Origin Magazine Issue16

ORIGIN. The Conscious Culture Magazine

Strong Powerful WOMEN Top Female Athletes

the

ocean issue Global Ocean Leaders

david guetta: human rights

Conservation Rockstars

World’s Top Nature Photographers

vday: one billion rising

jack johnson wild aid

charlize theron. eve ensler. jane fonda.

Plastic Pollution Coalition: Jeff Bridges • Ben Harper • Kelly Slater • Bonnie Raitt

Ending Extinction: elephants | rhinos | sharks

j ac k johnson “Single use plastic is not so fantastic. We use it for a minute or two and then it sits around for a few thousand years, maybe even more and then it washes up on the shore. Just bring your own bag to the store.� plasticpollutioncoalition.org

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W h at c a u s e s a r e y o u pa s s i o n at e a b o u t ?

“Sustainable agriculture—being from Hawaii, it’s something that you see firsthand. It’s a major issue there. Ninety percent of our food is shipped in. That’s really taxing.

Supporting local food production is so much healthier for people. It’s better for the local economy, and it’s a lot of fun. We get to go out into the schools and work with the kids on connecting them to their food at a young age, to actually see where their food is coming from, to see that their food is coming from the earth and not just from a supermarket. Once they make that connection, they can start to build upon that. It’s really neat to watch it grow.”

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New York April 24–28, 2014 | Hilton Midtown

ExpEriEncE

Yoga Journal

in thE citY!

Photo by Wari Om

ElENa BrowEr Jason Crandell

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KathrYN Budig

Tiffany Cruikshank

riChard FrEEmaN Amy Ippolitti

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Larissa Hall Carlson

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Nikki Costello

Bo Forbes

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aNa ForrESt

Julie Gudmestad

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Lauren Imparato

Eric Kipp

Claire Missingham

Raghunath

David Swenson

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Matt Giordano

Leslie Kaminoff

ViNNiE mariNo

Sianna Sherman

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Hilary Garivaltis

Alanna Kaivalya

Chris Loebsack Aadil Palkhivala

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garY KraFtSow

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Colleen Saidman Yee

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rodNEY YEE

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Editor’s Letter

Maranda Pleasant

Who are we?

We are a group of women, mothers, artists, and leaders committed to transforming lives, our world, and ourselves.

We have a passion for protecting the planet, animals, and those without a voice. We are bringing together game changers, agents of good, and thought leaders to create a better world.

Maranda pleasant photo: Julie Afflerbaugh

With the New Year is a new beginning. Time is not a luxury we have. The needle is moving too slowly for improving the lives of women and girls across the world, protecting the health of our earth, and saving endangered species. Let this be the year we rise, shake things up, and make a real difference. May we be brave enough to speak our truths, regardless of the consequences.

We partner with the most effective organizations and artists who are preserving

Ocean Editor’s Note

We’d love your support in 2014 as we continue to amplify the voice of nonprofits, giving so many a national platform for awareness and action.

We hope you’ll join us.

Maranda Pleasant Founder/Editor-In-Chief ORIGIN Magazine Mantra Yoga+Health editor@originmagazine.com

Jennifer Galvin

When Maranda first asked me to curate an ocean series for Origin Magazine I was surprised, and intrigued. Marine ecosystem work around the globe can appear as vast and complex as the ocean itself. Sometimes, efforts seem to drown in the magnitude of the problems. My entire career has been spent in the environmental arena and even I often wonder: Are we making a dent in the crisis facing the ocean?

whole larger than the sum of its parts. There are inherent challenges with tackling big problems, and unfortunately, the result is that efforts can be disjointed, redundant, and more focused on giving talks at conferences than on action.

But these troubles pale in comparison to what we’ll feel with stressed out, changing oceans – “hot, sour and breathless” oceans as a recent UN report warns. So the ocean conservation community keeps churning, knowing that what’s happening with the oceans is what’s happening with us – it should be the most obvious signature of global change.

I’ve worked at the intersection of science, media, and social innovation as an academic, as a strategist, as a funder, and as a filmmaker.

It wasn’t that long ago that I had to fight to write Yale’s first master’s thesis about ocean and human health. I was told it was a foolish idea and to focus on something else. I didn’t heed the advice. (Nor did I hesitate to give my academic advisor my favorite example of a marine-human health connection: the ocean as the ultimate hangover cure. It did not go over well in the storied halls of New Haven.)

Thankfully there are now international centers dedicated to exploring how our health is connected to ocean health and we even have an Ocean Health Index (www.oceanhealthindex. org).

It would help if we could bring together our efforts, inject fresh thinking, and make the

In this issue, I wanted to give you a taste of who’s doing what for the oceans so we can all

jennifer galvin

and protecting the planet and human rights, often telling the stories of those who are underrepresented. Our goal is to bring awareness about these issues into the main stream, reframe our culture, and get our message out of the choir. My personal focus is on empowering women using art for social, political, and environmental change.

learn to tell the oceans’ story better. I hope Origin’s readers find this to be a thoughtful, moving collection that expands understanding of our water world. Some contributors are new to the ocean scene and others have been doing marine work for decades. If this were not a vegan magazine, I would have included stories of sustainable fishing and seafood; conserving the ocean foodway and the livelihoods connected to it is one of the significant ways we can drive demand for protecting our seas.

All of these voices are a good reminder that we can learn about our connection to the ocean in new and unsuspecting ways. I hope they serve as a jumping off point for new collaborations and action. Go on, introduce an artist to a scientist.

We need inspired thinking to build new models and mechanisms of partnership, investment, decision-making, and communication. The people featured in this issue are the people doing the hard work for us. Get behind them.

As I built this series, so many stories reconnected me to dear friends and badass colleagues. All the salt does something to us over the years, and it bonds us together. It sometimes feels like no progress is being made.

Yet these problems take serious commitment, often exceeding life-long dedication. When I take a hard look at the people working on solving ocean issues, I’m hopeful we have a chance of making waves. reelblue.net

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ocean

can china

save the world’s sharks?

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S h a r k f i n t r a d e d e c l i n e s a s o n e c a m pa i g n p u t s t h e p o w e r o f c o n s e r v at i o n into the hands of consumers by wildaid

On

a dreary day in Beijing, hundreds of local residents huddled together outside of a shopping mall and eagerly awaited the arrival of the stars of China’s popular variety show “Happy Camp”. In the front row of the audience, sat New York Times blogger Andy Revkin, who came on a break from a global climate conference accompanied by a translator seated next to him.

Two of Happy Camp’s hosts, Xie Na and Du Haitao, took the stage in black shirts with “WildAid” emblazoned across their chests. In a combination of bold English letters and Chinese script, the backs of their t-shirts read: When the buying stops, the killing can too. The tagline was made popular by WildAid, the only NGO working solely to reduce the demand of endangered wildlife

products. The words, a reminder of the power of each consumer, appeared on screens across the stage and hung above the crowd on a billboard featuring the same celebrity conservationists on stage.

This moment was the result of nearly seven years of steady campaigning, a seemingly endless stream of public service messages featuring wildlife ambassadors including Yao Ming, Jackie Chan, and Richard Branson, and a partnership with China’s CCTV that

continues to broadcast WildAid’s messages to millions of Chinese consumers in primetime, all free of charge.

Only a few months ago, the NGO Shark Savers, which recently announced a merger with WildAid, and several partners, including National Geographic, Nat Geo Wild, and WWF-Hong Kong, launched the “I’m FINished with Fins” initiative, the latest push to end shark fin consumption. It gained support in Hong Kong, Singapore, and Kuala Lumpur, culminating with this WildAid launch in mainland China. The multimedia campaign featured Hollywood style broadcast messages, billboards, magazine ads, and an online recruiting platform created through a partnership with Sina Weibo, China’s popular microblogging platform.

The results announced on-stage were beyond expectations. More than 100 celebrities joined the campaign and in less than four weeks of online support via Sina Weibo, roughly 300,000 users pledged not to

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In August, WildAid conducted a survey where 85% of Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Chengdu residents interviewed said they stopped eating shark fin soup in the last three years, and 65% of those said awareness campaigns was a reason why they stopped. ocean 8 ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM

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wildaid

consume shark fin through texts or with photos, reaching more than 2 million subscribers.

Despite the misty rain, spirits were high among the spectators.

The tide is turning and the future is looking brighter for sharks. New estimates have yet to be gathered, but before the campaign, estimates suggested that fins from up to 73 million sharks were used in shark fin soup each year as demand grew among an uninformed public.

As the event concluded and the celebrity ambassadors made their way off-stage, the WildAid staff busily sent updates to the San Francisco headquarters. The event was a success, but what could the supporters expect next?

The answer came in the following weeks as WildAid rolled out more scheduled communications, feeding the growing number

of supporters eager to share updates and information with their friends online. The news headlines verified what WildAid and its partners suspected: the shark fin trade was continuing to decline.

In August, WildAid conducted a survey where 85% of Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Chengdu residents interviewed said they stopped eating shark fin soup in the last three years, and 65% of those said awareness campaigns was a reason why they stopped.

Demand was shrinking and the value of fins on the open market was decreasing, a sure sign that the industry was feeling the effects of the continuous campaigning. Media reports from Western and Chinese publications declared an estimated 50% -70% decrease in consumption and the market value of shark fin had been cut nearly in half.

This success is certainly significant, however the demand has not been eliminated entirely yet. The campaigning must and will continue, harnessing the momentum of the growing ranks of supporters and celebrity

ambassadors. The Chinese urban “middle class” consumers are reportedly predicted to rise by an estimated 250 million over the next 15 years, bringing a combination of old customs and new money. Conspicuous consumption and powerful new aspirations will either drive a massive expansion in the use of wildlife parts and products in China or be diverted by the messages created by WildAid and its partners.

WildAid’s communications model is now being applied to its campaigns to stop the demand for ivory and rhino horn in China and Vietnam. Partners including Save the Elephants and the African Wildlife Foundation are supplying the financial support necessary for WildAid to continue to reach out to consumers. With smaller numbers of elephants and rhinos facing a rising poaching crisis, the campaigns will be streamlined, benefitting from seven years of experience and relationships with media partners, that may just help turn China into the world’s largest conservationist. more at www.wildaid.org

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C onservation I nternational Why is a healthy ocean important for people?

The ocean is our world’s greatest resource. It is an engine that powers all life on this planet - the estimated value of the natural services provided by the ocean is an astounding $21 trillion. Three-hundred fifty million jobs are related to marine industries. One-hundred eighty million jobs are directly related to global fisheries, representing $190 billion in total global value. The ocean also moderates our climate, protects shorelines, and provides more than 50% of the oxygen we breathe.

We also feel the impact from a healthy ocean on our dinner plate. By 2050, the Earth’s population will grow to 9 billion people with 5 billion in the middle class. We will need 70% more food and we will have to look to the ocean to help feed the world.

Executive Vice President of Conservation International In t e rv i ew w i t h

greg Stone I ntervie w by Ian S omerhalder

Not everybody eats seafood. Why are healthy and sustainable fisheries so important to the health of the oceans?

Half the world depends on seafood as a source of protein. It’s estimated that almost 1 billion people in the world do not have enough to eat, and seafood provides 3 billion people with almost 20% of their daily protein intake. For the other half that may prefer a steak or tofu, sustainable fisheries are integral to a well-balanced ocean ecosystem.

Fisheries with high by-catch and damage to their surrounding habitats reduce the resilience of an ecosystem.

Marine ecosystems are intricately interwoven, so removing a single species may have negative impacts on other integral elements of the ecosystem. For example, removing sharks and other apex marine predators like tuna, alters the structure of food chains, which directly affects coral reef health. Moreover, sustainable fisheries are necessary to support local economies since the fishing industry represents about $5.6 billion of the annual U.S. GDP. While an estimated 85% of the world’s fisheries are overexploited,

photo: (top) peter stonier 10 ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM

How do we manage these tuna fisheries?

When one single tuna can sell for $737,000 at the Tsukiji Tuna Auction in Japan, then we can see how difficult it is to manage tuna fisheries.

Sustainably managing tuna fisheries is a politically and economically loaded challenge to which there is no single answer. It requires applying a suite of different management tools, increasing transparency, and increasing economic returns for countries like those in the Pacific Islands, which have stewardship responsibilities for vast swaths of the ocean but currently only recover 5-7% of the landed value of the fish caught in their waters.

Some tools that have worked in the past: marine protected areas (MPA) where some areas have no fishing and other areas have well-managed fishing gives many species a chance to recover and increase. Catch shares have worked by providing licensed fisher’s certain shares of a sustainable amount of harvest of each species. Fisher’s tend to manage

and supervise this approach, reducing the need for outside enforcement.

An initiative that Conservation International has been involved with that can potentially help the pacific bluefin tuna recover is the Pacific Oceanscape. It is a management framework that has been endorsed by 22 Pacific Islands countries and territories covering more than 10 percent of the global ocean. It is designed to foster stewardship at the local, national, regional, and international scales, and provide a secure future for Pacific Islanders based on the sustainable development and management of their vulnerable coasts and vast ocean resources.

Individual nations are now making ambitious commitments to protect and sustainably manage their ocean and coastal areas under the auspices of the Oceanscape, from Kiribati’s 408,250-square-kilometer Phoenix Islands Protected Area, the largest and deepest UNESCO World Heritage Site, to the Cook Islands’ announcement of a 1.1-millionsquare-kilometer marine park, to New Caledonia’s decision to establish a 1.4-million-square-kilometer marine protected area in the Coral Sea. Protected-area commitments under the Oceanscape now total an area photos: (left) peter stonier (right) keith ellenbogen

significantly larger than the Mediterranean Sea. For context, the area is larger than the surface of the moon; and we know less about it than the moon!

Does an MPA need to be completely closed to fishing to be successful?

No an MPA does not need to be completely closed to fishing to be successful. Its success, however, does hinge on the effective local management and regulations. Each MPA that is supported by CI is different; therefore, we work with local coastal communities to assess long-term solutions to their short-term needs. Often, the result is a multiple-use MPA that can accommodate multiple and sometimes conflicting objectives to ensure solutions that meet human needs while preserving biodiversity. An example would be an MPA that is split into three specific zones: sustainable (local) fishing, tourism, and a no-take zone. The no-take zone can be a seasonal closure (e.g. during breeding season) or completely, restricted at all times.

Where else do you see these types of MPAs being useful?

In the past 10 years, CI has implemented or strengthened the management of MPAs across multiple regions: Tropical Eastern Pacific, Indonesia, Brazil, Philippines, and across the western and central Pacific through the Pacific Oceanscape initiative. Our teams have worked with local partners and communities to build networks of co-managed MPAs throughout Raja Ampat in West Papua, Indonesia and strengthened

the management of established UNESCO World Heritage sites like Galapagos, Malpelo, and Cocos Island. We are committed to using prioritization tools like marine protected areas to address the increasing demand for marine resources and to achieve sustainable fisheries and economies.

Can fisheries recover?

Yes, but only if we institute policies and governance mechanisms that support sustainable fisheries. In the 1950s, the Pacific sardine fishery off the Californian coast collapsed due to high catch levels, which led to the decline of many local economies. But, by the end of the 1980s, sardine stocks began to recover, and today the fishery is once again thriving under active management, supporting the livelihood of families and communities. On the flip side, however, is the collapse of the Atlantic Northeast cod fishery, where the fish stocks that cod rely on also collapsed due to overfishing, making recovery very difficult.

conservation.org ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM 11

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fisheries can vary in health from region to region. These differences are due to the size of the fishing fleet, the methods of fishing used, boat types, and institutional frameworks in place. Many Atlantic sardine populations in the Mediterranean are declining or depleted, but Pacific sardines fisheries in the U.S are abundant. Similarly, several red snapper populations of the U.S. South Atlantic continue to decline despite management efforts. Perhaps some of the most exploited fisheries worldwide are the Atlantic and Southern bluefin tuna – commonly found in sushi – which are both considered a critical conservation concern due to demonstrated long term declines in abundance.

ocean

“Our ocean knows no borders and it ensures life for everyone.”

Global Partnership for Oceans World Bank Global Partnership For Oceans

Aligning Ocean Health and Human Well-Being The ocean is the earth’s critical lifesupport system. Once thought to be limitless, the ocean’s resources are showing serious signs of deterioration and depletion on a global scale. Our oxygen, water, jobs, food, and weather system are on the line and scientists worldwide are in agreement: if we do not take global action to protect our shared global asset, these changes will become irreversible.

Despite this gloomy reality, the good news is that there are solutions and we can take action that counts. Supported by more than 150 public, private, and civil society organizations, the Global Partnership for Oceans was established by the World Bank as a convening platform to respond to the ecological and humanitarian crisis of declining ocean health. It will mobilize funding and expertise to activate proven solutions at the scale needed to feed a growing population without depleting the ocean’s resources. The Partnership aims to tackle documented problems of overfishing, pollution, and habitat loss to

support communities and global economies.

By addressing these problems globally we can build the resilience of our ocean to prepare for climate change while protecting the jobs, nutrition, and food security of billions around the globe.

This challenge is not small. It means managing our fisheries to end destructive overfishing.

It means reducing pollution from plastic, nutrients, and untreated sewage that make the ocean uninhabitable. It means protecting key habitats, such as coral reefs and mangroves, that protect, feed, and employ. It means collaboration on a global scale.

Our ocean knows no borders and it ensures life for everyone. With joint action from governments, companies, scientists, and conservationists, we still have time to take action on the scale needed to bring our ocean, our communities, and our global economy back to health.

For more information on the Global Partnership for Oceans, please see the website www.globalpartnershipforoceans.org and follow on twitter @GPOceans.

Photos: (top) Jack London (middle) Katie Schuler (bottom) shutterstock 12 ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM

Sir Richard Branson “I am passionate about many things but conserving our planet and its species is a high priority of mine. We need to learn and always remember that our actions today will dictate the type of world our children and grandchildren grow old in. It is our greatest responsibility. We all have a part to play and I believe we all have to embrace the challenge to change. Of course an individual can make a huge difference but it is when those individuals come together with like-minded souls that they can change the world for ever and importantly for the better.� p h o t o : K at e H o l s t e i n

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photo: David Doubilet and Jennifer Hayes

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DavidDoubilet.com

David Doubilet and Jennifer Hayes work as an underwater photojournalist team that co-produce stories for National Geographic Magazine. David and Jennifer believe that photography is universal language that reaches out to all of us regardless of region or race. Pictures have the visual power to seduce, shock, honor, humiliate, and the power to inspire change. David and Jennifer work underwater from the equator to the poles to share the beauty and devastation of this hidden world that covers most of our planet. Their single goal is simple: to convince the unconvinced that as the sea goes so do we.

David Doubilet and Jennifer Hayes GET OUT OF THIS WORLD, GO BELOW

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photo: David Doubilet and Jennifer Hayes

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photo: David Doubilet and Jennifer Hayes

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photo: David Doubilet and Jennifer Hayes

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m . w. ma rine w a tc h in t e rna t i o n a l i

By Alexandra Sangmeister

Marine Watch International supports the individuals and organizations working on the front lines to save the oceans. We are crowdsourcing information to create the world’s largest database and platform to connect those working in ocean conservation around the world. We are on a quest to find who is working where and doing what in ocean conservation, especially those working in remote areas with little information online. Do you know a group that is cleaning your local beach? Did your family go on vacation and meet an organizational leader working with marine life? Then you can contribute!

Everyone must share their successes, failures, research, strategies, best practices, everything we can, and work together to have the major and largescale impact needed to save the oceans. We simply do not have enough time to duplicate efforts and work in silos.

Most organizations are so occupied doing their own work that they may not know of others facing similar challenges. By working together, everyone can be more efficient and effective. Our platform provides a much-needed virtual place where researchers, volunteers, educators, and organizational leaders can work together by sharing experiences and strategizing for the future. Our dynamic and interactive maps will aid in visualizing the data, such as showing where organizations are working and developing a vital, global assessment of ocean conservation. Whether you have two minutes or two hours to spare, the information you enter is crucial and will be leveraged to protect the oceans and foster collaboration. Join us by going to www.marinewatch.org photos: (top) Alexandra Sangmeister, (smaller left) Buffy Redsecker ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM 19

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Can an Oc e a n Full of Plastic S u s ta i n Life?

Plastic Pollution Coalition

By Daniella Dimitrova Russo Co-founder and Executive Director of Plastic Pollution Coalition The short answer is – no.

Scientists first reported plastic pieces and polystyrene in the ocean as early as the 1970’s. The mass albatross death on Midway Atoll has been documented for at least 30 years. Today, every part of the ocean we have studied, from the Arctic and Antarctica, to the deep seafloor, has revealed the presence of plastic.

After years of searching for the elusive “island of trash,” we realized that there is no island – there is “plastic soup,” particles of plastic floating

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through the water and dispersed over vast distances. Moved by the ocean currents, these particles float and accumulate in convergence zones, or “gyres”, such as the North and South Atlantic, North and South Pacific, and the Indian Ocean. Plastic particles have been found in every one of these gyres, and in the marine animals living there.

Does it matter?

The science community thinks so. Between 2005 and 2013, over 100 scientific publications examine various aspects of microplastics in the ocean. The “island of trash” was, in a way, easier to address – it inspired heroic notions of cleanup by engaging large fleets of fishing trawlers, scooping it all up. Turns out, this was more fiction than reality. When marine life bonds with plastic particles, life is created – how do you destroy that? And while we ponder that challenge, the plastic in the ocean continues to break into smaller pieces. All the while, new plastic is created which over years break into smaller pieces in the

ocean

“

But the toxicity transfer does not end with the fish on your plate.

We already know that our cattle is fed fish-stocks. So, where does the transference of toxic chemicals end? environment but never biodegrades. But this plastic is not inert – it contains chemical compounds used for durability, flexibility etc. These compounds are well known endocrine disruptors, causing genetic changes and documented carcinogens.

The ocean is already full of organic pollutants such as DDT. To this, we have added BpA and the Polychlorinated Biphenols (PCBs) compounds used in plastic products. The microplastics, with their oleophilic structure, tend to absorb these organic compounds. These toxic microplastics ingested by oysters and mussels, close the gut wall and cause reaction with the tissue. Ingested by other marine animals, toxic microplastics will stay in their tissues, while compounds may start to leach out. And the transfer and bioaccumulation of these toxic substances into the larger fish tissues is inevitable. But the toxicity transfer does not end with the fish on your plate. We already know that our cattle is fed fish-stocks. So, where does the transference of toxic chemicals end?

Growing Impact Between 1997 and 2012, the UNEP Review has tracked the progress of marine pollution and its impact on species from 267 species affected to 663, from 86% of all sea turtles to 100%, and from 43% of all marine mammals to 53%. Over 80% of all impacts were associated with plastic debris, while paper, glass, wood, and metal accounted for less than 2%.

What to do?

Plastic is a material with no end of life plan. Plastic products last hundreds photos: (top) Chris Jordan, (bottom) Dee Boesmak

of years and can be found throughout the water column and dispersed over vast distances. They break into smaller pieces in the environment but never biodegrade. Producing plastic single-use products, designed specifically to be thrown away, is, simply put – irresponsible, although great business. Plastic bottles, plastic straws, plastic bags, plastic cutlery, and other items offer brief convenience, but remain on this planet forever. The first response to disposable plastic products must be – REFUSE. Lets consider carefully each plastic purchase. Must it last forever? Is it important that it is not toxic? These are two simple questions that eliminate many plastic purchases such as toys, household objects, cooking implements, and many others. Reducing our plastic footprint helps live a toxic-free life.

Let’s ask more of businesses who sell our products in plastic packaging – our mass purchasing power can move the markets, drive prices down, and bring toxic-free, plastic-free products into every home. Demand plastic free packaging. Demand options and alternatives. Demand extended producer responsibility – each plastic bottle or bottle cap in the ocean belongs to the manufacturer who produced an indestructible product in the first place.

Plastic Pollution Coalition is a global alliance working on reducing plastic pollution through viral behavior change, disruptive innovation, and youth leadership. Join the coalition today, and help us shape the future of our planet for the generations to come. plasticpollutioncoalition.org ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM 21

The

International League of Conservation Photographers photos clockwise from top: Claudio Contreras Koob, Michele Westmorland, Luciano Candisani, Claudio Contreras Koob

The International League of

Conservation Photographers is best known for its conservation photography expeditions that each produce a body of images that fully captures the threats and opportunities faced by communities whose physical environments, animal or plant populations, and/or cultural traditions are in peril.

“iLCP is best known for its conservation photography expeditions that each produce a body of images that fully captures the threats and opportunities faced by communities whose physical environments, animal or plant populations, and/or cultural traditions are in peril.”

Marine conservation is a key program area for iLCP and two of our recent expeditions focused on coral reefs. In January 2013, we partnered with the Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation (LOF), sending iLCP Fellow Michele Westmorland to take part in a coral reef research expedition in the Gambiers Islands of French Polynesia. Her goal was to document the work of the scientists and the state of these spectacular reefs. The resulting images are being used by LOF in ocean conservation displays around the world that educate people about the important role reefs play in ocean health. Michele also produced a short film for LOF that was shown at the 10th World Wilderness Congress in Spain in October.

In April, we teamed with Project Seahorse to dispatch four iLCP Fellows – Luciano Candisani, Claudio Contreras Koob, Thomas Peschak, and Michael Ready – to the Danajon Bank in The Philippines. Their goal was to document the state of this rare double-barrier reef, one of only six in the world. They returned with images that evidence the destruction

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ecosystem in the coming years. iLCP images are being used by Project Seahorse to help advance this cause.

caused by unsustainable fishing practices, and the impacts of the illegal capture of seahorses and other tropical fish for the global aquarium trade. However, they also captured the stories of local communities adopting new sustainable forms of livelihood, like seaweed farming, and how the establishment of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) has helped to restore the health of the Danajon Bank.

In both locations, our photographers noted the absence of large predator species. In Gambier, we believe the cause may be illegal fishing of sharks since the reef is healthy and teeming with small and medium fish. Gambiers should be able to support marine predators. So where are they? By contrast, in the Danajon Bank, the cause is clearly the lack of large populations of smaller fish, which are necessary to support top predator species. Hopefully, the establishment of additional MPAs will restore this important

In 2014, iLCP will further its marine commitment with expeditions to Mexico and Honduras. Our goal is to capture images, still and video, that will feed a communications campaign directed at fishing communities all along the MesoAmerican Reef (MAR).

The campaign aims to encourage local stakeholders to support the establishment of no-take zones: fish nurseries that help to restore depleted fish stocks. Small catches of small fish are hurting these coastal communities, as in many places the reef can no longer sustain their basic livelihoods.

The International League of Conservation Photographers is a U.S. based 501(c)(3) non-profit entity whose mission is to further environmental and cultural conservation through photography. Our programs are built around the contributions of our 100+ Fellows, an elite group of the world’s top nature and culture photographers who are committed to conservation all around the globe. To learn more about our work in conservation communications, visit our website at www.ConservationPhotographers. org. And please, consider supporting our efforts with a donation!

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Each of us can make a difference in preventing plastic pollution by refusing single-use plastics such as plastic water bottles and by making sustainable choices when we shop.

Bonnie Raitt musician plasticpollutioncoalition.org ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM 23

Challenge & Opportunity in the gulf

Gulf Restoration Network The Gulf of Mexico is many things to many people. Ask

a commercial fisherman in Louisiana, and you might hear how the Gulf has helped supply their family with food to eat and means of making a living for generations. Ask a hotel owner in Tampa, and she might tell you how the Gulf’s beautiful beaches and fabulous fishing help drive the local economy. And like it or not, for many people, the Gulf of Mexico still conjures up images of BP’s oil spewing from the ocean floor and coating our beaches.

The Gulf’s marine environment is one of the most diverse and productive ecosystems in the world, supplying 40% of the nation’s domestically caught seafood, and providing home to an amazing array of wildlife like dolphins, whale sharks, sperm whales, and bluefin tuna. However, this remarkable ecosystem faces a number of significant threats.

Thousands of offshore oil and gas facilities pepper the Gulf’s surface, and many thousands of miles more of oil and gas pipelines carve through our wetlands and coastal waters. Leaks and accidents are a daily occurrence.

Whales and dolphins face the threat of seismic exploration, a method of searching for oil and gas reserves that involves producing underwater blasts of sound so loud that they have been shown to harm and sometimes even kill marine mammals. From genetic problems in species like the Gulf killifish to the death of deep water corals, the Gulf also continues to reel from the BP disaster.

In addition to oil and gas impacts, overfishing is a big problem for our marine populations. Industrial menhaden boats harvest an average of 1 billion pounds a year of menhaden, a key forage fish at the base of much of the Gulf’s food web. Untold numbers of other marine animals like sharks and sport fish are accidentally caught in their nets. The only known spawning ground for western Atlantic bluefin tuna is in the Gulf, yet their populations are threatened by surface longline fishing – a method of fishing that involves hundreds of baited hooks suspended from lines stretched an average of 30 miles.

There is hope, though. Those of us who live, work, and play on the Gulf are still here and still working to make sure this amazing region is preserved for future generations. In the wake of the BP disaster, the eyes of the nation’s researchers and residents are on the Gulf. With the billions of dollars in fines and payments from BP and the other companies responsible for the disaster set to start flowing to the region, we have the opportunity to jumpstart restoration and protection efforts. Gulf Restoration Network is working hard to protect our marine environment by pushing for better oversight over the oil and gas industry, protections for marine mammals from seismic exploration, and a transition to more sustainable fishing gear to ensure bluefin tuna and other marine populations can thrive. You can learn more and join the fight for a healthy Gulf by visiting HealthyGulf.org.

photos: (top) Jonathan Henderson, Gulf Restoration Network (bottom) Gulf Restoration Network 24 ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM

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Plastic Bottles have got to go. They are poisoning us.

Jeff Bridges actor plasticpollutioncoalition.org ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM 25

Mission Blue: Sylvia Earle Alliance

“The film deftly weaves Sylvia’s unique personal history with the passion that consumes her today: creating essentially a national parks system for the Ocean, marine sanctuaries that she calls “Hope Spots.””

S

ylvia Earle is on a personal, lifelong mission to save the Earth’s Oceans and change the course of history.

MISSION BLUE is a feature documentary that traces this legendary oceanographer’s personal journey from her earliest memories exploring the Gulf of Mexico, to her daring aquanaut days in the Virgin Islands, to her reign as one of the U.S. government’s chief scientists and beyond. Shot over a three year period in numerous locations, on land and underwater, all over the world, MISSION BLUE is a love letter to our most precious resource, the Ocean.

The film deftly weaves Sylvia’s unique personal history with the passion that consumes her today: creating essentially a national parks system for the Ocean, marine sanctuaries that she calls “Hope Spots.” Sylvia believes this ambitious plan may be the only way to restore the health of ravaged ecosystems. But as she travels to points as far reaching as the Gulf of Mexico, the Galapagos Islands, and the Coral Sea, it becomes

clear just how daunting the challenges we face truly are.

The film is part oceanic road trip; part biography; part action adventure story. Guiding us through the narrative is Fisher Stevens, whose own lifelong passion for the Ocean inspired him to produce the Academy award winning film, THE COVE. In many ways, MISSION BLUE is an extension of that earlier film. But rather than explore a single issue— dolphin slaughters in Japan— MISSION BLUE tackles the daunting challenge of how to protect a once vibrant system that is now under attack like never before. As a witness to change over the past 60 years, Sylvia is a steadfast warrior, leading the charge to restore it to health before it’s too late.

Ambitious in its visual language and passion for change, MISSION BLUE is a wake-up call for everyone who has ever thought, cared about, fished, swam, or experienced the Ocean. And that’s all of us.

As Sylvia says, “No blue; no green. No Ocean; no us.” mission-blue.org

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“

One simple thing that we have done at home is to get a water filter and a reuse/ refill glass bottle. We don’t buy plastic water bottles. We are not creating truckloads of plastic trash.

David Crosby musician photo: Django Crosby plasticpollutioncoalition.org

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Brian skerry | brianskerry.com

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Brian frequently lectures on photography and conservation issues, having presented at venues such as TED Talks, The Sydney Opera House, The National Press Club in Washington, DC, and the Royal Geographical Society in London. In 2010, National Geographic magazine named one of Brian’s images among their 50 Greatest Photographs Of All Time. His work has been featured in exhibits worldwide including Paris, Barcelona, Shanghai, and Lisbon. A new exhibit is on display at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington, DC through 2015.

Brian Skerry is a photojournalist specializing in marine wildlife and underwater environments. Since 1998, he has been a contract photographer for National Geographic Magazine covering a wide range of subjects and stories. An award-winning photographer, Brian is praised worldwide for his aesthetic sense as well as his journalistic drive for relevance. His uniquelycreative images tell stories that not only celebrate the mystery and beauty of the sea, but also help bring attention to the large number of issues that endanger our oceans and its inhabitants.

Brian skerry | brianskerry.com

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Brian skerry | brianskerry.com

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Brian skerry | brianskerry.com

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Brian skerry | brianskerry.com

“In the end, we conserve only what we love.

We will love only what we understand. We will understand only what we are taught.” ocean

- Baba Dioum, Senegalese Naturalist.

into Your

Deep blue mind

by Wallace J. Nichols These are two of my favorite quotes. The kind that stick with me and bubble up frequently:

“The sea, once it casts its spell, holds one in its net of wonder forever.”

- Jacques Cousteau

“The cure for anything is salt water.”

- Isak Dinesen In the world of science, which has been my scholarly and professional domain for three decades, words like these are reserved for keynotes, postscripts, and plaques.

Used publicly, such sappy sentimentalities regularly evoke cynical eye-rolling.

But what did Captain Cousteau and Ms. Blixen (Dinesen was her pen name) mean when they wrote them? Were they being literal, poetic, or both? Were they wonderfully prescient or merely passionate?

Chances are if you are reading this you’re much like me and the other authors in this volume. We’ve all been put under that aqueous spell, found wonder, and healed ourselves through water. And if I asked you if those personal experiences required scientific verification you’d poke me in my cynical little eyeball.

I’d also wager that if such explanations were available, you—like me—would let your curiosity pull you in for an exploratory journey. If cognitive scientists, illustration: asher jay

neuropsychologists, and physiologists held insights about cognitive benefits related to our love of water, we’d want them.

Some might argue that exploring the science of wonder, joy, love, and awe diminishes its experience.

For me it’s just the opposite—inquiry grows the island of knowledge, which then offers longer beaches to explore.

So, over each of the past four years we have assembled top neuroscientists, explorers, big wave surfers, deep sea divers, musicians, writers, and educators in San Francisco, on the Outer Banks, Block Island, and the Cornish coast.

Thrown together for three days, surrounded by water, and isolated from modern distractions, we’ve taken some deep dives into the topic known as “Blue Mind”.

Our simple goal has been to better understand “our brains on water” and to communicate what we find as widely as possible.

I won’t give it all away, and space won’t allow it, but suffice it to say the results from fMRI, EEG, and neurochemical studies are profound and surprising, with ramifications

for conservationists, economists, architects, public health practitioners, athletes, travelers, educators, and parents.

Karen and Jacques’ lasting words are thoroughly and scientifically defensible: the spells, wonderment, and cures of salubrious waters are indeed quite real.

Please, let the eye-rolling cease and the teaching and Blue Mind illumination begin.

“In the end, we conserve only what we love.

We will love only what we understand. We will understand only what we are taught.” Baba Dioum, Senegalese Naturalist.

wallacejnichols.org ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM 33

o

photo: Carlos Minguell

Rebuilding ocean Abundance

By Justine E. Hausheer

Oceana

cean conservationists talk a lot about “sustainable fishing,”—leaving enough fish and other marine life in the seas to reproduce and keep populations stable. Statusquo conservation is not enough. Current populations might seem robust, but they pale in comparison to historic levels from even a few decades ago.

Lobsters were so plentiful in colonial America that it was forbidden to feed them to prisoners and indentured servants more than three times a week. John Cabot’s crew reportedly caught cod off New England simply by dunking baskets into the water. In fishing photos from the early 1900s, proud fishermen pose next to swordfish bigger than themselves. But today, many trophy swordfish are only a bit bigger than a person’s arm.

Oceana is the largest international organization focused solely on ocean conservation. Our goal is not to simply hold steady, but to rebuild ocean abundance above and beyond current levels, returning populations to their full potential. We want to see populations of marine creatures flourish, not merely hovering around a diminished baseline. To achieve such sweeping change, Oceana’s campaigns address all angles of ocean conservation. We strive to stop ocean pollution, protect marine wildlife, preserve special places, promote responsible fishing, and foster climate and energy solutions.

We need to rebuild ocean abundance—but not just for the sake of undoing decades of environmental harm. The oceans are the key to solving the looming global food crisis.

One billion of the world’s poorest people rely on seafood as their main source of animal protein, and we’re poised to add another 2 billion people to the planet by 2050. The oceans could yield up to 40 percent more seafood if the world’s fisheries are better managed, according to a recent study in Science. That means our oceans could feed 700 million people a healthy, wild seafood meal every day, indefinitely.

Realizing this goal is entirely possible—all it takes is better-managed fisheries in just a handful of countries. We need to look beyond the status quo and set sciencebased quotas, reduce bycatch, and protect habitat for fish and other marine life.

We can get there without an international treaty, because just nine countries and the EU catch two-thirds of the world’s seafood.

“

photo: Ana de la Torriente

Oceana :

Our goal is not to simply hold steady,

but to rebuild ocean abundance above and beyond current levels, returning

”

populations to their full potential.

Until less than a century ago, people everywhere thought that the oceans were limitless, indestructible, and unchangingly abundant. Now we know better, but that doesn’t mean we can’t return our seas to healthy, diverse ecosystems brimming with life. It’s possible, if we act now. oceana.org 34 ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM

kristinmcardledance.com

photo: Carlos Minguell

neil young “It’s up to us to lead the world instead of following trends. If you don’t lead you get nowhere and we have a lot of leading to do.”

On Biofuels and Electric T r a n s p o r tat i o n .

N ei lYo u ng . com N ew A l b u m “ Li v e a t t h e C e l l ar Door ” o u t now. photo: joel bernstein

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G a l a pag o s at R i s k

Ingenious solutions to complex problems

S

ituated at the confluence of cold and warm water ocean currents, the Galapagos marine ecosystem is a unique environment where sea lions swim with fur seals and penguins. As global climate change shifts long-term weather patterns and impacts our oceans, marine species found nowhere else on earth, including corals, Galapagos penguins, marine iguanas, and many more, are at risk.

b y t h e G a l a pa g o s C o n s e r va n c y in Galapagos waters. With the results of this study, we will arm Galapagos National Park officials with the best available data to

Galapagos Conservancy focuses exclusively on the long-term conservation of the Galapagos Islands, leveraging a worldwide network of scientists, working alongside the people of Galapagos, and ensuring the exchange of lessons learned between Galapagos and the rest of the world.

Current research on blue-footed boobies, in collaboration with a Wake Forest University scientist, shows significant population decline, apparently linked to a scarcity of herring and sardine, no longer abundant

develop management scenarios for this iconic sea bird.

Rarest of all penguins, the Galapagos penguin never fully recovered from its massive

Photos: (top) Gerald and Buff Corsi, (bottom) Sabine van der Meulen 36 ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM

population decline during the 1982-83 El Niño. Since then, several nest sites have been destroyed, some by the tsunami triggered by the 2011 earthquake in Japan.

With a University of Washington scientist, we are building artificial nests, nicknamed “penguin condos,” and closely monitoring the population. With additional nesting sites, the population can increase providing a buffer during the stronger, more frequent El Niño events predicted with climate change.

Beyond science, Galapagos Conservancy is committed to helping Galapagos residents and visitors to become stewards of this World Heritage Site. By complementing targeted research with innovative education and capacity-building programs, we can ensure that the magnificent flora of Galapagos remain healthy and abundant.

None of this would be possible without the generous support of an international network of donors who care about this special place. galapagos.org

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I’m excited to be working with the Plastic Pollution Coalition to reduce our dependence on disposable plastic.

Ben Harper musician plasticpollutioncoalition.org

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g e

Scientists and Artists

Talk Trash, Bear Witness,

ocean

and Witness Bears

g YRE e x p e d i t i o n : What Goes Around Comes Around

Blue Ocean Institute

In June 2013, a group of visual artists and scientists boarded the 130-ft research vessel Norseman in Seward, Alaska. Blue Ocean Founding President, Carl Safina, served as lead scientist for this unique expedition to witness and respond creatively to the ocean garbage crisis.

The project, dubbed the GYRE Expedition, refers to a current called the North Pacific Gyre, which collects massive amounts of sea-going trash. But the name equally referred to the idea that what goes around comes around. And a lot of seagoing garbage is coming around to the the world’s most remote shores—including Alaska’s “wilderness” coasts and parks.

“

Spearheaded by the Alaska SeaLife Center and the Anchorage Museum, the expedition traveled 450 nautical miles visiting Resurrection Bay along the Kenai Peninsula coast, the Shuyak and Afognak Islands, and Hallo Bay in Katmai National Park.

“

All along the way, the team stopped to see, describe, and collect trash from beaches. Unfortunately, they didn’t need to look hard to find it. These are among the most remote beaches in the world, yet awash with garbage. The team collected as much as one ton of garbage per mile on some beaches.

(above)Brown bear and cubs, Katmai National Park, Alaska. Photo by Carl Safina. (below) GYRE team takes out the trash, Hallo Bay, Alaska. Photo by Kip Evans

These are among the most remote beaches in the world, yet awash with garbage.

“We got to see too much trash but we also got to see magnificent wild places and wildlife from killer whales to bear cubs and otters. The power of the beauty won out,” remarked Safina.

The artists on board will create artwork from trash collected.

In February 2014, the project will culminate in an exhibit at the Anchorage Museum. Then it will travel the country and eventually visit the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C. It’s almost as if the ocean garbage refuses to stop wandering.

“As lead scientist, my job was to keep asking, ‘What is real?,’ and to look upstream for causes and solutions,” says Safina. “We’ve seen and documented what’s on beaches.

But no one seems to have tackled the question of how most of the garbage gets into the ocean. That’s crucial. If you don’t understand sources you can’t create solutions. That’s a real need.”

Safina concludes, “All this plastic is essentially eternal. We need to work toward engineering truly degradable products that act like plastic but then dissolve fully and are dismantled by bacteria so they are no longer plastic.”

expeditiongyre.com 38 ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM

“

Our plastic pollution is literally entering the food chain, getting into our food and potentially exposing us to toxic chemicals.

We need to change our disposable habits now.

Ed Begley Jr. actor/activist plasticpollutioncoalition.org ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM 39

Left: Tagging a Tiger Shark in Cocos Island Top: Decommissioned fins.

Bottom: Hammerhead shark in Cocos Island

Conserving Eastern Tr o p i c a l P a c i f i c ’ s s h a r k s Costa Rica could be the marine conservation leader the world expects it to be b y R a n d a l l Ar a u z || P reto m a

P

untarenas, the main Pacific port city of Costa Rica, has been long known as the hub of the shark fin industry in Latin America. In the late 90’s, Taiwanese longline fleets were invited by the authorities to land shark fins in their own private docks, an illegal measure that facilitated the circumvention of anti-shark finning regulations. It is no wonder that Costa Rica ranked as the 6th greatest shark fin exporter in 2006!

Since 2001, PRETOMA launched a campaign to stop shark finning and promote shark conservation that continues today. The economic and political power of the shark fin industry represented a true hurdle to reach our objective, and required a multi-pronged strategy, including biological research,

40 ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM

grassroots activism, public advocacy, and strategic litigation.

Tenacity and persistence have been key to attain important goals. PRETOMA met fierce opposition from the shark fin industry and fishery authorities. Our main victories, such as the implementation of a “fins attached” policy and the closure of private docks, were only possible after filing and winning lawsuits.

While the battle against shark finning continues, PRETOMA is now in the process of turning the public’s attention to shark management and conservation.

Stopping the shark finning alone will not save global shark populations. We need to reduce shark mortality by creating marine protected areas in rookeries and biological

corridors, granting strict protection to certain species, and imposing minimum catch sizes.

PRETOMA works closely with the Ministry of Environment and coastal communities to attain these goals.

Costa Rica’s “green” image should now be used to promote a “blue” Costa Rica. After all, Costa Rica was the first nation to implement a “fins attached” policy and contributed significantly to the conservation of sharks in international fora.

Support PRETOMA’s work, and help us consolidate Costa Rica’s marine conservation leadership. www.pretoma.org

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The Earth is one interconnected, living, breathing organism. What’s healthy for you is healthy for the environment and this includes reducing single-use plastics.

Remember when you Detox Your Home, as we say in the Cancer Schmancer Movement, you also detox the planet.

Fran Drescher actress plasticpollutioncoalition.org

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Brian Bielmann | brianbielmann.com

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brianbielmann.com

I’ve been a surf photographer for over 35 years. I’ve put some serious water time in. I’ve been to Tahiti, Indonesia, Fiji, Mexico, Costa Rica, Puerto Rico - you name it, I’ve been there. Most surfers take the idea of a clean ocean filled with fish for granted, but they don’t know where to start to help. It’s such a big job. Where do you start? It all starts with you and your attitude. Change your own way of living and thinking, and that will lead to a worldwide movement. I use my photography whenever I can to help similar to the way musicians use their music. Find out what you can offer of yourself. There is always a way you can help. Search out organizations and do anything you can. The smallest thing is still important. It feels good to have helped, even if it’s just through a pretty picture that has inspired others. Do one thing to help and you will see how good it feels. It really gets addicting. God gave us this beautiful planet, the least we can do is to take care of it. Don’t just sit and watch change happen. Be a part of change.

Brian Bielmann

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Brian Bielmann | brianbielmann.com

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Brian Bielmann | brianbielmann.com

“The Surfrider Fo u n d at i o n i s a c t i v e ly fighting for beach access in places w h e r e p r i vat e property owners have cut off longs ta n d i n g p u b l i c ly u s e d co a s ta l access.”

t h e

Surfrider

Fo u n dat i o n ’s b y T h e S u r f r i d e r Fo u n dat i o n Public beach access is a universal, legal right.

Beach access is the ability to reach the sand and surf. It is the means of entry to our oceans, waves, and beaches.

Beach access falls under the “enjoyment” category of the Surfrider Foundation’s mission statement: The Surfrider Foundation is a nonprofit, grassroots organization dedicated to the protection and enjoyment of our world’s oceans, waves, and beaches through a powerful activist network.

The Foundation promotes the right of lowimpact, free, and open access to the world’s waves and beaches for all people. Beaches are one of the most popular public resources. Since

members of the public have the right to use that portion of the beach. The Surfrider Foundation recognizes that the public’s right of access to waterways is often based on the Public Trust Doctrine, and is further reflected in international, regional, and state laws and Constitutions.

However, private property owners, developers and even sea level rise are constantly challenging the right to beach access. Beach access is often compromised when wealthy landowners try to lock up slices of the coast for themselves alone. The Surfrider Foundation is actively fighting for beach access in places where private property owners have cut off long-standing publicly used coastal access.

Fi g h t Fo r B e a c h A c c e ss Each of these victories was a hard fought battle that involved a lot of manpower and volunteer hours. Achieving this kind of success involves applying constant pressure and never walking away from the issue.

One of the Surfrider Foundation’s current beach access battles is being fought at Martin’s Beach in Half Moon Bay, CA. Martin’s Beach is a beautiful crescent shaped beach, surrounded by cliffs on either side, that was recently cut off to public access when the current property owner erected a gate, signage, and security to exclude the public from the only access road. Earlier this year, the Surfrider Foundation sued the property owner for his violation of the California Coastal Act. In an effort to raise awareness on the fight at Martin’s Beach the Surfrider Foundation teamed up with The Inertia to produce an eight-minute film titled “Martin’s 5: Battle For The Beach.” The film tells the story of this battle through the eyes of the five surfers that were fined, the activists who have been there every step of the way, and the volunteers who have stood in protest.

individuals need access to beaches in order to enjoy them, the Surfrider Foundation acts to protect the right of access.

In nearly every state, some portion of the beach is public land, which means that all photos: Jim Patterson 46 ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM

In the last 20 years, Surfrider has celebrated five significant victories for beach access. The Foundation was able to establish access in Deal, NJ, Ponte Vedra, FL, and Eastport, ME. Surfrider was also able to lift surfing bans in Rockaway Beach, NY and Asbury Park, NJ.

To h e l p S u r f r i d e r Fo u n d at i o n ac h i e v e t h i s v i cto r y at M a r t i n ’ s B e ac h , a n d ot h e r b e ac h e s a r o u n d t h e c o u n t r y , p l e a s e g o to w w w. s u r f r i d e r . o r g / ac c e ss

“

There’s no need for plastic bags. It’s crazy how many get used.

Kelly Slater surfer photo: Steve Sherman plasticpollutioncoalition.org ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM 47

ocean

g o o g l e ocean

by Charlotte Vi c k

O

cean in Google Earth and Google Maps is an effort by ocean experts to inspire people to protect the ocean and protect life as we know it. In the words of Dr. Sylvia A. Earle, a prime mover in this effort, “We must protect our ocean as if our lives depend upon it, because they do.”

Home to 94% of all living species on the planet, our oceans are critical to maintaining life on this planet, even those that are unexpected. Only in the last few decades did we discover the tiny photosynthetic marine cyanobacteria called prochlorococcus.

This small and mighty microbe produces one breath of oxygen for every five consumed by ourselves and other oxygen breathing species.

Dive in and explore extraordinary sea life in coral reefs, mangroves, kelp forests, seagrass meadows, and under polar ice.

The portal opens with a download of the free Google “ W e m u s t prot e ct our o c ean as if our l i v es dep end up on i t, Earth software to your computer or smart-phone. b ec a u s e th ey do.” - Dr. Sylvia A. Earle Want to find marine species information? Check out the Google Earth tab at our website (mission-blue.org/google-earth).

There you’ll find an introductory video and thousands of stories.

Enter a key-word to select a topic. For example, to learn about “sharks,” type the word into the text box and all the stories about them will be selected.

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For stunning underwater locations, try “swimming” through the “underwater streetview” experience provided by Catlin Seaview Survey. Their work features marine protected areas and special areas called Hope Spots we propose for protection. You’ll find this at maps.google.com/ocean. New ocean stories, improvements and evolving tools are coming in 2014.

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Humans have put an unfathomable amount of plastic into the oceans.

Now is the time we must accept there is no “away” when we ‘throw away’ plastic bottles, straws, take out, and grocery bags, most of which contain carcinogens. We MUST make new choices, for our planet and for ourselves.

Daphne Zuniga actress

plasticpollutioncoalition.org

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“Local scientists come live with us on our ship, so the work is a true partnership. Our solutions are sensitive to local values and traditions.”

Living Oceans Foundation

remembering to breathe

by Khaled Bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation

T

hough the beauty of coral reefs often leaves them breathless, the scientists of the Khaled Bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation thrive beneath the waves as they pursue their passion - ocean science and conservation.

Their ‘Global Reef Expedition’ is a five-year round the world odyssey that takes them to isolated reef systems in places like French Polynesia, the Galapagos Islands, and Australia’s Great Barrier Reef.

Wherever their research ship the M/Y Golden Shadow drops anchor, the Foundation maps the coral reef ecosystem, and counts creatures. They identify threats, like coral disease, overfishing, and reefeating predators. Then they make plans to help the reefs survive and recover from major problems.

Their secret to success?

“Every country we visit has invited us,” says Executive Director Philip Renaud, a former U.S. Navy oceanographer and avid diver. “Local scientists come live with us on our ship, so the work is a true partnership.

Our solutions are sensitive to local values and traditions. And we share all our scientific findings, so our host countries can use them to help manage the reefs.”

Asking fishermen to stop fishing might seem like a good way to wear out your welcome. But in Jamaica, where fish stocks were very depleted, that’s just what the Khaled Bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation proposed. The fishermen bought into the logic - if you create a fish sanctuary over a reef, populations recover, and fish spill over into the surrounding seas.

Soon, they hope to start reeling in the rewards and, with any luck, bring in bigger catches than they’ve seen in years.

Introducing young people to reef conservation brings Living Oceans’ global mission full circle. The foundation runs education workshops for teachers and students, and invites classrooms of kids onboard the M/Y Golden Shadow. Check out their newly launched website at http://www.livingoceansfoundation.org. There, the films and images that celebrate solutions might leave you breathless too! livingoceansfoundation.org

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“

‘PLASTIC IS NOT FANTASTIC.’ If we do not slow down and cut the amount of plastic products we are using (like plastic water bottles), the plastic will eventually consume us all. It’s everywhere, in and on our oceans and on our beaches around the world. And it is coming back to us in our food supply.

Donovan Frankenreiter surfer & musician plasticpollutioncoalition.org

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postconsumer mandala Plastic bags, handles and thread 48” H by 67” W

By dianna cohen Plastic Pollution Coalition

I

Li v ing T h ro u g h P l a s t ic

am a painter and an eco-aware artist. After studying Art & Biology at UCLA, my work evolved from painting to a collage based form of “painting” with recycled materials; originally brown paper bags and boxes deconstructed and re-combined lead me to plastic bags cut and sewn like paper and fabric. Through this medium my work attempts to ask questions and to ask the viewer to reconsider cast off materials and when successful, to bring about a shift in consciousness with regards to the value intrinsic within these objects of convenience.

Why did I decide to use the plastic bag as a medium?

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Plastic bags are such a loaded material. Plastic refers to and embodies everything from the future and technology, advertising, petroleum and bioplastic products, to the concept of convenience and our throwaway culture. The plastic bags cut and sewn refer to quilts, restoration, maps, banners, flags, gathering, boundaries, tents, shelters, interior design, drapery, kimonos and dresses, and fashion.

The color, opacity, text, printed designs, imagery, and physical qualities of the plastic bags allow me to experiment with combinations that allude to watercolors, oils paintings, quilting, collage, conceptual art,

Le poisson (left) Plastic bags, handles and thread 49” H by 38” W

Owl Real (right) Plastic bags, handles and thread 36” H by 26” W

sculpture and installation…. limitless possibilities. Yet, as the Creative Advocacy Director and Co-founder of Plastic Pollution Coalition, I am deeply engaged in raising awareness about the intentional obsolescence designed into these single-use plastic bags and disposable plastic materials.

What responsibility do artists have to engage?

Artists, if they choose to engage, have a responsibility to create and participate in the current dialog, which covers the gamut including art and culture, justice, human rights, ecology, renewable resources and sustainability, corporatization, urbanization, moving back to the land, food sources, farming, politics, ecosystems and the world, and the ocean and planet at large. For this, we create our artwork and frankly, if we don’t raise these ideas, talk about these concepts through our media, and ask questions, who will?

Dianna Cohen portrait by Wayne DeSelle

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bluespheremedia.com

Shawn is an Emmy Award winning cinematographer , photographer, and marine conservationist. He has worked with leading journalist and film teams including CNN’s Anderson Cooper, Yann Arthus Bertrand, and National Geographic, and delivered projects for many of the top marine conservation organizations including WildAid, Shark Savers, Conservation International, The Nature Conservancy and Pew Environment Group. His award-winning work has been featured with National Geographic, BBC, New York Times, Huffington Post, Washington Post, WIRED and numerous other print and online publications.

My love of the oceans fuels me and I am captivated by the grace and beauty of the marine life within it. Recognizing that people only protect what they love; I am on a mission to capture inspiring and dramatic imagery that connects the global community to the beauty and vulnerability of threatened marine species. And through this connection, I hope the world will ultimately share my passion for these creatures and be inspired to act before it is too late.

Shawn Heinrichs

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Interview with

Paul Watson Founder of

Sea Shepherd Conservation Society Paul Watson:

I wanted to set up Sea Shepherd so that we could get results without injuring anybody and we have never caused a single injury in our entire 35 years of operations and we have never had anyone injured. It’s amazing when you consider the hostile areas that we go to in the southern ocean. We have this unblemished record on it.

In 1986, I had a Tibetan Buddhist Monk come to the ship in Seattle and he gave me this statue – this really colorful statue that looked like a horse headed dragon. I didn’t think anything of it. He asked at the time that we put it with the forward mast. Again, I didn’t think anything of it, but in 1989 I had the opportunity to speak with and have lunch with the Dalai Lama in Washington, DC and I had a picture of it and I showed him and I said, “What is this?” and he said, “I sent that to you.” I said, “Yes, but what is it?” He said,

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Photo: Barbara Veiga / Sea Shepherd

“It’s the symbol of the compassionate aspect of Buddha’s rath.” I said, “ Well, what does that mean?” He responded, “You never want to hurt anybody, but sometimes, when they cannot see enlightenment, scare the hell out of them.” He understood exactly what we are doing.

There’s this perception that we’re a bunch of wild-eyed, extremist, vigilantes, but we work with governments. We do take action and the fact that we do take action makes people think that we’re out of control. I got a call from a guy from National Marine Fisheries who said, “I understand that you’re confiscating long lines in the south Pacific?” I said, “Yeah, we are.”

He said, “Well, you can’t do that.” I asked, “Why not?” He said, “You just can’t go and take people’s property.” Again, I said, “Why not?” He said, “It’s illegal.” I replied, “You can’t determine that. Have I broken a law in the United States?” He replied, “Well, no.” I said, “Then why are you calling me?”

I also gave a talk to the FBI – Scott and I both

gave a talk to the FBI a couple of years ago.

They actually paid me to give them a lecture.

One of the FBI agents said, “Sea Shepherd is walking a pretty damn fine line when it comes to the law.” I said, “Who cares how fine it is as long as you don’t cross the line? We haven’t crossed that line.”

A lot of people like us, but we’re sort of like the ladies of the night of the conservation and environmental movement. People agree with us, but they don’t want to be seen in the light of day with us because of being associated with pirates and vigilantes.

Maranda Pleasant: It seems like a

lot of people like to talk about these issues, but few people are willing to take action.

PW: Yes. A few years ago I was an advisor on the Captain Planet series. They were showing a segment of Captain Planet at the Environmental Film Festival in Santa Monica and they just happened to pick the episode where Captain

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“The real strength of the environmental movement is the tens of thousands, even millions of individuals around the world who are really making a difference and they are doing it out of passion.”

Photo: Sea Shepherd Conservation Society

do what Captain Planet does, your network calls us eco-terrorists?

Why are you telling all of these children that it is okay to do something that you would actually never condone if they actually did it?” This is the contradiction we have in the media.

We love vigilantes: Batman, Tarzan, Green Arrow - the comic books and the TV shows are filled with vigilantes. We Captain Alex Cornelissen, Captain Paul Watson, and Captain love to promote it.

Locky MacLean (2011) photo: Sam Sielen / Sea Shepherd Jesus Christ was a vigilante. We admire these people, but we don’t Planet is saving whales and dolphins from longwant to be associated with them. liners and drift-netters. They show this to the kids and at the end, the producer asked if there Back in 1986, I was doing a talk show in were any questions. I said, “I have a question.

Vancouver and we had just sunk half of Iceland’s You have Captain Planet taking the law into his whaling fleet – can’t get away with that shit own hands and destroying property to protect today, but we did it – and we did it openly. We life and I don’t have a problem with that, and sank four Norwegian whaling ships and did it you’re telling all of these kids here that it is openly too. All together, we sunk nine ships perfectly okay to take the law into their own and were never charged because these guys are hands and destroy property and destroy life and poachers and pirates. Anyway, somebody called I don’t have any problem with that. But how in a bomb threat to the radio station to protest come when we grow up and become adults and

my violence, which shows you how insane our society is that someone would use a bomb threat to protest violence.

MP: It seems like we may want to re-think our definition of violence.

PW: I go by Martin Luther King’s definition of

violence. “You cannot commit an act of violence against a non-sentient object, only against a living thing.”

The real strength of the environmental movement is the tens of thousands, even millions of individuals around the world who are really making a difference and they are doing it out of passion. Because of David Wingate, a Bermuda Biologist, a Bermuda bird, the Cahow, is alive today. It would be extinct if it wasn’t for that one man and I can’t think of a greater legacy than, “Because you lived, another species survived.” I look all over and see all of these individual actions where people are really making a difference as individuals.

The first advisors to Sea Shepherd were Edward Abbey, Buckminster Fuller, and Margaret Mead and Margaret Mead was the one who said, “Don’t depend on governments or corporations to fix problems. Social revolutions are led by passionate individuals and that’s what makes the difference.” This is what we try to encourage. At Sea Shepherd, we try to encourage young people to get involved and understand that they can really make a difference. seashepherd.org ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM 57

Martin Wittfooth “Saints Preserve Us”, 48” x 84”, oil on canvas, 2009

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Sea Change | Martin Wittfooth

There’s that old Chinese curse, “May you live in interesting times.” The times that we’re currently living through certainly qualify as interesting: populations and their consumption of resources, the raging appetite for the new, the wanton discard of the old and “obsolete,” and the consequent weight placed on the planet we inhabit in the wake of this consumption, are all swelling, seemingly to a point where before long something is bound to burst. Much of my work deals allegorically with these themes, stemming from a desire to both process them personally and to contribute to an ongoing dialogue: the dialogue of a sorely needed re- examination of our present course.

martinwittfooth.com

“The Spoils”, 39” x 33”, oil on linen, 2012

“Pieta”, 50” x 30”, oil on canvas, 2011

m m

ARES EXICANOS:

d i v i n g d e e p e r i n to s to r i e s

m

By Octavio Aburto

exico owns a great diversity of coastal and marine ecosystems.

From shallow mangrove and kelp forests, to deep black coral gardens and seamounts, these ecosystems constitute the home of thousands of species that can only be seen in Mexican oceans. Many ancestral cultures and coastal towns have had strong links with marine resources.

Their history, survivorship, and expansion have been related to the exploration of new habitats and with the exploitation of a great variety of species. Traditional and scientific knowledge have produced valuable information about environmental services provided by coastal and marine ecosystems. However, this information has not been communicated in a massive way and, more importantly, this information has not reached the hands of decision-makers.

Mares Mexicanos (Mexican Seas) is an initiative that seeks to address this challenge in an era where huge amounts of information are thrown out to the public each second. Mares Mexicanos shares stories of towns, people, explorers, scientists, and individuals that have devoted their life to protecting Mexican oceans and species, and have become conservation leaders or heroes within their communities. The story of Cabo Pulmo, a fishers town that left their fishing nets to protect their reef; the story

of the Cucapa, indigenous people who fight to maintain their life linked with the fresh and marine water in the Delta of the Colorado River; and Humberto Yee and his uncle Abel, who are protecting one of the most ancient mangrove forests in the state of Chiapas. These are some of the

“Mares Mexicanos (Mexican Seas) is an initiative that seeks to address this challenge in an era where huge amounts of information are thrown out to the public each second. “

stories that Mexican communities, leaders, and decision makers need to hear. Mares Mexicanos is attracting the audience’s attention through creative and innovative communication strategies as a means to finding solutions, since there is still time to change the degradation trend of our oceans.

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ilcp.com/photographers/octavio-aburto

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Boats Build Kids

by Rocking the Boat The South Bronx is not generally regarded as a center of marine ecology, but don’t tell that to the team at Rocking the Boat.

This spunky nonprofit organization has been around since 2001, doing cutting edge environmental work on the Bronx River, a tributary leading to the Atlantic Ocean via the Long Island Sound. Inner-city high school students participating in Rocking the Boat perform research that keeps local waterways healthy, and they do so using brightly colored, traditional wooden boats they’ve hand-built from scratch with their peers.

“Inner-city high school students participating in Rocking the Boat perform research that keeps local waterways healthy, and they do so using brightly colored, traditional wooden boats they’ve hand-built from scratch with their peers.”

How is Rocking the Boat empowering kids to care about the natural world they never realized was hidden beyond the housing projects and waste transfer stations in their neighborhood? By keeping it real. Students come every day after school to put on life jackets, grab their oars, and launch their fleet of wooden boats. They row to project sites up and down the Bronx River: the oyster reef and seaweed farm where native species help filter excess nutrients caused by overflows due to New York City’s century-old sewer system; the eel mops that temporarily waylay young eels migrating from the ocean, predicting their arrival to the upper Bronx River; the wetlands that help to mitigate the impact of rainwater washing hydrocarbons off the streets and into the water. In the summer, these same students test their mettle during a weeklong sail on the Long Island Sound.

Supporting much of this work are grant-making foundations, government agencies, and environmentally focused corporate sponsors, but individuals are the anchor of Rocking the Boat’s donor base. An annual fundraising event featuring a circumnavigation of Manhattan is just one of the many ways that people contribute to Rocking the Boat’s success.

At Rocking the Boat, kids don’t just build boats, boats build kids.

photos: Joaquin Cotten

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Photographing Whales at 1:1 Scale My journey to recreate the transcendent sensation one experiences floating an arm’s length from the eye of an inquisitive whale, has compelled me to create photographic works on their scale; both in terms of size and detail witnessed in real life.

Large as Life | Bryant austin

studiocosmos.com

I wish to spark unexplored thought and emotion where words fail.

Ultimately, to inspire the next generation to want to know what five million years of evolving knowledge, communication, and culture looks like in a brain seven times the size of our own. To once and for all know if we are truly alone, before it is too late.

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P R I S TINE

S EA S

saving the last wild places in the ocean

by Enric Sala

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“The unprotected ocean is like a checking account ocean

where everybody withdraws but nobody makes a deposit.”

When I was six, all I dreamt about was becoming a diver on Jacques Cousteau’s boat, the famous Calypso. Glued to the television, I spent my Sunday evenings watching Cousteau’s documentaries and my summers snorkeling on the Mediterranean coast of Spain. But what I saw in the water was nothing like what I saw

on TV. In the Mediterranean of my childhood, there were no large groupers, sharks, or whales.

All I saw was seaweed and a few fish, smaller than my little diving mask. All the large animals were gone, simply because we had eaten them.

the tourism industry, which saw diving tourism bloom and create jobs and greater income. The unprotected ocean is like a checking account where everybody withdraws but nobody makes a deposit; marine reserves are savings accounts.

Fast forward, and after two and a half decades of studies and an obsession with diving, I became a professor at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, California – the dream of any marine biologist. I was studying the impacts of fishing on ocean life, while the places that I loved so much continued to decline: less and smaller fish, less corals, and more microbes. I found myself writing the obituary of nature with increasing precision.

Unsatisfied and frustrated, I felt like a doctor telling the patient how she is going to die, with excruciating detail. If I were that patient, I would have fired myself and looked for a doctor who would look for a solution.

In 2005, curious about the possibilities of marine reserves, I assembled a team of top marine scientists and led an expedition to the uninhabited and unfished Kingman Reef, a coral atoll 1,000 miles south of Hawaii.

Our goal was to document what the pristine ocean was like, to obtain a “natural” baseline to inform our conservation efforts. What we found exceeded our expectations. Top predators such as sharks overweighed their fish prey, and the bottom was covered with a healthy coral forest. My decision was easy: I left academia and joined the National Geographic Society, where I lead the Pristine Seas project to help protect pristine ocean areas using exploration, research, and media.

In the last five years we have inspired country leaders to create four large reserves in unique places (including Kingman Reef), and several more are in progress. Our goal now is to replicate this successful model and help protect the last wild places in the ocean. We want to put ourselves out of business – as fast as we can.

A solution made herself evident when I dived in the Medes Islands, a no-take marine reserve in the Mediterranean where fishing has been prohibited since 1983. I remember my first dive there; it was like diving during Cousteau’s time. The large groupers, sea bass, octopus... they were all there, and in large numbers. The return of the fish was also a bonanza for local fishermen, who were catching more around the boundaries of the reserve than before and for

Join along on our expeditions at http://pristineseas.org

photos: Enric Sala, National Geographic ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM 67

Ocean Trek Boldly Going to Great Depths for our Blue Planet

T

Roddenberry Dive Team/Foundation

he effects of climate change are drastically threatening the environment, especially our oceans. At The Roddenberry Foundation, we see our blue planet as our home; our oceans, essential to all life. As the visionary family who brought you “Star Trek,” we gravitate towards cutting-edge technologies for solutions to global challenges in the areas of humanitarianism, education, and science.

Our environmental efforts began with educational grants to help the next generation understand how important our oceans are to our planet (Aquarium of the Pacific, San Diego Oceans Foundation).

We also have funded efforts to protect shark populations, which are vital in maintaining healthy reef systems (Wild Aid). In addition to those large, transoceanic hunters, we also are helping small forage fish, as there cannot be one without the other (PEW Environment Group). We also

support a mangrove restoration project in the Philippines to restore coastal ocean health

Endangered Species Act to combat destructive fishing practices (NRDC). Using shareholder advocacy, we sponsored the first Fracking Scorecard to increase awareness about hydraulic fracturing and its ocean-bound contaminants (As You Sow).

Finally, we fund the coral conservation work of Dr. Mary Hagedorn, at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute. Her pioneering efforts in cryopreservation of endangered coral species has led to the creation of new, innovative coral nurseries. Dr. Hagedorn’s goal is to help heal the oceans by planting cryo-preserved and nursery-raised coral species back onto the reefs, where more than 25% of marine life make their homes.

Cryopreserved coral samples

and mitigate the effects of climate change (Conservation International). Additionally, we are funding efforts to expand the use of the

Our hope is that more individuals will join us in living sustainably, cherishing our home. Please join us in sharing this message and supporting the nonprofit groups leading the way. roddenberryfoundation.org

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The Fair Transport Movement As we all know, humans are industrious creatures.

DeNoble When we examine our achievements, it is clear The Fair that our efforts can have a lasting negative impact Transport on the planet we live on.

Sustainability in every Shipping aspect of human endeavor is and will continue to Company be our challenge for future existence. As one of the cardinal points of commerce, the maritime shipping industry is ripe for renewed assessment. The Fair Transport Shipping Company, based in Den Helder, the Netherlands, has earmarked the age of sailing ships as a starting point for their evaluation.

by Paul

Fair Transport operates only one vessel, the Tres Hombres. She is a traditionally-rigged wooden sailing vessel without main engine propulsion, which makes her unlike any other cargo ship operating between ports on the North Atlantic. During the 8 trans-Atlantic voyages made since the ship was launched, her cargo hold has been full of delicacy goods such as French wine, Port, and olive oil from Europe and bound for Middle America where rum, coffee beans, cocoa beans, and chocolate bars are loaded for the return trip. The mission of the Tres Hombres is not only to carry cargo

but also to generate interest and investment in sustainable shipping and cargo sailing ships.

The ship has encountered multitudes of likeminded producers eager to utilize this old and salubrious concept. The Grenada Chocolate Company, makers of delicious award winning organic dark chocolate bars, use cocoa beans from their own farms immediately adjacent to their factory. Transporting the end product to merchants in London and Amsterdam on the Tres Hombres maintains the chocolate company’s ethos and promotes Fair Transport as a sustainable alternative.

Fair Transport is a growing movement.

Opportunities exist for more sailing cargo ships to be put into immediate service executing the North Sea, Caribbean, and general North Atlantic trade as other possibilities are explored further overseas. The company is well aware of the urgency to localize production as a counterbalance to corporate dominance and that the transportation of non-local goods must be executed in a sustainable fashion.

The Tres Hombres and ships of her kind use ancient maritime technology to link continents and cultures and that link could be considered a positive side effect of human enterprise.

Read more or get involved: svtreshombres.com

“

Sustainability in every aspect of human endeavor is and will continue to be our challenge for future existence.

�

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THE TERRAMAR PROJECT Seventy-one

percent of the planet is covered by ocean and sixty-four percent of this aquatic space – known as the High Seas lies outside the jurisdiction of any one nation. With no clear owner, the High Seas are the most ignored, least explored, and largest part of the planet that is a virtual free for all. The High Seas are in reality a mess of laws, conflicting laws, and no laws.

The High Seas conjure up images of derring-do – pirates and wild sea faring adventures – yet this part of the planet has no identity and it is a place with multiple names: the High Seas, the Global Commons, or the International Waters. Under the UN Law of the Sea Convention, signed in 1982 and ratified by 164 countries and the European Union, the seabed is recognized as the common heritage of mankind, making all the assets there collectively ours. The history of our commons dates back to Emperor Justinious in 533 AD and the Public Trust Doctrine.

This states that certain resources are preserved for public use and that the government is required to maintain them for the public’s reasonable use. Simply put, our common ocean belongs to us - its systematic use and abuse by the few with the ability to go there is a huge problem – the mandate of the high seas states that they also belong to generations to come. If we eat the last fish and allow pollution to run rampant, dump trash, and mine at will, where does or what does that leave the next generations with?

The TerraMar Project (TMP) was founded to bring a spotlight to the vast ocean beyond our national boundaries and to allow the individual, empowered with new digital tools, for the first time to have a stake and a voice in this vast area. TMP was founded by Ghislaine Maxwell, a lifelong marine enthusiast, who grew up watching Jacques Cousteau on TV as a little girl, started diving at the age of nine, and went on to become a deep worker submersible pilot. The impetus to create TMP began with one of her first dives when she was hoping to see a new mythical sea creature but instead saw a plastic hanger.

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A plastic hanger – you could say, so what? The hanger though is just the tip of the iceberg. The oceans are in serious trouble since we literally treat them like the largest trashcan. Swirling masses of plastic and debris converge in the currents, with the largest containing an estimated 3 million tons of rubbish located between Hawaii and San Francisco.

Plastic debris kills millions of fish and sea birds every year. Other threats compound the problem – acidification that kills corals on which millions of species depend for life. Unsustainable extraction of our apex predators and others change the ocean balance and will, if we continue to fish at these levels, become a food security problem. Sixteen percent of the global population depends on fish as a primary source of protein today and this number is only going to increase with the growing population expected to reach 10.5 billion by 2050.

Healthy oceans are critical for life – they create more than fifty percent of the oxygen we breathe and they control our weather patterns and our rainfall. Our very existence is predicated upon healthy oceans.

The good news is that you can make a huge difference. TMP places

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Ms. Ghislaine Maxwell is founder and president of the TerraMar Project

the future of the 45% of the planet that belongs to you in your hands.

We know you have a vested interest in the ocean’s vitality outside of the narrow view business takes, so show it. Take the I Love The Ocean Pledge, spread the word, and become the next wave of ‘sea’ change.

TMP’s goals are to create a global ocean community, to drive awareness and educate people on all ocean related matters, and to help create an ocean-specific Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) at the United Nations.

The SDGs are a critical part of changing how we act and think about the ocean. The SDGs are replacing the Millennium Development Goals that were created in 2000 to cut global poverty by half and tackle such big issues as HIV and Malaria. Bill Gates once described the Millennium Development Goals as a “phenomenal thing,” and they successfully created new partnerships, initiatives, and laws that helped millions of people.

World leaders will launch the new set of goals – the SDGs – in 2014 to make the relationship between people and our planet more sustainable.

However, the ocean is not currently part of the SDGs and their planned roadmap for the next 15 years. This is an unacceptable oversight. How can three fourths of our planet not be part and parcel of the plans to secure the sustainable future of our planet?

Part of the reason is because you are not involved, not part of sending a message that our oceans need to be managed sustainably. By taking the I Love The Ocean Pledge, that is exactly the message you are sending.

celebrate and explore the ocean. As TMP seeks to transform the way you think about the ocean and your relationship with it, we offer ways to inspire, educate, and socially engage globally with a wide range of age groups and interests. You can become an Ambassador to TerraMar by ‘friending a species’ done in conjunction with the Encyclopedia of Life.

In collaboration with Google Earth and Google Maps, visitors can claim a virtual parcel of ocean and receive a certificate detailing the exact GPS coordinates naming their ocean parcel and share a story. You can take a virtual dive, an experience so real, in 6 spots in Australia that you feel like you have actually swam there!

TMP is a digital hub for the ocean and is on all social media platforms including Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Vimeo, YouTube, and Google +. TMP’s daily digital newspaper, the Daily Catch, keeps the TMP community informed of all water and ocean breaking news and other water topics of global interest.

Paramount to TMP’s success is its education platform where we house lesson plans, podcasts, videos, maps and interactive features provided by marine scientists and partner organizations, including National Geographic and Oxford University. TMP is creating proprietary lesson plans and growing its digital ocean presence by bringing lessons straight to the classroom including Skype in the Classroom and the Jason Project.

All of TMP’s tools and programs are designed to ensure that every person can become a voice for the least protected, least understood, and most mysterious part of the planet.

Take the I Love the Ocean Pledge and help create the biggest movement for change in the ocean. To quote Jacques Cousteau who recognized the value and the importance of the ocean decades ago and tried to involve a global community then, “For most of history, man has had to fight nature to survive; in this century he is beginning to realize that, in order to survive, he must protect it.”

There are other engaging ways to feel a part of our vast oceans and give them a presence in our lives not previously felt; other fun ways to theterramarproject.org ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM 71

Power of the Polar Ocean Classroom The

Students on Ice Foundation

ocean “The polar oceans are on the frontlines of changes and threats to the global ocean system. They are windows to our world and cornerstones of the global ecosystem.”

- Geoff Green, C.M., Founder of SOIF

on Ice Foundation The Students (SOIF) believes the Polar Oceans

are the greatest classrooms on Earth and powerful platforms for education. Over the past 14 years, SOIF has taken more than 2,500 students from 52 countries on life-altering educational expeditions to the Arctic and the Antarctic. The goal of the pioneering and awardingwinning program is to provide inspiring opportunities at the ends of the Earth and, in doing so, help youth to foster a new understanding and respect for the planet.

Most of the participating students are fully funded by scholarships thanks to the support of government, corporate, and philanthropic partners around the world.

The local, national, and global outcomes are extraordinary, ranging from the creation of new marine protected areas, to the birth of careers, campaigns, books, and dreams.

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As a ship-based expedition program, students spend most of their journey immersed in a marine environment. Joined by marine biologists, oceanographers, climate change specialists, musicians, artists, elders, educators, experts, and diverse leaders, the students are mentored via lectures, workshops, and hands-on research projects including those focused on sea ice, ocean currents, flora, fauna, nutrient and acidity levels, and the overall health of the marine ecosystem. The students touch icebergs, look into the eyes of Bowhead whales, and spend hours on the deck staring at the vast ocean beauty and feeling its presence in their bones. They visit northern communities who rely on the Arctic ocean as an important source of food and income, thereby gaining perspectives on cultures directly linked to the health of our oceans. Pressing issues such as shipping,

fishing, and offshore oil and gas exploration are also studied.

“The polar oceans are on the frontlines of changes and threats to the global ocean system. They are windows to our world and cornerstones of the global ecosystem.

Inspiring and educating our youth through experiential opportunities connects them to the Oceans and Nature in very profound ways. As young leaders our youth will play a critical role in the urgent actions and decisions needed for a healthy and sustainable ocean.” - Geoff Green, C.M., Founder of SOIF See www.studentsonice.com for more information and to learn how to get involved!

Navigating the Global Ocean Creating Tomorrow’s Environmental Scholars, Stewards, and Leaders

ocean

By Deb Goodwin & Erik Zettler

Sea Education Association (SEA), founded in 1971 and located challenges associated with sustainability. Throughout the semester and in Woods Hole, MA, is an international leader in off-campus in every port-of-call, we work alongside local experts and stakeholders marine environmental studies programs. We engage undergraduates in to investigate ocean health, understand how affected communities hands-on field research and service for a sustainable ocean, shaping the address environmental concerns, and develop local capacity through next generation of scholars, stewards, and leaders prepared to address management and conservation planning. today’s defining issue: human impact on the environment. Students spend two to seven weeks sailing thousands of miles in the Atlantic or Combining academic rigor with opportunities for tremendous personal Pacific, during which they live and growth and leadership development is study on one of SEA’s 135’ tall ships, an integral component of every SEA The sea has provided resources and been a venue navigate by sextant, sun, and stars, and Semester. Acting as full members of for transportation and commerce for millennia. visit remote island ports. the ship’s company, students assume Concurrently, human actions have caused changes responsibility for all aspects of vessel in the marine environment, including resource The sea has provided resources and operations including sailing, navigation, depletion, pollution, and acidification. been a venue for transportation and cooking, cleaning, and scientific efforts. commerce for millennia. Concurrently, Our ships’ sophisticated laboratories human actions have caused changes in the marine environment, enable advanced sampling and student-designed research as we explore including resource depletion, pollution, and acidification. It has never environmental changes across all corners of the coastal and open ocean. been more urgent to understand the ocean within social, economic, Student sampling over 30 years has made SEA a global leader in the study and historical frameworks. From Europe to the Caribbean to the South of marine debris. We invite you to learn more about this once-in-aPacific, SEA Semesters® identify long-term patterns of change and lifetime opportunity, our history, and our exciting future at www.sea.edu. sea.edu ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM 73

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S S urfers

against

ewage

By Hugo Tagholm

Surfers Against Sewage’s Protect Our Waves petition was launched in 2012 in response to the growing environmental threats to UK waves, oceans, and beaches. These issues mirror the environmental crisis impacting oceans globally – the catastrophic and rising levels of marine litter, unregulated sewage discharges, and damaging coastal developments and exploitation. Surfers are at the frontline of these issues, a marine indicator species, walking over tidelines of trash, becoming ill from sewage-related pathogens, and seeing waves and coastlines disappear beneath corporate interests.

The aim of the Protect Our Waves petition was simple - generate 50,000 signatures to highlight the value of UK surfing zones to the UK government and improve legislation to protect these finite, fragile, and often little understood resources. We believe that waves

and surf spots deserve to be seen as part of UK heritage and should be afforded greater recognition and protection.

We were overwhelmed at the level of support from across the globe, and thrilled, on October 22, 2013, to deliver the World’s biggest surf-specific petition of 55,000 signatures to 10 Downing Street, the epicentre of UK politics and home of the Prime Minister. This will now lead into the formation of an All Party Parliamentary Group involving Members of Parliament from coastal regions to discuss and deliver better legislation to protect our precious coastline and those that use it.

The petition not only inspired thousands of UK surfers and beach lovers, but attracted phenomenal support for global stars including

S E WA GE , L I T T E R A N D C O A S T A L DE V E L OPM E N T S A R E DR I V I NG O U R WAV E S T O E X T I NC T IO N PE T I T IO N T O S AV E T H E M A T PR O T E C T O U RWAV E S .OR G .U K

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ocean SE WAGE , LIT T ER A ND COA STA L DE V ELOPM EN TS

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SE WAGE , LIT T ER A ND COA STA L DE V ELOPM EN TS

A R E DR I V I N G O U R WAV E S T O E X T I N C T IO N

A R E DR I V I N G O U R WAV E S T O E X T I N C T IO N

PE T I T IO N T O S AV E T H E M A T PR O T E C T O U RWAV E S .OR G .U K

PE T I T IO N T O S AV E T H E M A T PR O T E C T O U RWAV E S .OR G .U K

Surfers are at the frontline of these issues, a marine indicator species, walking over tidelines of trash, becoming ill from sewagerelated pathogens, and seeing waves and coastlines disappear beneath corporate interests.

Jack Johnson, Kelly Slater, Gabrielle Aplin, and Ben Howard.

We were also delighted to lead the campaign with award-winning photographers, including Scott Rhea who produced the haunting series of images – Specimen Surfers.

Scott’s stunning and surreally beautiful series of Protect Our Waves images, depicting surfers preserved in specimen jars, explores the theme of extinction, highlighting the environmental issues that currently threaten UK waves. Scott’s work has been published worldwide and is widely sought after by art collectors. He is renowned for his amazing and creative underwater installations, which led to him supporting Surfers Against Sewage on the campaign.

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PE T I T IO N T O S AV E T H E M A T PR O T E C T O U RWAV E S .OR G .U K

ocean

K

ristin McArdle Dance (KMD) presents dance as an emotional catalyst to explore nature—to see it, feel it, touch it, understand it, and ultimately, protect it.

The mission of KMD is to reveal our connection to and interaction with the natural world. We partner with conservation organizations, museums, and local businesses to raise environmental awareness through the performing arts. Dance inspires action by evoking people’s physical memories and emotional connections. KMD wants the audience to leave the theater inspired – continuing to create their own memories in nature and do their part for environmental sustainability.

Kristin McArdle Dance: Aqua Borealis

Our current project, Aqua Borealis, is a performance inspired by the extraordinary marine organisms that use bioluminescent light to communicate in the ocean. Dancers join the voice of legendary oceanographer Dr. Sylvia Earle, creating a world expressed in blue saturated structures and prismatic leaps. Lights are embedded in the dancers’ costumes making an illuminating call-and-response dance, where the visual poetry of life inhabits photos: (top) Buffy Redsecker (bottom) Matthew McArdle 76 ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM

liquid darkness creating new ways to evoke an emotional connection with the oceans. The audience descends into the world of liquid light, experiencing the full spectrum of ocean sounds, human voice, and moving poetry, as if their seats were deep-sea submersibles. Through the prism of choreographed light, the dance aims to spark the audiences’ imagination, provoke new emotional connections with the marine world, and create an appreciation for unfamiliar environments and species.

Our next project with Dr. David Gruber is inspired by newly discovered marine animals that glow, including sharks and eels. It will create an innovative performance art experience that integrates bioluminescence with hidden biofluorescence into an immersive world of moving light.

The marine conservation message through dance is a powerful approach for social change. Audience members are reminded that their relationship to the sea is unique, universal, and important. The dances help get them there.

kristinmcardledance.com

C o l o r a d o Oc e a n C o a l i t i o n :

ocean

S av i n g t h e S e a s f r o m a M i l e H i g h

b y S u s a n E a s t m a n Wa lt o n

Truth:

Colorado has more scuba divers per capita than anywhere else in the U.S. Boulder’s Vicki Nichols Goldstein capitalized on the landlocked state’s many ocean enthusiasts to found the Colorado Ocean Coalition in 2010. Created to unite and empower through education and activities, COCO works to emphasize that everyone, no matter how far they are from the sea, makes daily choices upstream that have powerful effects downstream.

What kinds of choices? COCO asserts that these three can make or break the oceans’ health:

Reduce fossil fuel use, as 30 percent of the carbon dioxide emitted into the atmosphere falls into the ocean, making it acidic and less hospitable to marine life. The acidity weakens shellfish, coral, and plankton, the base of the marine food chain.

Choose fish from markets that buy environmentally-sustained seafood caught in a healthy way, not by fleets with massive nets.

These nets often scoop up the desired catch but also turtles, seabirds, and mammals, which COCO states causes more than 2 billion pounds of sea life to be discarded annually.

Reduce use of plastics, such as single-use bags, bottles, and caps, as plastic never completely disappears but breaks down into smaller pieces that is then eaten by marine life.

COCO’s centerpiece is its annual ‘Making Waves’ conference, bringing together top ocean conservationists and personalities to discuss current threats impacting the ocean’s health. Guests have included Oscar winning filmmaker Louie Psihoyos, oceanographer Sylvia Earle, and Jacques Cousteau’s nephew Philippe. Singer/surfer Jack Johnson’s Ohana Charitable Foundation has offered matching donations to support COCO’s efforts.

Back to those divers: Nichols Goldstein has just launched a new movement to “blue” the diving industry to get ecotourism, dive shops, and dive industry businesses working together to save what they all need to survive – healthy oceans. photos: (top) Cara Blake (left) John Gordon

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Keith Ellenbogen | bluereef.com

Keith Ellenbogen is a professional underwater photographer/videographer dedicated to marine conservation and awareness. He is Assistant Professor in the Photography Department at Fashion Institute of Technology, New York, and a member of International League of Conservation Photographers;

Beneath the surface of water is a world foreign to most people, especially children. The underwater habitats are teeming with life and beauty, yet they also face many environmental issues. To engage future generations, I have partnered with award-winning children’s book author Sy Montgomery and publishing company Houghton Mifflin Harcourt to develop an underwater series of books as part of “Scientists in the Field” series. Our first book entitled “The Octopus Scientist, Exploring the Mind of the Mollusk” is scheduled for publication in 2015. It is my goal to use the power of photography and visual storytelling as a means of inspiring environmental awareness.

Youthful Eyes — Exploring the Underwater World

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Keith Ellenbogen | bluereef.com

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Keith Ellenbogen | bluereef.com

“Our bodies, our voices, and the tools accessible to us allow us the freedom to express our deepest thoughts and create art and music that we can share with others.�

Peace Boat

Music & art

are often considered a universal language. Our bodies, our voices, and the tools accessible to us allow us the freedom to express our deepest thoughts and create art and music that we can share with others.

So what would happen if we brought together aspiring artists from around the world to interact with one another, and to share their passion for music and art with other young artists and professionals, all while traveling to new countries? What kind of peace building, and crosscultural learning can happen when young people have the opportunity to share their talents, and teach each other about life and culture in their home countries, all while learning from professional artists to promote a global movement of peace and understanding?

The Music and Art Peace Academy (MAPA) project aims to do just that, by providing young artists, musicians, and producers from around the world with experiences and resources to further explore and develop their creative talents. In partnership with Peace Boat, a non-profit organization working to promote peace, sustainable development, human rights, and respect for the environment, MAPA has created a truly unique learning opportunity for young musicians and artists to learn

from some of the best musicians and producers today.

Peace Boat seeks to create awareness and action based on effecting positive social and political change in the world. These goals are pursued through the organization of global educational programs, responsible travel, cooperative projects, and advocacy activities. A Peace Boat voyage is a life-changing experience. Utilizing the public spaces and facilities onboard the ship, and harnessing the talents of staff and participants alike, Peace Boat creates a unique environment in which people can live and learn together while undertaking socially responsible travel to some of the most fascinating regions on earth. Guest educators, including activists, academics, journalists, artists, and producers from around the world are invited onboard to contribute their knowledge and to share their world views in creative ways such as concerts, workshops, forums, and photo exhibitions.

Peace Boat US and the MAPA Project continue to grow in hopes of expanding this incredible opportunity to young people in communities traditionally underserved. If you are interested in learning more about the MAPA Project and Peace Boat, visit www.peaceboat-us.org.

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FESTIVAL GOING GLOBAL TO HELP SAVE THE OCEAN by t h e BLU E O cean Fi l m Fe st i va l

Ocean Film Festival (BLUE) splashed onto the The BLUE ocean scene in 2009 with a progressive three-tiered event that included an international ocean film competition, a filmmaker and photographer’s industry conference, and a science-based ocean conservation summit. This multi-disciplined approach propelled the innovative festival to become recognized as an important platform for addressing ocean issues as well as a “not to be missed” networking event.

Attracting ocean icons, celebrities, seasoned filmmakers and photographers, renowned scientists, media industry leaders, and emerging talent, BLUE has created an ecosystem of intellectuals, artists, and innovators with a mission to use the power of visual media to engage, educate, and inspire people everywhere to help save the ocean.

BLUE’s Co-Founder and CEO, Debbie Kinder, discusses the vision behind creating the multi-disciplined event, “I knew I wanted to be involved in ocean conservation, but there are so many issues, I didn’t want to choose just one problem to devote my time to because they’re all so interconnected. So, through film and visual media we can address all the major issues. Visual media is the most powerful tool we have for raising awareness and inspiring action. It’s how we can reach a global audience in a short span of time and in a way that helps everyone to understand some very complicated issues. The health of the ocean is not only about protecting marine life but also a much bigger issue. The

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health of the ocean impacts the health of humanity, not in the future, but right now. If this critical piece of our life support becomes tainted, it’s not something that can be fixed through crisis management.”

A major expansion of BLUE was recently announced with significant strides in its international reach as the result of new strategic partnerships with the Prince Albert II Foundation and the Oceanographic Museum of Monaco. The festival will now be an annual event that alternates between the US and Monaco, starting with the next festival in 2014 slated for November 3-9 in St. Petersburg, Florida.

In 2015, the festival will jump across the pond to Monaco, bringing its unique convergence of arts, science, and ocean conservation to the principality. During the official announcement of the partnerships, HSH Prince Albert II emphasized both the need to increase environmental consciousness and the important role BLUE plays in bringing ocean conservation to the forefront. “This event uses the power of film, photography, entertainment, and science to educate, empower, and inspire ocean stewardship around the globe,” he said.

“To awaken consciousness toward environmental protection more effectively, our best weapons are those that win over our hearts and minds.”

This expansion is not the first time BLUE has had a presence internationally. By leveraging the festival’s film archive library, the organization has developed an internationally touring educational outreach program, BLUE On Tour. This traveling program provides

“The health of the ocean is not only about protecting marine life but also a much bigger issue. The health of the ocean impacts the health of humanity, not in the future, but right now. If this critical piece of our life support becomes tainted, it’s not something that can be fixed through crisis management.”

-Debbie Kinder, BLUE’s CEO/Co-Founder

hosts the opportunity to present events that feature a customized film program and the ability to include filmmakers, scientists, and conservation groups.

“BLUE On Tour enables other groups to host their own customized festival event that address specific issues most relevant to their area,” said Charlie Kinder, co-founder of BLUE. “Unfortunately most people know very little about our ocean or why they should be concerned about its health. We are thrilled with how effective this outreach has been.” To date BLUE On Tour has been presented in Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, China, and throughout the US. If you would like to be a part of BLUE’s next festival and experience the impressive mix of ocean all-stars, thought-provoking programming, and amazing networking opportunities, mark your calendar for November 3-9, 2014 and plan to spend a few days in the charming coastal community of Tampa Bay/St. Petersburg, FL.

Ocean icon, Dr. Sylvia Earle describes the festival as “…more than a celebration of all things wet, the BLUE Ocean Film Festival brings together a potent mix of filmmakers, scientists, artists, conservationists, decision makers, industry leaders, educators, curious kids, and more.

Come to be entertained, inspired, informed, and in the company of kindred spirits. Come make useful contacts and come to have a good time. Whatever strums your blue heartstrings, just don’t miss this event.”

The BLUE Ocean Film Festival is a 501C3 non-profit and is requesting support for its mentoring scholarships for underserved youth and the BLUE On Tour global educational outreach.

To learn more go to: www.blueoceanfilmfestival.org

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ocean

Rob Machado F o u n d at i o n W o r k s w i th Y o u th t o Kee p O c e a n s Clean B y J e ss i c a T o t h , Rob Machado Foundation

THE

Rob Machado Foundation was founded when legendary surfer Rob Machado was looking for a way to give back to youth in his hometown of Cardiff-by-the-Sea, California. Almost 10 years later, the Foundation now supports 14 southern-California schools with programs that focus on water issues, healthy food choices, recycling, and greening initiatives. As our chief spokesperson, Rob is directly involved in the programs run by the Foundation, often appearing at schools to encourage students’ efforts.

born from Rob’s interest in reducing single plastic bottle usage by installing water filtration stations at area high schools as a solution.

Hurley added to the concept by creating student-run water clubs that fundraise for a nation in need of clean water and utilize fellow water ambassador, Jon Rose, and his organization Waves for Water for the filtration systems. This past school year, students delivered

RMF aims to empower youth to take environmental action. A number of our programs touch on water issues.

We are particularly Hurley added to the concept by creating student-run water concerned with unclean beaches and oceans.

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clubs that fundraise for a nation in need of clean water and

In July, we sponsored utilize fellow water ambassador, Jon Rose, and his organization a Green Team of high school and college Waves for Water for the filtration systems. surfers. In a huge undertaking, the Team diverted over 300 pounds of waste from the Switchfoot Bro-Am event, attended by 10,000 filters, which will support 4,000 people for three years. We aim to people. All of the diverted waste was recycled or re-purposed. expand this program across the country in coming years.

This year, we also installed ten hand-crafted trash bins, made from 100% reclaimed and recycled materials. Generous support from Sambazon made this possible. The bins keep hundreds of pounds of trash from being strewn on the beach and in the water each year.

Next on the agenda are recycling bins for beaches.

RMF is a non-profit. Our programs are made possible through generous donations and partnerships with other organizations, which provide sponsorship and in-kind support. We are always interested in hearing from potential donors and partners. Together we can improve environmental conditions and awareness around the world.

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robmachadofoundation.org

Growing up in a family of unbelievably talented musicians and having a brother as crazy talented as Peter’s big brother Ben Harper, meant creating an album was not a decision to be made lightly. Unlike most musicians starting out who are measured against their own ability and drive, the music Peter makes has a built in measuring stick that people use to determine its worth.

That’s why he knew his approach had to come from a totally different angle. The tactility of music is something that is rarely discussed. Peter, having his start as a bronze sculptor, however, said, “It was something that was on the forefront of my mind throughout the creation of every song,” as he was in the studio creating his first album.

“I built each track word by word, note by note, and instrument by instrument until I created something that, when played, would push the air around you in a way that that would not just resonate the hair in your ears, but resonate deep down in the soul as well.”

Peter Harpers self titled debut album can be found on itunes or on his website, peterharper.com.

book review

all the way to the ocean by joel harper

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric

Administration (NOAA), 1.4 billion pounds of trash per year enters the ocean. One of the biggest sources of this pollution is called nonpoint source pollution. Sadly, after rainstorms, much of the detritus referred to as urban runoff washes from streets into storm drains and into lakes, rivers, and ultimately into our oceans, wreaking devastating ill effects on ocean habitats and ultimately coming full circle and harming ourselves.

My book “All the Way to the Ocean” is a children’s book with an emphasis on educating children and adults about the fact that the majority of pollutants entering our ocean come from activity on land. No matter where you live, near the coasts or far inland, we all live in a watershed, and therefore we all are part of the problem and the solution. By being more conscious of our surroundings, picking up trash on the ground rather than letting it wash into storm drains, being more conscious consumers, and working toward cutting out the use of single use plastics, we can make a tremendous difference!

This spring, “All the Way to the Ocean” will become an animated short film starring Marcia Cross, Amy Smart, and Singer/Songwriter Xavier Rudd, with music by my brother Ben Harper, and a collaboration between Burning Spear and myself.

“All the Way to the Ocean” can be purchased on Amazon, at REI retail stores, New Leaf Community Markets, zoos, national parks, aquariums, children’s science centers, Sea Shepherd Conservation Center, and Project Wet online stores.

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future wild Project Noah

By Yasser Ansari Founder of Project Noah

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Photo: (above) Glass frog by Ismael Chaves Aguilar

We’re on our way. With new hardware and software in hand and a worldwide network of explorers and activists just a push notification away, we are building a new environmental movement that’s uniquely ours and, at the same time, accessible to everyone. We grew up with the technology that confuses and intimidates our predecessors and we know how to wield it.

The organizations, agencies, and politicians we’ve entrusted have, for the most part, let us down. We are still facing unprecedented rates of species extinction, forest loss, and climate change. At a time when we need these organizations the most, some of them are more concerned about saving themselves than saving the planet and that’s how we know our time has come.

It has never been easier to bring an idea to life. It has never been easier to build massive communities for fun and for science. It has never been easier to raise little bits of money from lots and lots of people. Today, there are endless ways for people to become producers, participants, and propagators and this democratization is powering a new approach to saving the planet.

Every schoolyard and backyard is a field station and every mobile device is an environmental monitor, whether in a child’s hand as a digital butterfly net or mounted to a tree as a camera trap. Global communities like Project Noah have emerged giving the masses an opportunity to help document biodiversity and make real breakthroughs as they participate. DIY environmental science communities like the Public Lab are offering balloon aerial mapping kits and open source spectrometers to gather knowledge, share data, and drive community environmental policy. Planet Labs is launching the largest fleet of earth-imaging satellites to provide universal access to

information about the changing planet, in near real-time.

Citizen science pioneer Zooniverse has launched Old Weather, inviting the public to help analyze decades of weather data and develop better climate models. In addition to all of this, the Maker Movement, popularized by Make Magazine and its associated Makerfaires, continues to inspire a new generation of curious tinkerers who are building their own tools to explore the sea, space, and everything in between. And it’s not just motivated amateurs leading the way, savvy scientists are launching sites like Microryza to crowdfund important research projects, many of which are focused on biology and ecology.

When we put all of this together, what we have is a new environmental movement made up of amateurs and experts working together to ask questions, fund projects, build tools, collect data, analyze data, and direct public policy. It’s a decentralized movement that everyone can participate in. It’s also the best chance we have at tackling our biggest environmental challenges. The earth needs our help and we’re no longer depending on others to do the fighting for us. It’s a wild brawl with our future at stake and if we’re going down, we’re going down swinging.

Yasser Ansari is the founder of Project Noah, a National Geographic-backed software company focused on wildlife exploration and education. He studied molecular biology and bioinformatics before moving into the wireless industry where he helped build new products for some big companies. He earned his Master’s degree from NYU’s Interactive Telecommunications Program (ITP) where he is currently adjunct faculty. He holds several technology patents and likes frogs.

Photo: (below) European Bee-eater By Doina Russu Photo: (top) Manatee By Gerardo Aizpuru, (middle) Jewel caterpillar By Gerardo Aizpuru, (bottom) Stink bug nymphs By Atul Vartak

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conservation HUMANITARIAN

Ian Saunders Tsavo Trust

curious young elephant ©Tanya Saunders-TSAVO TRUST

Ian Saunders: Elephants have suffered over many many generations from poaching and you see that in their behavior. The herds themselves, when they’ve had individuals taken out of the herds, are shattered. When that happens, the knowledge chains breakdown and when that happens, particularly the young suffer a great deal. Sometimes when you are in the bush and you see an elephant with particularly large tusks, in a funny way they almost know. They know that they have these things that are of great value to humans and it’s a problem for themselves. Sometimes, if you move when you are walking or are flying over in a helicopter, they will move and put their faces in a bush and hide their faces from humans. It’s quite an emotional moment. Only when you move out will they show their faces again. They know that is what they are being massacred for. They’re amazingly intelligent.

Maranda Pleasant: What are their bonds like in their family units?

IS: They mourn their dead. We have footage of elephants touching the

bones and the teeth of other dead elephants and even pulling the ivory out of the skull of a dead related elephant and taking it away and hiding it. They are very aware. I’m not really that emotional of a person, but it does bring it out of you. It sounds a bit fairy tale, but it’s actually true.

You can see the pressure that these animals are under. When you come across a poached incident – let’s say you come across a couple of elephants and you pick up the tracks of the poachers and you start to

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track them. You could track them for 50km a day for three days through arid land and you can see where their footsteps are getting closer because they are getting tired and then you see an indentation where they are leaning on the buts of their rifles. You read all of this. This is the exact same thing that elephants go through when they are being pursued by poachers. They are forced to take water out of their own stomachs - they actually put their trunks into their stomachs to get water out to spray on their backs and behind their ears to cool themselves off. The same pressure that is put on the poachers when we are pursuing them is the same pressure the elephants feel when they are being poached. It’s the same emotions. They are being driven down into the ground.

MP: Have you seen situations where babies are left and what does that do to the families?

IS: We see this and what happens is, the babies rely on their mothers to shade them from the sun. That’s why they’re always close to their side.

When the mother’s aren’t there, they have no shade and they obviously can’t ween. The sun has a huge effect on them though and they will just stand by their mothers until they die. When you see the film, there is a shot of a baby elephant just standing by its dead mother waiting to die.

The poachers, what they will do, especially in Somalia, they will mortally wound an elephant as a warning to the anti-poaching units. They won’t even remove the tusks. They just do it as a warning and a punishment for trying to track them down. We have footage of this. Everyone thinks

conservation HUMANITARIAN “Sometimes, if you move when you are walking or are flying over in a helicopter, they will move and put their faces in a bush and hide their faces from humans. It’s quite an emotional moment.

Only when you move out will they show their faces again.” bull elephants at rest ©Richard Moller-TSAVO TRUST

Ian Saunders and Orma elders ©TSAVO TRUST

Orma community ©Richard Moller-TSAVO TRUST

of the Somalis with automatic weapons, but in reality one of the hardest types of poaching to stop is the poison bow and arrow. It’s silent, you don’t hear it, and the elephants suffer over a long term. In our area, some of the bow and arrow hunter’s fathers, grandfathers, and great grandfathers were poachers. For some of them, poaching is a family lineage. It’s quite horrific. Sometimes, the elephant will rot from the inside out. So, that is why we do this.

Tsavo Trust is a Kenyan non-profit organization working in support of wildlife, habitat, and communities in southern Kenya’s greater Tsavo ecosystem. TSAVO TRUST is developing a range of integrated programs, offering Kenyan solutions to Kenyan challenges. By working alongside our fellow Tsavo residents, the ultimate goal of the TSAVO TRUST team is to help ensure the survival, security, ecological integrity and revenue-earning potential of the wider Tsavo ecosystem for generations to come - for the good of the wildlife, the people and the environment.

Orma herdsman with cattle ©Ian Saunders-TSAVO TRUST

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Elephant Drinking, Amboseli 2007. Killed by Poachers, 2009 90 ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM

Rangers with Tusks OF ELEPHANTS Killed at the Hands of Man, Amboseli, 2011

A C R O SS TH E R AVA G E D L A N D b y N I C K B R A N DT Take a look at the elephant in the photo opposite. His name is Igor (as named at birth by Cynthia Moss of Amboseli Elephant Research). For forty-nine years, he wandered the plains and woodlands of the Amboseli ecosystem in East Africa. A gentle soul like most elephants, he was so relaxed that in 2007, he allowed me to come within a few feet of him to take his portrait.

Two years later, in October 2009, it was perhaps this level of trust that allowed poachers to get close enough to kill him and hack out the tusks from his face.

As more people are finally becoming aware, there is an apocalypse of all animal life now occurring across Africa. Between an insatiable demand for animal parts from the Far East, and a sky-rocketing human population, the animals are being relentlessly squeezed out and hunted down. There is no park or reserve big enough for the animals to live out their lives safely.

The statistics bear repeating: Every year, an estimated 35-50,000 elephants are being slaughtered across Africa. That’s more than 10 percent of the elephant population every year. You can do the depressing math on that.

But it’s not just elephants being wiped out. There are an estimated 20,000 lions left in Africa today, a 75 percent drop in only twenty years. Most of this decline is due to conflict with the fast growing human population. But increasingly, lions are killed for body parts like claws, bones and teeth, again for the Asian market.

It has become so bad that there are now few lions left outside the parks and reserves.

It all sounds fairly bleak, and much of the future inevitably will be. But there is a “however...” There has to be a “however...” But we have to be prepared and willing to engage in the most almighty fight for it....

No longer able to sit back and allow the destruction to continue, I co-founded Big Life Foundation in September 2010 with one of the most respected conservationists in East Africa, Richard Bonham. With one of the most spectacular elephant populations in Africa being rapidly diminished by poachers, the Amboseli ecosystem, that straddles both Kenya and Tanzania, became Big Life’s large-scale pilot project. Igor became Big Life’s unfortunate poster child.

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Elephants Walking Through Grass, Amboseli, 2008. Leading Matriarch Killed by Poachers, 2009

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Line of Rangers with Tusks OF ELEPHANTS Killed at the Hands of Man, Amboseli, 2011

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this page: Lion Trophy (Where Once He Roamed), Chyulu Hills, 2012

oppostie page: Lion & Wildebeest, Amboseli 2012

Elephants alone, Amboseli 2010

(continued) Today, three years later, Big Life is the only organization in East Africa that has coordinated cross-border anti-poaching teams. The animals don’t pay attention to borders. Nor do poachers. So neither can we.

The giant tusks being held by the ranger at the front of the line are the same pair as those in the photo supported by the kneeling ranger on the prior page. I doubt there is an elephant now left alive in Africa with tusks that size. They would likely fetch over half a million dollars in China today.

That’s the terrifying level of demand that exists for these animals today.

315 fully-equipped rangers in 31 outposts now protect two million acres of the ecosystem. With the aid of multiple patrol vehicles, tracker dogs (the first to be used for conservation in Tanzania), night vision equipment and aerial monitoring, this new level of coordinated protection for the ecosystem has brought about a dramatic reduction in poaching of ALL animals in the region, with arrests of some of the worst, most prolific, long-term poachers.

At the current rate of killing, within the next ten years, the elephants, rhinos, lions, and cheetahs will be gone, mostly left only to be seen in zoos.

If we just wait for the tortuously slow wheels of government to try and effect change on the international level - by effectively enforcing bans on trade, by curbing demand for these animal parts - if we wait for that and do nothing, all these animals will be long, long gone.

However, when you’re trying to protect two million acres, 315 rangers will only get you so far. These achievements could never have happened without one critical element: The collaboration with and support of the local communities.

In the meantime, Big Life Foundation is working hard, and so far successfully, to urgently staunch the flow of blood, and preserve these extraordinary animals in the hopes of a better future for both them, us, and the planet.

Wildlife is constantly moving far beyond meager park boundaries into the huge unprotected areas ever more populated by humans. This means that the only future for conservation of animals in the wild is working closely with the local communities. This is at the heart of Big Life’s philosophy: Conservation supports the people, and then people will support conservation.

I began Big Life three years ago because I saw that something positive could be achieved. There’s little use being angry and passive. Much better to be angry and active. So will you join the battle in being angry and active?

In the photo above, twenty two Big Life rangers are holding the tusks of elephants killed at the hands of man in the Amboseli/Tsavo ecosystem 2004-2009, before Big Life came into being. The photo is a deliberate echo of the earlier idyllic image opposite, of elephants crossing the plains three years earlier, an idyll that was broken when poachers killed Marianna, the matriarch of her herd, seen at the head of the line.

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All Photos © Nick Brandt, Courtesy of Hasted Kraeutler Gallery NY Photos in this article all from “Across The Ravaged Land”, published by Abrams Books, September 2013 To learn more about Big Life Foundation, please go to : www.biglife.org

THE TRUTH IN LIGHTS Asher Jay

How do I launch the story such that it reaches people effectively and intrinsically? I help place it on a Times Square billboard, on Shanghai’s mass transport, in magazines, museums, and shop windows; I tell the stories of the Age of Man, in places most frequented by man. It is essential we comprehend our human context, as our story encompasses everything that preceded us and co-evolves with us. I create so others may connect to the stories that define the collective. asherjay.com

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HUMANITARIAN mindful

Observe the silence between your thoughts, actions, reactions, and you will feel the presence of spirit in the stillness of those spaces.

O a

Are you ready to step out of the prison of memory and conditioned responses into the experience of freedom? If so, then observe your addictive behaviors without judgment.

Addiction is the number one disease

By Deepak Chopra of civilization, and it’s directly and co-founder of the Chopra Center indirectly related to all other diseases.

Besides physical addictions to nicotine, alcohol, and other ost human behavior is nothing other substances, there are psychological addictions, than the avoidance of pain and the such as the addiction to work, sex, television, pursuit of pleasure. Whenever we experience melodrama, and perfection. an event, whether we’re visiting the dentist or taking a dream vacation, our consciousness We are addicted to these things because we’re registers that experience internally on not living from our source; we have lost our a spectrum with great pain at one end connection to our soul. The abuse of food, and extreme pleasure at the other. Once alcohol, or drugs is essentially a material completed, the memory of that experience response to a need that isn’t really physical is tagged to either pain or pleasure, and it at its foundation.. What we are looking continues to exist in our bodymind. for is pure joy rather than mere sensation, or even oblivion of sensation. Addiction is Memory is useful because it gives us a sense unrecognized spiritual craving. of continuity. But memory is also imprisoning because it conditions us in predictable Over and over, people have tried to overcome ways. The great yogi Lord Shiva said, “I use their addictions through psychological and memories, but I do not allow memories to behavioral methods or through medication. use me.” We have to use memories; otherwise None of these offers a permanent cure. The we wouldn’t find our way home. When we only cure for addiction is spiritual. We hunger use memories, we are creators. But when our for the ecstatic experience, which is a need as memories use us, we become victims. basic as the need for food and water. Ecstasy,

vercoming ddictions

M

8 ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM

or ek-tasis, literally means stepping out. True ecstasy is stepping out of the bondage of the time-bound, space-bound world. We long to be free of fear and limitation. We hunger to experience our infinite, unbounded Self.

Start today to transcend your addictive behaviors by observing them without judgment. Witness your thoughts, moods, and behaviors. They represent your memories of the past, and by witnessing them in the present, you liberate yourself from the past.

By observing your addictive behaviors, you observe your conditioning. When you observe your conditioning, you’re free of it, because you are not your conditioning; you are the observer of your conditioning.

Observe the silence between your thoughts, actions, reactions, and you will feel the presence of spirit in the stillness of those spaces. In the mere observation of yourself, you begin the process of healing and transformation.

Deepak Chopra, M.D. is a best-selling author and the co-founder of the Chopra Center for Wellbeing in Carlsbad, California. The Chopra Center offers a variety of signature mind-body healing programs, meditation and yoga retreats, emotional release workshops, and teacher trainings.

To learn about special offers and upcoming events, please visit www.chopra.com or call 888.736.6895.

ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM 9

“

inspire

At this point in my life, my feminism has evolved way beyond selfempowerment and I see feminism as a path to peace on earth.

Ani DiFranco Interview By Maranda Pleasant Maranda Pleasant: What are some of the things that make

you come alive?

Ani DiFranco: Playing music for people. I mean, playing music at home and writing and hanging out with my guitar is kind of medicinal for me, but when I bring the songs to people on stage, it’s very joyous.

I’ve actually taken about a year off because I had a baby and coming back to work is like, oh wow! It’s startling to me how cool my job is and how much it invigorates me.

MP: What are some of the things that make you feel vulnerable?

AD: Oh wow. Everything – waking up in the morning and interacting photos: Danny Clinch 10 ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM

with people. I am a thinned skinned type. I am very sensitive, very emotional. Vulnerability is kind of always a part of my day. It’s trying to find that balance. I’m easy to cry. I’m out there. It’s kind of a hard way to be, as all of us sensitive creatures know. I can’t even remember how your question started, but vulnerability is something that I negotiate every day.

MP: As a single mom myself for the last sixteen years, I wonder if

you ever feel pulled between that part of you that wants to create as a woman and that part of you that wants to be with your baby all of the time?

AD: Yeah, I don’t know what it feels like for you, but so often it’s like

“

Vulnerability is kind of day. It’s trying to find that balance. I’m easy to cry. I’m out there.

inner person loves my inner person no matter what we do and I have tested it plenty of times. Fucking up and saying stupid stuff, and there it is still – his unconditional love. Its something that I am capable of and I think everybody is capable of. He has been my great teacher. Ever since I met him, it’s my idea of love. Now we have two great kids and we get to pass it on. (Both Crying) Look at us!

MP: I just saw Jack Johnson and he wanted to talk about love and I was like, “Let’s just talk about sustainable biofuel.” What are causes that you are passionate about right now?

one or the other. It takes everything you have to do each one. I was just talking to a very very ripe song-writer. I was actually speaking with her on her due date. She was asking me about what it was like to write songs and create and have a baby. I was like, “Forget about it. Lower your expectations right now.” As any mom knows, having a baby is an extremely creative act and to love and create a baby, it’s on par with any other creative act that we could come up with. Women, I think I am not alone when I say this, have to choose. You have to do one or the other. Sometimes you have to take time off this to do that and that to do this. It’s a juggle, but here we are doing it, whether or not it’s understood or honored in greater society. Moms know what it takes.

MP: What is love to you?

AD: I think I have explored and experienced many different types of love in my 43 years. About ten years ago, I met somebody who gives me unconditional love and I have been hanging on to him ever since.

It’s hard to define it. When we first started hanging out, I was always on the road and he would just hang out in the dressing room during the shows and he wouldn’t even watch the shows. I was like, “Do you think I suck? Are you even interested?” Then it sort of dawned on me that he was just there for me. His frequency and my frequency resonate. His

AD: So many things. There are so many things that we have to be very concerned about. But I always come back to feminism. People look at me sideways now and are like, “With everything going on, the destruction of the environment, these endless wars, this capitalism that has a stranglehold on our culture and our world and you’re talking about feminism still?” At this point in my life, my feminism has evolved way beyond self-empowerment and I see feminism as a path to peace on earth. The fundamental imbalance that is behind all of the other social diseases is patriarchy.

I do believe. As men and women, together, I really long to feel my society evolve its understanding since we’re one of the leaders in the f-word. I want us to grow our idea of feminism collectively and get both men and women involved in undoing patriarchy. It’s huge. It’s a huge job.

It’s the ground that we walk on, it’s where we sit, it’s the language that we use. It’s a difficult undertaking, but I think without healing that and creating more of a balance between the sexes, we will never have balance globally. I feel like I am going deeper and deeper into this space where I came from that I barely understood. I happened to be born there. My mother was a feminist and she gave me some tools of self-possession and self-empowerment, but now that I have lived here for 43 years it’s like, whoa, there is just so much more to do, other than become myself. I’m still talking about it. I still drop the p-word, patriarchy, on unsuspecting people in everyday conversations.

MP: Will you please keep doing that?

AD: Oh, I will keep doing that at least and hope for the best.

MP: Do you have any projects that you’re working on?

AD: I am slowly working on my next album, but my project lately has been my six month old. righteousbabe.com ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM 11

inspire

always a part of my

photo: Al Mackinnon.

G r e g

L o n g

b i g wav e s u r f e r

interview by Scott & Meghan Dunbar

Q: As a big wave surfer, you deal with a lot of high-stress situations.

How do you keep your center in the middle of chaos?

A: With the acknowledgment that every emotion we feel, both

positive and negative, are a by-product of our thoughts. How we react to circumstances in our life is our choice alone. When you become mindful of your thoughts, you can control or set yourself free from the non-enhancing feelings or emotions like stress or fear. Although, it is much easier said than done sometimes. One of the greatest allures of big wave surfing for me is that I am regularly put in situations that I have no control over and are often fear inducing. In doing so, I am forced to rely on my mind in order to overcome those obstacles and ride the waves I do. When I do, it is the greatest feeling of accomplishment.

Q: How much of a role does yoga and mindfulness play in your life and in your sport?

12 ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM

A:

The practice of yoga and mindfulness is a way of life, and one which I strive to live by everyday. The ideas and philosophies found within are an integral part of my big wave surfing pursuit. Find balance in the physical, mental, and spiritual, and you open yourself up to the opportunity to explore your greatest potential in this life.

Q: Do you have a daily routine?

A: Everyday I attempt to live a mindful, health conscious life with

a goal of learning and growing from every experience. I do my best to have a smile on my face at all times, practice yoga daily, and get in the ocean as often as possible.

Q: What makes you come alive?

A: I come alive when I see somebody who is simply loving life. It

doesn’t matter what they are doing, if they are happy, and living with

photo: Al Mackinnon.

passion, I am inspired.

Q:What’s been one of

your biggest lessons so far in your life?

A: One year ago, I

be appreciated that way.

nearly drowned in a big wave surfing accident.

When you come that close to losing your life, it really puts things into perspective. Since that day, I have had an entirely new love and appreciation for all of the blessings in my life.

Every day is truly the greatest gift and should

Q:What makes you feel vulnerable?

A: The last year of my life was punctuated with a lot of feelings of

vulnerability, which stemmed from the uncertainty in the direction of my life. For over 15 years, big wave surfing was my passion and what I dedicated my heart and soul to. After nearly losing my life riding big waves, I didn’t know if I ever wanted to go back and do it again. For the first time, I felt like my life was without direction.

Q: Are there any great organizations out there that you support?

A: A few environmental organizations that I regularly work with

are the Surfrider Foundation, Save the Waves Coalition, San Onofre Foundation, and Wildcoast Organization. Each does tremendous work in different geographical areas working to protect and preserve our natural resources so future generations can enjoy them the same way we have. I have also become increasingly more involved with other organizations like Surfers Healing and The Best Day Foundation, which use the ocean and surfing as a means of healing for children with autism and other challenges. Sharing the love of the ocean with others is one of the most rewarding things in the world.

Q: If you could say something to everyone on the planet, what would it be?

A:

Live with love, respect, gratitude, and compassion for everyone and everything.

Greg Long is a professional big wave surfer from San Clemente, California. At 30 years old, he travels the world in search of riding the biggest waves on the planet. He is recognized as the most decorated big wave surfer in the world winning more competitions and global big wave awards than any other surfer.

Accolades aside, he acknowledges his ability to follow his passion, and inspire others to do the same while promoting a healthy conscious lifestyle to be his single greatest accomplishment.

ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM 13

K at h r y n B u d i g “Happiness is a state a mind, not a dress size. Own your beauty whatever shape or form it comes in.”

Q: What are your thoughts on body image and the industry?

A: Being in the health industry can do a major number on your head when it comes to body image. I do feel pressure to look a certain way but am fighting that and focusing on being comfortable in my own skin exactly as it is. I used to be in my 20s, be single, and work way less. This was conducive to way more hours on the mat and a super fit physique. I’m now 31, engaged, and travel every single week, which puts a major damper on any sort of routine. I lack routine with yoga, sleep, and food but do my best to keep

photos: Under Armour Women 14 ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM

consistency amongst the chaos. I’m about 10lbs heavier than I was back in the day but equally as strong and much happier and wiser. That being said, should I be upset that I’m not as skinny as I was? There’s the famous Kate Moss quote, “Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels.”

I’m going to have to disagree there. I’d take pasta over skinny any day.

More importantly, I’d take health over looks. I encourage myself— and everyone—to focus on how you feel and take care of yourself as opposed to your waistline. Happiness is a state a mind, not a dress size.

Own your beauty whatever shape or form it comes in.

Q: What’s been a couple of your biggest struggles?

A: The public persona that comes along with my job. I’m blessed to be successful and have amazing students. I work hard through teaching, traveling, writing, filming, and creating. In this day and age, social media is a huge part of a business, which I actually love. It’s a phenomenal platform to share your message, keep others and myself

ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM 15

“People love to judge, get used to it and stop taking it personally. So, my biggest struggles have been my biggest teachers. Funny how it always works out that way.” inspired and help keep your students connected to your events. The hardest part is the anonymous ability to say whatever you want. I deal with negative, nasty comments on a regular basis. It’s difficult to digest because I’ve always been sensitive and it’s a slap in the face to have someone respond cruely when you’re trying to lift people up. It’s been a huge lesson for me. Not everyone can or will love you. You could run a cotton candy and unicorn farm and someone’s gonna think you’re an asshole. Everyone’s fighting their own battle and it often has nothing to do with you. Just because someone disagrees with you doesn’t mean you’re wrong. Stand up for what you believe in even if it causes waves.

People love to judge, get used to it and stop taking it personally. So, my biggest struggles have been my biggest teachers. Funny how it always works out that way.

Q: Do you ever feel competitive pressure with other top Yoga

personalities? Whether it’s classes, retreats, books, DVDs, etc?

A: I used to. I can be highly competitive, which is ultimately why I chose yoga as a career. I thought it would drain the competitive drive out of me and allow me to be present and content. The yoga world has become highly competitive since then and it used to drive me crazy until I realized there’s work for everyone. There is plenty of room for us all to succeed and carve our own path. It’s important to remember that there are many different types of people, styles of teaching and that we won’t agree with all of them. Just because you don’t like it photos: Under Armour Women 16 ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM

doesn’t mean it isn’t currently rocking someone else’s world. There’s no need to be fearful when another person succeeds. In fact, joining forces and supporting fellow teachers (or co-workers) you believe in is one of the most empowering moves you can make. Anytime I feel my feathers ruffle off of someone else’s success, I have to check myself. It’s normally fear based or ego related and it’s my daily work to let it go and focus on me, because that’s the only person I can control and make grow.

Q: What drew you to yoga? How often do you REALLY practice yoga?

A: I was a tomboy growing up and then fell into the world of theatre

and musical theatre. A girlfriend introduced me to yoga in college and I was hooked. I didn’t really know anything about it except that it was the highlight of my week. I ended up graduating from the University of Virginia and moving to Los Angeles where I could continue acting and do a yoga teacher training. I went from practicing once or twice a week to several hours everyday. I loved it. Fast forward 10 years later and I don’t have the luxury to practice for hours each day, but I do make an effort to do some sort of yoga. Sometimes it’s five minutes and on a great day a full 90 minutes. Yoga has expanded beyond asana for me. It’s how I live my life and currently I’m throwing myself into a meditation practice. I’ve been doing Isha Kriya meditation and love it.

Don’t get me wrong, it isn’t easy or available everyday---but I’m making the effort to stop, sit, breath, and connect.

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yoga

“Giving back the responsibility of wrongdoing to the abuser is a powerful first step of healing.”

T h e S lipperiness of forgiveness

by Ana Tiger Forrest, Creatrix of Forrest Yoga and author of Fierce Medicine

In

many yoga philosophies and religions there is an assumption that you must forgive the people who have caused you pain. This actually isn’t a very effective place to begin healing your wounds. Instead, it is really important to start out by blaming (take a breath, re-read that sentence). Giving back the responsibility of wrong-doing to the abuser is a powerful first step of healing.

The next step is your responsibility. Connect to the people and resources you need to walk your healing path. We frequently go back to the people that hurt us, attempting to get them to heal our wounds. Did you notice this doesn’t work?! They are like a toxic pond that we keep going to slake our thirst and instead, we get poisoned over and over. Learn from this. These people do not have what you need. Quest for, and connect to people who value you, who are sane, and have healing skills, i.e. therapists, your Forrest Yoga teacher, massage therapists, acupuncturists etc.

Where forgiveness is effective

Forgive ourselves for the actions that we’ve taken that were based on the abuse, or based on the terrible teaching that has us laboring beneath our guilt and shame. Can we recognize

18 ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM

and begin to forgive that we have made poor choices because of how we were twisted? Can we give back the lousy teachings that we were given by our family or abusers?

Here’s an example scenario: Perhaps it wasn’t sexual abuse — let’s go to emotional abuse, when an authority figure was trying to form you into something that didn’t fit your Spirit at all. Recognize how that damaged you.

In an attempt to be spiritual or ‘a good person,’ we don’t acknowledge or we belittle what happened. Basically we’re lying to ourselves.

Our lies disconnect and disempower us. If we don’t get to where the wound is, we can’t heal it.

Next step, get to where the wound is! Be honest and feel the pain — physical, emotional, and mental. Feeling the truth of the depth of your wound is a primary step for healing.

Emotional scar tissue causes us to behave very aberrantly. Massage that tissue so it starts to unkink. How? Follow the steps below: • Close your eyes and breathe deeply.

• Focus on the issue that you have told yourself needs to be forgiven.

• Locate one of the areas where you hold this pain/blame/shame in your body and begin to wash your deep breath into that area.

• As you connect to your feelings, notice and write down anything that comes up. Continue permeating your breath through the deeper layers of physical and emotional feelings. Courageously move the emotional energy, even when that includes quivering, shaking, crying, raging.

Feel for how the energy crests like a wave, crashes, and then ebbs away.

You can do this exercise while sitting or doing poses. I encourage you to do Forrest Yoga while you are working with your issue. I designed Forrest Yoga to help heal these deep emotional and soul wounds. I invite you to strip away what you have been taught about forgiveness. Dance with learning from your past mistakes and forgiving yourself. Aho. Discover more tools for healing in Ana’s highly acclaimed book, ‘Fierce Medicine’, available from Amazon.comand as an audiobook, read

by Ana. Visit forrestyoga.com/events to work with Ana in person.

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ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM 19

active

Jay Panther skiier

“

Skiing and beach volleyball are the careers for which God has given me amazing passion! I fall asleep visualizing improvements I can make in these sports and wake up excited to train. I want to be the best athlete this world has seen, competing in multiple Summer and Winter Olympic games! Being the best means working harder than the rest. This requires pushing the limit of what was previously thought possible on a daily basis. I love working with unrelenting tenacity (pushing my limit) because I get to wake up every day and do what I love... follow my dreams!

Photo: Kirk Paulsen

Garden of Life ambassador

20 ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM

active

Living in Dynamic Balance

by Michael Fukumura prana ambassador

Living in Dynamic Balance

Go with the Flow

We all seek balance to be healthy and optimize performance. Living in balance is like surfing the waves of change with your beloved, work, play, community, and nature. The key is to ride every wave of change by finding and maintaining your center.

Notice if you are trying to control whatever wave that you are riding.

Don’t force your way into balance. Attune to whatever is being offered.

Sometimes, it is simply to be enjoyed. At other times, it calls you to your highest attention where you must marshal all of your resources to find the dynamic place of balance.

Recognize the Signs of Being Out of Balance

Recalibrate through Mindfulness

Notice when you are feeling overwhelmed, stressed-out, or tense in your body or mind; or whether you are sluggish, dull, and uninspired.

Start Your Day By Feeling Whole

Begin your day by going to the source of internal balance. Use whatever practices that help you experience your center. It is from your ground of being that you clear your mind and focus your attention. You become the source of peace and calmness.

Shift Your Perspective

During the course of the business of the day, check in periodically and pause. Meet the moment fully.

Moments of mindfulness throughout the day can be like mini-retreats: they renew, restore, and revitalize your energy. Then, re-engage and skillfully respond to life’s stresses in a more harmonious way.

It is this cycle of engagement, listening, and re-engagement in the world that is a key to balance.

Balance in Relationship

How you view the world has a powerful effect on your actions and unfolding experience. If you see everything as a potential threat, then the world will reflect that back to you.

If you see everything as an opportunity to grow and learn, your expanded awareness becomes a source for a more positive and empowering experience.

Isolating and focusing all of your energy and attention on yourself is the quickest way to get out of balance. Share and develop meaningful relationships with your beloved, your family, your friends, and your community as a way to keep you oriented to something bigger than just yourself.

How Do You Know You Are in balance?

Engage the World with Meaningful Dedication

It is important to distinguish between meaningful efforts and those where you have no influence. Refocus your efforts on where you can make a difference; you will actually gain more time and energy. Your dedication to what matters is important to provide balance because it brings meaning. When your efforts are in balance, they enliven you.

Are you enjoying the ride?

When you find that sweet spot of balance, you feel a surge of primordial energy where your consciousness expands and your entire being feels lit up. Your mind is clear and present. Your body is enlivened.

May you radiate with balanced energy as you live a full and meaningful life. prana.com ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM 21

22 ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM

Ramona Bruland

interview by maranda pleasant

Maranda Pleasant:

What makes you come alive?

Ramona Bruland: I love this question. There is no better feeling of being alive than the sensation of endorphins and a good old adrenaline rush. From the simple excitement of waking up in beautiful Aspen, CO and seeing what Mother Nature brought throughout the night, to flying down a mountain on ski’s or a snowboard, snowmobiling, dirt biking, road biking, even paragliding, the rush of the wind in my face and the sensation of speed make me feel alive.

I also get an incredible rush performing on stage. Every year, I dance in the Aspen Aids Benefit, a theatrical fashion show I co-produce each March. The thrill of performing in front of an audience takes me back to fond memories from my childhood.

There are many ways to feel alive.

Two of my favorite quotes are “Do something that scares you everyday” - Eleanor Roosevelt, and “If you’re not living on the edge, you’re taking up too much space” – mountaineer Lou Whittaker. I love that by stepping outside of your comfort zone a little every day you can move entire boundaries of what you thought possible.

MP: How do you handle emotional pain?

RB: I cry.

MP: What truth do you know for sure?

RB: I know for sure when I love someone.

MP: How do you keep your center in the middle of chaos?

RB: I get in my zone and feel the mojo, cry, or go hit-up the wilderness

for some endorphins.

MP: What’s been one of your biggest lessons so far in life?

RB: It always amazes me how so many people wish they had someone

else’s life. That life probably has problems of it’s own, so work with the life you’ve got and try to make it extraordinary. Life’s too short to sit on your hands and wish upon a star. My mother always told me to “get off your butt and go do it!” Thanks Mum. I’ve always embraced the rule of thinking outside the box, not following the norm and doing what makes me happy. Supportive parents help a great deal too. When I told them I was “dropping out of business school to be a ski bum in Falls Creek, Australia for a season” they were fine with that decision. And guess what: some 19 ski seasons later I’m still living the dream, my dream, and the dream just keeps getting better. So don’t follow the textbook of what you’re supposed to do… take that whim, live it and love it. It’s worked for me.

MP: What makes you feel vulnerable?

MP: If you could say something to everyone on the planet, what would that be?

RB: The uncertainty of freelance work puts me on an emotional roller

RB:

coaster. I let my work define me. Between jobs I feel very vulnerable.

MP: Do you have a daily routine?

RB: I like to get in at least an hour of exercise every day. The more time

spent in the outdoors the better I feel.

photo: SIMS Snowboards

Reduce, Recycle, and Reuse.

Australian born and raised television personality s currently works as a Freelance TV Host/Producer of travel adventure, action sports and luxury lifestyle programming, seen on networks such as ESPN, ABC, Discovery, Universal and CBS. Ramona now resides in Aspen, CO, living the adventurists dream.

RamonaBruland.com ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM 23

Trevor Thomas:.

Blind Hiker. Founder-Team Farsight

active

My name is Trevor Thomas (aka Zero Zero).

Contrary to what many say, I’m not crazy nor do I have a death wish. I am just a regular guy who loves hiking and happens to be blind. I’ve made many first ascents and thru-hiked some of the most rugged and remote long trails in the US. When asked why I do it since I can’t enjoy the view, my answer is simple: I spend my life developing ways to show others anything is possible.

PHOTO: sean cope

ahnu.ambassador

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mindful

An Elephant Never Forgets

“If we imagine that we’re free of all divisions, all separation, and all judgments about this world and the life inhabiting it, we can begin to understand oneness.

By Wayne W. Dyer

M

y son Sands sent me a story about the passing of conservationist Lawrence Anthony in South Africa. Anthony is well-known for his courageous rescue of Baghdad Zoo animals during the war in Iraq in 2003. He wrote about his experiences rescuing a rogue elephant herd in his bestselling book The Elephant Whisperer. Sands knew I would love the remarkable story of what happened at Lawrence Anthony’s game reserve in South Africa after his death last year. The elephants he saved from extermination walked 12 miles in a sort of funeral procession from their habitat to gather around his house. How did they know their human protector and friend had passed?

As Emerson says, we take what we have seen and trust our Creator on what’s unseen. If all life is connected, the elephants would naturally know to come to their friend’s home to mourn him.

Everything in this physical universe of ours is in some way connected to everything else. When we attempt to isolate anything, we find that it is in some way part of everything else in the universe. Just as it is absurd for a single wave to see itself as separate from the ocean, so

it is for any of us not to recognize our oneness with all creation.

If we imagine that we’re free of all divisions, all separation, and all judgments about this world and the life inhabiting it, we can begin to understand oneness. The place we want to enter is of simply being.

We can picture the Source of being as an energy that’s as available to us all as is the sky. There’s no distinction between anyone or anything because everyone and everything is Spirit. This Spirit is God, our Source of being. We are it, and it is who we are. We relax into the silence of where we came from. We discover the meaning of life by being able to return to the oneness. The closer we get to experiencing our original nature, which is Spirit, the more peace and purpose flows through us, and the more we can recognize and accept miracles.

The story of Lawrence Anthony and the elephants tells me that something in the Universe is greater and deeper and more powerful than we know. We can trust our Creator on this. Like the elephants, let us be grateful for the Spirit that connects us and enables us to love.

ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM 25

HUMANITARIAN mindful

“When we move forward into our future, knowing and using the treasures within, then only good lies before us.”

Your Future I s A lw ay s Bright b y L o u i s e H ay

J

ust because the years are passing doesn’t mean that the quality of our lives must automatically go downhill. I choose to see my life moving in different directions, all of them equally good. Some things are even better now than the way they were in my youth. My younger years were filled with fear; my todays are filled with confidence. I truly believe that many of the fears we have are unnecessary. It is something we’ve been taught.

It has been programmed into us. It’s just a habitual thinking pattern, and it can be changed. Negative thinking is prevalent, in particular, among so many women in their later years, and, as a result, they live out their lives in discontent.

I want you to know that your future is always bright, no matter what your age. See your later years as becoming your treasure years. Sit quietly and think of all the times you were joyful, and let your body feel this joy. Remember all the times you were a winner; the times when you did something you were proud of, even small things. Hold these feelings close to you, this joy and confidence. Now look forward ten years. What do you see yourself doing and being? How do you look? How do you feel?

Are you carrying the joy with you?

Now go 20 years down the road. What do you see? Are you alive, alert, and interested in life? Are you surrounded by friends who love you?

What’s the contribution you’re making to life? Right now is the time for you to visualize and create your future. Make it as healthy and bright and joyful as you can. It’s your life, and you’re going to live it.

Don’t ever think it’s too late for you or that you’re too old to dream and have goals.

Dreams and goals keep us young and interested in life. Live today to the fullest, and forget about the past. Today you can create a new way of living. You can change all the rules. When we move forward into our future, knowing and using the treasures within, then only good lies before us. We can know and affirm that everything that happens to us is for our highest good and greatest joy, truly believing that we can’t go wrong.

Instead of just getting old and giving up and dying, let’s learn to make a huge contribution to life. We have the time, we have the knowledge, and we have the wisdom to move out into the world with love and power.

Step forward, use your voice, get out in the world, and live!

No matter what our age or what kind of problems we have, we can begin

to make positive changes today. The Law of Attraction requires that we focus our attention on what we do want, rather than what we don’t want.

Focus on loving you. If we want to be respected and honored when we’re older, then we must lay the groundwork by respecting and honoring the elders we meet in our lives today. How we treat them today is the way we’ll be treated later.

Every day affirm at least a few of these affirmations:

I have my whole life ahead of me.

I am young and beautiful…at every age.

I am respected by all whom I come in contact with.

My life is a glorious adventure.

I have no limitations.

I contribute to the harmony of life.

I have all the time in the world.

My later years are my treasure years.

Louise L. Hay, the author of the international bestseller You Can Heal Your Life, is a metaphysical lecturer and teacher with more than 50 million books sold worldwide. For more than 25 years, she has helped people throughout the world discover and implement the full potential of their own creative powers for personal growth and self-healing. Louise is the founder and chairman of Hay House, Inc., which disseminates books, CDs, DVDs, and other products that contribute to the healing of the planet.

LouiseHay.com

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Yoga • Meditation • Mind-Body Wellness “When we can accept all of life’s contradictions, when we can comfortably flow between the banks of pleasure and pain, experiencing them both while getting stuck in neither, then we are free.” ~Deepak Chopra

Yoga • Meditation • Mind-Body Wellness www.chopra.com

ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM 27

“

Ironman Triathlete

Steven Holshouser

active

Mental preparation for races comes days and months before the actual race. Preparation along with experience in your sport will help for any kind of mental preparation. Just like physical preparation is vital to training months before a race, mental preparation is key as well. When you are training day in and day out, you envision your opponents, and run through the days events. I often create problems that could arise and practice fixing certain issues that could arrive on race day. This could be anywhere from practicing changing a flat tire with your tools, quickly adjusting a seat, trouble with goggles on the swim or even a bad day on the run. Thing happen in races, it is a fact. The best way to prepare mentally is to KNOW you have covered all your bases and when something happens, you know exactly what to do because you have prepared for it.

Photo: brian fasher

Garden of Life ambassador

28 ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM

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yoga

Yoga & Veganism: Let’s get physical

Ask Sharon Sharon Gannon is the co-founder of the Jivamukti Yoga method and the author of Yoga & Vegetarianism: the Diet of Enlightenment.

Q: I just want to practice yoga

for the physical benefits. Why should I be concerned with veganism, the environment, or political activism?

SHARON: What could be more physical than what you eat, where you live, and who you live with? These are all very physical issues. What you eat affects you physically as well as other beings you share this planet with. The fact is that eating meat and dairy is bad for your health, the health of the animals eaten, as well as the health of the planet. It is a fact that the ecological devastation of the planet can be traced to the consumption of meat and dairy, which contributes to water, soil, and air pollution as well as global warming and the mass extinction of many species of plant and animal forms.

Human beings are Earthlings and as Earthlings are connected to every other living being on this planet. What this means is that what we do as an individual affects the

whole world. The practice of yoga allows us to become more conscious of our own physical existence and how significant we really are.

When many people start practicing yoga, they are amazed to discover that their body isn’t just something used to carry their head around—their body has intelligence too. We start to feel how our actions affect the lives of others—this could be described as becoming political, because the word politic means the “greater body”—it refers to the community of others with whom we share the Earth. To be political actually means to care about your community. To be politically activated is to dare to care about the happiness of others and that is just about the most important activity anyone can be involved in at this time, because it changes a person—it lifts them from normal self-centeredness to a state of other centeredness, which is a good thing because it expands our perception of self. This expansion of consciousness leads to enlightenment, which is the meaning of yoga. Enlightenment is the realization of the oneness of being, where otherness

disappears. The term, jivanmukti means “to be enlightened while living in a physical body.”

What you do to benefit the lives of others will ultimately also benefit you.

Q: Don’t I need to eat meat and dairy to sustain the physical rigors of yoga practice?

SHARON: Not at all. It’s a common myth that athletes and other highly active people need the protein from meat and dairy to fuel their activities and build and repair muscles and other bodily tissues. In fact, there is growing evidence that consumption of too much protein can lead to very serious health issues, including kidney disease, osteoporosis, and cancer. The active body can get all the protein it needs from a diverse, 100% plant-based diet. Google “vegan athlete” to find many examples of accomplished vegan athletes and what they eat!

jivamuktiyoga.com 30 ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM

ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM 31

Fast forward fifteen years. I’m at Starbuck’s, and as I come out of the ladies room I realize that—sure enough—my skirt is tucked up into my underpants. But here’s the good part. I laughed! I could have flashed the entire coffee shop and shared a hilarious moment with them.

I knew then that I was free from that past

“ Here’is the good news. Shame cannot exist in conditions of light, sunshine, and humor.” shameful experience—and it felt glorious.

Shame is, hands down, the most uncomfortable feeling. And, because it produces continuous amounts of inflammatory chemicals in the body, it is also a health risk. Brene Brown, in her incredible book Daring Greatly, reminds us of the following: Guilt says: I made a mistake.

Shame says: I AM a mistake.

We all have unresolved shame, because it is used as a tool to control behavior. Does this sound familiar? Shame on you for not writing that thank you note. You’re a bad girl.

Here’s the good news. Shame cannot exist in conditions of light, sunshine, and humor. So the very moment that you share your most shameful moments—and can learn to laugh about them—then the spell is lifted. And you, too, are free.

When You Feel Shame

By Christiane Northrup, MD Recently, I flashed back on a moment when I was about five sitting on a doctor’s exam table, without any underpants, and asked to put the soles of my feet together. I don’t remember what the doctor said. All I remember is how exposed I felt.

Fast forward to the 1990’s. I’m in the hospital ladies room, laughing to myself about a story I heard addiction expert Anne Wilson Schaef tell about leaving the ladies room. Luckily, a woman had told Shaef that her skirt was tucked up into her panty hose—before she walked to the podium to speak with her derriere in full view.

As I left the ladies room, the Chief of Anesthesia walked by and said, “Dr. Northrup, your skirt is tucked up in the back.” Oh my Lord. I had repeated the same pattern as Schaef. Except for me, it wasn’t something that

32 ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM

I humorously shared with a receptive audience.

I went into a full-blown shame attack that lasted for 48 hours. And I didn’t know if I’d ever be able to face this doctor again.

Because connection with others and our “best self” is the most primal need we have, shame feels absolutely awful. As I tried to work through it, no amount of self-talk helped. And I couldn’t imagine sharing this episode.

Later, I realized that the person who was feeling so little and vulnerable wasn’t the adult me, who had hospital privileges. Nope—the little girl, who had to sit on an exam table with the soles of her feet together and without underpants, was the part of me reacting. I was feeling shame so deeply that it overshadowed my ability to cope as an adult. Knowing this, I allowed myself to really feel and release a big load of shame.

Christiane Northrup, M.D., is a visionary pioneer and the world’s leading authority in the field of women’s health and wellness.

A board-certified ob-gyn physician who graduated from Dartmouth Medical School and did her residency at Tufts-New England Medical Center, Dr. Northrup was also an assistant clinical professor of obstetricsgynecology at Maine Medical Center for 20 years. Recognizing the unity of body, mind, and spirit, she empowers women to trust their inner wisdom, their connection with Source, and their ability to truly flourish.

Don’t miss any of Dr. Northrup’s cutting-edge information. Follow her on Facebook, Twitter, and at www.DrNorthrup.com.

This information is not intended to treat, diagnose, cure, or prevent any disease.

All material in this article is provided for educational purposes only. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified healthcare provider with any questions you have regarding a medical condition, and before undertaking any diet, exercise, or other health program. © Christiane Northrup, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.

health

Sea Buckthorn: A Superfood for Your Skin

“

The benefits of sea buckthorn’s arsenal of nutrients can be reaped both internally from ingesting it as well as externally from topically applying skincare products.

There’s a new berry on the beauty scene whose western world reputation is growing; coveting praises like the ‘fountain of youth’ and ‘superfood for your skin.’

The sea buckthorn berry is not news to eastern hemisphere populations, where the small orange berry has been harvested and used for health and beauty purposes for over 13 centuries. In fact, both Genghis Khan and the ancient Greeks used sea buckthorn to strengthen their armies and horses.

Founded on tradition and now based on extensive scientific research, sea buckthorn is one of the biggest functional whole food rediscoveries of the 21st century. In recent years, sea buckthorn’s popularity has grown exponentially – with the powerful ingredient appearing more frequently in beauty aisles across the United States.

Research and consumer interest in this ancient superfood is for good reason as sea buckthorn berry’s arsenal of nutrients not only fight aging, but also treat conditions such as rosacea, eczema, acne, and dry skin by providing: Essential Fatty Acids: Sea buckthorn is rich in omega fatty acids 3, 6, and 9, as well as the elusive omega 7. Fatty acids help skin cells maintain healthy, elastic membranes that keep skin cells hydrated and plump.

Antioxidants: Sea buckthorn delivers a host of antioxidants to meet your skin’s nutritional demands and counter the debilitating effects of free radicals, which devour collagen and elastin.

Vitamins A, Bs, C, D, E & K: Sea buckthorn berries supply your skin with the highest levels of vitamin C of any fruit. The berry also contains ample amounts of all-natural vitamins A, B1, B2, D, E, and K. Carotenoids: Sea buckthorn contains 39 different carotenoids – including lutein, betacarotene, and lycopene – which protect against the sun’s photo-oxidative damage and scavenge free radicals.

Phytosterols and polyphenols: Essential for supporting youthful skin tone and texture, these plant-based nutrients stimulate collagen production, restore the skin’s natural barrier functions, and help repair skin damaged by the sun.

Omega 7: While the rare omega 7 can also be found in nuts and fish, the sea buckthorn berry is the richest, purest source of the fatty acid, which is an essential building block for healthy skin, hair, and nails. Omega 7s help skin function properly by: - boosting collagen production - protecting against oxidative damage - restoring youthful resilience and

plumpness to aging skin cells - enhancing the skin’s ability to retain moisture The benefits of sea buckthorn’s arsenal of nutrients can be reaped both internally from ingesting it as well as externally from topically applying skincare products.

This amazing berry is a unique and proven solution for those seeking a natural option for beauty and nutritional benefits. From skin cleansers, moisturizers, and other topical treatments to dietary supplements and juices, the sea buckthorn berry is a superfruit that beautifies and protects from the inside out.

Sibu Beauty (www.sibubeauty.com) is a premium, natural skincare and supplement line made from the sea buckthorn berry. Sibu Beauty harvests sea buckthorn berries in the Himalayas with Fair Trade Agreements with local Himalayan women. Sibu Beauty products are Paraben-FREE, Cruelty-FREE, and are made without dairy, wheat, gluten, sodium, yeast, or preservatives.

For more information about Sibu Beauty, ‘like’ us on Facebook www. facebook.com/sibubeauty and follow on Twitter and Instagram @sibu_beauty.

ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM 33

Rob Newmans

“I have no expectations, I have no fears, therefore, I am free.” yogiiza ambassador YOGiiZA.com

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“Anandamide is also found in cacao and chocolate. Anandamide plays a

health

role in the generation of both motivation and pleasure.”

v

By David Avocado Wolfe

Chocolate

Let’s face it. Chocolate is the world’s most well-loved food.

Research into the origins of chocolate and how it is made led to the re-emergence of a culinary gem — the cacao bean. You cannot have chocolate without cacao. The cacao bean is chocolate. All chocolate contains at least some ground up cacao beans.

and cardiovascular stimulant that, when concentrated by science, used to be used to revive heart attack patients. Theobromine helps to deliver nutrients to cells making cacao an excellent delivery mechanism for herbs and herbal medicine.

Does Everything Good In 2014

We almost always eat processed forms of chocolate; or more exactly, of cacao. About ten years ago, cacao became the startling focus of a significant quantity of scientific inquiry. The summation of this research has indicated that cacao is not just a food; it is a “superfood” loaded with the following major categories of nutrients and benefits: Antioxidants

Cacao has the highest antioxidant concentration of any major food in the world. Cacao is thirty times higher in antioxidants than red wine, twenty times more potent in antioxidants than blueberries, three times higher than acai, and twice as much as chaga mushrooms. These antioxidants protect our cells from free radical damage and therefore contribute to our longevity and state of well-being.

Minerals

Chocolate is an extraordinary source of key stress-fighting minerals including: magnesium, iron, chromium, vanadium, copper, zinc, manganese, and phosphorus. These minerals favorably influence a woman’s hormone system, which explains why chocolate has always been considered important for a woman’s monthly cycle.

The high levels of magnesium in chocolate have been proven to act as an appetite suppressant. The combination of high magnesium with high phosphorus makes chocolate an excellent bone protector. The iron and magnesium in chocolate make chocolate a preeminent blood builder. The chromium and vanadium in chocolate help balance blood sugar.

Bliss Chemicals

Cacao is a source of the caffeine-relative theobromine, a vasodilator

Cacao is rich in happy phenethylamine chemicals called PEA. These compounds have been associated with feeling good and falling in love.

Anandamide, otherwise known as the “bliss chemical,” is present in human metabolism and is mostly responsible for that post-workout “high.” Anandamide is also found in cacao and chocolate. Anandamide plays a role in the generation of both motivation and pleasure.

Experiments indicate that anandamide may have broad-spectrum health benefits and may be as important as the more well-known neurotransmitters dopamine and serotonin.

Other Benefits of Chocolate

Chocolate and cacao are excellent sources of: digestion-friendly, soluble dietary fiber; unique aphrodisiac, skin-nourishing oils (cacao butter or cocoa butter); and the amino acid tryptophan, which converts to the feel-good neurotransmitter serotonin.

So what kind of chocolate should we be looking for?

Look for these raw, organic chocolate options: cacao beans, cacao nibs, cacao butter, cacao powder, or simply cold-processed, organic chocolate.

Health, Eco, Nutrition, and Natural Beauty Expert, David Wolfe, is the rock star of the superfoods and longevity world. America’s TOP CEOs, Global Ambassadors, Hollywood Celebrities and busy professionals—all look to David for expert advice in health, beauty, herbalism, nutrition and chocolate.

ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM 35

active Stand Up Paddleboarder and Yoga Instructor

Karen Mirlenbrink

“

Pushing myself to the limit is both a physical and mental challenge, though I find more of it mental. First of all, I practice and train hard prior to each big event, as well as provide my body with the best nutrition that I can. It’s essential to have your body running at its best, in order to have it perform its best. Secondly, I set big goals before each season and small goals before each race.

The small goals keep me focused on my race at hand. The goals provide me my mantra during the race, allowing my mind to stay quiet and my sights to stay focused on the finish no matter how much my body burns.

Garden of Life ambassador

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A s t r o l o g y:

By Debra Silverman, M.A. January 1st. You and the rest of humankind awake from your last

slumber of 2013 and shake off twelve months of baggage and memories.

Romances, failures, friendships, meetings, adventures; they all turn to pasttense dust and join the other 20 or 30-something years that make up your memory. Because none of that matters now; it’s 2014 and not even your blood-curdling hangover can stand in the way of you looking forward to a new start in a new year.

The beginning of the New Year is ruled by Capricorn. Capricorn is, in every way, a Type A personality. If Capricorn was a decade, it would be the ‘50s. Structure, tradition, responsibility, morality, adhering to the norm; these are a few of Capricorn’s favorite things. Capricorns love work.

They’re extremely selfless, preferring always to give rather than receive.

They’re reliable goodie-goodies who are comforted by routine and structure.

Capricorn holds down the fort. It’s the part in all of us who needs to feel safe secure and grounded. Without you, life would be a chaotic mess. And they’re better at handling money than Bill Gate’s accountant on steroids.

The New Year under Capricorn is like being on drugs; either you accept or reject the change that’s happening around you. If you accept the change, you’ll feel great. You’ll embrace the new year’s spirit of rejuvenation, delight in setting new goals for yourself, and find pleasure devising a plan on how to meet them. You’ll bask in the tradition that surrounds New Year’s, honoring the holiday as if it was a deity in your own personal temple. You may find that your New Year’s resolution gives you purpose, and fulfilling that purpose will tickle the living hell out of your fancy. You’ll be grateful for the fact that while the New Year signals change, it does so every year, and you’ll enjoy finding structure in the unpredictability that 2014 brings.

the pretense that order is god. God is spontaneity and bringing in a new way to be. This reality is dated and needs to go.

In February, aka the dead of winter, when we’ve hibernated in the dark and cold for what seems like eternity, Aquarius comes along and makes us stir-crazy. Aquarius looks at the frigid stagnancy of winter, and goes “Enough already!” Ever been over-tired? When you’ve passed the threshold of sleepiness and have entered into a realm of the totally weird? You laugh at the weirdest things, your limbs have the strangest impulses to dance around, and things come out of your mouth that would never escape if you’d gone to sleep a few hours ago. That’s what Aquarius does to you. It makes you start to break out of your winter shell, plan for the spring and summer ahead, and do things that you wouldn’t normally do, because hey, you just feel like doing them.

Valentine’s Day under Aquarius is a time of passionate impulsivity; telling someone you love them for the first time, dressing up in crazy lingerie you only break out once a year, Debra Silverman, M.A., spending entirely too much on dinner at a fancy restaurant, and going in for that first kiss. If you’re is an astrologer and But, if you reject the change, you’ll cling too tightly single, give in to your urges on Valentine’s Day. to old habits and routines, avoiding confrontation psychotherapist. Her Aquarius is telling you to go for it, whatever ‘it’ may be. with the future instead of embracing it. You may passions: telling the But it also conveys intelligence, so whatever you do, become grumpy and irritable and complain because truth, making you laugh, trust that you’ll do it right. What do you have to lose?

New Year’s is a time of leisure and pleasure, and helping you to fall If you’re shacked up, use Aquarius’ wild, inventive not work or seriousness and you can’t stand the in love with yourself. influence to spice things up. Screw dinner and a movie, indulgence. You won’t want to start anew, because Aquarius scoffs at the predictability of that. Try it’ll make you feel like everything you worked for Watch Debra’s astrology something new. Take a kama sutra class then go have in 2013 was for nothing. Be careful of attitudes like videos on her website, amazing sex. Rent a cabin that you have to snowshoe these; remember that everything you accomplished debrasilvermanastrology.com up a mountain to get to. Allow your free-spirit to shine this year will build on itself in the next. or on YouTube. through, and Valentine’s Day will be as romantic as Alternatively, you may have a certain melancholia you fantasize about it being. surrounding the end of the holidays, because the holidays are about tradition and leaving that behind means you’re unable We are in a season to set goals for ourselves in the New Year, regardless to predict what’s next. That’s Capricorn; either you love the traditions and of how inane, and kiss our way to distraction on Valentine’s Day. My job opportunity for goal-setting that surrounds the New Year, or all the festive as an astrologer is to paint the picture of this season and remind you: you frivolity will bother you and you’ll just want to get back to work. do it your way. No need to follow, pretend, or diet unless you want to. Set a stupid goal for yourself (stop eating pizza when you’re drunk), and say But come January 19th, and all that structure, all that discipline that something nice, or mean, to the guy hogging all the eggnog at the New Capricorn brings gets obliterated by rebellious, free-spirited Aquarius.

Year’s party. Kiss your new-found love or admit you’re sad and lonely this Valentine’s Day to your long standing partner. Whatever you do, do it.

Remember that decade reference we did earlier? About Capricorn being like the 50’s? Aquarius is the 60’s. It’s all about anarchy, change, upheaval, and free-will. Aquarians are rule-breakers. They’re airheaded mavericks who This life needs us to be our whole self. Let this year be your chance to fulfil your presence on Earth, starting today! If you need help, call any refuse to follow. Norms are the death of them; they’re unusually original astrologer and be reminded what you are carrying and who you truly are. characters who are firmly rooted in the future, not the past. But whereas Capricorn gets its kicks from hard work and routine, Aquarians rely on We need all kinds of people in this life. As someone famous once said, “Be their natural intelligence and fluidity to get things done. You know what I yourself; everyone else is taken!” realized? Aquarius = A-queer-is-us. You offer us the freedom to reconstruct

ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM 37

active

b l a k e

l e e p e r

only disability in life is a ” “ The bad attitude.

Blake Leeper is on the road to being the first American Double Amputee in the Olympic games, RIO 2016. He is a Gold Medalist in the 400 relay (Paralympics). jadeyoga.com

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Get Strong

Be Calm Transform yourself in

21 days!

week 1

Strengthen and Tone

week 2

Detox and Recharge

week 3

Balance and Sustain

Starts January 1st

Sign up now www.myyogaonline.com/origin ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM 39

active

Leslee Schenk Trzcinski Hotdog Yoga Ambassador

“

‘I am strong, I am powerful, I am prepared.’

Embody this – my favorite mantra – and anything is possible.

US national pro cyclist, two-time world championship medalist.

Nationally-ranked swimming champion.

Triathlete, skier, equestrian.

Elite fitness trainer and coach.

Yoga teacher and studio owner.

Owner, Tune Yoga for Sports www.tuneyoga.com Co-founder, Finger Lakes Yogascapes www.fingerlakesyogascapes.com hotdogyoga.com Photo: Scott Hamilton

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ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM 41

active Snowboarder and Olympian

Joanna Dzierzawski

“

To push yourself to the limit, you really need to know what you’re capable of. You need to believe in yourself, mentally and physically.

Personally, it means training hard and trying new tricks. In the park, it means standing at the top of a jump, scared to try something new but having the confidence to perform. In the backcountry, it means riding new lines and dropping bigger elements.

Snowboarding is a mental game, you just have to believe and follow through with the physical. A big part of pushing yourself is knowing when to push yourself harder and when to take a break.

Photo: Heavenly Mountain

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42 ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM

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The Circle of Fire Prayer (State today’s date)

“The day of the Lord

when the divinity returns to me

HUMANITARIAN mindful

when living my free will

and with all the power of my spirit I decide to live my life

in free communion with God with no expectations

I will live my life with gratitude love, loyalty, and justice beginning with myself

and continuing with my brothers and sisters

I will respect all creation

as the symbol of my love communion

with the One who created me to the eternal happiness of humanity”

The Circle of Fire Prayer

By don Miguel Ruiz

Many years ago, after finishing a cycle of teaching with my apprentices, we created the first Circle of Fire ceremony. The ceremony was for those who had recovered their will, their faith, and their love. All the people at the ceremony had experienced their divinity, but the challenge for them was to stay in heaven. They asked me, “Miguel, how can we stay there? Why do we have to come back?” My answer was, “You aren’t staying in heaven because you still need to purify the mind. Your faith is powerful, but it is invested in what you believe you are, and most of what you believe about yourself is a lie. Take your faith out of the lies! Free your faith, and you will see how powerful you become.”

If there is anything in your life that takes away your happiness, you have all the power you need to change it. You don’t have to live with anger, or sadness, or jealousy. You don’t have to judge yourself, make yourself guilty, and punish yourself.

Words and prayers are powerful agreements, and you need to see what kind you are using every day: “Oh Lord, I am guilty, I should be punished for my sins.” What kind of prayer is that? If you believe you are guilty and deserve to be punished, you are asking for it!

Suffering and drama begin when you lie to yourself, even if you don’t realize you are lying. You can recover the truth of what you really are. When you finally see yourself as you are, when you finally take responsibility for your creation, you will cleanse the lies from your own creation. You will free yourself from emotional drama by uncovering all

the lies you believe in. It is a process of unlearning the lies. It is a period of cleansing, and it has nothing to do with the dream of society. How can we change the dream of society if we can’t even cleanse the lies from our own dream?

“The Circle of Fire” prayer is enough for you to go to heaven and stay there. But first you need to take the agreement, live the agreement, and make it yours. To say a prayer doesn’t take more than a minute, but you need the discipline to do it. Say the prayer first thing in the morning when you open your eyes; then say it again before you go to sleep. Dream the prayer. Feel the prayer with your emotional body. Be the prayer; align your faith and intent with the prayer until your whole life is based on this prayer.

Today is the most wonderful day of your life. This moment represents eternity. It is the moment when you return to love by deciding to live in communion with our Creator. Today is the day you agree to a new relationship, a matrimony with God. It is an eternal honeymoon, and that is heaven. don Miguel Ruiz, M.D. is author of The Four Agreements®, published in 1997, it was aNew York Times bestseller for more than 7 years and the 36th best selling book of the decade. His other internationally, bestselling books that have followed include: The Mastery of Love, The Voice of Knowledge, Prayers, and The Fifth Agreement, a collaboration with his son don Jose Ruiz. His highly anticipated new on-line program The Agreements for Life™ is being released in early 2014. miguelruiz.com

50 ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM

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HUMANITARIAN mindful

By Gregg Braden

r

esilience in a Time of Extremes

We’re living in a time when we can expect big things to happen — big shifts in the world and big changes in our lives. We’re living a rare era of transition.

We’re living the emergence of a new “normal,” and the success of our transition hinges upon: (1) our willingness to acknowledge the shift, and (2) how we learn to adapt to it. Our globalized culture of jobs, money, markets and resources means that it’s now impossible to separate the extremes in the world from what they mean in our everyday lives.

The crisis of climate change is a perfect example of this connection — the record-setting droughts caused by shifts in global weather patterns translate directly into the higher prices we pay for food at our local markets. The extreme debt and failing economies on the other side of the planet translate directly into higher costs at the gas pump and higher ticket prices for the buses, trains, and taxis that take us to work each day.

Because of these and other extremes, business loans have become scarce, and the interest we’re being paid on our savings and retirement accounts is at a record low. The global slowdown of industry translates directly into the loss of jobs and benefits in our local communities.

These are the kinds of extremes in the world that are creating big changes in our lives. Among the many uncertainties they bring, though, there’s one thing that we can know with absolute certainty: our lives are changing in ways that we’re not prepared for, at a speed that we’ve never known.

The Key I’m an optimist by nature. I see real reasons for optimism in our lives. At the same time I’m also a realist. I am under no illusions when it comes to the huge amount of work that it’s taking to give birth to the new world that lies before us.

Our ability to successfully meet the challenges that are converging in our lives begins by our acknowledging what may be the most obvious yet difficult question we could ask of ourselves: How can we deal with the issues if we’re not honest about the issues?

Our willingness to acknowledge the magnitude of this simple question is the key to developing

more resilience in our time of extremes.

A Crisis in Thinking Change is reflected everywhere, both in the ways in which the world works, as well as in the ways things no longer work. The era of an oil-based economy, for example, is giving way to a new economy based upon forms of energy that are cleaner and more sustainable. The centralized production of our food from corporate farms half a world away is giving way to the healthy and sustainable production from small farms that invigorate local economies.

The practice of creating wealth from industries that destroy our planet is giving way to socially responsible models of investing.

Arguably the greatest crisis that we face in our time of extremes is a crisis in thinking. And our thinking is the very key to the way we deal with the needs of the emerging world. You and I are being tasked with something that’s never been done. We’re being challenged to radically shift the way in which we think of ourselves and our relationship to the world, and to do so faster than any generation in history has ever done before.

basic necessities to live a comfortable, meaningful life — is the thinking that makes room in our lives for what already exists in the world.

Are we willing to embrace the thinking that makes such possibilities a priority? Will we allow the science that reveals the deepest truths about our relationship to ourselves, one another, and the earth to become the passport for our journey?

Our willingness to think differently about ourselves and the world will be the key to the success of our journey. And while it’s definitely a big journey that we’re on, it’s also a short trip, because the world we’re traveling to is already here. It’s with us right now.

We Have the Solutions Fortunately for us, the technology to solve the biggest challenges we face has already been discovered. The biggest problems we could ever imagine are already solved. The advanced principles are already understood. They all exist in this moment, right here, right now, and are at our fingertips.

All that stands between us and the new world — where energy comes from clean, abundant sources and is accessible to every member of our global family; where clean, healthy food is plentiful and accessible to every mouth on the planet; where every human is able to obtain the

New York Times best-selling author Gregg Braden is renowned for bridging science and indigenous knowledge which has led to cutting-edge books such as The God Code, The Divine Matrix, Fractal Time, and his latest, The Turning Point.

Gregg has shared his discoveries with Fortune 500 companies, the United Nations, universities and audiences throughout the world. greggbraden.com

52 ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM

active

Branden Albert NFL Tackle, Kansas City Chiefs

active

“

I’ve been practicing yoga for several years with an instructor and on my own. Yoga is great for stress and it keeps me loose and calm. I’m not a typical lineman who likes to deal with frustrations by beating things up in a weight room. Health and longevity are important to me, so yoga keeps me grounded and focused during the season and all year long.

Garden of Life ambassador ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM 53

{ “

{

HUMANITARIAN mindful

How to be Loving without Being a Pushover

Once you have a major success with assertiveness, you learn that it’s a much healthier path than being a doormat to the insensitive folks. You gain respect for yourself, have more time for your priorities, and develop authentic and healthier relationships

b y D o r e e n Vir t u e

“If you don’t have anything nice to say,

don’t say anything at all,” was how I was raised, and how I lived for most of my life. Whenever I’d feel angry or sad, I’d keep it to myself. I didn’t want to upset or burden anyone with my problems. No wonder I felt lonely and isolated in my relationships, since I never allowed anyone to get to know the full me with all the shadows and sorrows.

That all changed when my back was pushed against the wall during a brutal divorce in which everything I’d ever worked for was threatened to be taken from me. In the past, when conflict arose, I caved in to keep the peace. But with this situation, I had no choice but to fight back. I realized that I’d been conflict-phobic my entire life because I didn’t want to lose my inner core of peace.

Fortunately, I learned that you can stand up for yourself and still maintain your zen! It began with studying my role models of peacecentered assertiveness: Mahatma Gandhi with his passive resistance; Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. with his unified boycotts; The Suffragettes; and mothers standing up for their children’s rights.

I learned that highly sensitive people are often afraid to speak up, until life pushes them to do so. Once you have a major success with assertiveness, you learn that it’s a much healthier path than being a doormat to the insensitive folks. You gain respect for yourself, have more time for your priorities, and develop authentic and healthier relationships.

54 ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM

Here are the important points that I learned and have now put into daily practice, and you can too:

1.

Come from a place of love. Love isn’t passive or shy. It’s actually the most powerful energy in the universe. So take a moment to gather your thoughts about your situation and ask, “What would Love do?” Then channel that energy in your words and actions. Speaking your truth with love ensures that others will hear your message, since angry words can shut down communication.

feel obligated to spend time with people who pull you off the path of your life purpose. And most of all, don’t blame yourself for other people’s choices, including their choice of unhappiness. Be a role model of happiness and joy, which will pull everyone – including yourself – upward.

2. Be a teacher. If someone is acting hurtful

toward you, chances are high that they’re doing the same to others. By speaking up and taking action, you are helping others who might be hurt from this person unless they are reigned in.

3. Saying No gains you respect.

When you say No, the other person may feel disappointed. But ultimately, they will respect you for taking good care of yourself. And most of all, you’ll respect yourself because you are being true to yourself! When you say No, you also become a role model of healthy boundaries for others (especially your children).

4.

Who has time for toxic relationships? If someone isn’t honoring your feelings, it’s not a real relationship. If you feel drained after spending time with someone, that’s a red flag!

If you feel lonely within your relationship, pay attention to this inner warning signal! Don’t

Doreen Virtue holds Ph.D., M.A., and B.A. degrees in Counseling Psychology which she combines with her work in angelology, the study of the angels. Her latest book, “Assertiveness for Earth Angels: How to be Loving instead of ‘Too Nice’” is published by Hay House. For more information on Doreen’s workshops, books, and oracle cards, please visit angeltherapy.com

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E r i ka

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NHL Hockey Player

Bruno Gervais

active

“

Mental preparation is a really important part of our game. You need to be confident when you step on the ice in order to help your team.

Confidence comes from preparation.

Everything happens so fast that you need to teach your instinct to react the right way. Before the game, I close my eyes and visualize a lot of different game situations and see myself reacting the right way before it happens.

Garden of Life ambassador

58 ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM

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HUMANITARIAN mindful

A ga p i S t ass i n o p o u l o s Interview by Gina Murdock “In our heart, we are all the same and I think that belief makes me open up, reach out to others, and bring my own warmth and loving to them.“

photo: Cindy Gold 62 ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM

Gina Murdock: Your book, “Unbinding the Heart”, is full of delicious, heartfelt anecdotes about life and your personal life lessons. What has been your greatest life lesson so far?

Agapi Stassinopoulos:

My greatest life lesson has been to not wait for the opportunities to come to me. I realize how important it is to be proactive and to create the opportunities myself.

In my book, I have a whole chapter called “St. Joan On the Bus” where I tell the story of how after waiting for years to get the right acting parts and not getting them,

I ended up spontaneously performing for one woman on a NYC bus. It then dawned on me that I didn’t have to wait for anyone to hire me, but it was up to me to share my gift unconditionally and create my own opportunities. Once I realized that, everything in my life started to open up.

GM: What does “Unbinding the Heart” mean to you?

AS: Unbinding the Heart means to really look at the areas in our lives where we withhold our own love from our self and others. We are all born with an open heart,

but at some point as we are growing up, things happen in our lives where we start to shut down, like rejection, not fitting in, wanting approval, judgments, comparisons, and criticism of others. We start to feel not good enough and we withdraw our hearts energy and sensor our authentic expression, and that hurts!

Unbinding the Heart really means to bring awareness to those areas we have restricted in our hearts and start to let go, open up, and practice staying open no matter what happens or doesn’t happen.

GM:What inspires you?

AS:Seeing how many people in our world

today are focused on doing good in this world for others, especially in the younger generation and how passionate they feel about making a difference. What inspires me is helping others to become more of who they are and to learn to become radically generous with each other.

GM:Can you tell us about the

expectation/disappointment cycle and how to get out of it?

AS:I must confess Gina that

GM:You have a gift for touching

others with your expression, where does that come from?

AS: I think I have an awareness

inside of me that we are all the same, that basically we are all part of that one heart. When I am with people, I feel there is a part of me that knows a part of them because we are beyond our personalities, our emotions, and our thoughts. In our heart, we are all the same and I think that belief makes me open up, reach out to others, and bring my own warmth and loving to them. I am very grateful that I have found a way to express what means so much to me, which is that caring for one another.

GM:Where do you draw your strength from?

AS: I draw strength from spirit, from the divine light. I draw strength from the love my sister and I have for each other, from my nieces, Christina and Isabella, and the true friendships I have in my life that are based in being real with each other and mutual love and support. I also draw strength from so many people that I meet through my speaking engagements and my life and when I feel the joy that gets ignited when kindred spirits are together. It gives me such hope that each one of us can contribute to make this world a better place.

the fact that I had a source of creativity that was my true creative nature and when I embraced it and asked for this presence in my life, I felt as if the dam of the Niagra Falls had burst and all sorts of wonderful things started to happen when I found my voice. It has been a process ever since and I am now a big advocate in the message that we are not alone and we all have ample creativity within us if we just trust it.

GM:I love the chapter called, “Finding

Your Voice”; its something so many of us struggle with, how was that process for you?

I still work that expectation/ disappointment cycle all the time. I think it is part of the human nature and I think the most important thing is not to judge it. We are human and we do have expectations and a lot of our expectations are often not met. It is a process of learning how to be kind and compassionate and loving to ourselves when we don’t get the things we want when people, circumstances, and opportunities don’t match our expectations. I think the most important thing is how long do we stay in the disappointment. When my mother would see us wallowing in disappointment she would say, “change the channel.” So I replace the disappointment with a new direction of where I wanted to go and how I wanted to feel. Also, when something isn’t coming my way, I believe it was not meant for me. One of the most powerful sayings I have come across is by Imam ash-Shafi’I, “My heart is at ease knowing that what was meant for me will never miss me, and that what misses me was never meant for me.”

AS:I think that was one of the most

pivotal moments in my life. A friend of mine helped me find my confidence by trusting the knowledge that I was not alone in writing my first book. She helped me wake up to

ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM 63

HUMANITARIAN mindful

“I draw strength from spirit, from the divine light. I draw strength from the love my sister and I have for each other, from my nieces, Christina and Isabella, and the true friendships I have in my life that are based in being real with each other and mutual love and support.”

8 I

Ways to Get Happy Now

By Beth Shaw

t is easy to get so caught up in our daily activities – jobs, home life, relationships – that often times we don’t know what parts of our life are generating happiness. We may find that we’re so focused on the outside, that we haven’t made time to reflect inward. You may find that if you make time to observe what’s making you happy-and what’s not, you’ll have a much better perspective in all areas of your life. Multiple studies have cited that happy people are more successful in all domains of life.

Happiness is a choice, so at any time it’s possible to change our outlook, our mood, or perspective. Here are 8 ways you can improve your mood and find happiness: Go For a Walk Outside: Simple, and effective. Breathe deeply,

admire nature, take photos, and listen to the sounds of what’s around.

Being outside will allow you to be mindful and aware, not to mention sunlight has been proven to dramatically increase serotonin levels in the body, leading to improved mood. If you live close, try visiting a park, the greenery will add in a little extra mood boost!

hostel. Plenty of organizations accept houseware and clothing, and giving back often helps boost happiness too!

Take a Time Out! Like you’ve probably heard, “when nothing is

going right, go left.” Sometimes we need to step back and get a fresh perspective on things. If you’re able, take yourself on a vacation, go out of town, and have an adventure. Getting a time out can be as easy as going for a drive or taking a personal day from work. Whatever time out you decide on, make sure to reflect on how you feel before and after.

Volunteer Your Time: Sometimes it can seem as though there aren’t enough hours in the day to complete everything required of us, so volunteering seems like a crazy addition to an already hectic life.

Be Grateful and Mindful: While on your walk, write a list of But you’ll be surprised how great you feel after you’ve given back your the struggles, and anxieties you’re coping with, so you come to realize time. There are hundreds of causes worth investing your time in, like what is troubling you. Later on you may find it therapeutic to tear up or Big Brothers/Big Sisters, Habitat for Humanity, and local projects and burn this list, releasing the negative thoughts. Ridding yourself of these organizations in your area. You can even volunteer to help your favorite feelings will allow you to see more clearly what in your life you have to be charity or participate in a fundraiser. Giving back is a great way to get grateful for. happy now! Volunteering makes us so aware of what we Have a Spontaneous Happiness is a choice, so at any time it’s have to be thankful for, and Dance Party: Few things it gives us the opportunity possible to change our outlook, our improve mood like dancing. to use our skills to help mood, or perspective.

Turn on your favorite music others, something the world and just dance around and desperately needs more of. enjoy yourself, dancing is an amazingly powerful way to release stress and clear the mind. Getting your Take up Meditation: Meditation means many different things to heart rate up will release endorphins, which the body produces naturally many people. Meditation can be as simple as finding a space to focus and and will definitely put a smile on your face. Only a few minutes of dancing clear your head, allowing the mind and body to relax. Pairing meditation will drastically improve your outlook. with breathing exercises can really allow for a more powerful experience.

While meditating, try a 3-part breath. Place your right hand on your chest Visit an Animal Shelter: As cliché as it sounds, visiting your and left hand on your diaphragm and breath in slowly, making sure to local shelter will make you, and the animals there a little happier. There’s fill your lungs from the bottom up. Watch as your hands move with the just something about holding a puppy or kitten that really warms us from breath. When exhaling, make sure air is pressed out from the chest down, the inside out. It’s hard, maybe even impossible, to feel sad when you’re using your hands as guides to watch your breathing. Make sure your playing with an animal and giving them your time improves their mood inhales and exhales are equal to ensure you’re breathing fully. too. If you find yourself really enjoying the shelter, consider adopting a pet to take home. Many people find owning pets is great therapy. You We can all find happiness, and much of the time it’s about being real and can find a shelter local to you by calling the ASPCA or looking online. honest with ourselves, and making the decision to be happy. Outside factors do have an effect on our mood, but the turning point comes when Clean out Your Closet: You wouldn’t believe how much clutter we’re able to find happiness inside ourselves. affects your mood. You’ll find that if you take time to go through the clutter in your home, you’ll also clear some of the clutter from your mind.

Beth Shaw is the Founder of YogaFit, the world’s largest yoga Going through our belongings and parting with items we no longer use or educator. A successful author and speaker, Beth is also an animal need is very therapeutic and symbolic. You can even choose to give the activist and anger management specialist. You can learn more items you no longer need to a homeless shelter, clothing drive, or even a about Beth and YogaFit by visiting YogaFit.com.

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ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM 65

{ { one billion rising

v-day

V-Day, the global movement to end violence against women and girls founded by Tony award winning playwright Eve Ensler, mounted its largest activist campaign ONE BILLION RISING this past year.

On February 14, 2014, the campaign will deepen and expand with a focus on JUSTICE. We asked members of V-Day’s Board of Directors about ONE BILLION RISING FOR JUSTICE – here’s what they said:

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Charlize Theron Actor and Founder, The Charlize Theron Africa Outreach Project

V-Day’s work reaches all over the world from my native South Africa to the Democractic Republic of Congo, where I’ve visited and spent time with women and girl survivors of gender violence at the extraordinary leadership center - City of Joy. What I know in my heart is that women and girls on the ground are powerful and that they are leaders. As we rise for justice in February, we RISE together globally and locally. Join me, join V-Day, join women, men and youth globally as we rise for Justice.

Photo: Getty Images

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Rosario Dawson Actor, Activist, Founder/Voto Latino I’m rising for justice in salute of Wendy Davis and the rights of women she stood for. I’m rising because 11 girls in Kenya, where a child is raped every 30 minutes, sued the police for failing to protect them and won! I’m rising up alongside people from over 200 countries and territories around the world; V-Men, survivors, lovers, teachers, grandmothers, children. I’m rising for me, for you, for we. I’m rising for justice because I can.

Photo: Getty A. Walker

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Eve Ensler V-Day Founder Justice is about restoring the primacy of connection. Connecting cause and consequence, connecting people and nations through solidarity, connecting ourselves to our bodies and bodies to the earth, connecting the whole story so that we understand that violence against women is not a personal problem, but connected to other systemic injustices whether they be patriarchal, economic, racial, gender, or environmental.

Justice is generosity. It calls for expanding the boundaries of one’s own wounds, suffering and identity to include the wounds and suffering of others. It asks us to place ourselves within the larger community and to feel at our core our utter and complete interdependence. It is a radical compassion, a refusal to turn away, an understanding that we are expanded and made whole by our willingness to let in the others.

It exists in the present tense and it extends into a future where, through our connectedness we can intuit and know the consequences of our actions.

Photo: Brigitte Lacombe

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Thandie Newton Actor and Activist One Billion Rising for Justice is amplification of what is already evident in the world. There is a revolution, a Rising taking place at the heart of humanity - and that heart is womankind. We saw it with One Billion Rising last year - and it’s growing.

The unification of women globally will consolidate the power that can heal the earth. But in order to do that we need to be aware of what forces are destroying the earth, and reverse the negative flow.

Ending the violence is not enough - the instinct to harm needs to be transformed into the instinct to heal. Justice is that transformation - it will lead to freedom, which will lead to love. Mother Earth and all the Mothers - all the life giving elements on our planet need to be freed, protected and empowered. It is of urgent importance to humanity as a whole, and the life force that sustains humanity.

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jane fonda Actor and Author One Billion Rising is a tsunami, an outpouring of energy, of desire to put an end to violence against women and girls. What is so beautiful is it’s nuns, bishops, politicians, women, men, steel workers, heads of unions… it’s women in prisons. This kind of diversity of people are saying enough.

Enough violence against women. This is what justice looks like. Rise with us.

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Pat Mitchell President and CEO, The Paley Center for Media Never in history have so many rose up for such an important reason, and with dance, song, poetry, art, protest, and celebration, ONE BILLION RISING is a global alarm that reminds us again this year that we, women and the men who love and respect them, will continue to RISE up until violence against women and girls ends and justice is delivered to all.

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Jennifer Buffett President and Co-Chair, the NoVo Foundation One Billion Rising for Justice is about an evolution in awareness, consciousness and behavior. No more will a collective one billion people allow or tolerate a global culture of suppression and violence against girls and women and the energies and gifts they bring to sustaining life on our planet. As a human family we have decided it is time to rise up together in mutual love, respect and honoring of girls, women and the feminine.

The Rising is about ensuring that girls and women are safe, seen and celebrated! A different relationship is now possible. Going forward, THIS is the vision and justice we will embody, enliven, practice, strengthen and protect together on all continents across the earth.

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Katherine McFate President and CEO, Center for Effective Government I rise for justice because imagining a world full of hope and possibility is the first step toward establishing communities free from violence. I rise for justice because dignity and freedom are universal human rights. I rise with V-Day because through our work we show that in the midst of the deepest pain and despair, in the most difficult corners of the earth, spaces can be created that enable women to heal, to thrive, and to become agents of redemption in their communities and the salvation of entire nations. I will rise for justice with a billion human beings on February 14th because I know that when we stand together in strength and love and recognize our collective power, we shake hate from the world.

It is a privilege and joy to work with the amazing staff and board at V-Day.

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Carole Black Former CEO, Lifetime Television I want everyone to join One Billion Rising for Justice so that women everywhere who have been violated will be able to tell their stories publicly, be heard and acknowledged, and honored with compassion and respect. Only in this way will they finally be freed from the nightmare of abuse, humiliation and violence.

Women are the source of human life, and the horrendous violence perpetrated against them must stop if there is to be any hope for the future. Now is the time. This is the moment.

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Regina K. Scully Founder/CEO, Artemis Foundation and

Documentary Filmmaker

One Billion Rising For Justice has activated the world. It has ignited and stirred our hearts and souls…and given a voice for so many in support of humanity. It has reminded us that we are alive and share in the responsibility of making our world a better place. One Billion Rising is not only a global movement. It is a moral imperative!

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Wendy Schmidt Founder, The 11th Hour Project and

President, The Schmidt Family Foundation

One Billion Rising for Justice is a movement that connects us powerfully across all continents and countries--women and men standing together to assert that anywhere on Earth, in any society, to be human is to be respected by other humans.

With the growing transparency enabled by technology, we have reached a time when people around the world can take a public stand together on what it means to be human, and how we can protect what is most precious about our species.

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Susan Celia Swan Executive Director, V-Day Lisa S. Akin Director, Schejola Family Foundation Mobilizing my city for One Billion Rising was emotional and fulfilling. Miami ROSE in true tropical style under the stars and purifying rain. We engaged, educated, and celebrated our community through dance, music and art touching the hearts of adults and children and joining one billion people globally to make violence against women a thing of the past!

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For 15 years, V-Day activists have shattered taboos, changed culture, and funded critical, on the ground antiviolence work. This year, they moved the needle so that the issue of violence against women and girls will never be marginalized again. In the same way that The Vagina Monologues became our guide 15 years ago, One Billion Rising has become our mantra, our muse.

Photo: Claudine Gossett For Drew Altizer

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Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw Professor and Co-Founder of the African American Policy Forum

I am rising because Rosa Parks rose. Long before she sat down to protest segregation, she stood up to fight against the sexual abuse of Black women in Alabama in 1944.

Rosa Parks understood something then that we all struggle to understand now— that the intersections of all of these “isms” means that a stand against one must be a stand against all; that to be truly liberated, the determination to break one chain must be extended to smash all of them. I’m rising because if Rosa Parks and others like her around the world can rise up to fight lonely and dangerous battles, then we, a billion strong, can certainly do no less, here and now.

Photo: Peter Kramer, GETTYImages

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Emily Scott Pottruck Philanthropist and Author One Billion Rising on February 14th, 2013, caught the world by surprise as more people learned what activists have known, the UN statistic that 1 of 3 females on the planet will be sexually violated in her lifetime. Eyes were opened. Now is the time for the world to have their ears opened as well. As we share our stories, as we recognize our similar experiences, as we find our collective voice, we will decrease the deafness of justice.

Photo: Drew Altizer

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Amy Rao Founder/CEO, iArchive and Philanthropist When I hear Eve share the stories of violence that women and girls endure and their hard-won victories amidst these atrocities, I am compelled to help in every way that I can. There is so much each one of us can do to make sure that women and girls are never invisible. One Billion Rising for Justice brings the issue to the forefront. As a supporter, we must involve everyone we encounter – friends, colleagues, neighbors, family – and encourage them to get involved, get informed, and join V-Day in its inspired efforts to end violence against women and girls.

Photo: Paula Allen

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HUMANITARIAN

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by Sufe Bradshaw

When you come from a family of ten children, you learn very early on in life to stand up for yourself and hold your ground regarding the things you’re passionate about. From an early age, I never let anyone silence my voice. This steadfast attitude has helped me as an actor and has truly enabled me to explore and evolve the characters I portray on television and film. My passion for others and my experience as an actor and citizen of the world has naturally shaped me into a social and political activist who finds fulfillment from my work with meaningful organizations.

One of the causes I’m most passionate about is ending violence against women and girls. I found it atrocious and downright infuriating to learn that one in three women on the planet will be raped or beaten in her lifetime. One woman violated is already too many, but when I learned that it was one in three, the first thought in my head was, “Why aren’t more people talking about this?”

against women and girls. V-Day is a catalyst that promotes creative events to increase awareness, raise money and revitalize the spirit of existing anti-violence organizations. V-Day generates broader attention for the fight to stop violence against women and girls, including rape, battery, incest, female genital mutilation (FGM), and sex slavery.

In 2013, V-Day hosted their One Billion Rising campaign encouraging activists to rise and dance to demand an end to violence against women and on February 14th 2013 we were victorious when one billion of us rose and danced. This year One Billion Rising for Justice is “…calling on women and men everywhere to RISE, RELEASE, DANCE and demand JUSTICE.”

“From an early age, I never let anyone silence my voice.”

Then I thought of my very close friend who had confided in me that at the age of nine years olds, her babysitter molested her. Her secret was one that she had held too long and one that she continues to keep.

Her silence and lack of an emotional outlet has had a negative impact on her social life, her intimate life, and her family life. My friend always blamed herself for what happened and was too afraid to speak up because she thought she was in the wrong. This lack of dialogue and the social stigmatism that surrounds the topic is only hurting those silent victims. No one girl or woman deserves to feel like a vicious attack was her fault.

The statistics and my personal experiences brought me to become a member of V-Day. V-Day is a global activist movement to end violence

I’ve been extremely fortunate in that my career allows me to be seen and heard by people all over the world and I know that my only option is to utilize this gift to speak for those who may not have the means, courage, or strength to speak out. The amazing thing about V-Day is that I’m not the only one who has that capability to bring awareness to a dire situation that demands a dialogue. The beautiful thing about this cause is that we can all participate together as one.

Sufe Bradshaw stars as the no nonsense Sue Wilson, Executive Assistant to the Vice President (Julia Louis Dreyfus) on HBO’s 5 time 2013 Emmy nominated series ‘VEEP’, which includes a nod for Outstanding Comedy Series. Sufe’s other credits include “Star Trek”, “ER”, “Prison Break” and “Bones”.

Follow Sufe on Twitter @sufebradshaw

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M i s t y

U p h a m

Misty Upham will next be seen as part of the ensemble cast of The Weinstein Company’s August: Osage County alongside Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts, Ewan McGregor, Sam Shepherd and Chris Cooper.

q: Maranda Pleasant: What makes you come most alive? a: Misty Upham: Creating. Whether it is acting, singing, writing,

poetry, dance, and as long as it helps someone else. I am involved with a troupe of talented actors who haven’t “made it” but should, so I serve with my art and creativity. That makes me most happy. Also, knowing that what talent I’ve been blessed with and all my hard work for the past 19 years is paying off. But I want to help others with it as well. So, creating and giving!

q: MP: If you could say something to everyone on the planet, what would it be?

a: MU: Love. Help with no expectations. Destroy selfishness. At the

end of our lives, I believe the soul will be asked, “What did you do for your fellow man?” So help, love, forgive, and create beauty.

q: MP: What’s your biggest passion/project right now? a: MU: Caring Across Generations. It’s a humanitarian campaign

that aims to connect older people with their families and younger ones.

I have interviewed so many people who are put into nursing homes or hospices and are just waiting to die. It’s a very lonely situation to just sit at a window and watch life go by. So I want to help change that. In Native American culture, that is not even a question. We don’t have hospices or many nursing homes on the reservation. Also, it is the youngest in the family who tends to the elders to learn about the sacredness of life and the beauty of death. This is something I am teaching my acting troupe The Indigo Children. We will do many services for nursing homes and hospices.

q: MP: What is love to you? photo: Benny Haddad 82 ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM

a: MU: Love is no conditions. Love is given, despite hurt or rejection.

Love is life and breath and touch. Love is helping someone live.

q: MP: How do you keep your center in the middle of chaos? a: MU: My friends. They help me so much. I would not be here without

my friends. I also meditate and pray and connect with what nature is around me. But most of all, love from my friends and from God.

q: MP: What makes you vulnerable? a: MU: Fear that I am not

beautiful. Fear that I am not worthy.

This industry has made me feel so, in different situations. So my vulnerability is thinking that I am not worth people’s time or space at times.

q: MP: What are issues/causes that you are passionate about?

a:

MU: Caring Across Generations, Domestic workers Rights of California and the world, my talented actor friends and my soul’s desire to leave something beautiful on this earth. I am passionate about humanitarian work in general. My biggest desire, as a rape victim, is that I hope to let women know it is okay to talk about it and ask for help - it doesn’t mean you are without use or strength.

love is given, despite hurt or rejection.

Love is life and breath and touch. Love is helping someone live. mistyupham.wordpress.com

Paramore’s music

Hayley Williams Interview By Maranda Pleasant Maranda Pleasant: What makes you come alive?

Hayley Williams: Human connection. There are moments in our show that hit me hard when I catch eyes with someone who is singing along with us and I know that they get it. They feel what I feel. That connection may be brief, but it’s everything. There are other moments too, like at home, with my sisters or with my boyfriend… they all happen unexpectedly. You can’t plan to reach another person on a deep level, it just happens. So those are the moments that I think I really live for.

MP: What makes you feel vulnerable?

HW: Being nice. Sometimes, being happy or being nice can leave me feeling a bit hung out to dry. Especially if everyone else who I’m around is way more guarded. Doesn’t it seem like being nice is underrated right now though? Seems like a lot of my generation as a whole is more concerned with being the cool kid, sarcastic, smug, or just all together impenetrable. So anyway, it’s not always comfortable to be like, the dorky, happy girl at the party… but that’s me.

MP: If you could say something to everyone on the planet, what would it be?

HW: Hope.

MP: How do you handle emotional pain?

HW: Usually, I write songs. Lyrics, to be specific, help me a ton. When I can take all those feelings and just try really hard to make sense of them, it shifts my focus. Suddenly, I can see the pain spelled out right in The biggest lesson I’ve learned is, “It’s okay.” It’s okay for me to be kind to myself. It’s okay to be wrong. It’s okay to get mad. It’s ok to be flawed. It’s okay to be happy. It’s okay to move on. front of me instead of wrestling with something that’s invisible inside of me. And when none of that works, I cry.

MP: Tell me about about your latest project.

HW: The guys and I just shot a video for “Ain’t It Fun”… it’ll come out sometime in January. Honestly, I can’t actually say much about it. The way things leak all the time nowadays, we try to keep as much info under wraps as we can until the last minute. It is fun though. Obviously.

MP: How do you keep your center in the middle of chaos? Do you have a daily routine?

HW: On the road, our schedule doesn’t leave much time for us to just

relax or be alone. The best times for me, personally, are at the end of the

night… when all of us are on the bus watching a movie, eating dinner, or just talking. It settles me to know that at the end of every day I can just sit around with my friends and laugh or even vent. That’s the most normal thing I can possibly think of in the midst of a lifestyle that is pretty abnormal. We keep each other centered.

MP: What’s been one of you biggest lessons so far in your life?

HW: The biggest lesson I’ve learned is, “It’s okay.” It’s okay for me to be kind to myself. It’s okay to be wrong. It’s okay to get mad. It’s ok to be flawed. It’s okay to be happy. It’s okay to move on.

MP: What truth do you know for sure?

HW: The only truth I know is my own.

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HUMANITARIAN

K B

ristin auer

true blood star

interview by maranda pleasant

Maranda Pleasant: What makes you come alive?

refer to as rights.

Kristin Bauer: Art and the triumph of the human spirit - the two combined thrill me. It’s the “Braveheart” moment, the stuff Joseph Campbell talks about, “The heroes journey,” a beautiful documentary on a poignant topic, the fireman saving a kitten from a burning building. It’s the combo of heroism and kindness against the odds or even good reason. It implies immortality because it is the domain of the soul. That evidence of the spirit of life is what makes me get out of bed in the morning.

MP: If you could say something to everyone on the planet, what would it be.

MP: What makes you feel vulnerable?

KB: Loss. Ive had my share, less than so many though, but enough to feel empathy. It’s tough and I see it so much on Earth, too much suffering. The loss of free will I find unacceptable - what most of us Photos: (this page) Manfred Baumann (opposite) Jasmin Kuhn 84 ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM

KB: I can tell you what I am working on, which is being more cognizant of my actions and how they affect others, most I will never meet. I’ve begun with my purchases - I’m focusing on quality versus quantity. A nicer t-shirt with organic cotton and buying just one or two versus five that are cheaper but made with GMO cotton, which is hard on Earth, sewn by slave labor, shipped all the way from China on boats that use lots of oil and can kill whales with ship strikes and sold by (some) companies that could treat their employees better. It’s actually just a slight shift of attention. It’s caring a little more beyond myself.

And I think it may be our only hope - and it feels much better to my soul, which in the end may be all we have.

HUMANITARIAN

“I am either blessed or cursed with having little barrier between feeling emotions and displaying them for all to see. My heart is on my sleeve. It’s not comfortable but…I am an artist so it’s useful and my friends are used to me getting teary at any moment. “

MP: How do you handle emotional pain?

KB: I am either blessed or cursed with having little barrier between feeling emotions and displaying them for all to see. My heart is on my sleeve. It’s not comfortable but…I am an artist so it’s useful and my friends are used to me getting teary at any moment. So, it just runs through me and I know it will continue to, but my best source of grounding are animals and nature. Animals live more in the moment and don’t worry so much! And nature is proof of a greater power than myself. Both put things in perspective, or at least gently move us forward.

MP: Tell me about about your latest project?

KB: Right now I’m directing a documentary on elephant ivory and rhino horn poaching in Africa. Species of Rhinos have already gone extinct in the wild and elephants will be extinct in less than 10 years at this rate of killing. Africa is being raped mainly by Asia, but the second largest market for dead endangered animals is the US. Most don’t know this is happening. I didn’t, but once I found out, I had to try and help. My husband is from Africa and his family is from Kenya.

This is very close to home for both of us and Abri will be doing the music for the movie.

I’m in editing now…its been quite a long intense journey so far and I’m probably only about one third of the way.

MP: What’s been one of you biggest lessons so far in your life?

KB: My Dad always used to tell me, “Kris you’re trying to put 10 pounds of shit in a 5 pound bag.” I have more things going on right now than I can actually do without the invention of a cloning device. It is great! But it does give me many opportunities to practice trying to learn the lesson of being more Zen. I tend to worry about each “emergency” or unforeseen complication on all my projects. But there are so many! All of life is unforeseen! So I am learning that is the cycle

of life - everything is cyclical and temporary and to get ok with that someday could be my greatest achievement. But I will never be okay with the suffering of others, which I will likely continue to fight, so I must treat it as a marathon race not a sprint.

MP: What truth do you know for sure?

KB: I have discovered that I can not ignore

the infliction of suffering - especially for my convenience or pleasure! It’s as if a puppy is being kicked in front of me. I must try to do something. That has been a big driving force in my schedule as of late. I have little space from the suffering of elephants right now. I wake up with it and go to sleep with it. The outforafrica.com

plight of animals in shelters, of kids used for labor for the metals in our electronics, the fate of our water supply to dye our blue jeans and water our lawns, the sad painful life of conventionally raised meat, for me, I am working to not contribute to this. I really don’t want to hurt others for my benefit.

I know that I do, and I am working to change that every day. It’s a journey, not an achievement, because if you wear clothing and put out trash you are using up resources that others also need BUT I can pay attention and I can do better. I know that for sure about me, my soul needs to try or I can’t lay my head down on my pillow at night and even hope to sleep.

kristinbauer.com

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Drew Sidora interview by maranda pleasant Maranda Pleasant: What makes you come most alive?

Drew Sidora: What makes me come most alive has to be performing in acting or music. I love performing my craft and I love reaching others through arts. I feel free when I’m acting or doing music, and I feel like I can impact and inspire the world with my talents.

laugh, cry in joy. Love is when you can be yourself completely and enjoy every breath of each moment you have with that person and you understand each other. Love is loving your family, being a great mother, a great sister, friend, and partner. Love is giving someone and/or something everything that you have.

MP: How do you keep your center in the middle of chaos?

MP: If you could say something to everyone on the planet, what would it be?

DP: I stay praying to God, asking him to give me guidance through situations. I stay humble, positive, and optimistic.

DP: If I could say anything, it would be to never stop dreaming, never stop believing, and to never stop trying. You can do anything you put your mind to! Keep negative people away and make sure you are being true to yourself.

MP: What makes you vulnerable?

MP: What’s your biggest passion/project right now?

DP: My biggest passion is helping others. I have a non-profit organization called “Dreamakers” and I believe in giving back. I want to inspire the youth, my community, and young girls especially to chase their dreams. I want to help stop violence in the streets of Chicago and I would like to open doors for others in all fields.

DP: What makes me vulnerable is my craft. Giving out my all in my ideas, my projects, and whatever I’m working on. Being vulnerable is letting go and not thinking about what the world will think and not thinking about anything but being true to yourself.

MP: What are issues/causes that you are passionate about?

MP: What is love to you?

DP: I am passionate about non-violence. I am passionate about helping people in the community to succeed. I want to help end gunviolence in our communities in Chicago and I want to help increase the opportunities for income for the community, while also helping to boost the self-esteem of women in our community.

DP: Love is something that you cannot let go or live without. To me, love is being at peace, in pure happiness with who you are and the people that are around you. Love is anything that makes you smile,

Drew Sidora is an actress and musician and was last seen in VH1’s CrazySexy Cool.

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drewsidora.com

music

Christina Perri Maranda Pleasant: What makes you come alive?

Christina Perri: Music, family, food, tattoos, and love.

MP:What makes you feel vulnerable?

CP: Performing, standing up for myself or the integrity of my music, and boys.

mP: If you could say something to everyone on the planet, what would it be?

CP:Do what scares you, your dreams are there waiting for you.

MP:How do you handle emotional pain?

CP: I depend on my family and friends a lot. I have a group of people

I’m always honest and current with. I try to get through pain and not go around it, it always ends sooner that way. I also use chocolate.

MP:Tell me about about your latest project.

CP: My second full length album just took up the past year of my

interview by maranda pleasant

life. It is everything to me. I spend the whole year writing, recording, and now I’m about to promote it. It kept me feeling like I’m at the very right moment of the very right time of my life. Proud is an understatement of how I feel about it.

MP: How do you keep your center in the middle of chaos? Do you have a daily routine?

CP: I do. I have to meditate. My own little routine of music and

thoughts to check in with myself. I also stay extremely close and connected to my family and friends, but most of all, I don’t take anything too seriously. If I do, I realize pretty quickly that’s why I’m uncomfortable. Learning to let things go is key for a good quality of living.

MP: What’s been one of you biggest lessons so far in your life?

CP: Self forgiveness... for lost relationships, lost loves, lost successes,

bad performances, bad behavior, silly tattoos, and tough times. It’s just impossible to exist for me with shame.

MP: What truth do you know for sure?

CP: It’s all going to be okay.

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music

M ason

Jennings

interview by maranda pleasant

MP:

What are some of the things that make you feel fully alive?

when I can find that other people have gone through similar things.

MJ:

MP: What is love to you?

MP:

MJ: Traveling a lot. For me, being vulnerable is asking for help from other people whatever it may be.

MJ: It’s always changing I guess. It has different forms. There’s a love that I have for my kids where I would instantly put myself in front of a bullet for them. I would definitely put my life on the line at any time for them. So, there’s that kind of love. There’s also the kind of love where being around someone makes you feel energized. Just being around them gives you more energy than less.

MP:

MP: I am looking forward to that one. What are some of the causes

MJ : Meditation has been really helpful for me and music and great

MJ: I am really concerned about all of the chemicals. Global warming is another huge one, but the amount of chemicals being used

Being with my kids, for one, and my wife – definitely song writing, being on stage for sure. I like being in the woods a lot, around trees.

What are some of the things that make you feel vulnerable?

What are some of the ways that you deal with emotional pain when it comes in?

books. Deep down, it’s just that I feel a connection to music and books photos: benson ramsey 88 ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM

that you are passionate about?

“

Meditation has

been really music

helpful for me and music and great books.

Deep down, it’s just that I feel a connection to music and books when I can find that other people have gone through similar things.

in like laundry detergents and fertilizers is concerning. Like when I go to my kid’s school and there are no real regulations about the laundry detergent and fertilizers that they are using, it’s so intense – the chemicals that we are using as a culture and all over the world. I can just kind of feel it. It’s a really negative thing that is going to need to be looked at. Also, the switch to these new technologies, like wi-fi.

The switch to wi-fi came on so fast that it’s everywhere now. It’s really affecting things and I have a feeling that we’re going to find out a lot more about what it’s actually doing in a few years. I’ve had friends who are really sensitive to those kinds of frequencies and they are really affected by it.

If they’re affected by it, then there’s definitely something happening with it that all of us are dealing with, even though we might not be as affected. The increase in chemicals and the increase in technology, like wi-fi and cell phone use that’s going through our bodies all of the time is something that is big on my radar.

constantly tweaking things. This was a different way of recording for me, where the songs were actually done before I started recording and I wasn’t messing with them. It feels different.

MP:

Do you think it feels more polished? I love your sound. Will it be the same?

MJ: In a way it’s less polished because I am just sitting in a room singing with a guitar and it’s just augmented with a few musicians. It’s more focused on getting the vocal quality of the performance. People kept coming up to me after shows and saying, “Man, your voice sounds so great,” and I don’t feel like that has been totally captured on record yet. They’ve all been lo-fi recordings. I thought it was about time to get my voice captured as well as I can on a record. So, this doesn’t feel more polished to me. It feels just like it’s clearer.

MP: What are the songs that are closest to

MP: First I almost cried and now you’ve

made me freak out. In Europe when you buy a cell phone, they all come with a warning label about radiation, just like cigarettes do, that warn you about keeping the phone too close to your head and I always wonder why we aren’t hearing about that. Tell me about any new projects that you have coming out?

your heart? I know it’s like picking one of your children.

MJ: On this record? It would be a song “Wilderness.” That will be a good break up one for you. mason jennings’ new album always been

MJ: I’m really excited about my new record. It’s something that I have been working on for two years and it’s really different than my other records. I worked with a producer, Bo Ramsey, which was a big step for me. I have a bunch of friends on it – this group of musicians that I really respect. It’s got a really different feel to it. I actually worked in a proper studio and focused my time on the first part of it, which is the song writing. For the last couple of records, I started recording it while I was writing. So, I was recording all of the time, but also writing with a computer in front of me at all times,

MP:

Do you have a daily practice that keeps you centered in the middle of chaos?

MJ: I do yoga a lot. I do hot yoga as much as I can. That’s probably every other day. Meditation is the one thing I do every day – meditate, pray. I do reading in the morning and try to center myself. I play music every day because that is very centering.

MP: When can we buy your new album?

MJ: 11/12/2013 masonjennings.com ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM 89

music

mat Kearney Interview By Maranda Pleasant

Maranda Pleasant: I listen to your music and it has a lot of depth. I can tell you have felt a lot of things. What are the things that really make your soul come alive?

Mat Kearney: I love creating. I am addicted to the drug of

creation and creating things. I get a little depressed when I am struggling to find what I know is locked inside. If it’s a lyric or something that is challenging me, I can be very depressed, but when it’s like heaven opens up and it gives you a song, it’s amazing. There’s nothing else that I enjoy more probably.

MP: What are some of the things that make you vulnerable?

MK: I love being vulnerable. It’s scary. I feel like the best stuff that I have ever written can come from real vulnerable places. The songs that you start to write that you are a little scared of can be the ones that you have to tell. I think that I can be very vulnerable, but those tend to be the songs that people love. photos: Pamela Littky 90 ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM

MP: What are some of the things in this life that you have struggled with the most?

MK: That’s like the most epic question that anyone has ever asked me. I love it. Some of the things that all of us struggle with, courage, authenticity. I think all of my art and my songwriting comes back to this searching. A lot of that search is defined by my faith and my struggle with it. That is the beautiful struggle that I have signed up for with my music.

Being real is difficult. If you make people think they’re thinking they’ll like you, but if you make people actually think, then watch out, you’re not going to be popular. There’s a truth to the fact that it’s hard to be real. It’s easy to be indulgent. It’s easy to be bubble gum, but it’s hard to find a real thing that really makes your soul tick. It’s painful and honest. It can be more challenging than just a sad song.

MP: I am learning as I get older that not being real is actually more

MK: I’ve worked with my friends on Blood:Water Mission in Nashville. They provide water and HIV treatment for people in Africa.

Also, with this most recent album, I’ve worked for – I grew up in Oregon- and there is something there called Friends of the Children that provides outreach to at-risk kids. They actually train people and hire people to be mentors. So they don’t have people coming and going all the time. They’ll have one person work with them all the way through high school and they get amazing results.

MP: Tell me about your amazing projects that you’re working on right now.

MK: I am working on a record and I just released a wine called Verse and Chorus. It’s a red blend. I grew up in Oregon and wine was a big part of my family. Some of my friends opened up a winery and I said

because there’s not a lot of pressure. Nothing goes better with music than wine - you’re sitting around with your friends listening to music, talking about music, and I’m like, “Let me open a bottle of my own wine.” They all laugh at me and think it’s ridiculous.

MP: You’re working on an album and it is going to be released in 2014 at some point?

MK: Yep, new record, wrapping it up. It’s really really exciting. It’s

very singer songwriter meets a lot of hip hop influences, so there’s a lot of beats. It’s very visceral. For the first time, I holed away by myself.

I took over our guest bedroom and just slowly added stuff until it became like a full studio in our house. I would just get up every day and create and when I would get bored, I would go do something else and then I would come back. It just became this way of life. There’s somewhere you go when you’re not with other people. You’re more willing to break rules and there’s no one there to edit you.

MP: Do you deal with pain and heartbreak by writing and creating?

I

love being

vulnerable. It’s scary. I feel like the best stuff that I have ever written can come from real vulnerable places.

I would love to be involved and he said, “Let’s make a wine together.”

So, it started as a little side project and it grew and Whole Foods got involved. Now it’s one of their biggest holiday promotions and it’s in every Whole Foods in America. It’s really exciting.

MP: I wouldn’t even have a magazine if it weren’t for Whole Foods. I was based in Austin and they picked us up and took us National. I am such a huge fan. Is it only red wine?

MK: Yes, it’s a Merlot and Cab Blend. That’s the first one and we’re

MK: It is a huge part of catharsis. It’s what I do. It becomes a channel to pour what you’re going through. I don’t think of it like therapy and just because you’ve written a song doesn’t mean that you have pulled through. There are definitely songs where I embodied someone else’s pain and that was purely to serve the listener because I knew they needed to hear something. But most of the good stuff comes from my life. That’s your job is to really jump in and embody something and communicate it when your trying to deal with something. Songs really tend to connect.

hoping to produce a Sauvignon Blanc next year. The wine is a lot of fun matkearney.com ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM 91

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scary and more lonely. It creates a void. Are there any causes that you’re passionate about?

music

D g

avid uetta

interview by Maranda Pleasant

92 ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM

Maranda Pleasant: What makes you come alive?

David Guetta: Music. I live it and breathe it. It wakes me up in the morning, puts me

to sleep at night and is with me all day. I can’t imagine my world without music. It’s the universal language; what I make comes from my heart. What I listen to from others stirs it. I love to make people dance; it’s a way of bringing people together regardless of religion, nationality, sexuality, belief. Even in ancient times, people would unite to a beat. Now we have the internet and events worldwide, our frequency can be shared. Everyone can express themselves to the planet.

MP: What makes you feel vulnerable?

DG: Not so much now, I’m comfortable in my skin. When I was a teenager, I had the angst;

it was could I become who I am meant to be? I always knew I wanted to make music and share music. I followed my dreams and my passion. Et voila! And now it means not just me, but our community, have a voice. There was no internet, twitter, facebook, or instagram back then; now people with shared passions can unite their voice to share their values and thoughts, be heard, and make a difference. It’s amazing - everyone can have a voice - and, as ONE, it can be incredible.

DG: Be Love; there is nothing greater.

MP: Tell me about about your latest projects.

DG: One of the greatest things I have done in my life is my current

project with the United Nations. They approached me to create a song and a video to help share the message of their Humanitarian work to a wider and younger global audience. I was so humbled and honoured, but I didn’t have the song. Then with only two days to go to their deadline, the perfect collaboration penned by Mikky Elkko manifested. I was meant to be on my first break for many years, but I was so inspired by the cause, I worked through the night, across continents with Giorgio Tuinfort and we delivered the record. Then Michael Jurkovac, a friend who directed Yes We Can for the Obama campaign offered his help to make a video. Together with the UN, we cut footage from real life humanitarian work, real people and some live shots where togetherness is a reality - at my shows. I play over 150 gigs a year, in Europe, America, India, China, Australia, S.America, Asia, and Africa. I see people from every corner of life as one. The concept is #whattheworldneeds - we rally people to tweet this and the word

United Nations who can share our voice and make us heard. What they do makes the world a better place; if each of us can just give a word to their cause, it will only get better. Inclusion.

MP: How do you keep your center in the middle of chaos? Do you have a daily routine?

DG:

My routine is fly, play, sleep, record. My center is the music I am making; when I see people together wherever it is on the planet, that we connect, that’s what keeps my heart beating.

MP: What’s been one of you biggest lessons so far in your life?

DG: Take care of yourself, and do unto others as you would have done to you.

MP: What truth do you know for sure?

DG: That we are one energy. Together we can make a change.

“I want to see unity.

I want to see peace. I want people to be free to speak, be educated.

I want people to be able to feed themselves. What most people want, I guess? “ they think the world needs more of. My word is #love - but there are many more; for each tweet a global company has pledged a dollar. I have done the same. We are also lending words to world thinkers and charities so they can share in this voice and we can share ours. It’s incredible and I hope Origin will support us!

MP: What causes/issues are you most concerned about?

DG: I want to see unity. I want to see peace. I want people to be free

to speak, be educated. I want people to be able to feed themselves.

What most people want, I guess? I want the individual to know that if we unite, we are not powerless. So most of all, I want to support the

David Guetta is possibly the greatest DJ ever; he certainly changed the landscape for the biggest movement of music since Rock & Roll. The music he makes is heard and loved by billions. His beats are truly global. He has over 45 million followers on FB, 15 million on Twitter, over a billion views on his videos. He plays to millions every year. He has promoted love and unity; and is now proud to be able to share this with the UN for greater good. Double Grammy winner; 7 time Nominee, AMA winner, multiple time WMA winner and voted No1 DJ in many polls. He is truly Titanium.

worldhumanitarianday.org ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM 93

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MP: If you could say something to everyone on the planet, what would it be?

inspire

a c t o r

Benjamin Stone Interview

By Ocean Pleasant, Youth Editor

Ocean Pleasant: What inspires you?

beyond belief.

Benjamin Stone: People. The best thing about the world

OP: What is it that makes you vulnerable?

today is that everyone is connected and you can go online and quickly find people all over the world doing incredible things, creative things, charitable things, clever thing, beautiful things, and brave things. Sometimes it makes me feel inferior, but in a good way because I see these people and say, “I wanna do that! I wanna be apart of that conversation! I wanna go there!”

Successful people inspire me, and I don’t mean just in their career but people who have amazing families, or who have made a difference, or followed their dreams. People who have come from nothing and started their own business or opened up a whole new niche in a particular industry, they truly inspire me.

I am also very lucky to live in California, which is not only filled with very entrepreneurial people who don’t wait around for success, but who make their own. It is also an incredible display of nature’s most breathtaking topography. I live in close proximity to the ocean, the mountains, the desert, and a shit bunch of snow. Being constantly surprised about what nature can create, that inspires me

photos: Lesley Bryce 94 ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM

BS: This interview!

Self-doubt. It’s healthy to periodically self examine your life, your goals, your relationships, and ask yourself honestly, am I happy?

Am I on the right track? For the longest time I have had so much belief and confidence in myself, which as an actor you need, because the entertainment industry is incredible competitive, brutal, and unpredictable just when you start to think you know what’s going on. I still maintain a healthy amount of self-belief and positivity, but it can be very hard. Unfortunately, these periods can affect one’s work and one’s relationships - a lack of direction and meaning can leave you empty. But I guess it’s also within these moments that you can be the most honest and come back with a renewed furor and drive. Vulnerability isn’t a bad thing though. Everyone’s vulnerable and it only makes you human. If you lack vulnerability then you are not being truthful to yourself.

OP: Are there any causes you are passionate about?

Harvey. So naturally animals are also very special to me, especially dogs. A small organization I support Is ‘Angels in Fur’ (www.angelsinfurdogrescue.com) a dog rescue and rehabilitation organization.

OP: Why do you bother waking up in the morning?

BS: Because I can’t stand being stagnant. Every day is a

new opportunity to achieve something, even on a small scale. One of the most empowering things about being a self-employed actor is also one of the hardest things; I get to set my own goals. My career goals generally remain the same, but my short term goals constantly change either because I’ve reached them all or they no longer fit into my current strategy. But there’s no one looking over my shoulder, no one driving me, it all has to come from myself. When I was younger I could never get up in the morning, I always found it so difficult. If I had an appointment, I had no problem, but just getting up early for the sake of it was so hard, I just loved my bed (and still do!).

As an actor in-between jobs, it can be hard to stay motivated when you feel like you future is always in someone else’s hands. You are always waiting for someone to look at you and say “YES.” Hearing an endless stream of “NO’s” is part of the process and whilst I manage to deal with it 90% of the time, I still have my moments.

But getting up early and setting myself daily targets, even outside of acting, keeps me active and motivated in general and thus happier, which I hope translates into my personality and my work.

My friends joke that I love planning things – which I do – and the reason is because there’s so much I want to do, so many things I want to see and experience. If I don’t actively pursue these things, I will never do everything I want to do, in life and in my career. That’s what gets me

“

The best thing about the world today is that everyone is connected and you can go online and quickly find people all over the world doing incredible things. Creative things, charitable things, clever thing, beautiful things, brave things….

BS: Science is my JAM. I am very excited to see where science and technological advancements will take us in the next few decades.

Medical science in particular will get exponentially better, especially once computers will be powerful enough to digitally simulate entire human brains, meaning medical experiments that would normally take years can be digitally run taking only hours. These kind of advancements will have a game changing effect on healthcare, which will help peoples situations all over the globe, especially when it comes to poverty For me personally, I Support the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund (OCRF - http://www.ocrf.org), as although this particular cancer doesn’t get as much press as breast cancer, it has a worse prognosis and gets less research. It also happens to affect someone very close to me.

If you happen to follow me on twitter (which you should @ benjstone!) you will notice I’m kind of obsessed with my dog,

up in the morning.

And my dog - my dog gets me up in the morning, literally.

OP: What is love to you?

BS: Well, first of all I don’t think I can get anywhere near to

fully describing what love is. Just answering these question feels awkward. To me love is passionate, it is honest, and it is selfless.

Love is willing to completely give up your life for someone, to make sacrifices and put them first. You can’t truly love someone if you don’t love yourself, just as you can’t love someone if you are not honest with them and they with you - otherwise it’s just infatuation and desire. I guess at its very core love is connection that just makes so much sense you wonder how you used to live before you were lucky enough to experience it. I am fortunate to have a lot of love in my life. I love my family, I love my dog, I love my close friends, and I absolutely love my incredible girlfriend.

ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM 95

inspire

I also support Wolf-PAC (www.wolf-pac.com), a cross partisan organization seeking to remove the corrupting influence of money in politics.

music

“ I try not to l e t th e past w e ar m e d own an d to lear n f ro m m y m istak e s so that I c an h e lp an d i n sp i re others.”

Interview By Maranda Pleasant

Scott t a p p creed frontman

Maranda Pleasant: What makes you come alive?

Scott Stapp: The love and connection with my wife and children.

am today. I am also getting ready to tour next year. It starts March 19, 2014 in Dallas.

Also every time I perform live something just comes over me that I can’t explain. It’s supernatural.

MP: How do you keep your center in the middle of chaos? Do you have

MP: What makes you feel vulnerable?

SS: Daily prayer, meditation, and exercise. I run five miles a day. I also

a daily routine?

SS: Things I can’t control. Sometimes I feel helpless over things that I

cannot control.

try not to sweat the small things and learn to let go of things I can’t control. I also find that when I’m with my wife and children nothing else in the world really matters.

MP: If you could say something to everyone on the planet, what would

MP: What’s been one of you biggest lessons so far in your life?

SS: I learned through Jesus Christ that I can turn a mess into a message,

SS: Not to dwell on negativity or people’s criticism that will keep me from moving forward. I try not to let the past wear me down and to learn from my mistakes so that I can help and inspire others.

it be?

a trial into a triumph, and a victim into a victory and that there’s freedom in forgiveness.

MP: How do you handle emotional pain?

SS: In the past I didn’t handle emotional pain well, I numbed myself.

Today, I spend time alone talking to God and writing down all my thoughts and feelings.

MP: Tell me about about your latest project.

SS: I just released Proof Of Life, my second solo album, which is the

soundtrack to my book “Sinner’s Creed” that I released last year. This album is a candid look at my confrontation with my past and where I

photo: Jeremy Cowart 96 ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM

MP: What truth do you know for sure?

SS: I know for sure that there is a God.

Grammy-Award winning artist Scott Stapp released his second solo album, Proof of Life on Wind-up Records November 5, 2013. The music, honest and emotionally charged, frames the story of Stapp’s remarkable journey, beginning with his relationship with Creed–together they’ve sold nearly 30 million albums and had 11 #1 singles. scottstapp.com

W N

HUMANITARIAN

interview by the barbi twins

HUMANITARIAN

willie neslon

W N

Barbi Twins: Why have you and your family become so active specifically in anti-horse slaughter?

Willie Nelson: I’m a little prejudiced when it comes to horses.

I have always loved them. I currently have about 68; 25-30 were rescued directly from slaughter. I got involved 8 years ago when Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) first made me aware that American horses are being slaughtered and shipped overseas for human consumption. It’s a shame that horses - or any animal - be treated this way when horses are the foundation of America. Horses were a way to travel to get to where we are today, and it is our job to protect them.

Bt: The wild horses have been in the news, but most people don’t understand that horse slaughter is legal. Can you explain what the government does?

Wn: The Bureau of Land Management (BLM), the agency in charge

of protecting wild horses, has been rounding them up at an alarming rate, supposedly for their own good. Sadly, there are more wild horses in holding pens than in the wild. Something is wrong with that, so we must act now before the BLM has managed these magnificent animals into extinction.

Bt: Why should Americans be worried about horse slaughter still being

legal?

Wn: Americans don’t eat horses. They are not raised as food animals

consumption. The regulations needed to change their status to “food animals” would cripple every aspect of the horse industry as we know it. Plus, it would be wrong.

Bt: What benefit does horse slaughter have if most people are against horse slaughter?

“I got involved 8 years ago when Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) first made me aware that American horses are being slaughtered and shipped overseas for human consumption.”

Wn: America’s horses and horse industry are under attack by a small

group of folks out to line their pockets at the expense of our wild and domestic horses, American taxpayers, and those restaurant patrons who are ingesting toxic horse meat. However, we can pass the Safeguard American Food Exports (SAFE) Act, which will ban the slaughter of all American horses for the purpose of human consumption, while also ensuring they aren’t sent abroad to suffer the same fate. My family has been working closely with our friend Chris Heyde at AWI on the SAFE Act and other important horse welfare issues for years. I encourage everyone to join with us by visiting www.awionline.org, taking action, and signing up for eAlerts today. Together we can make a difference.

Bt: What can you tell people about how they can help stop horse slaughter of domestic and wild horses?

Wn: Folks, please join my family and friends at the Animal Welfare

Institute to see how you can help with this important American cause.

and they are treated with chemicals that render them unsafe for

awionline.org ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM 97

President. Chief Executive Officer.

Heifer International.

Pierre Ferrari.

HUMANITARIAN

pf

Interview: Maranda Pleasant

Heifer

Maranda Pleasant: Why are you passionate about this? What makes your work personal?

Pierre Ferrari: I took this job about three years ago. I remember my interview with the board, when they were basically finding a new CEO and president. I told them, “There are 18,000 kids under five who die every day from reasons associated with malnutrition and poverty. I want to help to fix that. 18,000 yesterday, 18,000 today, 18,000 tomorrow—we’ve got to bring that number down to zero.”

It’s a massacre. A daily massacre. Where’s the outrage, where’s the passion to solve this problem? That’s why I’m doing it.

MP: What work does Heifer International do?

International about what their abilities are. Poverty is a deeply psychologically destructive state to be in. If it’s generational, you have communities who are basically hopeless. They have a sense of hopelessness about their lives. They simply accept that they are going to be poor and miserable and hungry. We come in with what we call the “Twelve Cornerstone Training.” We talk about values. We come in with the animals and the training, if that’s what they want. But the amount of money and energy that we put into the community versus what they have to do to get themselves out of poverty—we calculated it to around ten or fifteen percent. They do most of the work. They have to be motivated and encouraged and have self-reliance.

PF: We start with community development. We’re known for placement of animals. That’s the way it’s marketed, that’s the way we raise the money. That actually happens. Fundamentally, we go to communities and participate with them, and they self-determine what it is they want to do. We work with farmers all over the world in remote areas. Livestock is a key component of the way they live and the way they can ensure their livelihoods. Livestock’s like a savings account as well as a source of income, as well as a source of food, milk, or meat.

It is driven by women. We usually approach the women. Self-help groups, savings groups. We begin there because the women are generally more engaged about the future of their children, the nutrition of their children, the education of their children. It’s interesting to see how women have more of a latent spark to change things than men. Men will accept what it is and power through, and that’s just the way it’s going to be. The women can be stimulated and ignited, catalyzed to come out of this hopelessness that exists. We start with the women, then we begin to have more inclusive activities with the men. The dairy program, cows or goats or chickens—we slowly elevate the community out of poverty.

We work with the community, we develop a consciousness

We do crops, as well. With the animal system, it’s an agroecological

98 ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM

ABOUT HEIFER INTERNATIONAL: Heifer’s mission is to end hunger and poverty while caring for the Earth. Since 1944, Heifer International has provided livestock and environmentally sound agricultural training to improve the lives of those who struggle daily for reliable sources of food and income. Heifer is currently working in forty countries, including the United States, to help families and communities become more selfreliant. For more information, visit heifer.org.

balance. The villagers are trained to look at the animals—how are you going to feed the animals? How are they going to feed themselves?—and create this balance between animal feeding, animal waste, fertilizing the fields, and a whole water cycle. So everything is holistic. Generally organic, not purely organic. It depends on the circumstance. But it’s a holistic, well-balanced system that produces enough food. The idea is to create surplus food, surplus output, so that it can be sold. That brings in cash to the families.

If you do this agroecological cycle well, you can produce a substantial amount of incremental and excess product (produce, cow’s milk), which can then be sold if they are linked up to market. We’re working quite a lot now with value chains. One of the principles is pro-poor, wealth-creating value chains. Wealth-creating not just financial but institutional, educational, communal, infrastructural wealth that can be accrued by the farmers.

MP: What countries do you work in?

PF: We work in the United States, in the Arkansas Delta and Appalachia. It’s well-spread between Central and South America, Africa, Asia, and Southeast Asia. We’re also in Eastern Europe. The single largest project is maybe Nepal. We’re in thirty-six countries, we don’t pick any one country.

MP: What can we do for Heifer?

PF: We call that the “alternative gift strategy.” Most of us in the

HUMANITARIAN

(top) Children fetching clean water in Panguma, Sierra Leone. Photo by Geoff Bugbee, courtesy of Heifer (bottom) Pierre Ferrari, CEO of Heifer International in the Central Region of Nepal. Photo by Oliver Asselin, courtesy of Heifer International. (opposite) Women’s group supported by Heifer International in the Bhairavsthan village of Nepal. Photo

by Russell Powell, courtesy of Heifer International. International

Pierre Ferrari was born in the Belgian Congo (today the Democratic Republic of Congo). Ferrari received a master’s degree in economics from the University of Cambridge and a master’s in Business Administration from Harvard Business School. He joined Heifer with more than forty years of business experience at companies like Coca-Cola USA, CARE, and the Small Enterprise Assistance Fund.

United States and in Europe have way too much stuff. You can buy a pig, a goat, a water buffalo, a llama.

MP: How much would a pig cost me?

PF: I think they are $160. We have a catalog. It’s the world’s best catalog. Cows, water buffaloes, and goats can be milked. Llamas and alpacas are for the wool, same with the sheep. Chickens are for the meat and hens are for the eggs.

One interesting thing about animal-based foods, whether milk, eggs, or meat, is that they are exceptionally nutritious and solve one of the malnutrition issues, which has to do with micronutrients. Most of the hunger and malnutrition in the world has nothing to do with calories. There are enough calories in the world. But there’s not enough micronutrients. If you’re eating just carbs, you’re not getting the zinc, the iron, vitamin D, and all the stuff you need for cognitive development and maternal health. If women, pregnant women, are not eating a well-balanced meal, the fetus is not developing well. If the child, when it is born, is nursed by a mother who is not eating well, the milk does not contain the right kind of nutrients. So micronutrient nutrition is critical for maternal health and maternal survival of the birth. It is critical for the cognitive and intellectual development of the child. That is a key piece that we cannot forget to talk about with animal-based foods. When you think about what animals are fed, it has converted all of its feed into highly nutritious meat, eggs, or milk. We believe animal-based food is a critical component for the populations we’re talking about. heifer.org ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM 99

HUMANITARIAN

Sal Khan Interview BY Gina Murdock Gina Murdock: Can you give us a snapshot of where Khan

Academy is now and where you see yourself if five years?

Sal Khan: In this past month, Khan Academy has had 10 million

unique viewers to the site and 10 million registered users; those numbers just happen to be the same. What people get at the site is a large collection of videos, primarily focused on math and science, but we actually have a large collection of art history videos. Actually, it’s the largest collection of art history videos. We have partnerships with folks like the Met and the Getty. We also have an interactive exercise platform, which is primarily focused on math right now, where students can go, learners of any age really, can go and take a practice test. It starts to understand what the student knows and doesn’t know. It has game mechanics to motivate someone to keep learning the math. You can start with basic arithmetic and really go all the way through college level calculus.

We’re also, this last few months and going forward for the foreseeable future, focusing on internationalization. We just launched a fully Spanish Khan Academy, es.khanacademy.org. We’re going to launch a Brazilian/Portuguese Khan Academy, a Turkish Khan Academy, a French Khan Academy and on and on.

The third dimension is, not only are we making a lot of our own content, but we’re partnering with other folks, like the Getty and MOMA to help use our platform for their content.

K h a n Ac a d e m y GM: What do you see as the potential for online learning to the

benefit of society in general?

SK: There are a couple of things where we can fit in. One is, if a student has nothing or next to nothing and they do get access to something like this, (it does require internet access and a computer) we might be able to take them pretty far. Depending on where they are and what level they are starting at, we can allow them to learn at their own pace, we can provide them with feedback, and provide them with incentives to really forward their learning and one day prove their learning so they can interface with society and the economy.

The other place, which is actually the primary use of Khan Academy right now, is in math and science. People keep getting pushed forward in school, but start accumulating gaps in their knowledge. They didn’t fully understand exponents or they didn’t fully understand basic algebra, so when they are in calculus, those gaps start hurting them.

For many of our users, Khan Academy has become a safety net. So when they get to college level physics and they don’t understand what is going on, they come to us, and they can review the basic concepts.

In terms of our ideal use case and where we hope it goes in future khanacademy.org

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GM: It seems so obvious that in the ten years that you have been doing this that there is no doubt that it has uplifted humanity. Can you give us a poignant example of someone who has been affected by using your videos?

SK: I received a testimonial video from this young girl. I used to joke that someday this would be used in Mongolia and it turns out that she was from Mongolia. She talked about how Khan Academy had helped her. Then I read the e-mail and it turns out that this group of

engineers from San Francisco were going out to Mongolia and setting up computer labs in orphanages and she was one of the orphans. That in itself was mind-blowing. Here was this fifteen-year-old Mongolian girl in an orphanage using Khan Academy with her classmates, but now she is seventeen and she is one of the top creators of content in the Mongolian language.

Also, just a few weeks ago, there was a group of students from Princeton who were touring Silicon Valley and 20-30 of them came to our office to chat with me. One student said, “Before I ask my question, I just want you to know that I had dropped out of high school twice when I was a freshman. School didn’t gel with me. Then I found Khan Academy and it allowed me to re-engage with a lot of the stuff that used to frustrate me. I went back to school and learned two years of math in two months. I went back and not only caught up, but I ended up graduating as valedictorian, got into Princeton, where I am a computer science major, and I just applied for an internship at Khan Academy.” When you hear stories like that – a kid who dropped out of high school twice and is now a junior at Princeton as a computer science major – I mean, just that one story alone makes it worthwhile.

“

“When you hear stories like that – a kid who dropped out of high school twice and is now a junior at Princeton as a computer science major – I mean, just that one story alone makes it worthwhile.”

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HUMANITARIAN

years, Khan Academy as a virtual tool can be used to supercharge the physical classroom. I stress that because a lot of people think that virtual is trying to replace the physical classroom and that is not what we’re trying to do. We think that the physical is super important and should always be the center of your education, but we can use virtual to allow physical to, for lack of a better term, blossom. Right now, physical classrooms are focused on lecture and focused on all of the students going at the same pace. We imagine experiences where students learn at their own pace through Khan Academy, master concepts, and teachers get feedback and data on where their students are. It then allows the teachers to make class-time more about conversations, about projects, about peer-to-peer learning.