Awesome Stories 326

/ July 1, 2017

This week Awesome Stories brings you water management, climate change solutions, sacred beekeeping, and catching good.

Dutch Water Management

Designing the city to deal with water was the first task of survival here. It’s a process, a way of life. ~ Mr. Molenaar

The Dutch have much to teach the rest of the world about adapting to climate change and rising water levels. About 80% of the world’s population lives in coastal areas that are likely to be impacted by rising water levels as global temperatures rise with climate change. The Dutch see climate change as an opportunity, not a hypothetical idea, or a drag on the economy. Rather than try to fight or block the rising water levels, the Dutch manage the water to create parks, water storage, water plazas, creative agriculture, and more. They believe that social and environmental resiliency complement each other, creating a richer, stronger community. Read this NY Times article for all the creative ways the Dutch are adapting to rising water levels.

Climate Change SolutionsDrawdown, Awesome Stories

I’m grateful to Paul Hawken for his dedication to finding solutions to our environmental challenges. His book, Natural Capitalism, inspired me years ago with it’s creative approaches to business and resource management. This time, he grew impatient with the world’s progress on addressing global warming and decided to find the 100 top climate change solutions. The result is his new book Drawdown, filled with real-world solutions from research around the world that can roll back global warming in 30 years. These are solutions we already have, with some surprises like the pairing of educating girls and family planning being more impactful than wind power. The biggest surprise to me was his finding that refrigerant management is the top solution. Moving toward a plant-based diet would also make a dramatic impact on climate change. Kudos Paul.

Sacred Beekeeping

I love Debra Roberts approach to beekeeping. She views her work with bees as a stewardship that requires her to respect the bees and grow as a person. In her words, the very qualities that help the bees thrive are the qualities often extolled on the spiritual path; patience, reverence, compassion, etc. She is one of a growing number of women in beekeeping, who seem more interested in nurturing the bees with a holistic approach, than simply raising them for what she can receive. Watch this short video called Holy Bee that offers an overview of her approach.

The Receiving Mode to Catch Good

It’s the people who are the most unloving who are the most in need of my loving them. ~ Jeannie Kahwajy

receiving the good, Awesome StoriesJeannie Kahwajy is a researcher who challenges the idea that we are stuck in pre-disposed paradigms. She believes it is possible for anyone to choose their behavior mode and shift the communication dynamic, even when interacting with someone stuck in another mode. She calls this “the receiving mode” where we consciously choose to receive any person or situation with love and an openness to learning. In so doing, we can shift the dynamics between the people, even if the other person started out with an intent to harm. Jeannie has experienced some dramatic examples of this dynamic like with a thief who returned her purse. The key to the receiving mode’s effectiveness is openness without expectation or judgment. You can offer you a new way of behaving, but not push or force someone. Read this Daily Good article for more details on how to catch everything as help. Jeannie’s intention is to create a platform where we encourage each other, by our own attempts to decide to be receptive.

May you catch everything as good this week. blessings, Brad

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29 thoughts on “Awesome Stories 326”

  3. I agree with Annette – this all ties into respect for self, planet and each other. It’s all sacred. When I read about Debra here, I thought about that awesome book, Secret Life of Bees. I never looked at bees the same again – now I just send them all the love I can give them. 🙂

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    • Thanks Cynthia. I know life and nature to be sacred, but I don’t always live as if that’s true. I love the feeling inside when I treat all life as sacred. Maybe that will be a new goal/ intention for me. to sacred living…

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  4. Wow, Debra Roberts is amazing- what an inspiring, loving soul. When she said about sending the bees love, like another of your commenters, I also thought of the Secret Life of Bees! I loved that video, thank you for sharing! Hope all is going wonderfully in your world Brad, look forward to catching up on your blog!

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  7. Hello Brad,
    Some more food for thought stories here, thank you.
    The idea we can learn from bees is such a beautiful thought… Debra sounds wonderful.
    The last piece proves so well that we choose our thoughts and how we respond, rather than ‘react’ to something. Great to see it in practise.
    Wishing you a lovely week,
    Di 🙋🏻💐

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  8. It does give me hope that people are trying to come up with creative ways of combatting and living with climate change – and living more holistically with the natural world. I only recently read an article on a different way of living with bees which seemed much kinder and necessary.

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