Archive for Plastic Pollution

April Yoga Class Schedule; Sun Salutation Workshop; Chair Yoga; Super Blood Moon; Plastic Pollution Seminar;

Wishing you a very happy holiday weekend!  This weekend brings us Easter, Passover and a second “blue moon”.  A very auspicious time, it seems!  Here is an interesting article, with a beautiful photo slide show, describing this weekend’s phenomenon that also gives us a super blood moon and full lunar eclipse:  https://www.express.co.uk/news/weird/938509/Blue-moon-2018-spiritual-meaning-superstitions-astrology  Happy viewing!


Google Images

This April I have a number of workshops and classes I am offering; full descriptions are below. I hope to see you at one or more of these.  Also, I am seeking donations for my environmental community event I host in May that helps educate about the importance of our street trees, and provides tools and materials for New Yorkers to “adopt” and care for their own neighborhood tree! See below for more details.  Any donations would be most appreciated, as this is a matching opportunity, and is tax deductible!   https://www.ioby.org/project/love-your-street-tree-day-2018

SUN SALUTATION WORKSHOP: 
If you have struggled with all or part of the famous yoga sequence, the Sun Salutation, this workshop is for you!  Learn each position and transition in the flow with time to dissect it part by part and discover which modifications or versions work best for you.  This workshop involves discussion and practice and comes with a take home outline.  Bring a pen and your questions, and learn how to flow with ease the next time you salute the sun!


PLASTIC POLLUTION SEMINAR:
In honor of Earth Day 2018 and its’ focus on plastic pollution, I will be speaking at the Dorot Center for Seniors on Friday, April 27 on “How to Reduce Our Single-Use Plastic Consumption and Why It’s So Important”.  I will be joined by marine biologist Dr. Judith Weis; we are both steering committee members of the NY/NJ Plastic Free Waters Partnershiphttp://www.plasticfreewaters.org  Learn about the plastic pollution crisis currently facing our planet, how it impacts all of us, and what we can do to reduce our plastic footprint with easy to implement solutions.  It is estimated that at the current rate of plastic consumption, there will be more plastic in the oceans than fish by 2050!

An impromptu 1-hour beach cleanup in Boca, Florida (Feb. 2018)

MY CROWDFUNDING CAMPAIGN TO HELP THE STREET TREES:
Seeking your support!  As you may know, I cofounded with a couple other folks, the NYC “Love Your Street Tree” initiative almost four years ago.  This initiative is to bring awareness to the importance of caring for our street trees especially now that the city completed its’ million trees planting initiative.  As part of our “Love Your Street Tree” project, we provide free educational events at schools and in the community, created and host our Annual “Love Your Street Tree Day” Spring Cleanup and Planting Day every May.  This May 20th, will be our 4th year hosting tree loving New Yorkers and providing them with free gardening gift bags that contain all the tools and supplies they will need to take care and steward the street trees in their neighborhood, including our popular double-sided “curb your dog signs” – dog waste being a health issue when it is not properly disposed of (and frankly disgusting when it is tracked into our homes on the bottom of our shoes).   At our event, we also teach participants how to properly care for a street tree and do sample demonstrations.


http://www.loveyourstreettreeday.com

This year, our project has been accepted by non-profit crowdfunding site – ioby.  This is very exciting, as all donations will be matched dollar for dollar!  Your donations will help us purchase the items for our free urban gardening gift bags, such as gardening tools, the curb your dog signs, watering buckets, gloves, plants or seeds – all the items necessary for beautifying the neighborhood and properly taking care of our beautiful and beneficial street trees!  You will be emailed a charitable tax receipt.  I and our other tree cleanup volunteers will be so grateful!

If you can do me a favor and donate this week before our official public ioby launch next week, I would very much appreciate it as that creates important momentum!  Street trees help clean, cool and purify our urban air, improve citizens’ physical and emotional health, absorb stormwater thus keeping raw sewage and other pollutants from entering our waterways during storms, increase property and business values, provide shelter for birds, and beautify our city!  

Please donate here:  https://www.ioby.org/project/love-your-street-tree-day-2018

By the way, when you donate, there will be an ask from ioby to make an optional gratuity to them as well – they are also a non-profit.  Just a heads up, in case that is confusing!  Thanks again.

Other Class Descriptions:  

Chair Chi and Prana is hosted by the beautiful yoga center – Integral Yoga. This fusion class increases our vitality, and improves balance and coordination by combining Chair Yoga, Qigong, and Tai Chi Easy™ walking. Seated and standing Yoga poses strengthen and stretch the body, gentle and flowing Qigong movements enhance our life force energy (chi or prana), and Tai Chi walking increases balance and helps with fall prevention.  Additionally, these practices are a moving meditation that calm the nervous system, increase immune support, focus the mind, and are accessible to all bodies and ages.  We end class with a long savasana and yoga nidra (deep relaxation) to fully relax and absorb the benefits of our practices.  All levels are welcome! No prior experience is necessary.

Seated Tai Chi Easy Teleclass hosted by Dorot Center for Seniors “University Without Walls” brings the benefits of seated qigong, meditation, and breathwork to those who cannot attend in-person classes. This is now our fifth semester of our teleclass, and I have found that distance is no obstacle to having a profound group and individual experience.  Written materials are provided in advance of the class, and each session is devoted to reading and discussing the materials, alternating with experiential movement and guided meditations.  We will continue with this course throughout 2018, so please call Dorot to sign up, or for a catalog.  No prior experience is necessary!  In general, Dorot’s University Without Walls is a wonderful resource for telephone learning and community-building, and their courses cover a myriad of topics.  Please help spread the word about this wonderful resource! http:// http://www.dorotusa.org/site/DocServer/UWW_Spring_Summer_2018_Catalog.pdf

April Schedule; Earth Day “Bag It” Screening & Plastic Pollution

I am away on vacation April 12 – 17, traveling to the beautiful red rock area of Sedona, AZ.  Hoping to have deep and transcendent meditations in some of the area’s world-famous vortexes while hiking. We shall see!  I am open to the possibilities.

Friday, April 22 is Earth Day 2016, and I would like to invite you to an environmental event I am co-hosting that afternoon. See flyer and links below. Yoga means “union” in Sanskrit, and union can be defined many ways, such as the union of mind, body, spirit when we practice yoga and qigong.  But I view union also as our connection to one another, the planet, and all the planet’s inhabitants.  My personal belief is that practicing yoga extends way beyond the mat (in fact, that is generally the least amount of time we may be practicing yoga). The true practice of yoga is how we consciously engage with one another and the planet that is our home and source of life.  As such, my community work is very much a yogic practice to me; it is my karma yoga (volunteer work or selfless service).  I see a direct relationship between my teaching and practicing yoga and my lifestyle choices, and that includes trying to make environmentally-friendly choices as much as I can – such as refusing to use single-use throwaway plastics like plastic bags and bottles (and that includes no longer buying those “healthy” ready-made green juices that come in plastic bottles, and of course not buying plastic water bottles).

One of the documentaries that inspired me to make these personal lifestyle changes is “Bag It”. Because it is so profound, my neighborhood association is showing the 45-minute version of “Bag It“, followed by a panel, and audience Q and A on Earth Day 2016!  Please join us to learn about  the alarming environmental issue of plastics in our oceans and the health implications to ourselves and the planet, as well as our economies – and what we can all do to confront this growing problem, and turn the current disastrous trend around.  The event will end with a free raffle drawing during which we will give away eco-friendly bags and other prizes! This event is family friendly and is co-hosted by the environmental club of the Trevor Day School, so it is perfect for all ages!See http://www.west80s.org

https://www.facebook.com/events/558759577622973/   Please feel free to share this email and Facebook Event widely!

Some sobering facts about plastic:

Did you know it costs NYC approximately $ 10 million per year to transport our single-use throwaway plastic bags to landfills each year, and that New Yorkers use over 5 million plastic bags each year – the majority of which are not recycled.  We have all seen plastic bags stuck in our street trees, clogging storm and sewage drains, and being washed out to our waterways; this creates visual urban blight, harm to animals and marine-life, and contamination of our food system.

A recent local study found that there are at least 165 million particles of plastic floating in the waters surrounding NYC at any given time.  Seehttp://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/waters-nyc-165m-plastic-particles-article-1.2530618
It is estimated that by 2050 if we do not reduce our reliance on fossil-fuel based plastics, there will be more plastic in the oceans than fish.   http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2016/01/24/oceans-more-plastic-than-fish/79267192/

Find out more about what we can all do locally about this alarming global pollution issue, and learn about the status of NYC’s pending carryout bag legislation by attending my Earth Day event!  See also www.plasticbaglaws.org andwww.bagitnyc.org