Natural Resources Defense Council

< THE VIDEO IS NOW UP: Watch Rachael shave her full head and reveal the amazing forest head-painting by artist and stylist, Roxie Jane Hunt aka @HowtoHairGirl http://bit.ly/2qLsGD3 >

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THE TLDR: 

– I'm shaving my head. < THE VIDEO IS NOW UP: Watch Rachael shave her full head and reveal the amazing forest head-painting by artist and stylist, Roxie Jane Hunt aka @HowtoHairGirl http://bit.ly/2qLsGD3 >

– I'm raising funds to donate to the NRDC.  <NEW GOAL FOR WORLD ENVIRONMENT DAY, JUNE 5, 2017! Donate now to show that Americans stand with the rest of the world in our commitment to protecting the Earth for future generations!>

– I want you to be part of it. 

– For all the talk, you'd think this was a really big deal or something. 
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THE REASON:

The thing about shaving your head is that you're always expected to give a very good reason for doing it. 

For women, it's not enough that summer's coming, that you want to try something completely new with your hair, or that you're symbolically letting go of an old part of your identity and embracing radical acceptance of yourself. 

Women who shave their heads are often seen as angry, men-hating-feminists (not to be confused with regular feminists) who have no feminity, sensuality, or other such traits often synonymous with being a woman. Just as women who have learned to harness the healing powers of nature have been called witches instead of doctors, scientists, or nurturers. There's a pattern here. 

A woman who is brilliant, wise, and confident is always at risk of being hated and feared. 

Personally, I think women with shaved heads look powerful and beautiful, but it's not an image that our society has grown comfortable with yet. 

But, although I have personal reasons and desires involved in this decision, I want to focus on a different reason: Action. 

THE ACTION REFLECTION:

Like women with shaved heads and women who understand nature, activists scare a lot of people.

Activists don't seem to stay in their places or keep their opinions to themselves very well. They're always shouting and demonstrating and talking about what's wrong. People get uncomfortable around activists. 

But the words action and activist have the same root: to act.

An activist is simply one who has stopped talking about doing something about a problem and has found specific action steps to take in that direction.

I don't know about you, but I've spent most of my 41 years trying to figure out how to master that. So I think I can learn something from activists. 

Like many of you, I feel overwhelmed by the recent flood of changes in our country and in the world. I lose sleep at night thinking about people in power who use hate, lies, and fear to separate a country that is named for its union.

I've spent a lot of time feeling scared, helpless, and unsure what I can do about any of it. And I know I'll have to continue dealing with those feelings– we are in new territory here and we will have to be open to the idea of discomfort and uncertainty. 

We live in a pivotal time on this planet, and talk, hope, and prayer desperately need to be supported by real action.

We need self-reflection and a sense of openness and curiosity. We need humility– the ability to embrace the fact that we don't know everything and that we each have a lot we can learn, no matter how uncomfortable it makes us. 

As individuals, we must discover our own areas of fear-based paralysis and find ways to turn that into action.

It may, at first, just be reading a book or doing some research to learn about something we feel consfused about or resistant to, or it might be volunteering to connect with new people. 

We need to hear our own silence and see how it empowers the oppressor– and then learn to speak up. We need to believe with all of our hearts in kindness, love, and true equality, and then to be courageous enough to find out what what true equality and kindness and love look like. 

For me, shaving off my hair will symbolize learning to fearlessly express my values and beliefs on my own journey from spectator to activist. 

I say journey because I don't believe there is an end-point to this kind of self-exploration or awakening. To be open is to constantly find yourself in unexplored territory, in areas of discomfort, and in the potential for radical self-evolution.

Scary? Totally. Worth it? Absolutely. 

THE BIG ISSUE:  

We are now dealing with an administration that outwardly denies and ridicules science, long-validated research and findings, and even denies clean air and water as fundamental human rights.

We've seen their cruel and punishing disrespect for Native Americans and Native treaties and now we are seeing this same disregard applied to America's most vast, beautiful, and irreplaceable public lands. 

Now, by "reviewing" previously protected United States National Monuments, such as The Grand Canyon, The Sequoia National Park, Bears Ears National Monument, and many, many more (see the full list  here) the current administration seeks to revoke protections in order to sell off portions of these lands to private and corporate interests and to open them up for dangerous drilling, logging, and mining– all to the benefit of private interests. 

America's National parks and public lands are our greatest heritage as a country. And as a planet, these areas offer an unknowable range of benefits to clean air, water, food supplies, and wildlife.  

We are at a moment when we are gambling with the planet we live on. 

The NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council) is working hard to defend our natural resources in a number of action-oriented ways, including lobbying, litigation, raising funds and awareness, and much more. www.nrdc.org/about

THE BENEFIT:

Here's how you can help:
 
NEW GOAL FOR WORLD ENVIRONMENT DAY: LET'S RAISE $2,500 FOR THE NRDC BY JUNE 5, 2017, WORLD ENVIRONMENT DAY! Donate now to show that Americans stand with the rest of the world in our commitment to protecting the Earth for future generations!

To be honest,  it's hard to come up with a number that represents how much I want to do in response to the outright assaults on American people, lands, and values (one zillion trillion million didn't seem realistic). It's got to be a much bigger number than I'm used to dealing with, but it also has to reflect the idea of accomplishable action. 

If you're a numbers person, it breaks down to something like this:

If 40 friends give $25 or 25 friends give $40 or
30 friends give $33... we will raise 1,000 powerful dollars for the NRDC to defend our natural resources. 

So, if you can channel some of the energy you're feeling right now into an organization that's taking great action, think of the national monument you want to save for your kids (or yourself) to inherit and to see in person. 

And I'll proudly (and symbolically) dedicate a few of my shaved hairs to you so you can feel liberated and empowered, too. Isn't that what we ALL want and need right now anyway? 

THE BONUS/REWARD:

Wait, there's a bonus besides seeing me with almost no hair for the first time since birth??

I'm grateful– really grateful– for your support.

So please accept some extra thanks when your donation is received through June 5, World Environment day: 

– Donate $50 or more and I'll send you a hand-made Thank You card. I make these as healing meditations on a specific person, so in this case, it will be made specifically for You! 

– Donate $100 or more and I'll send you a personalized Thank You card PLUS your choice of the following: 

1) A small piece of nature-related art made by me. 

2) A 1-hour private session of your choice with me (Tarot reading, Private yoga/meditation instruction, or Ceremonial cleansing/healing)... Yes, I do Skype! 

3) Wild Card! Have an idea? Throw it out and I'll see if I can make it happen! :) 

 AND 

It turns out, the spiritual hair-transformation guru, Roxie Jane Hunt (aka How to Hair Girl) is shaving women's heads right now for a transformation blog series, which seems like, you know, COSMIC.

This means you'll get to see plenty of pictures of the transformation. You might even feel inspired to grab the proverbial "clippers" in your life and do something that you previously thought would be "crazy". ;) 

P.S.

Okay, okay. I don't want to reinforce the idea of the angry feminist activist thing here too much– in all honesty, though, all of those words totally apply here, just not in the bunched-together sense. 

The truth is, I'm really excited about this (and nervous)!

I'm looking forward to seeing myself without hair to hide behind. For the first time in my life, I feel confident enough to say that I think I will look really great with a shaved head.  :) 

Please feel free to share this with friends, family, and anyone you think might feel moved to give or be inspired to take action in their own way. 

PEACE, LOVE & THANKS 

Rachael 

"The important thing is this: to be able, at any moment, to sacrifice what we are for what we could become." – Charles Du Bos

"You must do the thing you think you cannot do." – Eleanor Roosevelt 

< THE VIDEO IS NOW UP: Watch Rachael shave her full head and reveal the amazing forest head-painting by artist and stylist, Roxie Jane Hunt aka @HowtoHairGirl http://bit.ly/2qLsGD3 >