Even with my bear encounter - see below - the EcoMom Alliance continues to grow and each day I am touched and
awed by the amazing moms I am meeting through this journey. I hope to
come speak at your Mom’s group soon and to meet you in person. Please
keep me posted on how you are doing with the EcoMom Challenge, too. I love to get your stories.

Of note, I was honored to be one of twelve women asked to be a part of iVillage’s I Go Green Campaign. You can check out my blog posts on their site. Enjoy, and please let them know what you think. A special thank you to Greenopia founder and EcoMom Gay Browne,
for inviting me to be a part of this wonderful project (I hope her
magazine is coming to your city soon. It is a phenomenal resource
guide.), and huge kudos to Siobhan Adcock of iVillage, for heading up this inspiring campaign. More cool EcoMoms!

So what do bears have to do with EcoMoms? A lot I have learned. Having grown up backpacking and going out on Vision Quests in the back country of the Sierra Nevadas I have faced many a bear. I know what to do. Bang the pots and pans. Appear large. Make lots of noise. In fact, I have a powerful bear yell that I feel very proud of - it comes from deep within, a primal, fear induced scream that is the result of a face to face encounter with an adorable but terrifying creature with claws and teeth that I know could kill me with one fell swoop. I have used the scream many a time quite successfully. But until last week, I had never had to face a  momma bear as a momma myself.

Long story short, I was up in Lake Tahoe, camping with a group of friends at D.L. Bliss State Park on the South West Shore and we had heard the reports. The bears were out, so we cleaned up well, stashed our food in the bear cannisters and went to sleep aware of our presence in their home. In the middle of the night, I was awakened by a familiar noise. A bear. Just outside my tent. I opened the zipper and peered out. There, about oh, three feet to the side of me was the cutest little baby bear. And there, just about 8 feet in front of me, was the mommy. Instictively, I did my bear yell. The baby ran up the tree. The momma backed off just a bit. I sat back in my tent. Still right between them. Only now, if her baby fell, it would land on my baby. No exaggeration. I could hear momma bear just outside "talking" to her baby and I quickly realized that she felt about me, the exact same way I felt about her. The bear yell would no longer suffice for I could not afford to scare her baby further. I decided the best move would be to get my baby away from her baby, and promptly scooped Corbin up, walked a very long 70 feet or so and climbed into bed with my friend Shery and her daughter Aayla. Safely tucked into their camper truck. When Corbin realized what had happened, he began to shake but by morning, he was all bravado and very proud to have "faced" a bear.

Of course the story was told all day long, and Corbin enjoyed it tremendously. Despite the fear and the "what if’s", I could not help but appreciate the immediate connection I felt with that momma bear and I loved the lesson it taught Corbin about his place in nature. It reminded me of our power as momma bears and how, by working together, we can create safer ways for us all to live in harmony. If we humans took better care of our trash out in nature, the bears would not be so interested in us. (Totally different story, by the way, had this been a Grizzly. In fact, there likely would not have been any story if you catch my drift.)

It is up to each of us to protect our babies and do all that we can to create a sustainable future so thank YOU for everything you are doing every day to Sustain Your Home, Sustain Your Planet and Sustain Your Self. I am so proud of you. And the bears are grateful too.

Blessings and a big

XO,
Kimberly