Welcome

Greetings! You’ll find tons of info on this blog.
It’s a place to find  resources, articles, updates and info about MSI, the world of experiential education, wilderness education,  sustainable travel, holistic living, service opportunities, and info about our world in which we live. Also leave a comment or feedback.

Here’s what you’ll find:

–Journal entries from
…expeditions/programs, and service projects.
–Articles by and on staff and board members
–News and articles on Peak Oil,
the environment, climate change, and life.
–Holistic living
–Resources on sustainable living
–Travel updates
–Opinion

You’ll see a range of topics as diverse as MSI.
On behalf of the Board of Directors,
Be Well,
Randy Richards, Founder, Executive Director
Mountain Spirit Institute
Sign up for our occasional newsletter by heading to our contact page and email us.
IMAGES: All images:  R. Richards, unless otherwise noted with credits, or public domain from Google images.

International Day of Climate Action

The 350 and 2030 Challenges
*By Harry Seidel, Owner
Alae Design

Going Places: 350.org

Last Saturday, Oct. 24th was the International Day of Climate Action, the single most widespread day of political action about any issue, our planet has ever seen. To attract global attention to the “350 Challenge” over 4,000 events took place simultaneously in more than 175 nations. Rather than describe the multitude of events here I would encourage you to visit www.350.org and see for yourself how very big this event was. Most of the events were digitally recorded and collected electronically into a massive compilation. So, what’s the fuss all about? What is the 350 Challenge? And why should we care?

“eco” Products now in USA

"eco" now in U.S.

New Zealand’s eco brand, now available in USA,
Just might take U.S. by storm,  one good product at a time.
By Randall Richards
My wife has been living in Kiwi-land for a while now, and when we got married in NZ, I couldn’t help but run into eco products throughout the country. Now back in the USA for a while,  I was about to have my sister-in-law ship some organic eco coconut soap stateside. Fortunately while on the phone with her I Google’d “eco usa” and found, lo and behold, their new USA website.

Here’s an excerpt on their voyage from Down under:

“Eco NZ was founded more than 15 years ago by Melanie and Malcolm Rands from their home in an eco village in New Zealand.

eco founder, Malcolm Rands

All of the families that lived in the farm based eco village shared a commitment to organic growing and healthy living, making this an ideal environment in which a young, environmentally conscious business could thrive. Each household in the village was responsible for their own waste water, which quickly highlighted the problems caused by using regular supermarket cleaning products that relied heavily on cheap, petroleum-based, synthetic ingredients.

MSI’s Blog: Up 700% in 1st Year

Mountain Spirit Institute celebrates Blog’s 1st year with 700% increase in readership.

By Randall Richards
A blog that started with 2 views in Oct 2008 and 286 one month later has grown 700% in one year to 2000 views per month. The one year anniversary of Mountain Spirit’s Blog has seen posts as diverse as the organization’s mission statement.  Seven months after the blog started the readership rose to 1,540 per month and has been growing steadily since its start.

MSI Blog growth: 1 year

Board members have occasionally contributed and are now adding more subject material as well as breadth and type of posts. Says MSI founder Richards of the blog, “It’s been a ball getting this blog going. It’s eclipsing our quarterly newsletter in activity and interest, so I think we’ll continue building it.

Special thanks go to MSI Board members for their contributions, and to executive director Martin Fox of Center for Global Leadership in Park City, Utah for his initial coaching on using WordPress.com as our blog.

Giardia Myth-Buster:

How Hearsay and Anecdotal Evidence has Created a False Industry Standard

By Erik Schlimmer

Avalanche Lake in the Adirondacks. Image: Craig Cimmons

There are many things outdoor educators agree on. For example, a warm meal feels great at the end of the day. Cotton fabrics take forever to dry in the field and should thus be avoided. Most small groups generate less impact than large groups do. Mosquitoes and black flies come straight from hell. And, all backcountry water must be treated due to the presence of Giardia, a protozoan that has infested water sources throughout the United States, causing the debilitating gastrointestinal illness giardiasis.

Now, there is no denying hot meals are soothing, cotton kills, good things come in small packages, and camping during bug season is cruel and unusual punishment. But, has Giardia really infested our water sources? Ask this question to nearly any outdoor educator and you will receive a harried, “Oh, yes it has!” However, to the above question I calmly answer, “No, it has not.” I teach a curriculum that embraces drinking straight from the source.

read the rest of this article:

MSI Co-sponsors “Fresh-The Movie”

"Fresh" Screening, in NH, USA

Mountain Spirit Institute is co-sponsoring the screening of the movie Fresh in New London, NH on Saturday November 21, at 7PM at the Whipple Auditorium on Main Street.

Says MSI director Randall Richards, “We saw the oportunity to get involved and help with the screening of this movie. We’re providing some desktop layout skills, and equipment for the showing.

Marketing and Development director Amanda Richards,  had heard about the movie Food.Inc, and having just arrived from New Zealand, had been concerned about what she was seeing in the U.S. food supply. When she heard that Linda Howes, CN, HHP, CBE was preparing to show the  movie Fresh, she decided to get involved. Howes is the local chapter representative of the Weston A Price Foundation and owner of Nourishing Wellness, in New London, NH.

Peruvian Music Video: Cusco

Online Release of Chimu Inka DVD
By Randall Richards

Chimu Inka's 3rd CD

This is short version of a video, taken a few years ago on the streets of Cusco. It’s a project to promote  my good friends, and Mountain Spirit Institute Program Chimu Inka and their US educational tour. The band toured the northeast US in the fall of 2008 and we have plans to sponsor their return again in 2010. These guys are amazing.

If you would like to help support their tour by a donation or help with logistics, please let us know. Their first tour was hugely popular, and we expect their second visit to be so too.
The group performed and taught about the spirit of Peruvian Folklore music in their country. They also spoke of their instruments and lifestyle in Peru in a series of Q&A sessions after and during their performances. They visited schools, universities, kindergartens, town bandstands and coffeehouses.
Although I’ve had this video on disk for a year, I’m finally getting it online tonight. This is a shortened version of the original production. The higher definition and longer version is available for purchase through our Fair Trade page.  I hope you enjoy watching this as much as I enjoyed taping and producing it. Enjoy!
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MSI Holds Retreat

Good Energy & Great Ideas at MSI’s Board Retreat
Mountain Spirit Held its bi-annual retreat recently at the home of Founder Randall Richards in Sunapee, NH, USA.  Board member Bob Stremba of Colorado, Craig Cimmons of Vermont and New Jersy, Cindy Heath of Plainfield, NH, R. Richards and Amanda Richards of New Hampshire and New Zealand, also attended.

The group discussed last years goals and achievements, plus future plans for fund raising, grant writing, and programs for the future.  Randy and Amanda Richards did a presentation on last summer’s Peru program, and plans were discussed to run the program again. New programs such as India, Everest Basecamp, and a Holistic Leadership Training program were discussed and planned.
The board also talked about updating and modifying the website.  Amanda Richards was also voted on as the newest member of the board, as well as being named treasurer.
A new boardmember search is planned which would focus on people with experience in donor relations and fund raising.

The following day the group, went for a day hike on Mt. Cardigan near Hanover, NH to walk and talk about ideas such as the mission and working on the board’s “elevator speech”, plus take in the view. They also had a ball getting out on the mountain for a crisp fall day in New England.

Below, four of the six board members pose for a group shot, which turned out to be a video instead.
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Health Care or The Environment.

Which Comes First?

A look at Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

By: Craig Cimmons

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

As an environmentalist, I paid close attention to the candidate’s environmental stances and solutions during the Presidential election of 2009. However, the more I listened, the more apparent something became. American citizens are not going to devote their full attention to the needs of the environment until their own needs are met. With America’s health care system in need of desperate repair, the average citizen is worrying about problems closer to home then the large scale, hard to understand, global environmental problems.

Families that are losing everything they own to fight a disease, (or live in fear of this happening) do not have any resources (time, energy and money) to devote to anything outside of these problems.  A family that is watching cancer slowly consume their loved one (and their life savings) should never be expected to fight enormous problems like global warming, peak oil and the steady decrease of drinking water.

MS Names New Board Member

Amanda Richards, MSI Board Member

Amanda Richards was named to the board of Directors of Mountain Spirit Institute, at the organization’s recent annual retreat held in Sunapee, NH. She was also elected treasurer.

Amanda brings a wealth of marketing and business background plus great energy and ideas to MSI.  She has also been a backcountry hut Ranger for the Department Conservation in New Zealand’s Mt. Aspiring National Park.  Amanda has trekked extensively in the Himalaya,  climbed Kilimanjaro in Africa, and done extensive adventures in New Zealand, Australia and other parts of the world.  She is a classically trained Homeopath and has a degree in science. She speaks conversational Spanish and English.
Says Richards of her new appointment, ” I’m thrilled to be part of the Mountain Spirit team, and look forward to contributing.”

Nice Place, Vermont

Cody Michaels Seen in Vermont,
I’m not too sure how long I’ll get away with this post. As soon as Cody finds out, he’ll probably make me pull it.
Nevertheless, solo pianist Cody Michaels is a hoot. I’ve known him for over twenty years. We first met ice climbing in North Cornflakes, New Hampshire.
He’s a funny guy, and I’ve always thought he’d be great on either radio or snippets such as this, and wanted to get him on tape doing interviews on various social observations. Give it go, and maybe we can convince him to do a bit more.
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