Rosemarie Rowley » News

Message from Chief Seattle 1854 – it’s not too late!

Rosemarie Rowley — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 15:54:39 +0000

Chief Seattle, Chief of the Suquamish Indians allegedly wrote to the American Government in the 1800′s – In this letter he gave the most profound understanding of God in all Things. Here is his letter, which should be instilled in the hearts and minds of every parent and child in all the Nations of the World “The President in Washington sends word that he wishes to buy our land. But how can you buy or sell the sky? the land? The idea is strange to us. If we do not own the freshness of the air and the sparkle of the water, how can you buy them?
Every part of the earth is sacred to my people. Every shining pine needle, every sandy shore, every mist in the dark woods, every meadow, every humming insect. All are holy in the memory and experience of my people.
We know the sap which courses through the trees as we know the blood that courses through our veins. We are part of the earth and it is part of us. The perfumed flowers are our sisters. The bear, the deer, the great eagle, these are our brothers. The rocky crests, the dew in the meadow, the body heat of the pony, and man all belong to the same family.
The shining water that moves in the streams and rivers is not just water, but the blood of our ancestors. If we sell you our land, you must remember that it is sacred. Each glossy reflection in the clear waters of the lakes tells of events and memories in the life of my people. The water’s murmur is the voice of my father’s father.
The rivers are our brothers. They quench our thirst. They carry our canoes and feed our children. So you must give the rivers the kindness that you would give any brother.
If we sell you our land, remember that the air is precious to us, that the air shares its spirit with all the life that it supports. The wind that gave our grandfather his first breath also received his last sigh. The wind also gives our children the spirit of life. So if we sell our land, you must keep it apart and sacred, as a place where man can go to taste the wind that is sweetened by the meadow flowers.
Will you teach your children what we have taught our children? That the earth is our mother? What befalls the earth befalls all the sons of the earth.
This we know: the earth does not belong to man, man belongs to the earth. All things are connected like the blood that unites us all. Man did not weave the web of life, he is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself.
One thing we know: our God is also your God. The earth is precious to him and to harm the earth is to heap contempt on its creator.
Your destiny is a mystery to us. What will happen when the buffalo are all slaughtered? The wild horses tamed? What will happen when the secret corners of the forest are heavy with the scent of many men and the view of the ripe hills is blotted with talking wires? Where will the thicket be? Gone! Where will the eagle be? Gone! And what is to say goodbye to the swift pony and then hunt? The end of living and the beginning of survival.
When the last red man has vanished with this wilderness, and his memory is only the shadow of a cloud moving across the prairie, will these shores and forests still be here? Will there be any of the spirit of my people left?
We love this earth as a newborn loves its mother’s heartbeat. So, if we sell you our land, love it as we have loved it. Care for it, as we have cared for it. Hold in your mind the memory of the land as it is when you receive it. Preserve the land for all children, and love it, as God loves us.
As we are part of the land, you too are part of the land. This earth is precious to us. It is also precious to you.
One thing we know – there is only one God. No man, be he Red man or White man, can be apart. We ARE all brothers after all.”

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Plastic and Cancer – warning to parents

Rosemarie Rowley — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 13:15:20 +0000

Reading the book “Ecological Intelligence – Knowing the Hidden Impact of What We Buy” by Daniel Goleman,
an extremely valuable book linking us to the environmental and health cost to our purchases, I came across a reference in Chapter 5, p. 57; that the plastic in the bottles (of water) posed potential adverse health impacts from chemicals leaching into the bottled water. The suspected endocrine disrupter BPA (biphenol A, a basic chemical building block of many plastics) spreads into fluids fifty-five times faster than normal if the bottles are filled with boiling hot liquid – a common practice among climbers in cold climates and

routine with parents putting formula into plastic baby bottles.

The source quoted is from Scott Belcher “Biphenol-A Is Released from Polycarbonate Drinking Bottles and Mimics the Neurotoxic Actions of Estrogen in Developing Cerebellar Neurons,” -from Toxicology Letters January 30, 2008, pp.149-156.

This book “Ecological Intelligence” by Daniel Goleman is of major importance, analysing all the factors in the production of consumer items, and enlightening us on how best we can make choices for our health and the health of our planet.

Published in the UK by Allen Lane, Penguin, 2009, Euro 18.99, Sterling £16.99

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News about plastic and cancer

Rosemarie Rowley — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 12:28:27 +0000

CANCER News From John Hopkins Medical Center

JUST A REMINDER…….

No plastic containers in microwave
No plastic water bottles in freezer
No plastic wrap in microwave

Johns Hopkins has sent this out in their newsletter ..some time ago, it’s definitely worth repeating, and it’s definitely worth noting.

This information is being circulated at Walter Reed Army Medical Center

Don’t freeze your plastic water bottles with water as this releases dioxins in the plastic.

Dr. Edward Fujimoto from Castle Hospital was on a TV program a while back explaining this health hazard. (He is the manager of the Wellness Program at the hospital.)

He was talking about dioxins and how bad they are for some.

He said that we should not be heating our food in the microwave using plastic containers. This applies to foods that contain fat.

He said that the combination of fat, high heat and plastics releases dioxins into the food and ultimately into the cells of the body.

Dioxins are carcinogens and highly toxic to the cells of our bodies.

Instead, he recommends using glass, Corning Ware or ceramic containers for heating food. You get the same results, without the dioxins. So such things as TV dinners, instant processed food and soups, etc .should be removed from the container and heated in something else. Paper isn’t bad, but you don’t know what’s in the paper.

It’s just safer to use tempered glass, Corning Ware, etc.

He said we might remember when some of the fast food restaurants moved away from the foam containers to paper. The dioxin problem is one of the reasons. To add to this, plastic wrap placed over foods as they are nuked, with the high heat, actually drips poisonous toxins into the food; use paper towels.

Pass this on.

Thanks to Mairead for passing this on to me.

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Isn’t the Weather Horrible?

Rosemarie Rowley — Sat, 10 May 2008 14:23:30 +0000

Isn’t the weather horrible. It’s like global chilling, there is definitely a huge change in the weather. The poor trees don’t know what’s going on. They flower in November, again in February, and by April they are blighted, and I was looking forward to the cherry blossom in my front garden.

I don’t think I will ever fly long haul again, and am seriously cutting back on my travel. I have been invited to read my poetry at a conference in Brussels, organised by Dr Franca Bellarsi of the Universite Libre de Bruxelles, on behalf of the European Association for the study of literature, culture and the environment. It is paradoxical to be travelling to a ecology themed conference, yet it is an opportunity also to bring the work of a great Irish writer of nature, Patrick Kavanagh, to a world wide audience of literary specialists. In the future, I expect that most conferences will feature pod-casting, DVD viewing, and other marvels, instead of live presenters. The day is not far off
Still busy on my prose work, I am also putting together a word document for a friend, for publication of her poetry. I am enjoying reading too, including “The Classical World -n an Epic History of Greece and Rome” by Professor Robin Lane Fox of Oxford, and a chilling account of crime in our time, “McMafia” by Misha Glenny. It is time the problem of drugs and crime was tackled in a realistic way.
The poetry world has been saddened by the death of Robert Greacen, whose passing will be mourned. He was an individual voice of great courage.
The Trinity readings are still going on, I heard that Anne Enright gave a wonderful performance, and I bought her book of short stories, which are hilarious. However, I am not sure if they dig deep enough for me, I am curious as to how this post-modern society has come about, what lies there at the root. I do think growing up in a culture with so much advertising on television has to have some effect. I don’t like the idea that sex is used to sell everything. We are heading for a re-visit to the Roman Empire. Look what happened there. It’s happening around us, now. Help!

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Publications and readings

Rosemarie Rowley — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 16:22:10 +0000

On 28 February, I gave a reading for Poetry Ireland with Sheila O Hagan, it was also the occasion for the launch of the new edition of “In Memory of Her” – quite a few people have since told me they are enjoying the book, which contains two Epic winners in the Scottish International Poetry Competition, “Betrayal into Origin” and “The Wake of Wonder”. “Betrayal into Origin” is also entitled “Dancing and Revolution in the ‘Sixties” and images Ireland, personified as a woman who responds to the challenges of those times. I know personification of a woman can be problematic, but as she is also the narrator, the tone is not passive, but active, as it discusses some of the contentious issues of the day. It may seem a little rhetorical at times, but irony is intended.

Since then, I have been busy putting a prose work together, of uncertain destination as yet. I took some time off to hear the first of the Trinity Readings, organised by the Oscar Wilde School of Creative Writing in Trinity, and enjoyed tremendously the readings of Derek Mahon, Mary Morrissy and George Szirtes – the latter’s work seemed to me to be elegant, beautiful, sonorous and magical.

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Welcome to my new website

Rosemarie Rowley — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 23:30:23 +0000

Hello. It will take a while to get going but for now check my Biographical Note and Publications n the left hand panel.
More very soon.

Rosemarie

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