and all villagers devote their goodwill, intelligence, capital and labour to meet the common goals of caring for the Earth, to live a peaceful and meaningful existence while honouring and nurturing all life-systems.

The name “Khula Dhamma” consists of the Xhosa word “khula”, which means “to grow” and the ancient Eastern word of “Dhamma” which has various spiritual connotations such as “the natural, universal law” and “the path that leads to enlightenment”. Since, as a community, we do not identify ourselves with any one particular philosophy or belief system we generally convey our name as “to grow on the path that leads to consciousness.”

This tiny little village, my home-town, now boasts more than ten buses plying through the only dusty main road. The majestic backdrop of the Western Ghats made this little village picturesque, almost out of a living canvass of nature.

Is there really a place on earth where human beings from all nations and ways of life, have come together in a melting pot with a singular vision of human unity, world peace and natural living? Could it be true?

“So what do you think Findhorn is really about? Why is it here?”
I turn towards the woman asking the question, and mumble through a few sentences before realizing that I didn’t really have an answer.

There has been a lot of talk about cloth nappies lately and I have heard many people refer to some research done in the UK by The Environmental Agency¹ saying washing cloth nappies has just as much impact on the environment as disposables.

THE PLACE: Central Kalahari Game Reserve, Botswana
THE PLAN: To find out which, if any, Bushman/San communities have taken the opportunity of going back to their homelands after several years’ exile, now that they’ve won the right to do so in a lengthy legal battle with the Botswana government.

The most exciting event in the Eden Campus calendar was the launch of our very own student businesses. These businesses act as action learning for our students where they practice all they learn in the classroom. These businesses are totally run by the students of Eden Campus with guidance of various local business people and mentors.

There are headaches and then there are headaches. Some are mild and disappear after a while; others only subside after a headache tablet or two. Then there are those splitting types of headache and more serious migraines, which keep coming back regardless of how many headache tablets one takes.

It was very hot that day in May, and I was sitting under some mesquite trees in Tucson, Arizona. I was attending a one week workshop in Equine Facilitated Experiential Learning, by Linda Kohanov, author of Riding Between the Worlds and The Tao of Equus. A breeze was caressing my hair, and behind me there was a round pen, with a horse named Cali inside.

You should take care of your body during this period, because the change of climate may cause problems with your body.

ADD children — also called Indigo children — are very sensitive to environmental and electrical pollution, noise and poor nutrition. In our world of over-stimulation, they are totally stressed.

Statin drugs are the most widely sold prescription medicine in history: in 2004, Pfizer’s block-buster drug, Lipitor, became the first prescription drug to amass a staggering $10 billion in annual sales. But, the price to society is much higher:

You have food reserves to get you through an emergency. Some water. Probably some gold or silver. Maybe some defense weapons. But medical help will probably be no more available than food, and under these conditions, disease and infections will probably be rampant. Ordinary first aid supplies are obviously not enough.

A simple bottle of shampoo… a true reflection of the state of our society and culture, and our way of life! On the shelves of most of our major retailers is the Organics™ range of shampoos made by Unilever, the third biggest company in the UK (only BP and Shell are bigger).

Petrochemicals have become nearly ubiquitous in creams and lotions over the last fifty years. Mineral oil forms the base of aqueous cream and petroleum jelly is applied generously to babies. This is because these products are extremely cheap and are stable and fragrance free. Mineral oil, petroleum jelly, petrolatum, paraffin wax and most of the other petrochemicals are byproducts of the distillation of petrol from crude oil.

Our indigenous trees are a good source of food; they’re both beautiful, and bountiful.

Sheet mulching (or composting) is the simplest, and least labour intensive, method of building the fertility of most soil types and affords the gardener an easier option than back-breaking spade work for establishing a new garden.