November 2009
My head and heart are bursting - I’m on the rollercoaster of campaigning
again and its not very slow. Over the past few months, I’ve done less house
building and put more energy into trying to protect our native forests. It’s
a familiar feeling, after 20 years of campaigning, with lots of highs and
lows. It’s empowering and frustrating at the same time, and I am so lucky to
have my children, a beautiful place to live and my garden to bring me back
down to Earth when it all seems too much to bear.
The great news is that our house is almost complete. The composting toilet
is running well (no smell) and the solar panels on the roof produce more
electricity than we use in the house. Our garden is feeding many native
animals (possums, kangaroos, bandicoots) – and even we get some of the
produce from it! There are many projects for the New Year, including a
pirate ship treehouse and chicken coop (anyone want to come and help me
build it?!). I’ve had some wonderful Sloth visitors (Tomoko, Hikaru, Kai and
Sara) recently and we fantasize about future projects here: miso making,
straw bale constructions, a forest rotenburo – really, we can do anything!
(Actually Hikaru even made a great little video about the house construction
so far – here’s the link: )
Pacha and Yani love their little school and they are progressing well,
despite their unusual life experiences! I had an enjoyable time as the
President of the P and C Association this year being able to set up the
school food gardens, and sharing many ideas about alternative approaches to
education. The children absolutely love the garden and we have shared some
of the vegies. We cut up and shared one perfect organic tomato into 17
pieces for every class member, yummm! We were also able to feature the food
gardens in our little action to support the 350 climate change campaign –
growing our own vegies is such a practical and life-enhancing response to
the climate crisis.
In October, Pacha, Yani and I travelled to Tasmania and to Australia’s South
East to visit the forests being cut down to be sent to Japan as woodchips. I
went back to the magnificent forests I visited last year and saw that they
have now been smashed to produce tissues, toilet paper and office paper. We
were all very sad, but determined to do something positive and we feel very
lucky that we can offer to share this message in Japan. Please help us with
our campaign and check in with the Sloth Club to find out more. I’m
including some photos of our journey and you can see Yani talking about
forests on youtube at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3ZYG3Miork Actually,
I have been trying to learn more about video editing and youtube and am
starting to get a few more clips on line. You might also want to check out
the movie we have about El Milagro in Ecaudor:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67f0QBUOkBE
The Australian forest Japan consumer campaign and the 10th anniversary of
the Sloth Club is bringing me back to Japan in less than 2 weeks! It is very
exciting, the campaign will be fun and light-hearted and I look so much
forward to meeting my Sloth friends again! Looking forward to seeing you,
For Life, anja
