Idle No More - So Radiant As to Illuminiate the World

Idle No More

"I want to pass this planet to my son
A little better than it was when they handed it to me..."

Indigenous people world-wide are raising their voices in chorus - calling all people to embrace and protect our Earth -
"...this is anybody's movement who wants to stand up for the Earth and women and also make a positive change in the community.... It's about clean water. It's about clean air. It's about safety for all women. It's about making a positive change in our communities."





The movement was initiated by activists Nina Wilson, Sheelah Mclean, Sylvia McAdam and Jessica Gordon in November 2012, during a teach-in at Station 20 West in Saskatoon called "Idle No More," held in response to the Canadian government's introduction of Bill C-45.
C-45 is a large omnibus bill implementing numerous measures, many of which activists claim weaken environmental protection laws in Canada. In particular, laws protecting all of the Canada's navigable waterways were limited in scope to protect only a few waterways of practical importance for navigation.
source http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idle_No_More
Idle No More's origins have grown by leaps and bounds - to a global embrace and pronouncement - such as in:


San Francisco Bay Area - San Jose, CA


Australia


New Zealand


Los Angeles


and New York City




Idle No More is everyone's movement and the library has the resources for some EARTH ACTION, such as these for just a start:

Resources for Earth Action

Moral Ground	Do Something!
47 Things You Can Do for the Environment	The Young Activist's Guide to Building A Green Movement + Changing the World
The We Generation	Changing Habits, Living Green
Daring to Be Ourselves	Planting Seeds

Idle No More: Hints of a Global Super-Movement

by Jacob Devaney

And for up-to-date local, Bay Area information on Idle No More:
https://www.facebook.com/IdleNoMoreBayAreaCalifornia

Chickens on a Frosty Morning

Here we go round the mulberry bush,
the mulberry bush, the mulberry bush,
Here we go round the mulberry bush
On a cold and frosty morning

 

This morning it was frosty on the grass, on the trees, on the roof of the chicken coop. Alice stared at the white stuff, all crackly under her feet. When she pecked at the water in the bucket it had a hardness like glass that broke in pieces. And it was coooold!

Alice: Whoa! This must be ice on the water and...that white stuff on everything must be frost!

 

 

 

Twelve Kinds of Ice

 

Alice: It's just like in the book - it's the --

First ice...

"The First Ice: The first ice came on the sheep pails in the barn--a skim of ice so thin that it broke when we touched it."

Joanie B: Cluck, cluck, cluck - First Ice is the only ice in Milpitas, California.

(Having experienced 3 1/2 winters, Joanie B. knew her Milpitas, California kinds of ice in winter - one.)

Joanie B: ...but...first ice might come again -- a second or third time this winter - if we are clucky, er lucky.. braawwk!

Alice: Wraaaeeell - it's a good thing we have the Milpitas Library and library books or we wouldn't know about the other 11 kinds of ice - or even - what snow is - like these chickens do somewhere in Minnesota, North Dakota or Maine:

Notes from Laurenjoan

As Terry Golson of HenCam.com states on her blog - "An average chicken has 8,500 feathers. That makes for a warm coat. Like her wild bird cousins, a chicken will fluff up, trap air under her down, and stay cozy, even in below freezing temperatures."

So, no worries about Alice and Joanie B. in the cold....

And, when I see the frost and the ice on the water trough, I feel a sense of wonder and joy - especially because it is so short lived here in the Bay Area. Once the sun hits the frozen water - it is melted in a blink - whoa - where'd it go? I guess that's why I liked Twelve Kinds of Ice; I can experience the other 11 kinds of ice in the comfort of California!

Also, its nice to find images on Google that look like Alice, the chicken of the snow -

But by reading Twelve Kinds of Ice, I realize that maybe we can have another kind of ice here in Milpitas....

 

 

Dream Ice

"This ice came in our sleep. We never knew when it would come, but when it did, we could skate anywhere we wanted--down roads, in and out of yards, and over the tops of trees..."

even in Milpitas, California.

Twelve Kinds of Ice

Where Chickens and Children Sleep

Alice and Joanie B. were feeling thankful in the New Year, especially as they watched Laurenjoan clean-up their coop. She was covered in mud, poop, straw, and her shoes were all wet.

Joanie B: Thank grawkness.

Alice: Braawk! Yes, a nice clean coop to sleep in tonight and a warm nest to lay our eggs.

Joanie B: And good chicken scratch to eat - or blueberries or animal crackers...

Alice: It's good to be an American Chicken.

Joanie B: Hmmmm...I wonder where chickens sleep in other countries....like:

Spain

...or...

South Africa

...or...

Senegal

...or...

Malawi

...or even...

Ireland

Alice: Coo-coo-coops and chickens are as different as one country is from another...some have to scrabble and some get to scratch...

Joanie B: Just like where children sleep in places like....

Sengal

...or...

Kentucky

...or even...

Japan

Alice: Crawkkk! Children and where they sleep, makes me think of a book at the Milpitas Library, its called -

Where Children Sleep

Laurenjoan: Where Children Sleep is a book by James Mollison. It's a pictorial essay about how children live around the world. As James Mollison states on his website:

Where Children Sleep - stories of diverse children around the world, told through portraits and pictures of their bedrooms.... It occurred to me that a way to address some of the complex situations and social issues affecting children would be to look at the bedrooms of children in all kinds of different circumstances...

Laurenjoan: Check out the book or just visit the James Mollison's website for more information...

...or...

Stop by the Children's Room at the Milpitas Library throughout January 2013 and check out the display featuring Where Children Sleep....

Chickens, Preschoolers, and Some Mud

Rain, rain, go away

Come again another day

Little Arthur wants to play.

Little Arthur wants to play in the mud after the rain because Little Arthur knows, like any good scientist, that there's lots to learn out in the messy world of mud and bugs and grass! Just take it from the Mother of 5 Little Chickens:

Said the first little chicken with a queer little squirm,
“Oh, I wish I could find a fat little worm!”

Said the second little chicken with an odd little shrug,
“Oh, I wish I could find a fat little bug!”

Said the third little chicken with a little sigh of grief,
“Oh, I wish I could find a green little leaf!”

Said the fourth little chicken with a sharp little squeal,
“Oh, I wish I could find some nice yellow meal!”

Said the fifth little chicken with a faint little moan,
“Oh, I wish I could find a wee gravel stone!”

“Now see here!” said their mother from the green garden patch,
“If you want any breakfast, you just come here and scratch!”

Mother Hen knows the value of scratching and digging in the mud. And so do preschoolers - they're not getting into things and getting dirty from mud pies - they are learning:


"The main thing is that they're drawing conclusions from data and evidence and experiences the same way scientists are - by making hypotheses, testing them, analyzing statistics and even doing experiments, even though when they do experiments, it's called 'getting into everything,' " said Alison Gopnik, a UC Berkeley psychology professor who is known for her work in the areas of cognitive and language development, specializing in the effect of language on thought, the development of a theory of mind, and causal learning. (Read more at: Preschoolers at play show science skills, San Francisco Chronicle, Monday, November 26, 2012.)




Mother Hen knows what she squawks about - here's what the experts are crowing:

“Contrary to what one may hear from the industry, chickens are not mindless, simple automata but are complex behaviorally, do quite well in learning, show a rich social organization, and have a diverse repertoire of calls. Anyone who has kept barnyard chickens also recognizes their significant differences in personality.” Dr. Bernard Rollin, Professor of Animal Science at Colorado State University, Farm Animal Welfare: School, Bioethical, and Research Issues (Iowa State University Press, 1995, p. 118).

“[I]t is now clear that birds have cognitive capacities equivalent to those of mammals, even primates.” Rogers LJ, The Development of Brain and Behaviour in the Chicken (Wallingford, Oxon, U.K.: CABI Publishing, 1995, p. 217).

Listen to Mother Hen - try a little mud science today! Here's some good stories to go with that advice:

Mud Stories and More...

Mud Is Cake	Mud
Five Little Chicks	Stuck in the Mud
Welcome to your Child's Brain	Smart Parenting, Smarter Kids