An Afternoon with
Reverend Houston Cypress
Nature Spirituality Workshop
Sunday, June 26th, 2:00 p.m.
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Let Houston's experiential and interactive creative activities awaken your awareness of your authentic connection to Nature. Bring a notepad, pen, and your open heart! | |
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* Indigenous Wisdom
* Nature Mindfulness Exercises
* Meditative Communion
* Nature Connection Movement
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About Reverend Houston Cypress | | |
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Reverend Houston Cypress is a poet, artist, environmental activist, and ordained minister. Through his organization, Love the Everglades Movement, Cypress has become a major force within Miccosukee society as an advocate for cultural preservation, environmental protection, business development, and sovereignty. Cypress is also a cultural ambassador, leading the way for meaningful exchange and connection between his society of clans and the outside world. | |
Photo by Lake Clark/Good. | |
OpEd: Clean Waters Merit the Protection Only a Fundamental Right Can Provide
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Joseph Bonasia,
Florida Rights of Nature Network
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"Floridians are losing
the environmental war..."
If, in Florida, Mother Nature were a woman, she’d have the telltale signs of an abusive relationship: cut lips, black eyes, and broken bones.
The signs of abuse to nature in Florida are equally clear and disturbing: a million acres of estuaries and 9,000 miles of streams and rivers contaminated with fecal bacteria; red tides and blue-green algae blooms that sicken people in the short-term, threaten
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Join the petition to amend our
state constitution in 2024.
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long-term illness, and cripple local economies; wildlife that suffer, at times, like manatees, catastrophically. This isn’t what Floridians want. We go to public hearings and plead for needed protections. We email our state representatives, call the governor’s office, and overwhelmingly approve environmental initiatives only to see their intent undone. We “Enlist in the Fight for Clean Water!” as one town council near me has urged citizens to do.
Occasionally, we win a small battle, but we’re losing the war. Over half of Florida’s 4,393 waterways are polluted. Unquestionably, two things aren’t working well: our environmental regulatory system and citizen actions to fix it.
We need a different approach to environmental protection. Therefore, Florida Rights of Nature Network (FRONN) advocates a “Right to Clean and Healthy Waters” amendment to our state constitution. Continue reading...
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From Our President, Linda Sechrist | |
Today’s major news headlines and TV news commentators—U.S. and local—create fear and uncertainty by focusing primarily on chaos, division, and violence. Conversely, just as Paul Harvey’s 1976 to 2009 radio newscast program, “The Rest of the Story” revealed—there’s a plethora of unreported and deliberately omitted facts capable of collectively raising awareness and educating us on issues directly impacting life in SWFL. | |
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Linda Sechrist, Editor
Natural Awakenings Magazine
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For example, rarely making news are effective actions and promising solutions, such as regenerative agriculture, The Right to Clean Water State Constitutional Amendment campaign, and RESET’s latest program How to be a Good Relative in collaboration with local Indigenous peoples. This extraordinary work is being done by ordinary individuals. | |
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"It's time to give to society what it
needs most at this uncertain time."
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Borrowing from Emmy and Peabody award-winning journalist Maria Shriver’s commencement speech to the University of Michigan’s 2022 graduates, “This moment of uncertainty could be our gift” rather than a curse. With no more normal and nearly every rulebook in shreds, it’s time to give to society what it needs most at this uncertain time. Fire up your imagination and creativity, summon up your courage and bravery, and step out of your comfort zone. Give your life meaning and purpose, two great life preservers for navigating these tumultuous times. Lend your time and talents to a group of purposeful people already working to make a difference. While we at RESET are looking for volunteers, you’ll find a list of our partner organizations to choose from at SWFLreset.org. | |
Alarmingly, the last vestige of “We, the People’s voice” that made it to print in Letters to the Editor, is disappearing from Naples Daily News and Fort Myers News Press. We now have limited opportunities on Saturdays and Sundays to make our opinions known, raise awareness, and commend deserving individuals and actions. Write to voice your dissatisfaction. Don’t lose your voice. | |
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We also are working with social justice leadership in 4 SWFL Unitarian Universalist congregations on a UU Service Committee program called “Being a Good Relative”. We are partnering with friends in the Miccosukee Tribe including the Reverend Houston Cypress, who will offer a special RESET workshop on June 26. This is just the beginning of a great partnership with Houston, SWFL RESET friends, Unitarian Universalists, and other faith-based groups and activists in SW Florida.
Since promoting Regenerative Agriculture is one of our major initiatives, we have become very involved as partners with the UUCFM Bill Brewer Community Gardens located on 12.5 acres where our office is also located. Our aim is to continue to contribute our time, volunteers, and resources to these Community Gardens growing fresh greens for the South Fort Myers Food Pantry and Cultivate Abundance while we simultaneously learn and teach permaculture and community building.
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Congratulations to Cape Coral & Sanibel! | |
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The Florida League of Cities announced this week nearly two dozen municipalities that will receive scholarships to join the Florida Race to Zero cohort, and we were happy to see Cape Coral and Sanibel are on the list.
Florida Race to Zero is a friendly competition between cities to showcase how they are leading the way to carbon neutrality. The scholarships are provided by the League and will allow the selected municipalities to access the technical assistance and expertise of national and regional organizations. Read more about the awards for Race to Zero here.
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An Earth Moments Favorite: | | | | |
