About the IS Foundation | Ian Somerhalder Foundation

Every once in a while someone comes along with a brilliant idea, overwhelming compassion for life outside their own. Today I want to talk about Ian Somerhalder's IS Foundation. Everyone is familiar with Mr. Somerhalder's work as vampire Damon Salvatore on the CW's "Vampire Diaries" based on the books by L.J. Smith. He is also an ardent eco-activist and for that the man deserves a round of applause.  Following is an excerpt from the IS Foundation's mission statement. Impressive.

We are a team, a group of people, who view the environment as an interconnected organism of which we are not separate but a part of. There is no differentiation between all living things: trees, rivers, animals and humans. We are all one interdependent organism.

The global problems and challenges we are facing are infinitely interconnected and co-dependent, therefore our solutions and actions must be enacted in an interconnected manner. There are numerous causes, many campaigns and organizations aiming to encourage change, which includes ending deforestation, planting trees, eliminating pesticides and healing our planet. How many of these organizations or campaigns team up to become a united spirit of change?

Nature does not behave independently. It works in unison with all its elements. Working independently to transform our planet is like trying to playing a violin without strings. Communities of businesses, organizations, people and projects must begin to connect resources and skills to passions and projects. The IS FOUNDATION will behave in full collaborative spirit by joining with other Non-Profit, For-Profit and governing bodies globally.

• Distributing funds and resources towards global conservation, green energy development/deployment and educational tools.
• Creating awareness that global deforestation can be seen as a national/international and global security risk.
• Creating mobility by engaging and supporting of the most powerful, yet disregarded, disrespected and overlooked population on the planet - our youth.
• Ending animal cruelty and promoting programs such as: “species specific sterilization drugs”, transferring and re-training of abandoned animals into assistive and therapy guides.
• Supporting and creating sustainable strategies for “no-kill shelters”. 

•  Upcoming Areas of Focus for the IS Foundation

HABITAT Extinction Deforestation & Reforestation Conservation BioDiversity

ENERGY

• Fuel Transportation Impact Reduction
• Green Technology
• Local Biofuels
• Green Disaster Relief
• Greening the Entertainment Industry
• Empower public participation in legislation

ANIMALS

• Habitat & Extinction
• Cruelty
• Empowerment of NO KILL Shelters
• Sterilization
• Assistive & Therapy Animals

The IS Foundation strives for the involvement of children as well, because really don't we do all this for them? Isn't protecting our Mother Earth about future generations? Because one day I know that I would like to be able to take my grandchildren back to my hometown in Missouri and show them the local heard of wild mustangs and tell them how they used to roam freely on the high plains. Or to be able to let them see a pod of orcas  swimming freely, not confined to a tank that's to small and eventually crushes their spirits. So, from the bottom of my heart, God Bless you Ian for your work. 

Conservation, Recycling and YOU

I am a huge supporter of the effort to conserve America's endangered species, both plant an animal. Due to habitat loss, deforestation, and human encroachment, we are on the brink of losing many varieties of plants and animals. By no means am I knocking the farming industry, because they do provide an important service to everyone, but clearing vast tracts of land for industrial farming is detrimental to our environment and destroys thousands of precious ecosystems, as does littering and dumping waste materials into our rivers, streams and oceans. Think before you toss a cup from a car window or drop a wrapper on the ground, or toss a plastic water bottle that is going to clog a landfill for years. Recycling doesn't take a huge effort. I also advocate composting as means to safely dispose of organic waste material. If you've got a garden, compost makes a great fertilizer. Sierra Club Composting Tips has some great advice if you're new to the composting game. Keystone Endangered Species List from Advocates West has prime examples of American endangered species including wolves, wild mustangs, salmon, sturgeon, caribou, antelope, and goshawks and grizzly bears. So please, for the love of our mother, the Earth, think before you act.

Dreaming

Sometimes I wonder if I'm dreaming.
If I'm moving through life asleep with my eyes wide open.
Words flow past my ears, but they make no sense.
The days and nights ebb and flow like the tide.
I have no sense of time.
Everything is so surreal to me.
Is this real?
Or am I walking in a dream?

More Quotes

All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make, the better. -Ralph Waldo Emerson

Every creature is better alive than dead, men, moose and pine trees, and he that understands it aright will rather preserve it's life than destroy it. -Henry David Thoreau

A #2 pencil and a dream can take you anywhere. -Joyce A. Meyers

Change your thoughts and you change your world. - Norman Vincent Peale

Faith is love taking the form of aspiration. - William Ellery Channing

A kiss is a lovely trick designed by nature to stop speech when words become superfluous. - Ingrid Bergman

Carry out a random act of kindness, with no expectation of reward, safe in the knowledge that one day someone might do the same for you. - Diana, Princess of Wales

Absence from those we love is self from self - a deadly banishment. - William Shakespeare

All wrong doing arises because of mind. If mind is transformed, can wrong doing remain? - Buddah

A man will fight harder for his interests than his rights. - Napoleon Bonaparte

A picture is worth a thousand words. - Napoleon Bonaparte

A revolution can neither be made nor stopped. The only thing that can be done is for one of several of it's children to give it a direction by dint of victories. - Napoleon Bonaparte

As a rule, men worry more about what they can't see than what they can. - Julius Caesar

Experience is the teacher of all things. - Julius Caesar

Fortune, which has a great deal of power in other matters especially in war, can bring about great changes in a situation through very slight forces. - Julius Caesar

Everything that is done in the world is done by hope. - Martin Luther

Europe was created by history. America was created by philosophy. - Margaret Thatcher

I am extraordinarily patient, provided I get my own way in the end. - Margaret Thatcher

If you can't feed a hundred people, then just feed one. - Mother Teresa

A riot is the language of the unheard. - Martin Luther King, Jr.

A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus, but a molder of consensus. - Martin Luther King, Jr.

Poetry is the evidence of life. If your life is burning well, poetry is just the ash. - Leonard Cohen

The last refuge of the insomniac is the sense of superiority to the sleeping world. - Leonard Cohen

Any startling piece of work  has a subversive element in it, a delicious element often. Subversion is only disagreeable when it manifests in political or social activity. - Leonard Cohen

As always, feel free to add to the list.

You Haven't Seen the Last of Me

The last few years of my life have been literal and utter Hell. I have hit my lowest of lows and seen my darkest days. But a ray of light came to me from the most unexpected place. I was watching the movie Burlesque and there was a very inspired and inspiring song sung by Cher. I'd like to share it.

This song has meant a lot to me, and helped me see that yes, I'm down now, but I'll eventually get back up again.

Creativity

Some folks know and some don't, that I am a highly creative person. My preferred medium is writing, clearly. Ever since I was old enough to hold a pencil, and write half-way coherent sentences, I've been coming up with stories. Scary stories, humorous stories, and things that border on erotica. Sometimes I have an idea for a story and then it evolves on it's own during the writing process, almost like an organic being instead of words on paper. But, I think I'm going to start posting some of my work here. Not whole stories, but maybe some fan fictions or something. 

More Movie Reviews

I recently had the pleasure of watching Captain America. I was a little worried about the movies casting at first because Chris Evans will always be Johnny Storm for a LOT of people. I mean, he did a great job in that role, and the subsequent roles after that. I loved Push, but let's not get off topic... Captain America. Steve Rogers is a literal 98 pound asthmatic to desperately wants to join the US Army. Not to kill a bunch of bad guys, or be a hero. Because he wants to stand up to a bully. And let's face it, who was a bigger bully than Adolph Hitler? But, because of his size, and his various health issues, poor Steve is labeled unfit for service and sent home. That doesn't mean that he gives up. The plucky lad tries to enlist a total of 5 times before he is noticed by a doctor and inducted into a top secret program that is trying to create the perfect super soldier. He impresses Colonel Chester Phillips, played by Tommy Lee Jones, with his willingness to throw himself in harms way to save his fellow soldiers, and they decide that he has the perfect qualities to become the super soldier. Under the supervision of Dr. Abraham Erskine (Stanley Tucci) and Howard Stark (Dominic Cooper), he's injected with a serum that finally allows Rogers to become all that he wanted to be. I won't give away the plot. The effects are great. Chris Evans totally broke out of his Johnny Storm persona and made Cap his own. If you haven't seen this one yet, I don't know what you're waiting for. And make sure you stick around after the credits. Trust me, it's worth it..... Happy watching.