The Yin-Yang of Life

I had my eyes opened to the ethos of a traditionally subsistent Aboriginal way of life, an ethos that withstood Western religious, political and economic interference, during a 1987 winter trip to Canada’s Yukon Territory. An elder in the Teslin community of the Tlingit First Nation explained a significant fact. His people would be able to survive – even if the global economic system collapsed – because he and other individuals of his generation practiced, and taught to younger generations, timeless survival practices on how to live on the land interdependently with other species.

Last week, on CBC-TV’s The National, an `Only in Canada’ segment highlighted a Dene First Nation elder in the Northwest Territories (NWT) conducting a camp that teaches practices on how to survive. These skills are essential to access the plant and animal resources suitably, to protect the biodiversity of life in Canada’s north. His camp is one among several similar `on the land learning’ cultural camps in the NWT.

This Dene elder shares his knowledge with school children across cultures. In witnessing his gentle modesty, he offers a wonderful example of an intertwined spiritual and practical wisdom embedded in the traditional culture of Aboriginal people that deserves the respect, and attention, of other cultures, in Canada and globally.

We all can learn from his example. The reason is, the increased frequency of disasters caused by extreme weather events demonstrates that no nation of people on any continent can feel assured any longer that its population will be spared from natural catastrophes, or not be affected simply by the decline in global biological diversity.

An imperative for our time is to understand the basic principles of “biodiversity,” in order to rethink human lifestyles based on economic development that is ecologically harmful. We either can choose to change consumer habits that cause harm and help to lesson the planetary impacts. Alternatively, and inevitably, we will be forced to do so by the forces of Nature.

Even school children can understand biodiversity, if and when schools include curricula with outdoors, and related, experiential activities. Biodiversity has various definitions. Here is one definition, from the Biodiversity Education and Awareness website in Ontario:

“Simply put, biodiversity is life in all its variety: over 14 million species found from mountain top to deep-sea vent. But it is much more. Those species connect, and interact. Those interactions create communities and systems, and those systems provide goods and services such as oxygen production, pollination, water filtration and storage, pest control, food production, carbon storage and erosion control. Again, simply put, biodiversity anchors nature’s life support system.”

The most recent large extreme weather disaster, covered by news media in Canada for more than a week, has been a massive flooding through large areas of Alberta – the extent unique in Alberta’s known historic record. TV news videos have portrayed the immense force of water and its destructive path, initiated by extreme rainfall, which transformed tiny creeks into torrential rivers to alter everything in the ecosystems through which they flowed.

Understandably, mainstream news stories tend to focus on human drama and conflict. Therefore, we bear witness to the lives of more than a hundred thousand Albertans, not just in the City of Calgary yet, as well, in a number of small communities, who have lost homes, the artifacts of family history and entire community infrastructures. These folks, economically – and psychologically – now must rebuild a new ground floor of life and a new vision for the future.

The 2008 book Sustaining Life: how Human Health Depends on Biodiversity is co-authored and co-edited by Aaron Bernstein, M.D. and Nobel Laureate Eric Chivian. A talk given by Dr. Chivian on this topic is freely available to watch on the online Vimeo network. Below is one image from a diagram series in their book, available to study on NovaMind‘s website:

The unfolding human trauma in Alberta, meanwhile, is steadily being exposed layer by layer. To be fair, therefore, it is too early for the other shoe to drop – the long term environmental consequences of such extensive Alberta flooding. Almost nowhere on the internet could I find news stories pertaining to the multi-faceted environmental reality, which will further alter the lives of thousands of Albertans in ways not yet visible, but imminent regardless.

One notable exception, as a source of insight regarding Alberta’s environmental plight, has been interviews with Dr. John Pomeroy, who holds a Canada research chair in water resources and climate change at the University of Saskatchewan.

The Canadian Press, for example, interviewed Dr. Pomeroy from his field research station in the flooded mountain community of Canmore. Pomeroy personally witnessed how an entire mountainside collapsed nearby, when mountain streams morphed into torrents. He explains the wider impacts on biodiversity:

“Even if the climate stayed exactly the same and we just had regular precipitation events in the future, the way the watersheds translate rainfall and snowfall into stream flow is going to be different now.
“The channels are different… They need to be remapped… .
“Those changes are likely to force plants and animals that live in the watershed to change as well. Some may not make it.
“Trout, for example, need pebbly river bottom to spawn. The Bow River has swallowed so much silt that the river’s famous trout fishery may be threatened.”
… Climate change models predict heavier rains, more precipitation falling as rain instead of snow and rain falling on top of snow – all of which favour more flooding, said Pomeroy.

What is worse, future extreme flooding in Alberta potentially could cause a catastrophe as well in Canada’s Northern Mackenzie River Basin.

To demonstrate how far flung extreme weather events affect more than one large bioregion, an article on the Desmog Canada website provided the following insight:

“Record flooding in the heart of the Alberta tar sands dramatically illustrates their threat to Canada’s `Serengeti,’ the Mackenzie River Basin. Only days before this week’s flooding in Fort McMurray, a panel of international science experts warned that the nearly 200 square kilometres of toxic wastewater lakes near rivers like the Athabasca pose a direct threat to one of the world’s most important ecosystems.”

An excellent map attached to the above article illustrates the interlocking river basin that could enable this environmental threat:

Whatever your opinion about Alberta’s tar sands, and regardless of one’s position on climate change, this visual image presents to us a physical truth of environmental vulnerability that cannot be denied. In view of such stark evidence, such large-scale extractive industrial activities must be rethought.

Very timely is a report recently published by the Rosenberg International Forum on Water Policy that elaborates on protecting the Mackenzie River Basin because of the global importance in regard to the biodiversity of this watershed. An article published by ScienceDaily provides the report’s eight principle findings and conclusions.

In this historic moment of extreme weather globally, we need to use our intelligence as a human family, and transcend nation state as well as party politics, to figure out the ways that we can share ecologically-based perspectives. We sorely need to move beyond denial, and figure out suitable lifestyles to minimize if possible, and to negotiate when necessary, extreme events and their consequences around the planet because they are interrelated.

As planetary citizens we must take ownership of our individual and collective responsibility to protect the biodiversity that sustains a human existence worth experiencing, an existence to preserve that is blessed with health, dignity and beauty.

We are never too old to revive our innate childlike wonder. The world of Nature can be a most powerful voice that resonates in our body and our feelings, to remind us that we are biological beings whose health is enhanced by our direct encounters with natural environments. Indeed, we sorely need that reminding. For we live in a time of extraordinary paradox: on the one hand, growing alienation from Nature and even each other as social beings while at the same time, conversely and blessedly, life-affirming and inter-folding global movements are gaining momentum to re-engage human relationship with Nature as well as with our own inner life.

Ecological literacy, I suggest,, is at the core of these movements, as a timely expression of transformative learning. Elsewhere I have cited spiritual psychologist Tom Yeomans who points out: “Transformative learning begins in your body and your feelings.” Indeed, transformative learning is personal to each individual, in accordance with his or her willingness to be receptive to the opportunities offered throughout life.

`Transformative moments’ happen in our lives unanticipated and not even sought (at least, not consciously) when we can let down our defenses and the human tendency for control, so that we instead can pay attention with all of our physical senses and a fearless heart to what is happening around us.

When we engage holistically, through allowing the flow of our energy to interconnect with our environment – emotionally, physically, spiritually, as well as intellectually – our innate “natural” inner ways of knowing deepen and expand.

`Ecology‘ comes from the Greek words “house” and “study of.” Defined as “the scientific study of interactions among organisms and their environment,” we also can say that ecology is a study of the house of life, because it maps relationships among all forms of life at all levels, from molecules to processes that span the entire planet.

Understanding these multi-layered relationships enables us to become ecologically literate. The attainment of any form of literacy is a process through time. Ecological literacy, therefore, is a type of insight that accumulates along life’s journey, simply by engaging with the multitude of life forms in the natural world through lived experience, beyond mere intellectual pursuits.

The ultimate vision for ecologically literate societies is to be sustainable societies which do not destroy the natural environments on which they depend.

Wetlands, for example, represent one of the most important life support systems in the natural environment. Here is a beautiful photograph by Dave Ross ©.

Ecological literacy truly begins in our body and our feelings, when we gift ourselves with time spent in natural environments. This awakening can happen within any person at any age. No formal education is necessary to appreciate our planetary world, up close and personal. What is essential, however, is a willingness accompanied by grace and humility, to recognize how much we can learn from Nature.

The arts vicariously can present images and stories of Nature to us, in our roles as creators and/or audiences, to offer transformative moments. Yet, here again, the arts do so by touching not the analytical mind but rather, foremost, the human heart and soul.

Physicist Fritjof Capra, Founding Director of the Center for Ecoliteracy in California, is one of the pioneers in `living systems theory’ as applied to ecology. Capra’s message in his books, lectures and courses, is to encourage all of us to take a holistic approach to life and seek deeper understanding about what sustains it.

In doing so, he also has emphasized why Western science must abandon conventional linear thought and the mechanistic views of Descartes, most particularly in his book The Web of Life: A New Scientific Understanding of Living Systems (1997).

Another visionary of ecological literacy is David W. Orr, Distinguished Professor of Environmental Studies and Politics at Oberlin College, in Ohio. More than twenty years ago, he authored the ground-breaking book Ecological Learning: Education and the Transition to a Postmodern World (1992).

What Capra and Orr respectively present to us is a vision that calls upon nothing less than the evolution of human consciousness. The number one ingredient to respond to this call is, caring.

The first steps in shifting consciousness simply require each of us to care, and to reflect, wherever we live – city, suburb or countryside – about the ways in which our attitudes toward, and interactions with, Nature, protect and restore or, carelessly, cause harm.

And consider why does the phenomenon “nature-deficit disorder” even exist? I am not alone when I declare that children are being overly pathologized these days by many psychiatrists. Regardless, when journalist/author Richard Louv coined this specific “disorder,” I believe he did so to be provocative in order to motivate people to take action to challenge this phenomenon. The need to do so is evident in the growing international movement to reconnect children with Nature, partly inspired by Louv’s books.

I can suggest one possible reason why this phenomenon has developed. At an alternative education conference 20 years ago in Colorado, as a presenter, I also attended other workshops. One special program offered by outdoor educators introduced inner city youth to natural environments. I was astounded at the reason why: to counter the phenomenon of that time, that many of America’s urban youth were fearful of the “wilderness.”

Such youth – the youth who never had opportunities to spend time in Nature – would be among some parents of today’s even more disenfranchised children – disenfranchised by technological enchantment that diverts energy away from the development of an innate biological, and experiential, awareness how the pulse of our human life force interacts with that of the earth.

Both Capra and Orr have contributed so much to present and future generations. They both are actively engaging the youth and children. Orr, for example, characterizes some of his work as connecting young people back to an `ecological wisdom.’ I will speak more about the work of Orr and Capra, and ecological literacy, in future blog posts.

I now would like to close this blog post with the words of a beautiful soul and wise woman, who was a visionary of her time, Rachel Carson. She once wrote:

“Those who dwell, as scientists, or laymen, among the beauties and mysteries of the earth, are never alone or weary of life. Whatever the vexations or concerns of their personal lives, their thoughts can find paths that lead to inner contentment and to renewed excitement in living. Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts.”

Across generations, we can choose healing and renewal through encounters with the world of Nature, or choose to be indifferent. Always know that awakening to possibility is a choice available to us, every day.

Well, folks, the gloves are off. I now can identify the real reason that motivated me to write this post. Several municipal councils in my region are considering a proposal to bury high level nuclear waste here. Different strategies are essential to challenge councils even considering such a proposal. As  examples: Be a member of a Community Liaison Committee (CLC) in one’s municipality and/or be a proactive citizen within a coalition of concerned citizens across the county to fight against this nuclear-based vision for the future. Earlier today, I received an email telling me that I was not selected to be a CLC member.

In the interview some days ago, I did point out that my life’s work has been devoted to activities that help human beings connect with each other and, at the same time, to reconnect with the earth and understand how our existence depends on the well being of the planetary life support system. I also emphasized the moral responsibility for councillors and CLC members to seek out scientific, and related, research that is independent from the massive amount of materials fed to councils by the nuclear industry.

I concluded by saying that if I were not selected, my hope is that someone will be selected who will raise tough questions, particularly given the fact that a representative from the Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO) will be attending every committee meeting. Will a democratic, well-informed debate on the complex aspects of this project really be possible at all? A person might wonder, and time will tell.

Meanwhile, I apologize to my loyal blog readers that my posts are less frequent, and will continue to be so through the coming months. Please understand that I have been devoting huge blocks of time to doing scientific and related research. In other words, I am “walking the talk,” connecting with my larger blog themes through the lived experience of interrelating environmental awareness with psychology and spirituality.

Last week, for example, after extensive research, I submitted an intervention to the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency (CEAA), in reference to another Deep Geological Repository Project, which is focused on the burial of low and intermediate level nuclear waste, next to Lake Huron. For an insightful education, I recommend reading many comments besides mine. Go to the CEAA website, scroll down to “Documents” and then click “Comments Received/Responses.” My post is Doc #1139, dated May 24, 2013.

The folks in Michigan, USA, are furious, and so they should be. Michigan senators, in fact, passed a resolution with remarkable speed “calling on Ontario power officials to answer questions before proceeding with a controversial nuclear waste storage project,” according to reporter Jim Lynch, in The Detroit News online May 22, 2013.

I invite more Americans to speak out, who live in the Great Lakes region. For the battle against this outrageous project is just beginning to heat up, and we need to stand together as planetary citizens and put pressure on every level of government, to stop it. Consider signing this petition too at STOP THE GREAT LAKES NUCLEAR DUMP, as many Americans and Canadians already have done.

To date, I have more American readers than Canadian who enjoy my blog, and thank you for your interest. As you know, given its title “The Yin-Yang of Life,” my intention is to inspire and motivate people to life-affirming action through the human heart, and a “good mind” in its holistic Indigenous meaning. I prefer to highlight examples of caring. But, at times, to make effective change we need to name the problems that potentially can obstruct us from moving forward.

To do spiritual work authentically, and educational work that is transformative, requires confronting the darkness and trying to shift human consciousness.

So, when I refer to the “sacred feminine” as one of my ongoing blog themes, this reference is not romantic piffle, yet instead speaks to the essence of life itself, that so many people tragically seem to have forgotten in our troubled world. Here I will paraphrase a segment from an earlier blog post focused on Blessed Unrest, a book that can inspire and motivate, raising our hope and moving us beyond despair.

Its author Paul Hawken reminds us that the historical era called the Axial Age probably was not perceived as an age of spiritual awakening by the people living through it. That era was a period when great prophets came to the forefront, whom he suggests we (collectively speaking) revere today, in contrast to their own lifetimes when they were reviled.

Hawken suggests that there are parallels between then and now. In today’s troubled world, at the same time, there is an awakening. The evidence for it resides in a global movement which “sees the feminine as sacred and holy, and it recognizes the wisdom of indigenous peoples all over the world from Africa to Nunavut.”

I advocate, in fact, that it is through our own caring about our respective grassroots communities, whether city-based or countryside, where we first need to take initiatives to protect our land and water – and make it known to those politicians who refuse to be engaged in such protection that their inaction is not good enough.

One root cause of inaction, I sincerely believe, by our fellow human beings – including the local politicians where I live – is the simple lack of awareness by them that they live not merely in a town or even a county, but rather in a “bioregion.” In contrast, the poorest and least (schooling) “educated” land-based folks on this planet have a much deeper awareness about what sustains life than many so-called educated people in the developed world. That truth ought to humble us. Here is a simple definition on its multi-layered reality:

“bioregion: a distinct area with coherent and interconnected plant and animal communities, and natural systems, often defined by a watershed. A bioregion is a whole `life-place’ with unique requirements for human inhabitation so that it will not be disrupted and injured” [Planet Drum Foundation].

In my Canadian province, the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources (OMNR) website shows images about ecosystems. See the map that identifies Ontario watersheds. The Commission for Environmental Cooperation website has an outstanding North American Environmental Atlas.  CEC sponsored this map on North American watersheds:

Ordinary citizens, however, are capable of creatively drawing their own bioregional maps, as a paper by Ben Johnson illustrates in “What is Bioregional Mapping?“

Interestingly, an OMNR statement reads: “The loss of biological diversity is second only to nuclear warfare in its threat to human and other life on this planet.” As for the proposals to bury nuclear waste, in a local news item dated May 24, 2013, Kathleen Wynne, Premier of Ontario, is quoted as saying: “they have to be sure all safety precautions are put in place and strict guidelines are followed.” The mind boggles.

The sad fact is, lack of awareness in regard to human interconnectedness with all other biological organisms on this planet remains predominant, at all levels of government and other institutions, as well as among too many uninformed citizens.

I recall first learning about biodiversity, and the need to take life-affirming environmental actions, as far back as the 1970s, in university. Today, the great powers of the world, politically and economically, still are stumbling towards that possible enlightenment.

We are living in the United Nations Decade of Biodiversity, 2011 to 2020. Who knew? Norway this past week hosted a UN Conference on Ecology and Economy for a Sustainable Society, May 27-31, 2013. Braulio F. De Souza, Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity made a seven-page statement titled “Advancing Strategic `Goal A’ of the Aichi Targets (that include five goals and 20 targets).”

A number of De Souza’s points, in my opinion, merely state the obvious to anyone who hasn’t been living under a rock during the past several decades. Apparently the four targets of `Goal A’ are intended to raise awareness about biodiversity and causes of its loss through society by 2020. Oh. Thank you.

De Souza makes the plea not to “repeat our failure to meet the 2010 target,” identifying why progress was undermined as “relentless pressure from unsustainable activities.” No kidding. Could such activities be the increasing destruction of bioregions and ecosystems by industrial activities of multinational corporations, who disregard and/or co-opt government laws, globally?

Who can we look to as leaders and mentors? One such beautiful soul is in the person of the late Peter Berg (1937-2011), who founded Planet Drum Foundation in 1973, and never looked back, upon introducing and developing the concept of bioregionalism.

As closing inspiration, I highly recommend a short video on his organization’s website, opening page, scrolling down to click “Bioregional Ecology Workshop.” Please note that his words are vitally important regardless where you live, and his workshop excerpt also offers a delightful example of engaging a group of people to create their own maps, in taking ownership of how to understand better the bioregion that they inhabit.

More poignant is to know that Peter Berg conducted this workshop bravely not long before his passing, from a sudden case of pneumonia complicated by his bout with lung cancer.

The solemn faces of the family speak volumes as they sit riveted watching the TV images of a hydro dam, a chain of reservoirs and effects upon the water, while David Suzuki explains what they already know. Their healthy, self-sustaining way of life is threatened unless the growing hydroelectric complex can be replaced by alternative technologies for energy production to meet the demands of people further south.

The challenge presented in this film People of a Feather is, can people in north-eastern North America recognize that the issues facing the Inuit in the north today also impacts on our future, to motivate us sufficiently to support appropriate changes in our energy consumption?

People of a Feather is a visually stunning, and important, documentary story, receiving 12 major awards to date. The 2011 film powerfully illustrates, to viewers globally, how our lives are inextricably linked on this planet – environmentally – in ways not previously experienced in human history.

In this story, the Inuit of the Sanikiluaq community on the Belcher Islands in Hudson Bay, Canada, show us the yin-yang of relying on the world of Nature for survival. They practice gentle respect at the same time as tough pragmatism, in relation with other species, to do what is necessary for sustainable living in the Arctic.

Previously I have written about the need for us to pay attention to those maverick thinkers and practitioners in the sciences, and other disciplines. I refer to those who research and apply the re-awakened wisdom of holistic insights, honed through millennia, juxtaposed to the latest scientific technologies.

Joel Heath, ecologist and filmmaker of People of a Feather, shows individuals of all ages what it takes, in my opinion, to become such a maverick. Doing so requires particular qualities, such as having an inquisitive mind matched by a passionate heart. The third key quality is to have what the Buddhists call “a beginner’s mind.”

We witness Heath’s implicit openness and grace to pursue his work, by learning from the natural environment and the people – experientially, on the ground. He then uses the latest scientific technologies with local, traditional Indigenous knowledge to understand the sea ice ecosystem.

In People of a Feather, we see the transformative and healing power between two cultures – Indigenous and Western – when people work together as equals, in mutual respect, fully appreciating what each can offer the other, for the wider benefit of humanity and the earth. This relationship is a pertinent cross-cultural partnership model for our time, locally and globally.

When Joel Heath responded to the Sanikiluaq community’s call to The Canadian Wildlife Service for someone to visit and investigate why the eider ducks experienced a die-off, he did not realize that he was beginning a scientific, and personal, odyssey.

People of a Feather‘s heartfelt tenderness, shown through friendships and Inuit family life, provides the emotional arc that carries us through a visually beautiful story of discovery that has multiple layers.

The tenderness goes beyond human relationships. For the other key characters in this film are the eider ducks, upon whom the Inuit have relied for food through many centuries. The eider skins and feathers, historically, were sewn together for clothing. Today, the Inuit still collect the eider down, which provides the essential warmth as an inner lining for contemporary winter clothing.

A few scenes provide historic re-enactments that show us the continuity of traditions. We see an Inuit family gently collecting just a few eggs from various eider duck nests along a shoreline. They also carefully pull away portions of the eider down nest material from several nests, always leaving enough to cushion and surround the remaining eggs.

The Inuit also hunt the eider duck, which is a staple of their diet, as is the seal. These “country foods” still hold a central place in their diet, keeping the people healthy, because all of the nutrients remain in foods raw or freshly cooked. Eating the meat and marrow of the seal and duck, furthermore, provide body heat essential during the cold arctic months.

Simeonie is the pivotal character in People of a Feather. Through his interactions, we receive glimpses into family and community life in Sanikiluaq. A work shed appears to be the main gathering place for the men, who collaborate to build a qamotiq (sled) among other activities. We see Simeonie good-naturedly attempt to create a sound gadget for the youth, whom we see elsewhere enjoying hip-hop music. Later, he shows his son how to handle a harpoon for hunting seal.

Early in the film, Simeonie visits Joel at his look-out hut. This small, box-like wooden structure is where Joel spent many hours video-taping the eider ducks underwater. Other times he filmed them on the land and the moving ice, through all the seasons for five years.

The film also incorporates time-lapse cinematography, to show the shrinking polynyas and their effect on the eider duck. A `polynya’ is an area of open water surrounded by sea ice that remains open throughout the winter due to strong currents.

Eider ducks do not migrate, but instead stay in the north all year. To survive, they travel with the currents and moving sea ice, to find accessible ice openings, in order to retrieve urchins, mussels and other types of food.

Heath’s fascinating underwater footage reveals the food quest of the eider ducks, as they dive to the bottom, grab and hold onto their catch with their beak, then soar upwards to the surface, with a streamlined elegance that takes your breath away.

The problem, heartbreaking to watch in the film, is the shrinking of available polynyas, so that the ducks cannot dive and, when they can, sometimes cannot find an opening to surface again. The change in sea ice also is dramatically affecting other marine life.

This environmental phenomenon began close to 40 years ago, and the Inuit of Belcher Islands were among the first to see the consequences of the building of dams by the growing hydroelectric complex. An Inuk woman, in voice-over narration over hydro images, explains:

“In the winter, fresh water on our lakes and ponds is the first to freeze. Sea ice takes much longer. In spring, fresh melting water from the mainland would flood our seas and drive our currents. But in the 1970s things started to change. Many rivers were dammed, trapping our fresh water in reservoirs. Now our spring water sits there all summer getting warm until in the wintertime people down south get cold and turn up their thermostats, using more power. For almost 40 years now, reservoirs have dumped their water onto the sea ice habitats of Hudson Bay at the opposite time of year.”

Film scenes show Inuit hunters discussing their concerns; for they experience more difficulties in gathering food. Their lives even can be endangered travelling across ice that now is unpredictable. Heath, in a voice-over, explains that fresh water freezes at a much warmer temperature than salt water, causing it to be more brittle, hence unsafe.

People of a Feather is a significant window into seeing the actual implications of climate change. Such insights can inspire the choices we make today and in the future.

That fact is the bigger message in Heath’s film, a revelation that presented itself to him as his quest unfolded, beyond the initial search to identify the cause of the eider duck die-offs: “The deeper I dug, the bigger I realized the scale of the issue.”

What Heath eventually recognized was astounding. In the film he tells us, in more detail, how the changes in the Labrador current are impacting on the Gulf Stream to Europe. “This process drives our ocean circulation and our global climate…Globally, over 50% of accessible fresh water is now behind dams. We’re working against the seasons of our hydrological cycle. We still have a lot to learn.”

Heath remains committed in this pursuit. He has set up Arctic Eider Society to train the Inuit people in a multi-community network, for research and monitoring that will be used for education and outreach. The website presents updated descriptions.

People of a Feather has a theatrical release in New York City later this year. Heath hopes that the large screenings in New York, and elsewhere, will persuade audiences to support, maybe even create, initiatives to develop energy solutions for the future that can be alternatives to the presently expanding hydroelectric complex.

Meanwhile, a DVD version of People of a Feather now is available, that includes an educational package with lesson plans, plus Special Features and Behind the Scenes short clips. These range from traditional skills to eider studies and monitoring techniques, as the Inuit interweave best practices from their cultural values and today’s sciences.

All profits from DVD sales go to the Arctic Eider Society.