Chinese Native Dogs may be our best living link to the transformation of wolves into man’s best friend.

 

Planning to boldly go to the new Star Trek movie this weekend? Matthew Yglesias’ places the new movie within the canon and opines on why the series matters almost 50 years after its debut.

 

The designers Hilden and Diaz have created a chandelier that projects tree shadows onto surrounding walls bringing the winter woods or a fairytale forest indoors.

 

“Wild animals were foraging on the pages of every bedtime story, and my daughter was sleeping in polar bear pajamas under a butterfly mobile with a downy snow owl clutched to her chin. Her comb handle was a fish. Her toothbrush handle was a whale. She cut her first tooth on a rubber giraffe.” John Mooallem in his new book Wild Ones considers the question: Why is it that right when someone is learning to be human, we surround them with animals?

 

The high alert at Mexico’s Popocatépetl remains in place. On May 15th, there were 22 separate explosions. You can follow the action on webcams.
 

This is yet another in a series of posts about what we’re reading at Whole Earth: stories about the environment, ecology, travel, outdoor living, ideas, art, writing, history, science, and creativity, and the people who make it happen. Have a suggestion? Please leave us a comment so we can add it to our reading list.

Wherever you stand,
be the soul of that place.

Rumi

 

Whole Earth Provision Co. got its start from a note in the Whole Earth Catalog. It said: “We’ve been telling everyone who’s inquired politely if they could open a store – Go Ahead.” The rest, as they say, is history. This year marks the 45th anniversary of the publication of the Whole Earth Catalog and The Guardian has published an appreciation of the Catalog and its creator Stewart Brand. If you’re not familiar with the Catalog, you might enjoy this online exhibit Access to Tools created by the Museum of Modern Art in New York or you can browse through an actual Catalog online at the Whole Earth Catalog archive.

This is the book that many believed changed the world. “Though it wasn’t exactly a book, it was a how-to manual, a compendium, an encyclopedia, a literary review, an opinionated life guide, and a collection of readers’ recommendations and reviews of everything from computational physics to goat husbandry.” Or as John Markoff, a technology writer for the New York Times, puts it, the Whole Earth Catalog was “the internet before the internet. It was the book of the future. It was a web in newsprint.” The Catalog showed us that the world in all its variety of people and places, ideas and manifestations is an interdependent whole. As the (updated) Last Whole Earth Catalog said: We can’t put it together. It is together.

 

Sabastião Salgado, creator of some of the most memorable photographic images of the past thirty years, has a new exhibition and book: Genesis.

“During a bout of illness in the late 1990s Salgado returned to the ranch in Brazil where he grew up. To his dismay he found it much changed: the lush vegetation and rich wildlife he remembered from childhood had largely been decimated. With his wife and collaborator, Lélia Wanick Salgado, he decided to replant nearly 2 million trees and watched as the birds and animals returned to the renewed landscape. Thus the idea for Genesis was born.” …According to Salgado, “these photos are “a call to arms for us to preserve what we have. Of course, “he says, “it is not possible to ask people to go back to live in the forest, but we can preserve and protect this, our real heritage.”

Salgado recently presented a Ted Talk in which he tells his story and shows images from the exhibition and the book. If you’re not familiar with Salgado and his work, it’s a great introduction.

 

This is yet another in a series of posts about what we’re reading at Whole Earth: stories about the environment, ecology, travel, outdoor living, ideas, art, writing, history, science, and creativity, and the people who make it happen. Have a suggestion? Please leave us a comment so we can add it to our reading list.

Patagonia Advocate Weeks are almost here! From May 15th through May 31st, Whole Earth Provision Co. and Patagonia Footwear are teaming up to support Audubon Texas. How does it work? For every pair of Patagonia shoes purchased at Whole Earth during Advocate Weeks, Patagonia will donate $10 to Audubon Texas.

Patagonia is a participant in 1% for the Planet. Every year they donate 1% of their profits for the preservation and restoration of the natural environment. Your purchase will help direct some of these funds to Audubon Texas.

Audubon Texas is the state program of the National Audubon Society. In Texas, if you are diligent you might see 623 species of birds in the course of a year, more than any other state. Since 1923, Audubon Texas has protected birds and their habitats with stewardship and conservation education programs at their centers in Dallas, Cedar Hill and San Antonio and at sanctuaries in Brownsville, along 600 miles of the Texas coast and across the state.

So please stop by Whole Earth during Patagonia Advocate Weeks. Try on a pair of Patagonia shoes, get a free download card for 1% of the Planet – The Music Volume 1 (while supplies last) and support Audubon Texas with your Patagonia footwear purchase.

At Whole Earth Provision Co. our amazing staff members have lots of ways to make sure that their Moms have a special day. How do we know? We asked! Here are a few of our family traditions.

As you might expect, getting outdoors is high on the list of Whole Earth Mothers’ Day activities. Family picnics, day hikes and visits to public gardens are very popular. If you don’t already have a favorite picnic spot, this might be a great time to begin the search for that special place. Be sure to take a kite or two. Flag Pole Hill in Dallas and Zilker Park in Austin are two of our favorite spots to have a picnic and fly a kite. And don’t forget to take your camera. Some Whole Earth families make it a point to take a family photo every year on Mothers’ Day. Mom is often the family photographer, so be sure that she’s in this photo!

Many Whole Earth Moms love gardens and gardening. The Dallas Arboretum was mentioned several times as a favorite Mothers’ Day destination. This is a wonderful time of year for visiting public gardens in Texas as roses and many native plants are still in bloom. Helping Mom in her own garden is another way we celebrate. Planting flowers that attract bees and butterflies, helping to take care of organic gardens and mini orchards and creating beautiful landscapes are just a few of the ways that some Whole Earthlings spend time together with their Moms.

Maybe your Mom has a favorite State Park! Hiking, biking, swimming, canoeing, exploring and just hanging out is a great way to enjoy Mothers’ Day. One Whole Earth family heads off to Dinosaur Valley State Park every year. The Texas State Parks website is a great resource for finding State Parks close to home.

Some Whole Earth Mom’s begin their day with breakfast in bed prepared by the kids, while some families head off to Mom’s favorite restaurant for a Mothers’ day brunch or dinner. For others, it’s a party! The generations gather for a feast featuring all the family’s favorite foods. Afterwards, the Dads take charge of the kids so that the Moms can relax and enjoy their special day together.

Does Mom have a favorite game that everyone can play? One Whole Earth family has an annual Farkel tournament to celebrate Mothers’ Day. Others play classic yard games like Croquet or Badminton. One Whole Earthling Mom is an artist. On Mothers’ Day, mother and daughter find a beautiful spot and spend the day painting together.

If you won’t be seeing your Mom on Mothers’ Day, don’t forget to take time to call or Skype. This is a great time to ask some family history questions or to request a favorite family recipe.

For some of us, our mothers are no longer living. But we can still celebrate our happy memories and abiding love. One Whole Earthling wrote:

Since I was a young man, whenever I was away from home, I would keep a travel journal. I would send post cards, from places both exotic and mundane. The one constant in that exercise of communicating through writing thoughts and feelings, observations and experiences, was that I always sent a card to my Mother, if no one else. It was she who taught me to write; to let people who mattered to me know how I felt about them; to keep in touch by sharing experiences; and to send thank you notes written in my own hand. It is the simple act of writing with a single confidant in mind: one who inspires me. One who quite literally gave me my voice, a meditation, if you will.

My mother passed in 1994, 19 years ago. Every Mother’s Day, I find a time to open my journal, read a few things to her out loud. My backyard, a knoll beside the river, the cemetery, a bathroom on a bus speeding across the Atacama desert in Chile have all served as a podium for me to share with her. Happy Mothers’ Day, Lula Bell.

And a Happy Mothers’ Day to all of you from Whole Earth!

What a week! There were so many great stories that we had to set some aside for later. What made the cut? Jack Kerouac at Desolation Lookout, a man who truly transformed his home by planting trees, the world’s smallest movie and the story behind Cinco de Mayo!

“Jack Kerouac’s ordinary failure in the wilderness is perhaps a more honest reckoning on the meaning of wilderness for us everyfolk than all the successful accounts written by the hard men of the great American Wilderness tradition.”

A still from Forest Mana movie in post-production about Jadav Payeng and his forest.

Here’s the story of a man who really planted trees and created a jungle.

IBM has made the world’s smallest movie using individual atoms as pixels!

We all love Cinco de Mayo, but how many of us know the story behind the celebration?

This is yet another in a series of posts about what we’re reading at Whole Earth: stories about the environment, ecology, travel, outdoor living, ideas, art, writing, history, science, and creativity, and the people who make it happen.

Have a suggestion? Please leave us a comment so we can add it to our reading list. We enjoy reading each and every one of them.

Deepak Chopra is coming to the Winspear Opera House at the AT&T Performing Arts Center in Dallas on May 29th. Dr. Chopra will be sharing age-old spiritual wisdom and new insights, linking the latest breakthroughs in neuroscience with our aspirations for health, well-being and spiritual realization. Based on his latest book Super Brain he’ll discuss how we can learn to use our brains instead of being used by them. According to Dr. Chopra, “You won’t know what your brain can do until you test its limits and push beyond them.”

Whole Earth Provision Co. stores in Dallas will each be giving away a pair of tickets to the event. Stop by our Mockingbird Lane or Preston Forest stores, fill out an entry form, and you’ll receive a $5 Whole Earth gift certificate and a chance to win. We’re accepting entries from May 1st through May 21st. One entry please, per person. The drawing will be held on May 22nd, and the winners contacted by the AT&T Performing Arts Center. Come see us! You might win and you’ll save on your next purchase.

Style, quality, comfort and craftsmanship are just a few of the reasons why we have chosen clothing from Indigenous. The company designs versatile, stylish knits that can easily become foundational pieces in a thoughtfully chosen wardrobe. The artisanal qualities of this clothing line are rooted in the company’s fair-trade business practices and dedication to an ecological consciousness that spans the globe.

Materials

The first step in the journey from the designer’s drawing board to your favorite go-to piece is fiber: alpaca, organic cotton, sustainable silk and merino wool are sourced from South America. These natural fibers are strong, warm, absorbent and comfortable to the touch. Dyes are chosen that will not harm the planet and require the mills that finish the fibers to meet environmental standards that protect the workforce and their families and communities, as well as the local and global ecosystem.

Garment construction

A Peruvian network of over 30 cooperatives and knitting groups are contracted using fair-trade standards and provide fair wages for artisans from some of the poorest regions of the world while helping to preserve traditional knitting skills. Organic fibers are matched with specific skills of the artisan cooperatives: hand-knitting with needles, hand-held knitting looms or hand-weaving with foot looms. Each hand-knit garment is made completely by one artisan as a part of a small hand-knitting group in their community. Hand-held knitting looms are more time and labor intensive but results in a garment that is often of higher quality, fashion detail and care. Foot looms are often found in the artisan’s home where they hand weave organic cotton materials. These materials are taken to the Indigenous factory where they are hand cut. An expert tailor or seamstress then sews together the entire piece. Nothing is produced on an assembly line. This process results in a woven garment of the highest quality and fit.

The fair-trade model

Indigenous does not consider itself a charity. The company values its partnerships within the community and pays a fair wage for the artisans’ masterful work. They partner directly with organizations that provide training, educational materials, financing and equipment for the cooperatives and knitting groups that they might not otherwise be able to afford. For every garment purchased, more money is going to directly support the communities that produce Indigenous’ clothes.

Global citizenship

Indigenous also values their community of customers. They believe you should never have to sacrifice fashion and style to be a good global citizen. Their commitment to fair trade practices, knitting traditions and the use of natural fibers is a forward thinking approach for a clothing line. To create a link between the wearer and the creator, Indigenous has created the Trace Tool, which allows shoppers to scan a QR code to find out where the garment originated, who made it, how the fibers were raised, and the garment’s social impact.

Whole Earth Provision Co. is pleased to be your source for Indigenous clothing.

Ned Fritz – Nature’s Advocate