- Serenity Prayer by Sah D'Simone

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open share / musings

From the indigenous lands of the Shoshone, Bannock, Blackfoot, Crow, Flathead, Gros Ventre, and Nez Perce people,
I send you, Reader, my warmest greetings.

About a year ago, in the city of Guayaquil in Ecuador, an absolutely magical, memorable day was unfolding.
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I had begun that day well before dawn, after just 3 or 4 hours of slumber, alongside a dozen students from various universities in the U.S. and Canada. My mission as their coordinator was to get them to the airport for their return flight to N. America. Farewell was eminent as we had had spent 10 days together on the tropical coast of the country learning and practicing bamboo building and syntropic farming. It was delightful. It was also a fun throwback to my life a decade prior living and working in Panama for another non-governmental organization doing environmental work in rural communities.
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Yet with all those fun facts, that isn't what made me buzzing with overflowing excitement despite my lack of rest.
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You see, if we turn the time back another 5 years to 2017, during my time down under in Aotearoa (indigenous name for New Zealand), one of the hundreds of quality individuals I got to meet and spend time with was my now-lovely partner. Our friendship began as solely acquaintances, and did not deepen until years after I left Aotearoa. Through curiosity, honesty, openness, and intentionality, we found ourselves meeting up in the flesh on that very afternoon for the first time since early 2018.
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No expectations for what could happen or not (but who am I kidding right - as little as possible 🙃🤞🏾). What I do know as that we were both committed to link up, travel, be immersed, be supportive to one another, and be received by the people and the land in the regions we had (loosely) chosen to (re)explore.
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I don't think either of us could have imagined the outcome a solar cycle later. With my work visa application submitted 2 1/2 weeks ago, we now humbly, patiently wait for immigration's response and approval for my turn to traverse across the global for the next chapter of our adventure together. Wish us luck! 🍀
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Thank you so so much to those who have provided your experience with this process, who hosted us last year and earlier this year, and stepped up to write reference letters for the application - mil gracias. 🙏🏽🤍

So, as some of you know, the past 7 weeks have been quite the whirlwind! We left off from the previous newsletter in northern New Mexico in the beautiful town of Taos. Now, some 6000 km (3700 mi) later, here I am amongst the Teton range in the Rockies (once more), in huge thanks to my friend Sylvia (thank youuu!). The wedding in Chicago was a massive success! In addition, I got to record 3 conversations for the Wilderness Within podcast in this time period, and more are coming up in Montana and throughout the west coast in the coming week/months. Very exciting! In the past few days I've (finally) began writing the intro/script for the intro episode and intend to record it in June. Stay tuned!

Without chronologically getting into it all (perhaps a chapter in a future book is needed?! 😃), here are some highlights from life on the road, with old & new friends, surrounded by natural beauty, life unfolding serendipitously, and with much time for contemplation:

To my amazing patreon supporters - I have for you over 300 handpicked images & videos from the ground and the sky for your enjoyment, all in higher resolution with locations and some additional context noted. Big thank you for your continued support!! 🌟

Onwards to good news, original shares, and some recommendations below.

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global good news

Even if I stop creating this newsletter, I'd still be reading and clipping good news articles from around the internet. In fact, some of you readers are semi-regular recipients of my good news link drops, haha! Good news from sources such as Future Crunch, Good Good Good, and Upworthy have become a foundation of my well-being as I continue the intentional curation of my "news feed" on socials - often with success but there are most certainly still days where I find myself feeling the weight and cynisim of it all. That said, I present you, my dear audience who seem to adore this section as much as I do (I can tell from the link clicks + response emails 🙃), the positive news of recent times from around our earth:

• Teenage pregnancy among girls aged 15 to 19 in the Philippines has fallen from 8.6% in 2017 to 5.4% in 2022. This is good news for a country with one of the highest rates of teen pregnancy in the world, and comes off the back of last year's landmark ban on child marriage. The Star​
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• Brazil's Lula has delivered on one of his campaign promises by officially recognizing six Indigenous reservations last week. One of those territories is the land that Goldman Prize winner Alessandra Munduruku and her community have been working to get formally recognized for decades. Amazon Watch​
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• The US government has released $350 million for wildlife crossings to prevent deaths and improve habitat connectivity across the country. “Our country has been remarkably effective at building roads, and now we can start funding projects that will help America’s wildlife cross them." AP​

• Earlier this week, after a year of intense debate, Malaysia's parliament voted to remove the mandatory use of the death penalty, abolish natural-life prison sentences, and cut down on the number of crimes eligible for capital punishment. Human rights groups have hailed it as a major step forward. BBC​
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• ​Record numbers of river barriers were removed in Europe in 2022, with 325 taken down in 16 countries, allowing rivers to flow freely and fish to reach breeding areas. It's part of a bigger global trend: the world has now reached peak dams, the point at which the number of dams built annually levels off and begins to decline.
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• Voters in Wisconsin have won a major victory for reproductive rights, New Hampshire has stopped further restrictions on abortion access and instead passed legislation to protect it, Missouri is making period products free in schools, Maryland has strengthened transgender rights, Minnesota is making itself a safe refuge for transgender people, Kentucky just legalized cannabis, and the first over-the-counter opioid-overdose treatment is now available across the nation.
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• Brazil's Ministry of Indigenous Affairs is restoring sovereignty and bringing justice to Indigenous communities. Following the removal of tens of thousands of illegal miners from the lands of the Yanomami, the federal government is deploying healthcare services, food and relief. 78% of children with severe malnutrition have already gained weight.
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• The US Department of the Interior has pledged to tap into Indigenous knowledge and restore large bison herds to Native American lands. $25 million has been allocated to transfer more bison from federal to tribal lands and forge management agreements with tribes. Previous conservation efforts helped bison bounce back from near-extinction in the late 1880s. PBS​

• Over 100 countries now have a full or partial ban on single-use plastic bags, and it's starting to work. In combination with levies and taxes, numerous countries are seeing significant declines in plastic bag use, and the impact is visible on the ground too. “It’s really, really encouraging to see those numbers trending down."
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• A plastic bag ban in Philadelphia that went into effect on 1st July 2021 has prevented 200 million plastic bags from being used, the equivalent to filling City Hall every eight months. 'The ban had a huge, very positive impact. Municipalities all over Pennsylvania are now following Philadelphia and implementing their own plastic bag bans.' Inquirer​
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• India's Kuttamperoor River, declared biologically dead in 2005, has been brought back to life in the last five years thanks to the work of over 7,000 people, mostly women. It's part of a wider effort: last year the government released $19 million to restore 13 rivers across the country. Nspirement​

• We are approaching the beginning of the end of the fossil age. In 2023 the world will pass a critical turning point in renewable energy, with emissions from power, the largest source of global carbon pollution, expected to fall for the first time. "This could activate a tipping point in perceptions about our ability to deal with climate change." BBC​
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• Australia passed its most significant climate legislation in a decade, forcing coal mines and oil refineries to cut emissions, the first time pollution reduction has been written into Australian law. After years of inaction, there's a palpable sense of relief here and newfound optimism about the future of clean energy.
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• Electric trams are running again in Kyiv, electric scooters dot the sidewalks, and with curfew extended to midnight, the streets are bright and buzzing. The Kremlin’s campaign to break Ukraine by destroying its power grid failed. Not only did the grid survive, it was even able, in early March, to produce surplus energy for the first time in months. NYT​
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• Ten US states have now passed "shield laws" to protect transgender rights and provide sanctuary. Together, these places are establishing themselves as safe havens and recognizing the connection between gender-affirming care and abortion rights as part of a united struggle for bodily autonomy. Erin Reed​

• Bangladesh's clothing industry has been completely transformed thanks to labour laws passed after the Rana Plaza tragedy ten years ago. Over 80% of factories are now compliant with international safety standards. “It has undoubtedly saved thousands of lives, through ensuring repairs and renovations at more than 1,600 factories that employ two and a half million garment workers.” Al Jazeera​
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• China’s once-smog-choked skies are steadily improving, according to measurements taken by NASA. The speed at which China has done this is unprecedented, with average exposure to fine particulate matter falling by almost half since 2013, mostly as a result of stricter controls on industrial emissions. Nature​
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• The Dutch government says it will spend €28 billion by 2030 to meet its climate goals. A range of measures has been announced to drastically reduce carbon emissions, ranging from building large offshore solar farms to raising taxes for polluting industries. 'The Netherlands has for years missed its climate goals. Now it's time for a great leap forward.' Euro News​
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• Uganda has made notable progress in its fight against AIDS. Between 2010 and 2021, new HIV infections declined by 39%, and AIDS-related deaths fell from 51,000 a year to 17,000 a year, a decline of 67%. Hundreds of thousands of lives have been saved, and mother-to-child infections have plummeted too. New Vision​

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original work / offerings

This month I am happy to present an original video as deep and satisfying as the massage itself - a multi-person collaboration filmed on the coast of Oaxaca early in the year with Camila as a fellow videographer (& model😉) , Daniel as the amazing massage course facilitator & co-producer, and my homeboy Miguel as the co-editor along with me. This course started as an exchange for Camila and I to be models for the course so that the participants have a body on which the techniques can be demonstrated. Over time, I saw the potential in developing a larger array of media for Daniel to promote himself and his future courses wherever he goes. He has recently hosted workshops in Mexico, Germany, and other parts of Europe and has intentions to return to southeast/south Asia where he studied and has spent much time to offer massage courses like this one. To say that this was an experience that was both relaxing, enlightening, and fun creatively is still an understatement. Daniel is a gem of a human and instructor who holds space with gentle authority and patience, and brings so much heart to his teachings and guidance. It was much more than simply a massage course, as you'll hear & see in the video that came out of this collaborative, synergistic week together! You can find Daniel and his offerings on Instagram - @dan.healing.arts​

Thank you team - Camila, Daniel, Miguel, and the participants I got to interview - your presence, grace, communication & talent have made this possible!

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Some favorite moments from the massage course in stills (yes that's me in the nacho libre mask 😉):

recommendations

Being on the road with much time on my own for the past month and a half has allowed me to read/watch/listen a plethora of amazing content. I am continually staggered by the quality and depth of creations folks from around the world are creating - it motivates me to step up my game while also finding my own voice. It was no easy task to choose the best-of gems for each newsletter. The following 2 videos are wonderful in their own rights. The first one is... well, allow me to present you the title and description by the filmmaker themself:

​RUNNING from PAIN - And when we stop, we find peace.​

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The next video features folks in Hawaii who are leading the way by leaning back into traditions of food growing, hunting, and sharing with local community in mind. This speaks to me deeply.

​Living Off the Land in Hawaii | National Geographic Explorer​

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The book that captivated my attention since the last newsletter is "The Man Who Quit Money" by Mark Sundeen featuring Daniel Suelo. Thanks for the recommendation, Alex!

When asked by Joshua Becker, founder of BecomingMinimalist.com, in an interview with the question, "What are some of the most important lessons about money/people/society you have personally learned over the past 12 years? And did any of these lessons surprise you?" This was Daniel's response:

Podcasts I've been tuning into recently:
​The Wild with Chris Morgan​
Hidden Brain​
​The Rising Man Podcast
​The Mythic Masculine, especially this episode "In Devotion to the Breath - Robin Clements" - what an absolute gem.

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Finally, thank you to my dear friend Kristine, who recommended this artist and their beautiful sets of yummy organic downtempo, folktronica, medicina musica! I am so enjoying it to work to or chill out... whenever! 🙃

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gratitude

For those of you who are new to this newsletter, welcome and thank you! Your time & attention are invaluable, and I sincerely hope you find value here. 😊

This publication is a labor of love & devotion. For each edition, I spend hours compiling, writing, editing, and weaving content altogether. It is made possible in huge part due to patrons who pitch in regularly on patreon. Supporters get bonus content such as this newsletter edition's bonus album. This relatively small income has become a reliable, essential pillar of financial support for me. Supporters allow this publication that you read (& enjoy) and other creative pursuits to be possible while keeping them ad-free. I must also thank friends around the globe who hire me for their portraits, engagements, weddings, business/org photo & videoshoots, etc. that contribute to the financial pie.

Without these supporters, there would likely be no newsletter, and it'd be a bigger challenge for me to commit the additional time and resources to commence The Wilderness Within amidst commitments and life itself. I am ever thankful for their financial support month after month. If you're keen to learn more or ready to pitch in, for as little as $1 USD/month, please head over to my patreon page, or if regular contributions aren't your thing, I also have a tip jar - think of me as a "street busker" with cameras, curation, and musings.​ 💰

These are the humans that make this newsletter, the podcast, and other aspects of my life possible: 🤗

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感謝您的關注 / grateful for your attention / agradecido por su atencion, Reader,

Jonathan