Hitchhiker's guide to extinction

If you dream of a resolution to situations of pending animal extinctions, it's wise to hitchhike around your local library, community and Internet and obtain information. You can organize your own guide to extinction, and decide how endangered species affect who and where you are.  If you feel disconnected from this scheme of things, track how you live and the nature of your choices. How do you travel? What products do you use? Where do you shop? Where do your things originate? Who makes them?

Environmental reports continue to be published and inform the world about dangers of global warming. Yet, few people realize that as well as negative effects of climate change, humans also kill off animal species at alarming rates, mostly for food and inappropriate landscape management. This reality reflects a blatant disregard for balance in ecosystems. Since most people desire to increase the likelihood of human survival long-term, it makes sense to understand what's going on with the animal populations. After all, their fate could be our fate. Is that what you desire?

As of 2005, according to a study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 794 animal species were on the brink of extinction. Now, nearly 51 percent (408 species) of the listed species are amphibians, showing serious threat of a group that includes frogs, toads, salamanders and caecilians. Since the late 1970s, amphibian populations have been declining and 129 species have been reported extinct since 1980. In 2005, a thorough survey of amphibians found nearly a third (32%) of the world's 5743 known amphibian species are threatened. While scientists can't say exactly what causes this decline, global climate change has been strongly linked to a deadly fungal disease, a possible reaction to undue stress.

Many people wonder what initiatives are being taken to reverse this destructive process, and what we can do as individuals to make a difference. As you think locally and also more globally, you may be pleasantly surprised to discover passions that help you shape and inspire new kinds of dreams.

1) Join an organization. Many groups organize initiatives in different countries to focus on saving particular species. You can choose a continent, country or animal to support and help you narrow choices. Support may include; volunteering, funding and contributions in-kind. You can participate on-line, in an office role, a wildlife park, zoo or somewhere in the field, working with penguins, sea turtles or other species.

2) Plant bushes and trees with berries or nuts. These serve as useful food sources for birds and other animals, while also providing much needed shelter. Why not do this with a child or friend? It’s a great activity to suggest for boys and girls clubs as well as school or neighborhood projects.

3) Join or found a bird watcher’s club. You can look into local species and learn more about creatures you have seen and promote their return next year. Regardless of age or background, its an opportunity to bring like-minded people together in an Audubon society. Invite local experts. Set up birdhouses and birdbaths as projects to assist creatures and invite more regular visits.

4) Help preserve your local habitat. Remove "invasive species" that could disrupt local animal food sources. Take advantage of the opportunity to learn about what is natural vegetation and what is foreign. Which animals consume what plants? Chat with local nursery owner or vegetation expert. Read. Unwelcome species crowd out native plants critical to survival of area wildlife. You may discover people involved in or interested in initiating projects you would join too.

5) Adopt a foreign animal. Much like adopt foster child organizations, you can adopt a foreign animal through different kinds of sponsorship programs. This can be done through the post, the Internet and Rotary. Ideas may appeal to school children who would appreciate a class project.

6) Help rebuild threatened riverbanks. Replanting native trees on riverbanks will help keep soil from crumbling. Take time to collect garbage on waterfronts and beaches as well. Community fundraisers have been known to help create more sustainable habitat for birds, fish and animals.

7) Look into community wildlife restoration. The museum may be a good place to contact specialists in butterflies and insects as well as other local wildlife. Check out your local high school and university science departments, government environmental departments. You'll find different people versed in areas of possible interest. As you learn what exists, go choose.

8) Get active in Frog watch and Toad monitoring. Various countries aware of the growing decline of amphibians have initiated activities to help citizens keep track of these creatures. Consult http://www.nwf.org/frogwatchUSA/ or your local wildlife office for details.

Leave the realm of "I died yesterday"

Imagine someone asks you what you truly wish to do. What would you reply? As for people who are aware of some key hope or desire, they may say it, but usually add reasons why they feel unable to make it happen. You may know someone like this or it may sound a lot like you.

Now, if part of someone you know feels trapped in their own life, it's not you're role to cause them to change. Yet, if it's you who feels confined in some kind of life which is incompatible with who you are, then its time to leave the realm "where you died yesterday." How much of your life will you choose to reclaim? Part of you believes you may have to fight. Ask yourself from whom you wish to reclaim your life, if it isn't from yourself and an inappropriate mindset.

In essense, for a time, you have inadvertently chosen to give at least part of your life away. You may devote time to causes, give money to people, and do other things that make you feel good. The spirit of giving isn't the issue. Rather, its the things you do which cause you to wish you were somewhere else doing something else. Is this because you choose not to learn from a potentially valuable situation? Or, do you accept being what you're not so much you almost come to believe it? Only you can determine the level of contentment and joy inside of your own soul.

The idea of coming into yourself is always possible. You exist to get-to-know yourself better and reading this article is guiding you deeper into that experience. The more you realize what you don't wish to continue doing, the closer you get to what you really aim to accomplish. This isn't what you're doing now, but you had to experience that to move ahead. Now, you're more likely to take steps. As you ask new questions, you reach out and find clues to answers you already know inside.

If your dream would require you to give up all that you know and yet, you prevent yourself from taking a leap of faith, then the world will respond by holding you back from other opportunities. It deems you're not ready. Your behaviour is your own statement of what is enough of what kind of existence. Redefine your view of what is enough of your past and current experience. Rather than think of not having enough of things, consider what it would take to reverse your thoughts. How you think determines the energy you produce, and what you believe will come to pass.

The ultimate alibi

To meet someone on the road may have more significance than you realize.  This person, regardless of their physical appearance, or what they may say, draws attention to you.  Imagine everyone you met was your clone.  If this was true, it would be difficult to describe who you are, to be in a position to distinguish yourself from other people.  If we thought people were all the same inside, it would also be hard to expand experiences of who you are. The question is, do you recognize learning opportunities take the form of people or permit it to simply pass you by?

A friend of mine is developing his character by investigating the newly-discovered, suspicious practices of his business partner. If the situation had been discovered a year ago, its unlikely he would be taking his current approach to uncover the truth.  This friend's original plan was to turn a blind eye and escape from details he didn't wish to know. And then, out of the blue, he was recontacted by an old school friend to reconnect. Turned out this old friend had a shockingly similar experience with a former business partner.  Old friends tightened their bond by helping each other. My friend has been learning new ways to step outside his comfort zone. He considers his old friend a guardian angel who entered his life when he had been trapped in a prison of fear.

What is your ultimate alibi for not doing what you know in your heart to be the right thing? You may offer excuses as an effort to convince yourself what you're doing or not doing is acceptable to yourself. You might remind yourself a difference exists between creating a meaningful life and trying to eek out a living. If part of you is living in a state of quiet desperation, doing what you think you must do in order to survive, perhaps its time to redefine the meaning of your survival? As you learn to look beyond what you have to lose, you'll discover everything you have to gain.

My own life has taught me we construct our understanding of survival and this may go far beyond satisfying basic needs. In speaking with passing strangers, and in particular, a man I recently met on a plane who could a recent encounter with a guardian angel, my attention was drawn back to what has always brought my soul its greatest joy. In our exchanges since, I've thought back to having referred to some of my greatest passions as "alibis." I sensed I was just biding time for something other people thought was better for me, when I knew myself what was best all the time.

After all is said and done, to whom to we owe our greatest sense of responsibility, if not to ourselves? In case you forgot, you're your ultimate alibi, from the moment you are born until the day you die. Guardian angels you meet throughout your life will remind you of this. Yet, will you listen?

Discover your own yellow brick road

Many people think of Frank Baum's classic story of The Wizard of Oz and recall the yellow brick road.  This was the golden path Dorothy chose to follow to get where she wanted to go.  The goal she talked about most was her desire to find the great wizard and ask him to send her home to her beloved Kansas. Yet, along that journey, she realized that she had other goals and she took detours to realize those in her own time.

The obstacles Dorothy encountered along the way teach us that none of us really does what we don't want to do.  She teaches us that even battling forces of evil we create in our minds, like witches and fierce creatures, this is alll done because of desired outcomes we hope our effort will produce.  Have you ever pretended you had no options as a way to persuade yourself to do things that made you feel awkward, scared or uncomfortable? Do you sense such goal-setting causes you to feel bad about your choices?

Now, your goal may not be to get to Kansas. You may not be on a religious quest for redemption a Buddhist quest for enlightenment, or another spiritual pilgrimage. The aim of your goals doesn't matter as much as taking the time to identify what they are and why you have them. We can learn many things about goal-setting from Dorothy too. Do you dream about what life may offer you beyond the bounds of your own life experience? Do you imagine what may be "over the rainbow?" Consider how you and people you know successfully negotiate different life journeys.

1) A perceived crisis triggers a need for goals. The death of the Wicked Witch of the East symbolizes the end of Dorothy's dependence on others and her choice to go off on her own. The times comes when you recognize what you've been doing no longer works for who you are. This realization is impetus for sitting down to decide on a new path. Where will you go and why?

2) We must face challenges. Like Dorothy, who learns to confront her own demons ("lions and tigers and bears, oh my!"), you must do what is necessary to recognize how you create fear, and for which reasons. Only then will you grasp what prevents you from achieving goals. You can be your own worst enemy, but gaining insight teaches the power to face new challenges is available.

3)Our self-discovery will inspire others. The Good Witch of the North provides Dorothy with periodic guidance, much like we might call out to our own guardian angels. Yet, this Good Witch allows Dorothy to make her own discoveries. The answers to her key questions are not provided. Dorothy then inspires self-discoveries by the Lion (who realizes he's the source of his own courage), of the tin man, (who realizes his inner goodness constitutes a heart), and the scarecrow (who decides he has more intelligence than he thought without a traditional brain).

4)  Integrate parts of your soul. Dorothy takes a winding road as a means to reach an awakening, her "higher self-realization." The nature of your chosen quest and the goals you define will fulfill psychological needs regardless of what people think or whether you realize your original goals. The key is to become better acquainted with how you think, feel and desire. They can change.

5) Success is relative. Dorothy has a different sense of success while in her world of Oz than when she awakens back in her bed in Kansas. Where she desires to go, with whom, and when reveals she often dwells on where she isn't, on what she doesn't have, or what she isn't doing. Although each of us can be motivated to work toward creating or achieving, it's important to recognize the meaning and impact of goals that got you where you are. They mean something too.

Just what you need to move ahead

1) What are the reasons you perform the job you have now?  It can also be framed as “what is the reason for reflecting on jobs right now” or “what task are you looking to accomplish” or “why are you here?” Few people have an accurate understanding of why they choose the jobs they do, why they choose to change at a particular time or remain in the same position without question.  This reflection is a fantastic way for you to find out critical details and move forward.

2) How have you exerted efforts to seek out more fulfilling tasks?  If you'd like more of a sense of progress, then you're going to love this step. This simple question asks survey takers to report their perception of their own effectiveness.  You can't rely on anything but honesty. Examine the sorts of things you have done, you do regularly and those things you would like to do. What is stopping you from moveing closer toward these goals? Are they as yet well-defined?

3) If you haven't accomplished what you set out to do, what's your explanation?  Gaining self- understanding, taking responsibility and accepting accountability for where you are will propel you forward.  Analysis for this question is done by organizing your responses into common themes and then rating them, prioritizing them, and uncovering any real explanations that may hide under prelimiary answers. In all likelihood, you have reasons for acting or not acting on impulse or feelings. Consider meaning behind your feelings.  Find new impetus to reframe your goals.