This edition brings you a different sort of program on Ecotopia. We celebrate the Winter Solstice, which occurred on Sunday, the 21st.   We read poetry, nonfiction, and prose poetry on the Winter Solstice in four parts. Part I pays tribute to the value that the Solstice brings into our lives, in our opportunity to appreciate and be at one with the gods of the dark.  Part II looks at the “Science and Culture” of the Winter Solstice and the way it has been observed in history and in different cultures.  Part III, “In the Garden,” we focus on how we can interact with the natural world, observing and participating in nature in our gardens and neighborhoods. The final Part, “Nature’s Future in Our Hands” looks at how we humans might disrupt and denigrate our world through bad decisions.

Listen to Ecotopia #12 Online Now!

Part I: The Solstice in Our Lives

We begin our celebration of the Winter Solstice by reading a piece by Judith Rich: A Paean to the Pregnant Darkness.   www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-judith-rich/winter-solstice-a-paean-t_b_149801.html

Part II: Science and Culture

·  Material on the nature of the solstice and some of its global traditions, prehistoric to modern, with reading from www.Candlegrove.Com.

·   “Just Delicate Needles” by Rolf Jacobsen and Translated by Robert Hedin  http://depine1pssets.greatestjournal.com/4305.html

·   “The Unconquered Sun,” by Janet Shotwell, in the Karma Dzong Banner. http://www.shambhala.org/arts/fest/unconquered.html

·   “Toward the Winter Solstice”  by Timothy Steele http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/toward-the-winter-solstice/

Part III: In the Garden

·   Northern California Gardening  by Katherine Grace Endicott (Chronicle Books).

·   Snow in the Suburbs  by Thomas Hardy, http://www.universalteacher.org.uk/grammar/snow.htm

·   Early Frost by Scott Cairns http://www.poetryfoundation.org/archive/poem.html?id=177148

·   Good-bye, and Keep Cold by Robert Frost http://quotations.about.com/cs/poemlyrics/a/Good_Bye_And_Ke.htm

Part IV: Nature is in Our Hands

·         Carl Sagan, “The Nuclear Winter” http://www.cooperativeindividualism.org/sagan_nuclear_winter.html

·         The Union of Concerned Scientists “Doomsday Clock” http://www.thebulletin.org/content/doomsday-clock/timeline

·         Carl Pope, Executive Director of the Sierra Club, on CNN http://www.edition.cnn.com/2008/TECH/12/17/pope.climate/index.html

·         Lines for Winter  by Mark Strand http://famouspoetsandpoems.com/poets/mark_strand/poems/11838

Play List

  • Winter Solstice Night          4:09    Dolmen          Winter Solstice         Rock              
  • Winter Solstice         8:16    Phil Thornton                       Solstice          New Age
  • Winter Solstice Theme (Classical Guitar)           26:09  Michael Silvestri       Winter Solstice            New Age                               
  • Winter (Concerto # 4 In F Minor, Rv 297): Allegro Non Molto/Largo/Allegro 8:13    Vivaldi Orchestra            Vivaldi: The Four Seasons            Classical
  • Winter Solstice  3:47           Michele Mclaughlin Christmas – Plain & Simple           New Age
  • In The Winter’s Pale            3:38    Tim Story       Winter’s Solstice VI  New Age

 

No Comments »