Its Earth Hour 2009 at 8:30pm on Saturday, March 28. An hour to turn out the lights and send a message that people worldwide are ready to work together and fight global warming.
Fortunately for Southland, its not all bad. Although our local councils might not care about Climate Change (the Gore District Council doesn't even provide adequate recycling facilities and feels curbside recycling is too expensive - feel free to contact them here and let them know what you think about that!!), the Eastern Southland Sustainable Living Group is in the throws of putting something together for the night. I will keep you posted!!
By Roberto Lamego - Director, February 12, 2009 09:54 PM
Project report - February, 2009
Dear donors and project friends,
First of all I want to thank all generous donors that made "Trees and Education Protect Rainforest in Brazil" project to be classified among the top 5 in bringing in donations as shows a GlobalGiving January made study. Thank you for your confidence in our work and in 2009 we will have more.
As you know our objectives are teaching and educating farmers, students, local citizens and communities to preserve and restore the Atlantic Rainforest in Brazil with the use of sustainable forest farming methods and adopting new attitudes towards the environment. We show them ways to protect and recover the landscape, the water and the wildlife, searching means to enhance rural earnings. This year we have already planted part of this season trees, fruit trees and palm trees, we are still going to plant more and we expect to plant 3.000. Many seedlings were from our local production and we bought more with resources from SALVEASERRA/GlobalGiving Fund and a GlobalGiving Green donor.
This year school groups will continue to visit the Concordia Mountain Wildlife Sanctuary to follow our environmental education program “A Day in the Forest” in a mountain environment, seeing its biodiversity and noticing the importance of the water sources. They will also visit the agroforestry plantations at the Agroforestry Educational Center. These visits will take place two or three times per month and are sponsored by the SALVEASERRA/GLOBALGIVING Fund cover all the costs. Please see attached pictures of the last group that came to our mountain in December 2008. This year we are starting a new phase of our project with the creation of the SALVEASERRA CARAVAN, that will be a way to take the knowledge we want to spread directly were it is needed in the fields, upcountry to farmers, families and communities. The SALVEASERRA CARAVAN will transport knowledge and new ideas, bring back wisdom, experiences and students to our home base and will settle "Small Family Oasis" along the way. A "Small Family Oasis" is a place where families with water for irrigation can live all year round, planting their food, producing goods for the market, with permanent jobs and occupation. You will hear more from this project soon. This new project will also be sponsored by the SALVEASERRA/GlobalGiving Fund, where all the donations go. Thank you all for your support and donations that make all this possible. Roberto Lamego
You can also help at no cost to you by downloading the How to Make a Difference toolbar. Its powered by Conduit and works on both Firefox and Internet Explorer. Every download raises money for SALVEASERRA!
Purchase a WE ADD UP 'Plant Trees' Tee and 10% of the purchase price will be donated to SALVEASERRA - on top of that WE ADD UP will also plant or save ten trees for you in the rainforests of Central America with the help of their partner, Sustainable Harvest International.
I've been speaking recently with a prominent New Zealand businessman/tv personality about how to resurrect Mataura and encourage business back into the town. I had hopes that he would be able to offer some pearls of wisdom, perhaps some encouragement and avenues of investigation for us to follow. But no, unfortunately he pronounced Mataura dead and told me that we are wasting out time trying.
Today, I was walking around Mataura delivering 'The Mataura Messenger" - our monthly news sheet and it struck me how very alive Mataura is.
I was impressed by how many tidy, well cared for homes there are. I saw groups of kids playing together and enjoying the summer evening. I admired beautiful, well-tended gardens. I noticed (with some envy) how many homes have bountiful vege gardens. I strode past neighbours talking to one another. I was greeted by people I knew - and people I didn't.
Our main street may well be dilapidated and almost empty, we certainly have more than our fair share of run down homes and uncared for sections of land, and there is no doubt that apathy is hindering progress towards a stronger community. But Mataura is not dead.
I think our Businessman's idea of a thriving, successful community is different from those of us that live here. We aren't looking to create a megacity generating huge profits (although huge profits would be nice I guess) and we don't need to be the centre of the universe to have achieved our goals. What we are looking to create is a community where people have choices. We want to be able to run our businesses in our town and have some control over our community destiny.
It will take time to rebuild our community. But there are certainly people who are prepared to invest their time to make a difference. It will also take perseverance and continued effort. Fortunately there are people who have been working towards this goal for sometime already and who are willing to keep fighting the good fight on behalf of the community.
Criticism is hard to take. Even the well meaning, thoughtful criticism from people who sincerely want to help you be better bruises your ego a little and can make you feel defensive. When it comes to the nasty, vitriolic stuff . . . well, it can be hard to accept it with any kind of grace - even when its justified!
But its important to learn to graciously respond to criticism - especially the mean-spirited stuff and the feedback delivered in anger. There is no value in responding in kind. Even though it is sooooo tempting and might feel good for a moment, in the long run no one comes out of it a winner and nothing positive is gained.
I've had to deal with a bit of criticism in my time. Some of it I have been hugely appreciative of, some of it not so much. But every criticism I have received (even the stuff I've felt to be completely unjustified) has offered up opportunities to learn something about myself and to become better.
I struggle not to respond to negative feedback with more negativity . . . an angry retort when I feel the critique to be unfair or wallowing in self-loathing over my weaknesses when they are brought to my attention. Neither of these responses are particularly conducive to personal growth!
So, how do you respond to criticism graciously?
Wait If your first impulse is to respond defensively, then take a few deep breaths. Give yourself a moment (or two) to calm down and cool off. Don't make your response until you can be more objective.
Is it really so important to be right? Sometimes it really is more important to be kind than it is to be right. Put yourself in the other person's shoes - maybe they have a valid point but haven't expressed it well, maybe they're having a bad day, maybe you've inadvertently hit a nerve . . .
Its tempting to argue, its tempting to point out all the reasons why they are wrong, its tempting to pick holes in their reasoning, call attention to their own failings, resort to name calling . . . but it serves no purpose, creates even more negativity and is ultimately a waste of your energy.
So be kind. Thank them for their feedback. Give them the benefit of the doubt. Move on.
Look for lessons There is always a lesson. Whether its something directly related to the criticism you received, a lesson about other people, or a lesson about yourself.
Be honest with yourself. Its not always easy to accept that your critic may have a point - especially when their criticism is delivered in anger. But try to consider that you may indeed have room to improve.
And if there are changes you need to make . . . then make them.
Don't dwell on it Don't let the fact that your weaknesses have been exposed get you down. We're none of us perfect. If the feedback received was fair and useful - implement it and move on. Be grateful of the opportunity to become a better person.
When the criticism wasn't so constructive or was just plain out nasty, don't take it personally. Often, mean-spirited criticism isn't about you, its about your critic - a manifestation of their own insecurities, fears and troubles. Learn what you can from it and let it go.
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