I have not always been a Tree Hugger. Oh, since about the age of seven, I was always smitten with one special tree or another -- a cottonwood, maybe, any number of willows, a delicate mimosa. Even during the 25 years I lived in virtually treeless New York City, there was always some neighborhood tree that won my heart. But until I moved to the Pacific Northwest 15 years ago, however, I was true to one tree at a time -- monLOGamous, you could say.
Confronted with the lush, year-round verdancy of the Old Growth forests in my new home, I quickly became poLOGamous, loving them all equally and with utter abandon. Those trees are so ancient, hundreds of years old some of them, and they radiate a kind of wisdom and serenity to those who will listen. It feels criminal to take their lives, but that is exactly what I have witnessed and mourned these 15 years, seeing entire forested hillsides slashed. And with relentless deforestation, the air quality has diminished, the water supplies dwindled, even several years of drought replacing the area's abundant rains as some of our hemisphere's few remaining rain forests disappear.
The Pacific Northwest isn't the only region to be concerned about. A website called Worldometers tracks a variety of vital statistics, with continual real time updating. One of the statistics is the number of hectares of forests lost per year. When I checked at 6:00 PM on July 17, 2007, there had already been 6,150,000 lost for the year. You can see how much more is gone as of today's date by clicking
here.
I'd written twelve hard copy books about astrology and other metaphysical topics, but there came a time several years back when my heart told me I could no longer publish my work on paper, but only in digital format. This has NOT been a popular decision -- feedback from my formerly devoted readers has been disapproving to downright hostile. Book sales took a heavy hit for the first few years, but now they are rising again as people get used to the technology.
College students today are accustomed to learning this way, the cost of printed textbooks having become prohibitive. For many of you, however, ebooks are a new experience, though they have been widely available on internet sites for quite a few years. So that more of you can try them out, I am making a special offer in this issue of Vibration. The first 15 of you who write to me and SWEAR on your most beloved plant friends NOT to print them out on paper can have a free copy of my ebook, Flower Remedies: How Plants' Energies Can Heal Us, a $15 value. To ask for a copy, write to Donna here.
I am also offering free to any and all readers a copy of Hotline to
Heaven, a mystery novel that chronicles the adventures of astrologer,
Jillian Malone, and Tarot reader, Robert Pierce, friends who -- under duress
-- leave New York City and move to Port Townsend, Washington, to work on a
psychic hotline. Jillian, who is hoping for peace of mind and romance in her
new home, instead finds herself in hot water and eventually in personal
peril when a series of murders happens in this seemingly idyllic mountain
town. While juggling the demands of working on a hotline and pursuing a
shaky romance with a handsome policeman, Jillian learns firsthand about
angels and their human opposites. Download Hotline to Heaven here. If you
enjoy the free mystery, send Donna an e-mail and let her know!
My co-editor, Dr. Deborah Bier, has several ebook titles available about flower essences. The newest one, which is all about essences for better relationships, is a unique approach to the subject... one very much enhanced by the full-color capability of this type of publishing. Find all her published titles on her website here.
I've written an easy guide for those who've never used an e-book
before, complete with pictures of how your computer screen will look at each
step -- open it up by clicking here. Follow the easy steps, and you'll soon
be using it as confidently as any other text, but a text with some very
special features. (Can't download it? Ask for it by e-mail.)
With environmental concerns as my primary motivation, I've been pleasantly surprised at the advantages of electronic publishing. The technology isn't difficult, once you have the free Adobe Acrobat Reader program installed on your hard drive, and there are great features like being able to search the document in seconds for any topic or key word that interests you. I've had a delightful time, too, filling these books with photos and other graphics that vividly illustrate the points I am making. For instance, the flower essence book was much enhanced by photos of the actual flowers I was writing about. Looking at the photos of various flowers that essences have been made of while simultaneously reading a description of them, you get to know them much more intensely and immediately than with words alone.
Can ebooks save our forests, then? Perhaps not, but digital or online versions of books, magazines and newspapers can be a help in a committed effort including recycling newspapers, magazines, and other paper. I hope that the pictures that accompany this article -- and reading the other articles in this issue -- convince more people do to what they can to save our trees.
WANT MORE FREE EBOOKS? See the listings
on our Freebies page.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Vibration Co-Editor Donna Cunningham is an internationally-known astrologer and long-time
writer in the metaphysical fields. See her ebooks and writing seminars at
Moon Maven Publications.com.
ART CREDITS: Photos of clearcut forests ©2007 Lynne Herlacher.
The World Wide Essence Society does not mean to imply any recommendation of nor give certification to any individuals or companies above. This article is provided purely for informational purposes. We ask consumers to make their own determination as to quality of the services and products offered above. This article is not meant to be advice, and the information is not meant to replace medical or psychological treatment.
