A NEW EARTH

Written by Eckhart Tolle

A NEW EARTH
Awakening to Your Life's Purpose

In A New Earth Eckhart shows how transcending our ego-based state of consciousness is not only essential to personal happiness, but also the key to ending conflict and suffering throughout the world.

Humanity now, perhaps more than in any previous time, has an opportunity to create a new, saner, more loving world. This will involve a radical inner leap from the current egoistical consciousness to an entirely new one.
Eckhart Tolle

 

This book can be purchased from any local bookstore or requested at the library.

 

 

A New Earth

Comments by: Make ADiffernceToday staff editor

Jack

I read the book "A New Earth" and watched all the Oprah webcasts. I believe this book is needed and I want to recommend that it be read by those who have a hope in the future of the earth. We can no longer tolerate the egoistic self centered viewpoint that take no thought in how actions may have consequences beyond just making a profit. We must be a catalyst for change in attitudes toward the future, and not some far flung beyond the horizon future, but five, ten, twenty or even fifty years.

I read "1984" as a young man (Eckhart Tolle is 60, a few years younger than I am) and 1984 seemed to be so far off as to be unimaginable. I am rereading "2001 A Space Odyssey" by A. C. Clark who recently passed away. When I read it in the sixties, 2001 was indeed a far flung futurist world. Here we all are in 2008 quite an odyssey. The future is not so far, it is in fact the very day after today.

Plastic lasts a 1,000 years so you don't have to carry a bag to the store, just toss it in the air, it'll blow away. Your disposable lighter is convenient to toss in a river as smoke yourself toward an early demise. Think of your own future, think of others as if they were you.

We need a change of thinking, of attitude from selfish self concern to turn towards

Banker to the Poor

Written by Muhammad Yunus

 

This book can be purchased from any local bookstore or requested at the library.

 

 

Banker to the Poor

TRASH TALK

Written by Dave and Lillian Brummet

 

This book can be purchased from any local bookstore or requested at the library.

 

 

Clean Vacationing

Admit it.  When the sun is out and you are at your favorite campsite or cottage on the lake the last thing you want to do is spend a lot of time cooking a meal.  Often, when vacationing, the lure to purchase instant foods is strong.  Unfortunately, these convenience foods often come over packaged usually including some type of plastic.  As we can see when we come across trash in the wilderness, the plastics tend to linger the longest - other than maybe glass and metal.  Nothing ruins the feel of a pristine, natural area more than a bunch of garbage.  Numerous studies prove that tourists return to an area primarily for its cleanliness and greenery.  In this era where the economy has come to rely more on tourism, cleaning up is truly a benefit for the community.

We soon realized that walking by these messes and complaining over such disrespect, we were behaving not much better than the polluters who left it.  Now when we hike we pack a supply of plastic bags (grocery bags work well) to clean up as we go.  Often we earn up to $10 in returnable bottles and cans in the process.  When you take a bit of time to clean up some trash not only do you have a better trail or beach to come back to, you have helped to make it safer and nicer for the next user.  This simple measure just might influence others to keep it clean, as well.

When on the water with the canoe we also clean as we go by diving for garbage below the surface using a mask and snorkel.  It is amazing the finds we have from these excursions under water.  One of the first times we did this, we found an expensive diving mask in about 30 feet of water - enough incentive to continue this practice!  We have found antique bottles, jewelry, fishing lures and reels.

It feels very good to clear up a beach of shards of broken glass hiding just below the surface before an unwary swimmer splashes into it.  It does not, however, feel as good to find a large fishhook by imbedding it in the bottom of your foot.  Take heart in knowing you have done a good thing as your expletive echoes off the far mountainside.  Imagine an innocent child stepping on that hook instead of you and decide if it is worth taking the time.

-- Written by Dave and Lillian Brummet based on the concept of their new book Trash Talk.  The book offers useful solutions for the individual to reduce waste and better manage resources.  A guide for anyone concerned about his or her impact on the environment.