Life is Magic |
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Learn More about the Learn about how you can save the rainforest
and build your own sustainable economic future Read about Julia's favorite herbs at www.JungleJulia.com To contact Julia Stege email HOME | AMAZON HERBS | RAINFOREST SKIN CARE | HEALTHY PETS | SAVE THE RAINFOREST / BIZ | JUNGLE JULIA All content, graphic design, illustrations and website programming copyright 2006 by Julia Stege and www.graphicgirlz.com
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Sustainable Activism: How Saving the Rainforest is Saving My Life I remember the first Earth Day back in 1970. I was ten years old, and my art teacher gave us an assignment to make posters protesting pollution. I paired up with a classmate and created a poster that read, “Stop Pollution Now!” and featured a drawing of smoke stacks and dripping toxic sludge amid a dying wasteland. This was the first time I realized that pollution was a growing problem, and that we had to do something to stop it. As I got older, I slowly became more and more politically aware, and tried to do my part to stop war and protest against nukes and for human rights. By the time I reached my mid-twenties, I was attending grad school and growing into a full-time activist, learning about computer graphics and doing whatever I could to educate others and myself on environmentalism, economics, feminism, and revolutionary history. I even co-founded several organizations designed to promote freedom and protest oppression everywhere. Protesting energized me. I enjoyed getting in the paper, making political documentaries, engaging in philosophical debates and leading marches. Though I was energized, I noticed others burning out on all the activity. Some would come to a few meetings or rallies and then just disappear, frightened by the consequences of taking a stand. Others would allow ideological differences to cause disputes and splits. Day after day, conservative journalists targeted our organizational activities, often with negative and dishonest reviews, and I endured fighting both with my opponents and with my organizational comrades. A few times even friends turned against us, printing fliers full of slander and disdain. Despite the pressures, I committed myself to a life of contribution and activism, and structured my design career around my revolutionary lifestyle. By the time I met Kathy Coffey, a field rep for the Amazon Herb Company, I was deep into an “activists block” of sorts. I hadn’t been to a rally in months, and I was getting ready to leave an infighting-fraught political group I’d been attending for twelve years. Her offer to “help save the rainforest through taking wild-crafted jungle food sustainably harvested by indigenous tribes of the Amazon” was intriguing to me. I signed on and started ingesting the wild plants of the rainforest, but I resisted Kathy’s urging to become a field rep. I didn’t see myself as a salesperson, and didn’t see the opportunity to turn my activism into a career. In fact, the very idea of an activist career was antithetical to me. Then the herbs started transforming my body, my mind, and my spirit. I had always thought I was a healthy person until I started taking the Amazon Herbs, and experienced a whole new level of life energy, stamina, and power. My muscles became stronger, my mood lighter, and my mind clearer. I watched Kathy move gracefully through her life, turning people on to these life altering herbs, working with the Indigenous tribes to save the rainforest, and helping her friends become prosperous through her company’s generous referral bonus plan. The more Kathy gave to her cause, the more she got back in return. I began to understand that Kathy’s activism is sustainable because it is a perfect circle of giving and receiving, and the rewards are exponential. Since it’s founding in the late 80s, the Amazon Herb Company has contributed to the preservation of over 300,000 acres of pristine Peruvian rainforest, has thwarted the extinction of over 14 Indigenous communities, and has revived the ancient shamanic traditions of the region. The company offers their tribal partners a viable economic alternative to logging because sustainably harvesting the herbs makes the rainforest more valuable alive than dead. (In fact, whereas one clear-cut acre brings a tribe only $400 and is permanently destroyed in the process, one sustainably harvested acre of rainforest yields $2,400 each year, indefinitely.) In return, the rainforest offers to us her life-enhancing nutrition to help us combat the growing health challenges of our age. Of the 200,000 species of plants in the rainforest, only 2% have been studied for their medicinal properties, and of that tiny percent are derived 40% of our pharmaceuticals. Clearly the cause of the rainforest is also the cause of humanity. After taking the herbs for almost two years, I decided to commit myself to the rainforest, and give back to her by spending time and energy introducing her life-giving remedies to people I meet. I stopped fighting against anything, and began working toward a new sustainable future where people of differing cultures partner together to heal our bodies and preserve the environment. Wild food from the belly of the Earth contains within it knowledge from thousands of years of thriving in perfect harmony. When I eat this food, I become this food, I ingest this knowledge, my body becomes balanced, and I too experience harmony. When I share this food with others, I receive a residual income that now covers my rent, and will continue to grow until these treasures of the rainforest sustain my full-time activism. I’ve been a part-time field rep for Amazon Herb Company for four years now, and I have met dozens of others who are engaging in this sustainable activism. Each of them offers their own unique creativity to the project, and as the years pass, I see a growing sense of unity and love among the reps rather than infighting and splits. We share a common vision, to save the entire Amazon River Basin, a rainforest the size of the United States, from extinction. Each other’s success is thus our own. If you are looking to contribute to the world in a way that brings you more health, energy and prosperity, I invite you to explore the opportunity that the Amazon Herb Company offers. We sponsor many educational events, herbal tea parties, eco-business trainings and workshops. For more information and/or a free herbal sample, contact Julia Stege at 707-823-3316, email julia @lifeismagic.com. “When the big trees are gone, the birds have no home and our children will not know the joy of their songs. And now, with you, we have rice and manioc and machetes and things for our people. And for you, these plants so your people can know the power of the forest. And now when the sun comes, the big trees will be there to greet the morning. I have traveled for many days and this is what I know.” Hear a "Voice of the Amazon" recording of Julia Stege and Kathy Coffey discussing Sustainable Activism
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