We each serve this world in a number of ways. My two recent guests on Voices from the North have chosen to stand up for creatures whose very survival depends on the diligence and care of compassionate people like themselves. Wendy Sporle has been an advocate for the kiwi for close to twenty years. She's the National Mentor for Advocacy at the Bank of New Zealand's Save the Kiwi Project. June Salt is a passionate representative of a highly successful local kiwi undertaking, the Whakaangi Landcare Trust..

Over an unknown period of time, in the absence of mammalian predators, many New Zealand birds became flightless. They also filled the ecological niches that in different places would have been filled by rodents and other small mammals. One species of New Zealand moa was arguably the tallest bird ever to grace this planet and weighed around 500 pounds.

In relatively recent times mammals, including humans, have been introduced to the islands of New Zealand. With this population change, has come the extinction of a number of flightless birds unprepared for the new predators they've encountered. The last of the moas disappeared only a few centuries ago. But one of its distant relatives remains and it has become a national symbol of these fair islands. I'm speaking, of course, of the kiwi-a unique nocturnal, burrow-dwelling, flightless bird with feathers not unlike the fur of rodents such as squirrels who play similar roles in other places.

Wendy's position takes her all over New Zealand. She recently returned from a trip to Stewart Island where she saw the opportunistic feeding of kiwis on the beaches of that southerly isle. She sees the urgent need for dog owners to take more responsibility for their pets whenever in kiwi-inhabited areas. Dogs are responsible for something like 70% of adult kiwi deaths. Dogs are quite naturally attracted to the strong smelling birds, but they only grab the birds, shake them and spit them out. They don't eat kiwis. Dogs should be kept on leads and muzzled whenever in kiwi areas and aversion training is also now available. Whenever exotic forests are planted, people are encouraged to leave some less-productive swamp and valley areas in native vegetation to provide kiwi habitat. Burning of brush is highly discouraged.

June described the success of their group of 18 landowners over an eight year period. The Whakaangi Landcare Trust is truly a wonderful example of acting collectively and locally to make a difference. With numbers of North Island Brown Kiwis plummeting to approximately 10,000 from the millions of the past, such efforts are to be applauded and, hopefully, replicated.

More and more fortunate people today decide to stand up for a cause, to stand up for those who can't necessarily stand up for themselves. Wendy Sporle and June Salt represent new armies-armies of people dedicated in selfless service to causes beyond there own basic needs and comforts. I applaud them and encourage others to find similar worthwhile causes that help make this a better and more just world. Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, ‘It is one of the beautiful compensations of life that no man can sincerely try to help another without helping himself.' My two guests on Voices from the North would concur that assisting a relatively helpless bird feels good to them.

Listen to this fascinating Voices from the North interview and hear the guttural sounds of the female North Island Brown Kiwi, the higher pitched, haunting cry of the male and the stories of two inspiring women.

On December 21, 2008 we celebrated Summer Solstice on the beach below our house with about 30 like-minded people. It was a beautiful, still evening. The tide cooperated, steadily retreating from the fire we built of kindling and driftwood. The first Pohutukawa trees were in bloom with their stunning red flowers representing Christmas to North Island New Zealanders.

This celebration is a simple one-informal  with a few meaningful rituals followed by a delicious shared meal spread out on tarpaulins to keep the sand out of the food.

We jumped the fire holding hands with those we cared for and whose friendship we wished to strengthen. The fire represents the sun which, of course, was at its zenith on this, the longest day of the year in the southern hemisphere. Jumping through the fire together represents the idea that any relationship has its moments and this ritual means that the participants are prepared to go through those fires together because they value their friendship and see it as being stronger than the momentary flames that can assault it. I value friendship above almost everything so I did a lot of jumping that evening! As I've said elsewhere, to me strangers are only friends I haven't yet met.

We also made straw dollies, little characters tied from straw. Each dolly represented a habit or trait we wished to diminish or eliminate and so we burned them in the fire. As I stood next to the smoldering flames making one of my less-than-perfect dollies, I was joined by a dear friend, a compassionate woman who cares deeply for those who are suffering, wherever they might be in the world. She asked, "How can I be happy when so many others are suffering?" I was reminded of those words of Marianne Williamson from Return to Love that were made famous by Nelson Mandela during his inauguration address so many years ago:

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.

Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.

It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.

We ask ourselves, ‘Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?'

Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God.

Your playing small does not serve the world.

There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you.

We are all meant to shine, as children do.

We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone.

And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.

As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.

We ask ourselves, ‘Who are we to be happy when others are not?' Who are we not to be? Isn't this the change we want to see in the world? Isn't this what every parent wants for their child?

People drifted away as the sun went down, leaving only our family on the beach with the dying embers of a fire that had served its purpose. The sky put on an amazing show of golden light and I thought back to all of the people I'd jumped through that fire with earlier in the evening. Who amongst us hasn't been hurt? Are you prepared to transcend the past and leap hand in hand with others into the golden light of a new dawn?

Franki Wood is 88 years young and visited Doubtless Bay from her home in Lower Hutt. I was delighted to have the opportunity to interview her recently on Voices from the North. She's lived through the Depression and the 1931 Napier Earthquake. She's exhibited sculpture, spent a lifetime writing and performing plays, written a couple of books and she's been featured on Closeup on TV1.

She grew up during the Depression and describes the terror of the 1931 Napier Earthquake and becoming refugees as a result. For a time during the Depression her parents ran a boarding house. But it was a family affair with seven-year-young Franki setting tables, waiting on boarders and polishing silver. As she said, "If you wanted to keep the family together everyone helped." They then moved to a farm because they could be ensured of a supply of food. Now Franki became a farm girl, milking cows and bringing in sheep before reading and studying by candle light.

My one obvious impression of Franki is her positive perspective to everything that has happened in her life. There must be a lesson in this for anyone wanting to live a long, meaningful and healthy life. Her one book is called Franki: The Life and Entertainment Passion of One Woman. There is no stopping this lady. She's even built her own caravan (trailer). These few words of Franki's from the interview clearly describe her attitude to life, "I make the best of what I'm doing. Where you live, it's you that has to make it." "I never complain about the weather. I never think about it. I'm too busy anyway." There's no complaining for this lady.

Franki chose to have us play Send in the Clowns because she's been able to entertain with five clowns at once during one of her shows. "Send in the Clowns" is a song by Stephen Sondheim, from the 1973 musical A Little Night Music. It is a ballad from Act II in which the character Desirée reflects on the ironies and disappointments of her life. It became Sondheim's most popular song after Judy Collins recorded it in 1975.

Towards the end of the hour listen for Franki singing her own song for us. Here are a few words from the site where Franki's book can be found:

With an ailing father, Frankie's mother struggles to support her children by running a hostel. Fleeing when the Napier earthquake strikes, they return to find their meager possessions ransacked. Ever aware of sadness, Frankie grows up entertaining others to bring them joy. Now in her 80s, her passion has not wavered as she continues to bring laughter to the many groups she is asked to entertain.

I've been inspired by this lady's spunk and vivacity. I trust you are too as you listen to this Voices from the North interview.

Here's a link for the image.

My guest on Voices from the North on December 31^st, 2008 was Geoff Waterhouse. Geoff and his wife Naomi run all their vehicles at Paihia Taxis on waste vegetable oil gathered from 'fish and chip' shops and filtered at what is known locally as the Opua Oil Refinery (that's pictured above) in their garage. Geoff suggests people could do the same thing anywhere. His little refinery is made almost entirely of used parts (including a coffee urn) gathered locally. He claims the finished filtered product is cleaner than diesel fuel. It is certainly less polluting. Geoff says his oil reserves from local shops are going up, as opposed to OPEC's. We all know which way they're going. Paihia Taxis is the only New Zealand Taxi and Tour operator running on waste vegetable oil-quite economically, by the way. This is opposed to bio-diesel that Geoff claims is uneconomic. Geoff is the sole distributor in New Zealand for David Blume's book, Alcohol Can Be a Gas. Geoff speaks passionately and intelligently about ethanol as a viable alternative to gasoline, even referring during our discussion to Henry Ford's originally-mass-produced dual fuel vehicles that ran on either gasoline or ethanol.

WHY ALCOHOL FUEL?

THE TWO-MINUTE SUMMARY    

1) Almost every country can become energy-independent. Anywhere that has sunlight and land can produce alcohol from plants. Brazil, the fifth largest country in the world imports no oil, since half its cars run on alcohol fuel made from sugarcane, grown on 1% of its land.

2) We can reverse global warming. Since alcohol is made from plants, its production takes carbon dioxide out of the air, sequestering it, with the result that it reverses the greenhouse effect (while potentially vastly improving the soil). Recent studies show that in a permaculturally designed mixed-crop alcohol fuel production system, the amount of greenhouse gases removed from the atmosphere by plants-and then exuded by plant roots into the soil as sugar-can be 13 times what is emitted by processing the crops and burning the alcohol in our cars.

3) We can revitalize the economy instead of suffering through Peak Oil. Oil is running out, and what we replace it with will make a big difference in our environment and economy. Alcohol fuel production and use is clean and environmentally sustainable, and will revitalize families, farms, towns, cities, industries, as well as the environment. A national switch to alcohol fuel would provide many millions of new permanent jobs.    

4) No new technological breakthroughs are needed. We can make alcohol fuel out of what we have, where we are. Alcohol fuel can efficiently be made out of many things, from waste products like stale donuts, grass clippings, food processing waste-even ocean kelp. Many crops produce many times more alcohol per acre than corn, using arid, marshy, or even marginal land in addition to farmland. Just our lawn clippings could replace a third of the autofuel we get from the Mideast.

5) Unlike hydrogen fuel cells, we can easily use alcohol fuel in the vehicles we already own. Unmodified cars can run on 50% alcohol, and converting to 100% alcohol or flexible fueling (both alcohol and gas) costs only a few hundred dollars. Most auto companies already sell new dual-fuel vehicles.

6) Alcohol is a superior fuel to gasoline! It's 105 octane, burns much cooler with less vibration, is less flammable in case of accident, is 98% pollution-free, has lower evaporative emissions, and deposits no carbon in the engine or oil, resulting in a tripling of engine life. Specialized alcohol engines can get at least 22% better mileage than gasoline or diesel.

7) It's not just for gasoline cars. We can also easily use alcohol fuel to power diesel engines, trains, aircraft, small utility engines, generators to make electricity, heaters for our homes-and it can even be used to cook our food.

8) Alcohol has a proud history. Gasoline is a refinery's toxic waste; alcohol fuel is liquid sunshine. Henry Ford's early cars were all flex-fuel. It wasn't until gasoline magnate John D. Rockefeller funded Prohibition that alcohol fuel companies were driven out of business.

9) The by products of alcohol production are clean, instead of being oil refinery waste, and are worth more than the alcohol itself. In fact, they can make petrochemical fertilizers and herbicides obsolete. The alcohol production process concentrates and makes more digestible all protein and non-starch nutrients in the crop. It's so nutritious that when used as animal feed, it produces more meat or milk than the corn it comes from. That's right, fermentation of corn increases the food supply and lowers the cost of food.

10) Locally produced ethanol supercharges regional economies. Instead of fuel expenditures draining capital away to foreign bank accounts, each gallon of alcohol produces local income that gets re-circulated many times. Every dollar of tax credit for alcohol generates up to $6 in new tax revenues from the increased local business.

11) Alcohol production brings many new small-scale business opportunities. There is huge potential for profitable local, integrated, small-scale businesses that produce alcohol and related by products, whereas when gas was cheap, alcohol plants had to be huge to make a profit.

12) Scale matters-most of the widely publicized potential problems with ethanol are a function of scale. Once production plants get beyond a certain size and are too far away from the crops that supply them, closing the ecological loop becomes problematic. Smaller-scale operations can more efficiently use a wide variety of crops than huge specialized one-crop plants, and diversification of crops would largely eliminate the problems of monoculture.

13) By products of small-scale alcohol plants can be used in profitable, energy-efficient, and environmentally positive ways. For instance, spent mash (the liquid left over after distillation) contains all the nutrients the next fuel crop needs and can return it back to the soil if the fields are close to the operation. Big-scale plants, because they bring in crops from up to 45 miles away, can't do this, so they have to evaporate all the water and sell the resulting byproduct as low-price animal feed, which accounts for half the energy used in the plant.

14) The design and implementation of a revolution based on small-scale ethanol production is simple common sense, and at the same time a radical departure from the way corporations and the government currently do things. So it's truly up to us citizens to make the change. You will see early on in this book that MegaOilron historically stops at nothing to make sure that the public perception of ethanol is tightly managed. But once you know the truth, you can't be swayed by their propaganda.

From: ALCOHOLICS UNANIMOUS:

http://acbagnetwork.ning.com/group/newzealandalcohol?xgi=0gNdNk1

Links: www.alcoholcanbeagas.com

I'm a lucky man. I wake up every day in paradise and I go to sleep in the same place.

In the last year we've lost almost every penny of our savings, after having been mortgage-free most of our life together.

Yet I don't feel sorry for myself. I am so lucky.

I was introduced to yoga by Lucia 20 years ago when we met in the Himalayas. I continue to start nearly every day with a refreshing taste of yoga and meditation, the ultimate breakfast for me. Now, after many years away from it, Lucia has resumed teaching-two early morning classes each week here in our house. I attend them, along with a small malleable group of good friends. I feel like I'm living in an ashram. I am so lucky.

Late most afternoons, when much of my work for the day is done, I retreat to my room for Six Healing Sounds and relaxation. This quiet time feels so good to me. I am so lucky.

Most Wednesday evenings I walk along the beach, turn inland and up a hill to the radio station where I interview some amazing person for an hour on radio and cable television. I call that show Voices from the North and I love doing it. I am so lucky.

Most Thursday evenings a dear friend leads a small dedicated group of us in Sanskrit chanting. I walk along our beautiful beach to and from her home. I am so lucky.

Other evenings I walk alone or with Lucia, work in the garden or play outside with my children, the air alive with the heavenly fragrance of Queen of the Night and Datura. What more could a man ask for? I am so lucky.

Every month my family attends our local Ceilidh, an alcohol-free evening of live, quality music performed by talented local musicians. We dance for hours, swept away in the joyful atmosphere of community. I am so lucky.

I have one small problem: finding the time to put into place all I am inspired to do, write and share. I take it one small happy step at a time.

At night, before bed, I pick up my guitar and sing one or two of my devotional songs, make a simple prayer asking that I can continue to be a clear channel of service to humanity, and I fall peacefully asleep. I am healthy, I am happy and I'm in love. I am so lucky.

St. Theresa's Prayer

May today there be peace within.

May you trust God that you are exactly where you are meant to be.

May you not forget the infinite possibilities that are born of faith.

May you use those gifts that you have received, and pass on the love that has been given to you.

May you be content knowing you are a child of God. Let this presence settle into your bones, and allow your soul the freedom to sing, dance, praise and love. It is there for each and every one of us.

I received the following story in my inbox early last year. I was touched and inspired and I duly forwarded it to a cadre of friends. Little did I know the implications this one simple act would have on my life.

The Rose

The first day of school our Professor introduced himself and challenged us to get to know someone we didn't already know. I stood up to look around when a gentle hand touched my shoulder. 

I turned around to find a wrinkled, little old lady beaming up at me with a smile that lit up her entire being.

She said, "Hi handsome. My name is Rose. I'm eighty-seven years old. Can I give you a hug?"

I laughed and enthusiastically responded, "Of course you may!" and she gave me a giant Squeeze.

"Why are you in college at such a young, innocent age?" I asked.

She jokingly replied, "I'm here to meet a rich husband, get married, and have a couple of kids."

"No seriously," I asked. I was curious what may have motivated her to be taking on this challenge at her age.

"I've always dreamed of having a college education and now I'm getting one!" she told me.

After class we walked to the student union building and shared a chocolate milkshake.

We became instant friends. Every day for the next three months, we would leave class together and talk nonstop. I was always mesmerized listening to this "time machine" as she shared her wisdom and experience with me. Over the course of the year, Rose became a campus icon and she easily made friends wherever she went. She loved to dress up and she reveled in the attention bestowed upon her from the other students. She was living it up.

At the end of the semester we invited Rose to speak at our football banquet. I'll never forget what she taught us. She was introduced and stepped up to the podium. As she began to deliver her prepared speech, she dropped her three by five cards on the floor. Frustrated and a little embarrassed, she leaned into the microphone and simply said, "I'm sorry I'm so jittery. I gave up beer for Lent and this whiskey is killing me! I'll never get my speech back in order so let me just tell you what I know."

As we laughed she cleared her throat and began, "We do not stop playing because we are old; we grow old because we stop playing. There are only four secrets to staying young, being happy, and achieving success. You have to laugh and find humor every day. You've got to have a dream.

"When you lose your dreams, you die. We have so many people walking around who are dead and don't even know it! There is a huge difference between growing older and growing up. If you are nineteen years old and lie in bed for one full year and don't do one productive thing, you will turn twenty years old. If I am eighty-seven years old and stay in bed for a year and never do anything I will turn eighty eight. Anybody can grow older. That doesn't take any talent or ability. The idea is to grow up by always finding opportunity in change. Have no regrets. The elderly usually don't have regrets for what we did, but rather for things we did not do. The only people who fear death are those with regrets."

She concluded her speech by courageously singing The Rose.

She challenged each of us to study the lyrics and live them out in our daily lives.

At the year's end Rose finished the college degree she had begun all those years ago.

One week after graduation Rose died peacefully in her sleep. Over two thousand college students attended her funeral in tribute to the wonderful woman who taught by example that it's never too late to be all you can possibly be.

After receiving the story, a dear friend, Dave, living just a block away from us here in Coopers Beach, asked if I knew that the writer of the song, The Rose, named Amanda McBroom, had a vacation home in New Zealand. I replied that I'd not even heard of Amanda McBroom; I'd always associated The Rose with Bette Midler. Dave then informed me that Amanda's vacation home was in Coopers Beach and that she and her husband visited once a year.

I immediately googled Amanda McBroom, found her website and contacted her agent about doing an interview with her the next time she visited New Zealand. Our discussions and the eventual interview are the subject of another blog found here.

When our dear friend Roselyn was visiting from Australia in December, 2008, I decided to take her for a visit to our old property in Peria Valley, 20 minutes from the beach where we live today. Between 1998 and 2002 we had developed this productive and fruitful (avocadoes, citrus, tamarillos, casimiroas and perhaps 30 other kinds of fruiting trees) 2 acres into a health center we called Angels' Way Retreat. We offered workshops and classes and had two retreat huts in addition to our home. Somewhat reluctantly we sold that property to finance an open-ended overseas trip that culminated with our family living in the Netherlands until 2004.

United We Sing is a poem that came through me one night in 2003 at the time we were recording a few of my peace songs in Hoorn in Noord Holland. I believe it should appeal to anyone wishing for peace in the world. Acting collectively we can bring about a transformation in human consciousness and recognize the inevitability of World Peace. As I ask in the movie, do we want it now or do we want it later? It's up to us. The poem is found in the epilogue of my book, In Search of Simplicity: A True Story that Changes Lives. To read the complete epilogue visit here.

Incidentally, Angel's Way Retreat was purchased by people who own an ashram in New Plymouth and they've turned it into another ashram visited by people from all over New Zealand. It warms my heart to see this special property being appreciated in this way.

Our most recent Céilí (pronounced ‘Kay-lee') was celebrated on Saturday, January 17th in the old, wooden-floored Mangonui Hall here in New Zealand's Far North. The hall is situated across from the wharf in the quaint fishing village of the same name. By the way, Mangonui means ‘big shark' and this is time of the year when the beautiful and harmless (to humans, at least) Bronze Whaler sharks come into Doubtless Bay to give birth.

I've mentioned our Céilís in previous posts and thought I'd take the time to tell you a little bit more about these great community events.

As always, participants had a great time. The local Céilí band, Spootiskerry Spraoi (meaning ‘oyster witch having fun') did their usual outstanding job of entertaining and inspiring those who wished to get up and dance. At a Céilí there is no obligation to dance. Some go simply to enjoy the music and camaraderie. As everyone says, ‘It's great fun to watch.'

The music and dance is mainly Celtic, meaning that much of the music has its roots in Scotland, Ireland, Wales, SW England and Brittany. The original Celts moved into southern Europe from the East several thousand years ago and eventually migrated to the British Isles. Their descendents can be found throughout Europe today.

This is folk dancing for the whole family with some dances having their origins in places as diverse as Greece and the Ukraine. Anyone, regardless of age or experience, can join in. Every dance is demonstrated and called. In other words, there is plenty of guidance provided throughout. And the emphasis is always on having fun!

Our Céilí happens on the third Saturday of every month. The doors open and the music starts at 7.00pm and the dancing begins at about 7.30pm. Entrance fees are $2 per adult plus a plate for supper (in other words, it's a potluck). Entry is free for accompanied children. You have to admit this is a good deal for an evening out.

One of the traditions of Céilís is that anyone can contribute an item during the course of the night - for example a song, a dance, a joke or a story.

This is good old fashioned fun for all ages in an alcohol free setting in the enchanting ambience of historic Mangonui Hall on the waterfront of a placid and gorgeous harbor. We (our family) feel absolutely blessed to be part of the Céilí community. These monthly events are brought about through the combined voluntary efforts of many people including the band members. I encourage anyone out there to initiate dances like this. They are incredible community-building affairs. They say the Aquarian Age is about working together in groups. Our Céilí embodies this principle. By the way, the traditional Gaelic spelling of Céilí is Céilídh.

Here are the names of some of the dances that we often do:

A couple of years ago I took our two teenage daughters to watch a screening of the documentary, China Blue. The award winning film maker, Micha Peled was on hand to answer questions afterwards.

China Blue is the true story of a 14-year-old country girl voluntarily leaving her sleepy village to work in virtual slavery in a jeans factory in China's industrial south east. The film makes it creepily clear how our consumption habits in the affluent West can have major detrimental impacts on the lives of people in faraway lands, just as those same consumption habits can have major detrimental effects on the environment in far away lands like Papua New Guinea.

Do we need to return to more locally based economies and to more local manufacturing? It can be safely said that New Zealand has been exporting jobs to Asia for many years now. Is this not the case in most Western lands? I'll report on a successful return to local manufacturing in another blog soon.