I have a lot of friends who love to travel to Mexico, and after learning about the Marietas Islands Tour Adventure in Puerto Vallarta, I want to tell them about this unique travel opportunity. It's especially attractive for people who like eco touring and who love spending their vacation time enjoying and appreciating nature.
Located on the Pacific coast of Mexico, the Marietas Islands are a small group of beautiful volcanic islands known for their population of sea life. No people live on the islands, and they are protected as a national park by the Mexican government such that no fishing or hunting is allowed there. Because the islands are protected, tourists don't actually set foot on the islands except for sunbathing, but you can enjoy them thoroughly by participating in activities like sightseeing, boating, snorkeling, and scuba diving.
Participating in a guided tour is a great way to experience the islands as everything is planned and taken care of for you, and you benefit from the knowledge of a guide who knows the area very well. There are specialty tours that focus on specific areas of interest, including nature encounters, ocean expeditions, and underwater expeditions. You also gain access to the incredible Hidden Beach (Playa Del Amor) which can only be accessed by swimming or kayaking.
The tours are affordable and include food, transportation, and recreational equipment like kayaks and snorkeling fins. Learn more by checking out Marietas-Islands.net/.
The inventor and designer of ATRE Power Stations is Leon Barnard, who resides in Surrey, BC, Canada. Leon was a mechanical engineering technician who moved up the ranks to Commodity Manager for a Fortune 500 corporation.
His interests in development of the ATRE Power Station started after a purchase of solar panels which did not perform under short and dark winter days in BC, Canada. He wanted something that delivers power in all weather, 24 hours a day.
Leon is just launching an IndieGogo campaign to fund the production of an Earth Ambient Temperature Resistant Power Station. Learn more at https://www.indiegogo.com/at/ATRE.
Leon also has several videos posted on YouTube to give you more of an idea of how this green technology works.
1. For laypeople, could you tell us what Earth Ambient Temperature Resistant Electricity (ATRE) means?
If one to watch the video here at http://igg.me/at/ATRE, the crowdfunding campaign site, you can see how the ATRE Power Station uses earth metals shaped by design into an antenna-like array which is then brought into contact with the earth to "electrify" the small galvanic cells at the rate per surrounding temperature. If the temperature increases, the flow of electricity increases, and if temperatures drop, the opposing electron charges in the crystals increase. In each panel, we use batteries to control the resistance of voltage buildup, and from there we derived the name Earth Ambient Temperature Resistant Electricity.
2. What are the benefits of ATRE compared to the green energy sources of sun and wind power?
ATRE Power Stations use water as input source, a relatively free energy source. ATRE Panels produce an electrical current 24 hours a day, independent from sun, wind, or other energy inputs. ATRE Panels do not use oxidation as a process to charge electrons, making this a natural and emission-free source of power.
Since water is relatively "free," and the ATRE Power Station does not need "clean" water, this form of electricity is considered continuous and free.
3. How did you first come up with the idea for creating your battery design?
My experience with solar panels in BC, Canada on many short and dark rainy days during the long months of winter was disappointing, and it triggered my research to find an electrical source where sun and wind does not matter. I also had the criteria of emission-free power, and a natural and clean form of energy.
4. How big will the power station be, and do you know where it will be located?
The technology is absolutely scaleable, which means that laptop computers, cell phones, and other small equipment could potentially become self-powered with tiny ATRE Power Stations. For the purpose of the campaign fundraiser, the model proposed will be as large as a medium fridge that one would purchase at your local appliance store, but at least at half the cost of your fridge due to the simplicity of the technology used.
My plan is that the initial commercial unit will be purchased like a fridge, installed in a corner of a room, and plugged into the grid--and then you can immediately save on your energy bill. It's a plug and play type of technology.
5. Why did you decide to pursue a crowdfunding campaign for your project, and is there anything else you'd like readers to know about it?
The Indiegogo.com platform requires us to explain the use of the funds and the reasons for the crowdfunding campaign, so you can learn a lot more about it by visiting our page there. Anyone interested in this project can visit the site and watch the videos and visit links to other sites that display prototypes in action and illustrate the design progress for the commercial unit.
Debra Roberts is an international honeybee educator and advocate. She teaches natural, compassionate beekeeping, and sacred relationship with bees. She stewards her bee sanctuary in the Appalachian Mountains. Learn more about Debra and her Sacred Path of Bee series of classes by visiting her website, HolyBeePress.com.
1. How did you first become a beekeeper?
Beekeeping was never a plan, but it was clearly a call. I sort of stumbled into it in the remarkable way that life sometimes unfolds. In 2004, my health crashed and I took a six-months' sabbatical that changed the rest of my life. As I was recovering, I felt inspired to take a pilgrimage to Hopi to pay my respects to the family of Thomas Banyacya, an elder who had passed and had touched my life profoundly at an earlier time in my life. I had gotten guidance to bring honey as a gift to his family. I wasn't a beekeeper (and I wasn't thinking about being one at the time), but a neighbor of mine sold some honey to me. Off I went from North Carolina, across US Route 40, arriving days later at the Banyacya family door in Arizona, quart jars of honey in hand. Thomas' daughter-in-law, whom I had never met, greeted me at the door. I said I was Debra Roberts from North Carolina and I had just come to pay my respects because of how Thomas Sr. had touched my life. And I wanted to give them a gift. She welcomed me in, received the jars of honey I gave her, and said, "Why I was just telling my husband, Thomas Jr., that we were out of honey and I needed to go to the store to get some more..."
So when I look back, there was something about that moment that marks when bees came into my life... something bee-ish, full of grace, quietly slipped under my radar and into the heart of my life. By the end of that year, I ended up in bee school, and I have been at the feet of bees ever since.
2. What is your goal or intention with your honeybee sanctuary?
I am a honeybee educator, speaker, and advocate. I teach and travel around the world, and I am totally bee-sotted. I am not commercial and rarely harvest any honey. My bee sanctuary is right next to our house in the mountains of Western North Carolina. It is a place that is holy to me. I spend time there every day that I am in town. My path is to explore sacred relationship with the bees, to learn from them, and to inspire and support others in doing the same, and it is also to provide a safe place for bees to flourish in the world. The bee sanctuary is a place I express my respect, love, reverence, devotion, and gratitude for them. This place and space is also to honor others. The sanctuary is filled with precious objects that are meaningful to me and other people, placed mindfully around the bee sanctuary to represent prayers for the well being of the bees, particular people and animals, and for the benefit of all life. As I move around the yard daily, these prayers are regularly enlivened. More than anything, the bee sanctuary is place of expressing and sharing my love for these precious wing-ed ones and for creating a healthy place for them to thrive, especially in these times where their health and well-being is so challenged.
3. What inspired you to create your Sacred Path of Bee series of classes?
I fell into friendship years ago with a wonderful woman named Layne Redmond, who was a renowned frame drum teacher, musician, researcher, and artist. She and I discovered, in our unfolding friendship over the years, that many of the experiences I was having in my sacred-in-the-ordinary bee-tending life were resonant with some of the ancient ways of the bee priestesses that Layne had been exploring while researching what later became her seminal book, When the Drummers Were Women. Neither of us called ourselves bee priestesses, but nevertheless, those words help describe a sacred territory that was so enlivened in our lives. Layne invited me to share about bees and the sacred many times in her gatherings and conferences, and we went on to create a free public offering on bees and the sacred with the intention of later co-creating a multi-part online series. Unfortunately, Layne passed away in 2013 so I went on to create the series myself. I launched The Sacred Path of Bee in August of this year, and it is offered in her loving memory. The other source of inspiration for this series are the honeybees who have colonized my mind, heart and consciousness and inspire me every day of my life.
4. Who are some of your special guest collaborators in The Sacred Path of Bee?
I have invited ten remarkable people from around the world to join me in this series. Each are a world and a wonder. To describe just a few of them, I have invited Jacqueline Freeman to join me, a visionary who communicates with bees and who wrote the widely acclaimed book The Song of Increase, Returning to Our Sacred Partnership with Honeybees. Also invited is Horst Kornberger, who wrote Global Hive, Bee Crisis and Compassionate Ecology, who teaches at the Rudolf Steiner College in Perth, Australia. And there is Kaylynn Sullivan TwoTrees, an artist, educator, activist, and elder who has spent her life at the crossroads, where species, cultures, beliefs and the unknown intersect, collide, and evolve. All ten guests bring a unique perspective to our understanding of bees and their vast blessings in our lives.
5. Why is it important for us to forge more connections with bees in our world?
Since Colony Collapse Disorder reared its head in 2006, it is now much more widely and commonly known that we depend on honeybees for over a third of the food we eat (and I would add, food we really enjoy eating). From my years with the bees, I think the opportunity they bring in helping us to understand some of the deeper issues and opportunities in life is even more important. It is my belief that many of the challenges in this world stem from our disconnect with nature--both within us and outside of us. When we steward bees in a bee-centric rather than bee-business-centric way, there is an opportunity to learn about the interconnectedness we share with all life. A higher consciousness naturally is awakened and enlivened when we spend time with honeybees in a respectful way (rather than treating them as livestock). More women than ever have stepped into the world of bees in unprecedented numbers. This started around 2007, and I believe it represents a compassionate response to the challenges bees are facing. I see this compassionate expressed in both the men and women I teach in the world and who are participating in the Sacred Path of Bee series. I celebrate the growing numbers of beekeepers and bee appreciators that are taking an interest in the bees with a primary intent to help them. If there is any one simple thing I could say about my own life with the bees, it's realizing that love itself is the ultimate activism. The Sacred Path of Bee is my offering to the world and to the bees, in the hope that more love can come their way and spread around to the rest of life. For it is sorely needed... and it's time.
After my recent post about Tom Potter, a photographer based in Colorado, I found myself thinking about his work and wishing I'd shared more samples of his photos. I suppose it's partly because his work makes me nostalgic for the two road trips I've taken to Colorado so far! It's also because I like his work, and I like to spread the word about indie artists on the blog.
So here are a few more photos of Tom's. Be sure to check out his website, http://tompotterphotography.com, to see even more.
I've been to Colorado on vacation more than once, and the natural environment there is just plain beautiful--there's really no better way to describe it! From the mountains to the rivers to the plants and wildlife, there are plenty of subjects worthy of contemplation. And that doesn't even mention the incredible rock formations.
Tom Potter is a photographer who lives in Colorado and loves to photograph landscapes, wildlife, and basically everything having to do with nature. He grew up in New York but lived amidst the scenery of Colorado for almost 20 years now. He has studied at the New York Institute of Photography and Brooklyn College, and continues to expand his work through self-study. His work explores the year-round beauty of Colorado and offers a way to bring a bit of that beauty into your home.
Tom began by shooting on film but became interested in digital photography. On his website, he sells prints of his work on canvas as well as fine paper. If you're looking for photos of Colorado taken by someone who truly loves the local surroundings, you'll want to check out Tom's work. His photos of animals are wonderful, too!
He also accepts customer requests to shoot specific locales within 100 miles of his home; you can contact him for specific details if you want to discuss a custom piece.
Dr. Victoria Neblik is a freelance writer, botanical photographer, and former Oxford University research biologist. She is currently involved in a number of writing projects and has periodic public speaking engagements on wildlife topics. Her books include Where Flowers Bloom.
Victoria trained at the Universities of London and Oxford and subsequently spent six years as a post-doctoral research biologist and research fellow. Her scientific work has taken her to 19 countries and across 4 continents. Today, she writes for various magazines and works as a public speaker and visiting university lecturer.
The photo below is (c) Victoria Neblik, 2014, all rights reserved.
1. When you were a student and researcher, what first drew you to studying the sciences?
I have been interested in wildlife and living things for as long as I can remember. As a child I used to be wildly enthusiastic about planting seeds and growing things; I also remember being very interested in my mother's medical textbooks (she worked as a hospital nurse). In many subjects, books for adults seem to become much more dense--devoid of pictures--and generally much less appealing than those for children. In science, though, books are often full of pictures and diagrams and that captured my attention early on.
In Britain, we tend to specialise much earlier in our education than in the US, so by the time I was at University I had long since made the decision to study science. As a student, I did a degree in microbiology because liked the idea of unraveling how diseases and germs function. Later on, I applied for various doctoral studentships in the microbiology, but many of them seemed uninspiring. Spending three years studying one tiny part of one virus seemed insignificant, somehow. So at that point I began to move towards zoology: studying many animals at a time, rather than one disease.
2. As a photographer and author, what do you see as the connections between your visual art and your written work?
I take pictures of plants and wildlife and I write about both. Really, I think these are just two different ways to look at the same subject. Actually, a lot of the writing I do is for magazines, so I am working in a very visual medium much of the time.
Sometimes you get a great story and only a fairly mediocre image to go with it, and at other times you can get a fantastic studio shot with not a lot of effort and no tale to go with it; for me, the real magic comes when you get both--a visually exciting image and a great story behind it.
3. What inspired you to branch out into public speaking?
Public speaking is part of life as an academic, whether it is giving lectures to students or to school children who wish to study science or presenting a discovery at a scientific conference. So, I guess public speaking has long been part of my life. It is just that I talk to people from all walks of life, now, rather than only to academics. Writing and public speaking are both ways to present a view of the world or tell a story, though, so they have something in common. It's just that you get more immediate feedback in a public talk and interaction with the audience.
4. Would you tell us a bit about your experiences in the Middle East and topics for talks you've developed from your experiences?
Certainly! I have been very lucky in that I have been to see some amazing places and some great wildlife. The talks are really just an excuse for me to share some of that experience and the pictures I took. I remember being first inspired to visit the Middle East by a talk someone gave to my class when I was at school--so, talking in schools now is a bit like coming full circle.
I have spent quite a bit of time in Jerusalem and I used the city as a base for shorter trips to various wildlife sanctuaries and national parks. I felt that Jerusalem has a really powerful, ancient and authentic atmosphere to it: as if it is as old as time itself. It was quite a moving experience.
My first trip to the region was to see Palestine Sunbirds, which are a little like hummingbirds. Once I arrived, though, one thing led to another and I moved on to see hoopoes and hyraxes, Syrian dragonflies and so on... Highlights of my last trip included seeing a giant black fire racer snake in the Golan Heights and a trip to the Alexander River to see the population of Nile Turtles they have there. The turtles, frankly, are fairly hideous looking things--enormous creatures with peculiar snouts and a face only a mother could love--but they have an interesting biology and a sort of primitive "gill"-type structure inside their throats. So I guess they're interesting, rather than endearing--but I thrive on that, you know? The weird and the wonderful! The Middle East has plenty of both, which is something I have tried very hard to capture in my talks.
5. For aspiring writers who would like to focus on topics related to nature and travel, what are some tips you would offer based on what you've learned in your own work?
I think different things work for different people, but for me, keeping a diary or a notebook is important. Little details can add great appeal to almost any article and it is precisely these details that tend to be forgotten. Having a solid background in biology (in my case) or in geography or history, I think can also be a huge benefit for travel writing: that way you are writing from a position of strength--starting with what you know about a place and embellishing with local details and with your own experiences.
The author of The Great Hawk, Karl F. Hollenbach was born in 1925 in Louisville, Kentucky. He received his B.A. and M. Ed. from the University of Louisville. His esoteric and metaphysical articles have been published in Japan and England as well as the United States. He and his artist wife live on Dunsinane Hill Farm near Fort Knox, Kentucky.
1. How does your background as an educator influence your work as a writer?
As a previous teacher, I strive for clarity in my writing, being aware that words, besides having a dictionary definition, also produce different degrees of emotional responses from readers. A teacher's greatest reward is the "Ah!" expressed when a student suddenly understands. I write with the hope and expectation of "Ahs!" when the reader understands a difficult concept, considers a new idea, accepts a different opinion, or is challenged by a different twist.
I strive not just for "good writing" or even "better writing," but my best writing. My companion next to my word processor is Roget's Thesaurus, an invaluable source for finding "the right word." I learned as a teacher that writing is not "talk written down," and that reading challenges a different part of our thinking than does listening.
2. Have you had personal experience with falconry and/or birds, or did you need to conduct a great deal of background research for The Great Hawk?
I had no personal experience with falconry nor did I do extensive research. It is the trappings of falconry, not its substance, that entice young Jimmy when he discovers it in reading about King Arthur.
My wife and I live on the farm that has been in her family for five generations.
One spring day I noticed more than the normal four or five hawks that circled overhead throughout the week. Soon they multiplied until there were over thirty. There is majesty in several hawks circling high above, but thirty becomes ominous. "Let's go inside," I told my wife, and we did.
3. Do you think that young people today are experiencing some loss of connection with the natural world?
Young children now spend too much time viewing and listening to electronic devices and neglect those things that help prepare them in the simple skills of dealing with the real world: simple decision-making, choosing, evaluating, experiencing, and judging chance and probability. The mystical experience of nature is replaced by the magic of electronic devices.
4. How does an appreciation of farming and the countryside help enrich our lives, and how do we see this in action in Jimmy's life in your story?
In The Great Hawk, farming and the countryside represent pristine nature, while Jimmy's wish to "train a baby hawk" is his conditioning to control nature. Our electronic culture encourages us to direct nature, if not control it, and certainly not to marvel at its miraculous manifestations: a small device with no wires allows us to listen to music played hundreds of miles away, and our reaction is not the astonishing activity filling empty space but "can I get it louder."
5. What writing project(s) are you currently working on?
A book that begins with a mystery in 1935 that is answered by a story of redemption beginning in 1862. The title is Holy Ground.
