We Are Together

Back to the Future

Unless you are practicing solitary confinement in the Amazon Rainforest, you will know that there is much hype around the term ‘going green’ across the country and the globe.

Not every citizen is meeting this rhetoric with enthusiasm and open arms. Perhaps it is the paranoia of giving into imagined conspiracy theories. Or maybe because the cause for alarm of climate change creates an aversion to what many feel are the more pressing issues: job security, school loans, food on the table, a place to call home.

But what if the perspective on all things ‘green’ focused on the returns we are making on our present, inspired by our past, to shape our future? In other words, why is there such a focus these days on appreciating real food, real connections with real people, and why is this important?

Kermit the Frog had a point when he said ‘it’s not easy being green.’ There is a necessity to purge when embarking on this journey. Gone with the old, the temporal, the cheap and non-durable, and in with the new, the fresh, the real is the main requirement.

Yet the purging process brings hidden things, to the surface. Take for example cleansing the body through fasting, water and raw foods. Exposing the inadequacies of a poor diet is imminent when water and healthy fruits are taken in. Slowly but surely, the skin and body begins to eliminate the toxicity in the bloodstream, the waste in the digestive tract, the free radicals from the pores. And that’s just one example.

The sustainable choices communities are making to eat healthier, live better, become increasingly civically-engaged, and become first-person informants is being met with opposition and oft times, confusion. Yet it is right and good for a culture to survive. Through connections and relationships with not only each other but with the knowledge that there is something greater than all of this, we become inspired to find the real answers.

We are returning to balance, returning to order, returning to the One who is the beginning and the end. We became starved for love, for fellowship, for humanity and for spirituality that begged to be fed. The wildin’ out, in terms of violence, negative interactions and the abuse of all things sacred is only the reflection of a society on the verge of a [mental] structural breakdown.

Though this may be the case, let us not forget that to become whole again, we have to go through the process of refinement. Things feel like they are getting worse as the days continue on: the youth are spiraling out of control, the Earth is experiencing labor pains and premature births and deaths. This is all a part of the process of the return back to order.

It all gets worse before it gets better. When you see the world around you and become convinced that humanity is going downhill, hold on to the everlasting Truth that everything lost will be found.

re·fine·ment/riˈfīnmənt/

noun:
1. The process of removing impurities or unwanted elements from a substance.
2. The improvement or clarification of something by the making of small changes.

Inspire Your Environment (IYE) in Tampa at ‘New Skool Fresh’

“New Skool Fresh”

New Skool Fresh: This is grassroot organizing at its freshest.

An old-school approach to encouraging sustainability in the youth of Tampa Bay. 

WHERE: Cephas in Ybor, 1701 E 4th ave, Tampa, FL 33605 @6:30pm-9pm

WHAT: Inspire Your Environment (IYE) presents its first community forum night geared towards ecological youth outreach. A time to recognize, celebrate and encourage the freshness of Tampa’s sustainable community and it’s efforts towards the local youth.

The night’s itinerary includes:

1. The Icebreaker
2. The Inspire Your Environment future project line-up
3. Special Community Guest speeches
4. Networking, mingle, food and funky music

WHY: What steps are being taken to provide a sustainable future for Tampa’s youth and how are they getting involved? This night, the green advocates in Tampa target the un-targeted. Come meet people who care about the same things as you.

WHO SHOULD COME: Teachers, mentors, community leaders and advocates, green thinkers, the health conscious, environmental justice advocates, the interested, the passionate, the creative; the ones who want to become involved.

COST: This event is FREE. Green or not, come be inspired. (21+ event) **Food will be available for purchase. Please note it is CASH only y’all. 

This is grassroot organizing at its freshest. Hope to see your face in the crowd…

On Facebook, like the Inspire Your Environment page 
Follow on Twitter: @IYETampa 

Thank you for your support!

#ComeAsYouAre
#WeOnThatGoalSettingTip
#MissionPossible
#MissionAccomplished
#TampaDoingItFresh
#ComeBeInspired
#InspireYourEnvironment

Questions? Email IYE at inspireyourenvironment@gmail.com

Real Food

“We should look for someone to eat and drink with, before looking for something to eat and drink.”

– Epicurus

Let it go

Come See About Me.

Special Message & Update: This is a friendly and gentle reminder to check out my other blog, City Beautiful: Green Urbanist Remix (CBGUR). I promise that I have been reading books, interesting books, and I want to share them with you. Though I haven’t written reviews on CBGUR just yet, I will! Reading these books is taking some sweet time, but the books are very good. I assure you. Thus, City Beautiful, the place to reflect on my professional future, is my new permanent home…for now.

So without further ado:

Take my hand.

Pop Quiz.

Q. How do you prevent ‘awareness‘ from turning into ‘paranoia‘, which may morph into ‘cynicism‘?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A. Keep your eyes on the prize.

 

 

 

 

 

Psalm 25.

Of David.

In you, LORD my God, I put my trust.

I trust in you;  do not let me be put to shame, nor let my enemies triumph over me.
No one who hopes in you will ever be put to shame, but shame will come on those who are treacherous without cause.

Show me your ways, LORD, teach me your paths.

Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long.

Remember, LORD, your great mercy and love, for they are from of old.

Do not remember the sins of my youth and my rebellious ways; according to your love remember me, for you, LORD, are good.

Good and upright is the LORD; therefore he instructs sinners in his ways. He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them his way.

All the ways of the LORD are loving and faithful toward those who keep the demands of his covenant. For the sake of your name, LORD, forgive my iniquity, though it is great.

Who, then, are those who fear the LORD? He will instruct them in the ways they should choose.
They will spend their days in prosperity, and their descendants will inherit the land.
The LORD confides in those who fear him; he makes his covenant known to them. My eyes are ever on the LORD, for only he will release my feet from the snare.

Turn to me and be gracious to me, for I am lonely and afflicted. Relieve the troubles of my heart and free me from my anguish. Look on my affliction and my distress and take away all my sins. See how numerous are my enemies and how fiercely they hate me!

Guard my life and rescue me; do not let me be put to shame, for I take refuge in you.

May integrity and uprightness protect me, because my hope, LORD, is in you.

Deliver Israel, O God, from all their troubles!

I wanted to sing a praise song today, because I am so happy. I am joyful in the salvation I have through Christ. But I looked through my iPod and couldn’t find a song I wanted to sing. I almost opened up my mouth to sing a freestyle, but I do not know how musical-freestyle talented I am. So I thought, “let me read a word of praise instead and just recite it out loud. This will be my song.” So then I opened the Word of God and I read this. I had begun with Psalm 23; I wanted to recite David’s prayer. I kept reading, and Psalm 25 happened…all of the words in this passage speak to me specifically, today, with my issues and concerns. Every. Single. Word. in this passsage, speaks to everything in me. If you only knew. God hears prayers, and He answers them, through His Word. Let His name be praised forever.

Amen.