Since 1982, I have been writing about how how the choices we make at home affect our health and the environment. At first I was interested only in the effects of consumer products on my body. Then I became interested in how the consumer products I used affected the environment. I still write about these subjects as Debra Lynn Dadd.
But along the way, as I continued to ask the question, "How can I live in a way that is better for the environment?" more and more deeply, I "fell out" of the whole idea of the industrial consumer world that makes the products we use every day and found myself at home in Nature. In 1987, I realized that I needed to learn how to live in harmony with nature and write about it, and have been on that path since. I'm still focused on creating a life-giving home, it's just that now, "home" is a bigger place.
Let me tell you, understanding Nature requires a quantum leap out of the way we think in our industrial world. But I did it, so I know it is possible, and I believe everyone else in the world can do it, too.
As I began to study Nature, one of the first things to become quite apparent was that Nature is a marriage of spirit and matter. And so, for me, discovering my own spirituality has been as much a part of learning about nature as learning the laws of material sustainability. It is clear to me that we are all spiritual beings with minds and bodies, not bodies with minds and spirits. And as spiritual beings we have immense power to create our lives and our world any way we want it to be.
This page is the gateway to the first of what will probably be many websites that explore different aspects of understanding Nature and how we can live as the beings of Nature that we are. It is a work in progress, much like a patchwork quilt--a place where I can organize my thoughts and years of notes while I share what I've learned at the same time.
Here are some bits and pieces of what I've started to write so far:
A Blog About Restoring Awareness of Nature and Our Place In It
I make a new post to Rooted in Nature about once a week, on the days of the new, first quarter, full, and last quarter moons. I write about various experiences of awareness and activity as I go about making a transition from a life as an industrial consumer to a spiritual being living in nature.
How We Run Our Car on Vegetable Oil
My husband converted an old diesel Mercedes to run on vegetable oil, yes, straight waste vegetable oil, not biodiesel. Visit Veggie Car Man to see how he does it and read about our cross-country trip in the veggie oil car.
Amazing True Stories About Being a Spirit
At Signs of Spirit, my husband and I acknowledge and celebrate the spiritual aspect of life, through the time-honored activity of storytelling. Read stories written by us and others, and submit one of your own.
Books on Nature and Sustainability
See the books I've been reading on nature and sustainability at Debra's Bookstore. (Scroll down the left column to see the Living as Nature menu.)
Local Green Guides
Living more sustainably doesn't mean giving up shopping altogether. But it does mean supporting local economies where local products are made by local artisans using local materials. I've compiled a list of all the local shopping guides I know of at the Local Green Guides page of Debra's List.
Living Local in Clearwater Florida
Ultimately, sustainable living is about living in a place, in a way that supports the local ecosystem and the people who live there. Living Local in Clearwater Florida is a blog that chronicles my challenges living sustainably in my ecosystem, and applying sustainablity principles there. Even if you don't live in Clearwater, take a look, as it may inspire you to create a similar blog for the place where you live.
Much is being written today about crisis, problems, and fear as we experience the consequences of our agricultural/industrial society. But to me, we are at a time of opportunity, creative solutions, and hope. That's what this site is about.
The most fundamental problem of our times, in my opinion, is:
We have forgotten that we are spiritual beings dwelling in nature.
Here, we remember.
I love to hear from my visitors with any comments, questions, or feedback, so please feel free to write to me.
Debra Dadd Redalia
I think that deep in our DNA is this embedded memory of when we were not separated from the rest of the natural world--that we are part of it...And so when we enter a park, we're entering a place where at least an attempt has been made to keep it as it once was. We cross that boundary and suddenly we are part of the natural world. In that sense, it is like we are going home. It doesn't matter where we're from, we come back to a place that is where we came from.
~ Dayton Duncan
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