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Happy Earth Day! Today, April 22, is the anniversary of the birth of the modern environmental movement, and it is a day on which worldwide events are held to support environmental protection. It is celebrated in more than 190 countries. How wonderful to officially acknowledge and celebrate our home!
Being Earth Day, I feel I need to address “global warming”. There are still many global warming “deniers” out there – many of whom I’ve run into throughout the years. So since it is Earth Day, I’m going to take a moment and give a brief explanation of global warming. I am not an expert or a scientist, but I am informed. I’ve read many, many articles from lots of different sources over the years, watched countless documentaries, and have spoken to many people from all over the globe during my travels. Funny enough, the only deniers I’ve met have all been in the USA. I’ve also noticed that the “deniers” have three things in common:
If you do even a small about of research, you will find that just about every independent science organization from around the world agrees that man has directly contributed to speeding up the warming of the planet. Since the industrial revolution (around 1750), human activities (mostly burning fossil fuels, deforestation and agriculture) have substantially added much larger doses of CO2 and other heat-trapping gasses into the atmosphere. For instance, cars emit gasses. If you double the amount of cars being used, you double the amount of gasses emitted in the air. The more gas burning cars we use, the more gasses we emit into our air. It is common sense. Another example: Trees take in CO2 and convert it to oxygen. If man cuts down trees (which we’ve done by the billions), naturally, there are less trees removing CO2 from the air, leaving more of it in our atmosphere. Again, common sense.
All these gasses contribute to a thicker “blanket”, which makes the planet warmer. And that has many other consequences, among them the melting glaciers. One thing glaciers do is reflect the suns rays away from the Earth – like a mirror, as opposed to absorbing the sunlight like the oceans. As the glaciers shrink, we get a smaller “mirror” reflecting the sun’s rays away from the earth, and a larger surface (more ocean) absorbing the sun’s rays. I could go on and on (but I won’t). But one last point. As for the natural warming of the planet, research has proven that if you take away all of the gasses emitted by human activity since the Industrial Revolution, the planet would be fluctuating in the range it was before that time, instead of rising to the level it is now. Here is a great video which explains the science of it here if you are interested:
THE CIRCLE OF LIFE:
What I learned while being there was that everything in the rainforest has a place. It is a total balance of life. There were termite mounds on many trees. They eat the dead trees and keep the forest green. There were trees that grew like a parasite around another trees, killing the original tree. The new tree would become hollow inside where the dead tree was – becoming a perfect protective home to wildlife. Everywhere you looked, things worked together, like pieces of a puzzle fitting together. This got me thinking about the “circle of life”. And I realized how out of balance we are. There are just too many people, and we don’t give back to the Earth. We are no longer part of the circle. This inspired me to write a song, “The Circle” which can be found on my CD, “Revelations”. I even recorded some forest sounds in the Osa Peninsula, which I included in the song. Here are the lyrics, and you can hear the song by clicking at the bottom. Let’s each do something to help our home become more balanced. Why not plant a tree? It is a start!
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Part of the journey in the lives of those of us who search for “more” is to discover who we “really are” – to get past the filters, and the cobwebs of the past and try to get to the core of what makes us who we are. And I can see from Sophia’s comment, and from the “vein of gold” theory, that being true to ourselves brings us the most freedom and the most joy in life. It is a quest to uncover what’s already there.
A song from my first CD, “Infinite Man” encapsulates this idea – that we are all we need. It is the song, “No”, and it is a reminder that we are perfect the way we are. You can hear it here:
In a world where the amount of fame, or “likes”, or online followers is how we are measured, it is easy to lose sight of what’s important and forget that we are so much more than what we do or accomplish. We each have gifts and qualities that can’t be measured, but only expressed and shared. And they are ten times more valuable to the quality of our lives than any amount of internet “likes”.
For those of you not familiar with Sophia Loren’s work (and those of you who are, too), I’ll leave you with a clip from one of my three favorite Sophia Loren films, “Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow” – one of her many directed by Vittorio De Sica, and costarring her most frequent costar, Marcello Mastroianni. Here, she plays a high class prostitute, and Marcello wonderfully plays her regular client. She remembers at the end that she made a vow not to have sex for a week. The clip doesn’t have English subtitles, but even without knowing Italian you can see a great actress at work! And she is as sexy as one can possibly get in this clip, too! Enjoy!
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I attended the TCM (Turner Classic Movie) Film Festival in Hollywood over the weekend, seeing 9 films – many I had seen before and a few new to me. I started the festival with a screening of the 1936 classic screwball comedy, “My Man Godfrey”, which I’ve seen many times, but this is the first time on the big screen. It was literally like seeing it for the first time – and what a fantastic film! Wow! Afterwards, it got me thinking…
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This past week the TV Show, “Glee” came to an end. The show was a breakthrough on many levels: it blended episodic narrative with musical numbers; it changed perceptions about disabled, gay, lesbian, transgendered and other minorities with its messages of tolerance and acceptance; and it even made “Glee Clubs” cool! The heart of the show revolved around a group of kids who didn’t fit in, joined the Glee Club, and found acceptance with each other. We in turn accepted them. I tend to think everyone at one point or another in their lives feels like the underdog or the outsider who doesn’t fit in and longs to be accepted. I was a fan of the show, and was lucky enough to be invited to visit the set during filming in December 2011. I have very fond memories of the cast, the sets and the crew. It was magical.
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I just updated my blog program, and inadvertently resent old posts to subscribers. I’m so sorry for the inconvenience, and it shouldn’t happen again!
There will be a new blog post in the next day or two – and no more old ones will be sent.
Again, so sorry for the barrage!
All my best,
Jay
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Seeing as yesterday was the first day of spring, as well as a super moon – (when the moon is closest to the earth), seems fitting to begin a new chapter. The news stories and blogs I read about the equinox and moon say it is a great time to plant new seeds, and a high time for creativity. That has led me to think about my perception of the world and how it gets expressed in my creativity – most notably in my songs and my acting performances. Working as an actor for decades, I studied human behavior, which helped me come to my own conclusions about what it is to be human, and what is the human condition. I have a need to connect with my audience through my work on an emotional level, and have people get in touch with their own emotions. I have a desire to transform the world into a better place, by having people open their minds and look at life differently.
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I have a new music video out today for another song from “The Ride”! The song is “Taking the Long Way Home”. It is an animated video (I did the animation myself). Enjoy, and please share it! And don’t forget to subscribe to my YouTube Channel to make sure you see all my upcoming and past videos! Thanks!!
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