SuperForest

Dearest SuperForest,

I write today telling you that I have made a commitment to myself.  One that will stay with me forever.  First, I would like to thank our dearest SuperForester Jon for giving me the idea and motivation to do it, albeit he doesn’t know it until he reads this! (You’ll see what I mean in a second)  Second, thank you SuperForest and everyone involved for pushing me to make this choice.  I today make a commitment to love.  More specifically to..

In my own handwriting

At all times and moments to exude the love inside of me outwards and inwards, and all around into every living and non-living thing.  And in order to remind me what reward I get from all of this (this is where Jon comes in) I shall look at this…

Reciprosity

For as long as I give, I shall receive in return.  The moment I saw this design I knew I wanted it with me forever, so thanks Jon!  The cycle of love forever with me, forever to remind me of its presence.  In moments of frustration and anger I will be soothed and calmed.  I will be able to return to state of positivity, and more importantly, strength to keep going.  In times of happiness and love I will be reminded to share it with the world around me (including SuperForest of course)!

Here is my own imitation of our dearest Jackson when he got his Zero One tattoo:

That is my commitment SuperForest! And I am super SUPER excited about it!!

What’s yours?

Much love to you all,

Mathew

Good morning, SuperForest!

As we’ve already written several times before, this past Sunday was SuperForest’s first time participating in a large scale public event. We hosted a booth at the San Diego EarthFair!

Each year, on the Sunday closest to Earth Day, San Diego EarthWorks puts on an event that takes place in the beautiful gem that is Balboa Park. And each year, thousands of exhibitors put up displays on products, organizations, or even ideas designed to promote environmental consciousness and global peace. I visited this event for the first time two years ago and had mixed feelings about the event. Despite the intentions of the event being noble, I still felt like most of the booths out there wanted nothing more than to sell me something. The year after that, SuperForesters Iman and Nika joined me after we decided to “sabotage” EarthFair with some SuperForest love. We put up posters, we talked to booths about SuperForest and the Humanifesto, and we started what we called a “booth coalition”. Booths across the fair would put up a SuperForest sign at their table saying they’ve read and support the humanifesto and they showed me that contrary to my previous assertions, most exhibitors really did participate in EarthFair to learn and share rather than being strictly motivated by profit. I got home that day and almost immediately told SuperForester Jackson that we had to get involved with this event in 2010 and that I wanted to kick things up a notch, I wanted SuperForest to have its own booth.

SuperForest was still considerably small at that time, Jackson was living in New York, and I knew it’d be a bit of a stretch but I firmly set my intention and in hindsight, the ways in which the cogs of the universe spun to build this beautiful opportunity for us is jaw dropping. The event coordinator, Carolyn Chase, was kind enough to give us a space for $50 (instead of the minimum cost of $160), SuperForesters across the globe contributed ideas as to what we could do at this event, the kind and lovely souls that are the Pezzolis lent us their beautiful canopy for us to use on the day of the event, and both SuperForesters Jackson and Chris took the train down to San Diego to help turn all of our ideas into a reality.

I must admit, a few days before the event I was beginning to get nervous (of course I did, I wouldn’t be SuperForester Carla if I didn’t). I would occassionaly feel myself become overwhelmed with doubt. “What if something goes wrong?”, “What if it rains?”, “What if SuperForest isn’t ready for a large event such as this?”, “What if nobody comes to our booth?” The list of questions went on and on, and as if by magic, I came across an image that read “Let’s begin by letting go“. Brilliant. When I saw this, that’s exactly what I did. I sucked in a deep breath and with a heavy exhale, I realeased all of that fear into the ether. The momentum of all the energy and events that have led up to that very moment were what propelled me forward and before I knew it, Iman and I picked up Chris and Jackson and we were catapulted into a whirlwind of nonstop preparations, sunlight, and laughter.

Here is SuperForester Iman and Susan with some of the details of how the day went:

They did wake up, we continued to rock the booth, and after a couple hours of cleaning, Balboa Park was left as pristine and sparkly as it was before we got there (with the help of some rain clouds). Though we were exhausted, I can wholeheartedly say that this event (to me) was a phenomenal success. We were swimming in a sea of big fish (including an awesome Zeitgeist booth to our right…kismet!), but hundreds of people came and met us, and left with a smile on their face. I was filled with awe as I saw heads nodding while reading the humanifesto, faces turn to shock as they saw a reflection of themselves behind a curtain that was supposed to reveal “what’s going to save the planet”, and endless hugs and handshakes from wonderful strangers. Or perhaps it would be more fitting to say they entered our booth a stranger and left as an empowered SuperForester. Yes, that’s exactly what happened. :)

Hopefully this is just the start of SuperForest participating in public events and I’m guessing we’ll probably continue to explore different ideas on how to approach these sort of things. We had no idea as to how this event was going to turn out, and though it’s debatable as to whether our presence is going to make a huge difference in our analytics, there is no doubt as to whether our presence made a difference in people’s days. I, for one, am going to keep this memory with me for a very long time.

SuperForest, I feel like I’ve known you for centuries, yet you constantly continue to surprise and inspire me.

Thank You.

Love,

Carla

Hello-ha!
That’s Hello and Aloha combined.

It’s fun to say.

Try it. Say it. Spread it, and together we will bridge the vocabular gap between wherever you are and Hawaii.

My name is Jon Marro! AKA  SuperForester Jon! I am the creative genius behind Blend Apparel.

I met Jackson on a plane to Hawaii. I liked him instantly.

We were attending a retreat on a biodynamic, solar/wind powered farm in rural Maui. Totally SuperForest.

Every morning we’d wake up to roosters. The real kind. Like the kind on the Corn Flakes box. With those crazy arching back feathers that jet skiers dub rooster tailing. I had encountered other roosters before, but honestly, to me they looked just like chickens, but with a red amoeba slab of skin on their heads. These Maui roosters had those too, and they tower over their hen counterpart. Like a matador bull to a milking cow. These were the Gold’s Gym of roosters.

Then Jackson and I would start the wood-fire sauna. We were an impressive team Jackson and I. The first morning, post-sauna, pre-breakfast, he and I went down to the ocean, held hands and ran in naked together.

I tell you this, simply because Jackson and I met for the first time as 31 3 year olds. Our friendship was birthed in arguably the most fertile fecund place on earth. Everything is larger and more saturated there. I think it’s where color was invented. The plants look like they’re from the Triassic Period and I think I saw a hobbit riding a dragonfly. Everything grows, and grows BIG. So, Hawaii was the perfect place for our friendship to germinate.

Because Jackson and I are up to BIG things.

Here we are talking about some:

I think I can. I think Icon.

I’m not sure what we’re talking about. Perhaps the film I’m writing, or the planetary corruption he’s ending. But it’s BIG, and just like the adage goes: “Misery loves company…and so does BIGNESS.”

Being the community builders we are we decided to join forces. We entered a sacred pact. An agreement signed in smiles. To both (help each other) become Cultural Icons.
He told me he had a righteous Blog, I told him I had a transformational T-Shirt company, and like Doc Brown at the end of Back To The Future, we connected the cords in the nick of time to bring you this! (Our first ever collaboration!)

I think SuperForesters are probably the coolest activists ever. I am so excited to share myself with you. One of the things I take on daily in my life is being a walking mirror. Asking the world “Can you see yourself in me?” Ultimately that’s all any of the art I ever make is asking. “Can this help us relate?”

So this post, my first of what I know will be many, is kinda a T-Shirt Release party! My T-shirt company Blend Apparel, just released 3 new designs and we wanted to cyber-celebrate. The first one is called eLOVEator (pronounce elevator with an emphasis on the LOVE). It’s all about moving from your head to your heart. We have a guys and girls version, but don’t let that stop you. And the other design is called: Transceiver. Consider that you are you’re own radio station. What are you broadcasting?

for the fellas...

hey ladies!

Amplify!

I’m not sure a T-Shirt release party has ever existed before, probably because throughout all of time and all of t-shirts, never was there such a perfect forum and friendship to do so. I get that if YOU are reading this, then you, like myself are a friend and an extension of Jackson. So really, that was me & you running naked hand in hand into the ocean hours after we had met. How awesome. Thanks for that. And as a acknowledgement of your awesomeness, I am sharing my shirts with you, because I know you’ll LOVE them. We have decided to give away 1 of each of the new designs to the brave little bloggers who posted their response to the posed eco-pop-quiz: “Describe how you are living out Superforest”

The following SuperForesters have “won” the Un-Contest!:
Strum, roll, please!

Mickie Warden!
Allie Rhea Sheetz!
Jenni Rempel!

I will be contacting the winners shortly and we’ll figure out how to get your prize to you. (the shirts are just as, if not more, excited to meet YOU!)

I was so moved but reading all of the submissions. I realized afterwards that next time I initiate a contest I will NOT make myself the judge. Too hard! Thank you all who shared. You amaze and inspire me! I hope if you’ve never heard of Blend Apparel, you now think it’s awesome and can join me in creating a world of connective communication. These shirts are seeds of love. Wearable activism. They are the coffee table book of Tshirts. They make a fantastic gift to yourself, your family, friends, or your planet. Thank you for welcoming me and all of my designs with open arms.

The world means the world to me.

Helloha!

j|o|n

As is the way with the world, or at the very least my experience in it… ideas often converge.  Start meditating on any one particular thought and you will find the universe answering in any number of unexpected ways.

Such was the case when scanning older SF posts last night I came upon Jackson’s thought provoking post on privacy. His call for an open world where sharing is the social norm and the walls and laws of privacy are torn down in the name of naked truth (I’m paraphrasing horribly here, please read Jack’s inspiring words)… sparked quite the debate in the comments section that followed.

In truth, it wasn’t really a subject I had given much thought before.  As a human I’m  very open and outgoing, with nothing I feel the need to hide, yet I’ve often been selective about sharing my personal info with the masses.  Jackson’s post began to reframe my entire perspective on the idea of privacy and it’s value.  That was last night.  And then this morning I awoke to find this article on Cnet News:

“Why no one cares about privacy anymore” (click to read)

It’s a like a research statician read Jackson’s post and then found 30 different sources to prove it.  It’s a long and fascinating article, well worth your time, that makes an extremely compelling case for why repealing privacy is not only beneficial for society, government, and business… but seems like the natural next step in social evolution in this internet age.  Below a few choice quotes:

“As a social good,” says Richard Posner, the federal judge and iconoclastic conservative, “I think privacy is greatly overrated because privacy basically means concealment…”

The truth about privacy is counter-intuitive: less of it can lead to a more virtuous society. Markets function more efficiently when it’s cheap to identify and deliver the right product to the right person at the right time.

Read the full article for more and Jackson’s post, and let the discussion continue!

Good morning, SuperForest!

After a day of turbulent winds and stormy weather, I awoke this morning to find the above view. And as all my senses were taking in this wonderful sight, an extreme moment of reflection and clarity ensued. Much similar to the weather, the past week was turbulent and stormy in that much of it was spent working nonstop on meeting some major project deadlines. Hours upon hours were spent staring at a screen, working mechanically to finish a research project that was six months in the making. Funny enough, for the past few months I’ve had this image of the sea serving as my desktop background; the calm ocean serving as both material for drifting in and out of day dreams and as a gentle reminder to relax and take things easy. This morning, as I was looking out my “real life window” I could do nothing but chuckle at my blindness. With all of the day to day activities, I had become blind to the beauty that surrounded me. So much so, that I felt I have taken it for granted.

Further reflection only showed me how this applies to all aspects of my life including SuperForest. It is true, often times I get so caught up in projects and daily activities and to-do-lists that I forget to take a step back and quite literally “take in the view”. For when I do, I feel nothing but extreme amounts of gratitude. Gratitude towards SuperForest readers worldwide whose enthusiasm and encouragement are a gift beyond anything we have to compare and, of course, gratitude toward Team SuperForest. I mean it from the bottom of my heart when I say I am humbled by your awesomeness. Each and every one of you. And though tons of acknowledgement and praise deserve to go out to each of you daily, today is extra special for we are celebrating the birthdays of not one but two SuperForesters today: SuperForester Heather and SuperForester Jackson! Yay!!!

SuperForester Heather is one of the newer members of Team SuperForest but her enthusiasm and her heartfelt posts really make it feel like she’s been here from the beginning. We are so proud and lucky to have her on the team. I see such a bright energy within her and can only take guesses at the incredible things she will continue to accomplish in her life. Thank you for being so fabulous and sharing some of that fabulousness with us. Happy Birthday, Heather!

And SuperForester Jackson…I always find myself at a bit of a loss when it comes to expressing my gratitude toward him. Perhaps its something like intimidation (how does one even begin to acknowledge someone whose had such a tremendous effect on your life?), or perhaps I feel like I’ve nearly exercised every possible way of giving thanks. But nevertheless, I feel like it can never be said enough. Jackson, the hard work and enthusiasm you put into the site is awe-inspiring. The connections you make with those around you, the leadership and wisdom you’ve demonstrated countless times, and the bravery and confidence with which you handle SuperForest simply leaves me stunned. Many thanks go out to you for your extreme kindness, generosity, and boundless love. I wish you a very happy birthday, dear friend. I speak on behalf of the entire team when I say we love you and you deserve nothing but the very best.

I hope everyone is having a wonderful day! As for me, another whirlwind of projects and papers is fast approaching, but a quick change of my desktop wallpaper leaves me feeling doubly prepared this time.

LOL! Just kidding, I know it defeats the purpose but the lesson learned remains the same. Be it wonderful scenery or awesome people, I’ll always try to take a step back, enjoy the big picture, and “take in that view”, so to speak. And as a result, I’ll continue to acknowledge and be grateful for those treasures that surround me. Because in the end, probably few things will contribute as much to my happiness as appreciating what is already there.

Love to all, especially to our friends Heather and Jackson!

-SuperForester Carla

Yesterday Jackson posted an arsenal of pictures showing him trying out all the glasses in his parent’s special glasses drawer. It fascinated me, it truly did. In first instances glasses were just objects to increase perception of visual reality but of the past few decades they grew out to a fashion object. Therefore they depict a certain spirit, a certain story of a particular time period. Also, glasses don’t get thrown away as often or as fast as a pair of jeans. In fact, the most likely faith of a pair of spectacles is to be lost somewhere in a drawer.

Fortunately Jackson’s parents decided to ‘loose’ all their pairs in the same drawer so Jackson could take some crazy pictures showing him with all the spectacles. I already said the result flattered me; this was reason enough for me to collect all the glasses I could find in my parents’ house and take eighteen pictures. Though I couldn’t keep up such a straight smile as SF Jackson I hope the result is SuperForest-worthy. Enjoy :).

It was really fun taking all the pictures and I think this concept has quite some potential. So, dearest readers of SuperForest from all around the world, I ask you to find all the glasses you can, put them on and photograph yourself. Send us the results then we’ll place them for you or put them on your personal blog, then we’ll link to you. I think I speak for the entire Team SuperForest when saying that I’d love to see this spread all around the world and all around the internet.

Much, much love,

Julius

Good Evening, SuperForest!

As SuperForester Jackson mentioned earlier, it’s raining in Southern California today! And as I was driving home from my evening lecture, the rain thudding on my windshield, my thoughts drifted toward rainwater harvesting, and in particular, the SuperForest hero that is Brook Sarson. Growing up here in the desert that is San Diego, I’ve always known to treat water as a precious resource, however, applying sustainable water systems in our home has never really been implemented. This is where the incredible Ms. Sarson shines for she noticed the serious water shortage potential of the area and began to study ways to implement sustainable solutions. After learning from some of the water conservation masters in places like Arizona and Australia, Ms. Sarson has brought her knowledge back here and is now owner and founder of H2OME, San Diego’s first rainwater harvesting and greywater recycling installation business where she offers consultations on water reuse and storage.

Needless to say, this woman is an incredible inspiration and just a few days ago, our new friends SuperForesters Janice and Chris invited Jackson and I to go tour her gorgeous home and see her rainwater harvesting systems in action. It was pouring rain, but it was absolutely amazing. At the front end of her property, her home doesn’t look very different from any other, but once you go to the backyard, your jaw drops as you are greeted by huge rainwater tanks, a gorgeous edible garden, a chicken coop, and even a pizza oven!

Check it out, (there’s even a cameo by Chris and Janice at the end):

Beautiful, no? And even more beautiful is the fact that 1 inch of rain on 1000 square feet of roof provides 600 gallons of water! 600! Swooooon!

You can learn more about Brook and her work, here. I have a feeling this isn’t the last time we’ll be writing about this incredible woman.

Love!
C

Good morning, SuperForest!

It feels like it’s been a while since I’ve written a proper post, and it isn’t until you sit down and start writing that you realize how much you missed it. We’ve mentioned it in the past; whenever the number of posts seem to drop significantly, it usually means that some pretty amazing stuff is going on behind the scenes on SuperForest and these past few days were certainly no exception to this trend. We’ve also mentioned that we would try to do a better job of keeping you SuperForesters in the know when it comes to said “behind the scenes” actions and being so, we’re going to backtrack a bit and spread out some details of a few of our fabulous experiences throughout the next couple of days.

On Wednesday, SuperForester Jackson came down to San Diego for a few days to work on all things SuperForest. During the days prior, I had it all thought out; organized meetings, planned discussions…the works. But as it is often the case, none of this really happened. SuperForest tends to operate better on its own terms. And though a great deal was accomplished in what felt to be a very short period of time, SuperForest has taught me time and time again that spontaneity sparks creativity and flexibility feeds inspiration. There was much discussion on water conservation, on SuperForest projects, partnerships, aaaand…

We learned how to bake fortune cookies!

On Thursday, we spent the day with the incredible SuperForester Maureen who kindly offered to show us how to bake these treats. The ingredients are plain, the recipe is simple, and the taste is rockin’ (plus, writing your own fortunes or messages is pretty wicked, too!)

Here’s a quick vid featuring SuperForesters Maureen, Jackson, and Iman showing us how it’s done:

And you can find the detailed recipe, here.

Love!
C

Dear SuperForesters,

Throughout the years, I’ve read a lot of things about the internet (both nice and nasty), but no words better describe my feelings toward it than this quote right here:

This waking dream we call the Internet also blurs the difference between my serious thoughts and my playful thoughts, or to put it more simply: I no longer can tell when I am working and when I am playing online. For some people the disintegration between these two realms marks all that is wrong with the Internet: It is the high-priced waster of time. It breeds trifles. On the contrary, I cherish a good wasting of time as a necessary precondition for creativity, but more importantly I believe the conflation of play and work, of thinking hard and thinking playfully, is one the greatest things the Internet has done. -Kevin Kelly

After first reading this a few months ago, the words stayed with me and it was during a meeting with the lovely Janice Pezzoli today that I was reminded of the internet’s other great gift. The “creativity” that Kelly talks about fuels one of the most incredible forms of collaboration possible. Ideas are born, shared, remixed, grown, expanded, and so on creating this insane cycle called progress (at least, some people think so). Being so, the internet, at its essence, is a collabosphere. It’s one of the most beautiful tools we have at our disposal and taking the treasures born in it and manifesting them in real world situations is exactly what the SuperForest Game is all about.

The SuperForesty ideas are still buzzing and we are trying to process all the exciting happenings that are going on and convert those into plans (Our 90% estimate of the number of untold “behind the scenes stuff” was no understatement) but we look forward to sharing it with you all soon and having you join in on this crazy game.

In gratitude and excitement,
SuperForester Carla

Good Morning, SuperForest!

Back in April of 2008, SuperForester Jackson shared with us an eye-opening Annie Leonard documentary called “The Story of Stuff” (and the title doesn’t lie, it quite literally is the story of stuff). As a response to all of the “Climate Showdown in Copenhagen” media we’ve had thrown at us, Annie Leonard returns with a second installment in her “Story of Stuff Project”. This time she presents to us “The Story of Cap and Trade” and she goes into great detail of how a problem (such as climate change) cannot be solved using the same mindset. Knowing Annie Leonard’s work this will definitely be worth checking out.

Yup, sooooo worth it.

Have a wonderful day!

Love from,
Carla