Wild about Wild Life

(The Talking Parrot, 2011)

April has been all about learning more about our furry and feathered friends, and focusing on each of them in their purity and disappointingly low numbers. What can we do? We see the oil spills and the the pollution and it is really hard to know what to do. Well, one of the first charities we are choosing to focus on is The National Wildlife Federation or nwf.org.

And so we continue this month showing our pieces around the world. Carecrafted necklace (#422), which was part of the "Green Means Go" Exhibit from the Limited Edition Collections at Missing Links, went for $125 American to an anonymous buyer from the store Pedestrian as a gift for his love. The Talking Parrot, with its iconic Talisman has traveled from St. Croix to Maui and almost everywhere in between, and began it's life as part of a keychain, so it meets the criteria of repurposing, too.

The World is blessed with a great variety of awe-inspiring landscapes from coast to coast to coast. The National Wildlife Federation is working to protect these extraordinary places that are critical to the survival of America's wildlife.

Scientists are working far and wide and have helped to save some of the strangest and most endangered birds in the world from extinction. The kakapo, for instance, was facing extinction due to man's invasion of its habitat.

(National Wildlife Federation, 2011)

Experts in Glasgow have been instrumental in helping to boost its numbers by developing a food supplement to improve its breeding potential.

Environmental factors such as habitat clearance and the introduction of predatory animals caused numbers of the breed to dwindle to only 51 in 1995.
Kakapos breed infrequently as they feed their young on the fruits of the pink pine and rimu trees, which produce fruit every two to six years - so kakapos can only breed then.

During the years in between, the kakapo's natural diet consists of coarse leaves, grasses and herbs, which lack adequate nutrients for rearing chicks. 

You can be assured that 25% of the proceeds were set aside to help these beautiful citizens of nature remain for our children and their grandchildren to enjoy by reforesting and attempting to create safe safer havens for these birds to exist.

Looking to do more? National Wildlife Federation is currently recruiting volunteers for restoration and planting events, wildlife monitoring and surveillance and public speaking and education about the Gulf oil spill's impacts specifically and the importance of healthy wildlife habitats.

You can find out more:
http://www.nwf.org/Volunteer/Find-Opportunities/Gulf-Coast-Surveillance/Sign-Up.aspx

You Can Help Restore The Balance Of Nature.  You Really Can.

;-)

Global Green USA: Our Spotlight For January

What a crazy beginning to this year. Good things and sad news things and all I can think of to do is put one foot in front of the other and work to make things better every day.  Spreading messages of hope and sharing whatever I learn with others brings a yin to the loud yang of the news, helping to feel like we can still make a difference.  Like I can make a difference.

So far in 2011, we've had private showings in Los Angeles, Maui, New York and D.C. for the pieces being auctioned to benefit Global Green for the month of January.  Global Green USA (www.globalgreen.org) is the only national environmental non-profit headquartered in Southern California with offices in New Orleans, Washington DC, and New York, and is one of over 31 national GCI affiliates throughout the world to foster a global value shift toward a sustainable and secure future by reconnecting humanity with the environment.

We look forward to your continued suggestions of causes we should spotlight in the future, and communities that you would like to see carry Missing Links.

Traveling around, it is so clear that everywhere I go we are universally sharing the need for Peace, calling out to an end to senseless violence.  Yes, I'm a peacenik.  It's more important than ever to speak loudly these days about your beliefs, your hopes for change.  Or at the very least, incorporate your beliefs into the way you choose to make money.  Right?

Well, it turns out, without really meaning to do so, I've been collecting things.  In my desire to learn about what kind of good is already being done in the world, I collected stories, shopping adventures, jars, and containers, and tools and books.   Wherever I went, I always managed to make time to dash away and discover whatever vintage jewelry shop or local beadery might be open. 

I made a hobby out of working with semi-precious stones (since 2003 actually), and started sitting with artists and beaders from Holland to Hawaii, studying color choice and adding bags of brightly colored beautiful bits to my collection.  Gathering seed beads, hammered silver, items of pewter, beach glass and gems that make me just blush, like Garnets and Citrine.  My first teacher started out the first class by saying, "Never go shopping for beads unless you have a lot of time, and a lot of money."  Lucky for me, I had both.  And I'll go more than a few extra miles to find that intimate item I can add to our collection of odds and ends, ribbons and starfish, dreams and causes. Often pleasantly surprised that the walk itself swept me into adventures I would never have had otherwise.  But those stories are for another time.

When I moved to D.C., I decided to round up all the different hiding places I had filled with my sparkly divalicously decadent loot.  Now, surrounded by rainbows of carvings and facets, I have to say, I could open a bead store myself and probably not run out of stock for years.  ;-)

I believe in working with sustainable materials, stones I've carried around with me as I go, adding to my jars and baskets, bowls and boxes of stones, pearls, glass beads and art beads and Czech glass, and silver lined beads, and blown glass pieces, items made from discarded elk horn, just amazing how the wide range of colors and textures grew and grew.  It's from these elements and intentions that all of our Missing Links items are born and seeing the response from all of you is so very encouraging. 

Our next private showing (snow or shine) will be Wednesday, January 12, 2011 in Baltimore, MD.  To receive an exclusive invitation, or even if you are unable to attend, please "like" our facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/MissingLinksFound

and visit our blog frequently at:
MissingLinksFound.blogspot.com