Butterflies: More than a symbolic part of our lives
Albany Tribune
By Clara-Rae Genser
July 30, 1998
Butterflies, those beautiful, delicate creatures that emerge from furry
little worms, have long been a symbols of many things: love, peace, harmony,
beauty, to peoples throughout the world. Alan Moore has sent me many stories
and articles about what butterflies have meant to people, and of their rather
magical appearance in times of stress, of sadness, of mourning.
So it is not surprising that the butterfly has come to symbolize all of
Moore�s beliefs, hopes and dreams for the world, particularly Peace. Thus it
is the reason why he founded the Butterfly Gardeners Association, and has
dedicated his life to the organization and to the things it stands for.
And it is not surprising that he is now asking people to back The Butterfly
Initiative, subtitled �Saving the World with Butterflies� �The butterfly
initiative is a wondrous and rare adventure. It is practical, uplifting and
inspiring. Butterfly gardening can be a catalyst to a wide range of positive
activities. These include projects from environmental education to violence
prevention; from beautification of our backyards to habitat preservation in
our parks, and from rehabilitation programs for handicapped children to
therapy programs for prison populations. Because of their astounding
transformation from egg to caterpillar to chrysalis (pupa) to their incredible
color spangled elegance, they can be the symbol for mankind's own unfolding
into more caring and loving beings.�
And why the Initiative? He explains that also:
�Butterflies are beautiful. Butterflies are inspiring. They can be quite
magical, helping us to connect with nature, as well as with our spiritual
selves. Yet butterflies are disappearing everywhere right before our very
eyes. When uncaring human activities get out of hand, it is always the
butterflies that take the first and most profound blow. Studies have shown
that when rainforests are destroyed, or local temperatures rise, or chemicals
and pesticides contaminate our environment, or natural habitats are lost, it
is almost always the butterfly that suffers most. For these reasons they
serve as environmental indicators, and stewardship of butterflies becomes
linked to such serious issues as habitat destruction, pesticide misuse, global
warming, and deforestation. A recent news report linked butterfly declines to
a corresponding decline in bee reproduction rates, and predicted that in three
years pollination may become the world�s number one problem. No butterflies
and bees, very little pollination. Need I say more.�
And he explains how the whole idea of the Butterfly Gardeners Association
came about. He tells off being invited to a butterfly garden at the Green
Lane Nature Center near Allentown, Pennsylvania where he then lived. �When we
arrived there were hundreds o butterflies flitting about a profusion o
fragrant flowers, shrubs and herbs. I suddenly felt connected to nature
through the wonder of all that was around me. Something was stirring my
deepest emotions.....I left that garden determined to create gardens like this
for children everywhere. Beautiful butterfly gardens for children off all
ages...�
He speaks of listening to a tape he had recently made on the way home, with
songs by John Lennon, Joan Baez, Moody Blue and other 60s artists. �I
suddenly realized that there were butterflies in the music that I never heard
before.� It was, he says, like an epiphany. �A thousand lights all lit at
once. My whole life history lashed before my eyes. I suddenly had a
brainstorm of an idea to use the butterfly as a symbol for the environment.
It would be better than the �save the whales campaign,� I told my self, you
can�t take a what to a schoolyard, but you can plant a butterfly garden there.
Everybody could attract butterflies to their homes, schools and parks, and
have a personal experience with nature like I had.�
He speaks of having worked in many organizations, which made him realize how
difficult this would be. But he had a feeling of �great sacredness and
urgency.� He went home and told his wife about it, told her he was leaving
his job to do it and �I went from self-employed to unemployed in what seemed
like an instant.�
Although his wife supported him or some time, in the end it did end his
marriage. And he has, indeed dedicated himself to his vision. He has spoken
in schools and to organizations. He has organized �butterfly releases� where
school children have nurtured caterpillars until their transformation into
butterflies, and then have participated in �butterfly releases� freeing
hundreds of the lovely creatures at once.
Moore has also become a part of a large number of people who not only believe
in the spirituality and symbolism off the butterfly, but have written about it
and made it an important part of their lives. This circle also includes
people who find other parts o nature: rainbows, birds, trees and others,
equally important and inspiring. He speaks of Julia Butterfly, the woman who
made her home in a giant redwood tree to try to save the 200 year old wonder;
of Norie Huddle, who has written a beautiful book simply named Butterfly, and
who is working with him on a book about all off the wonderful stories people
have told him about their experiences with butterflies. And he has given me
copies of notes, email and letters from people who were inspired by his vision
and supported it.
Moore has recently signed a contract with a publisher for the book, and is
happy with what is going on in this field. He is hoping to get a very
widespread support for his Butterfly Initiative, and invites people to contact
him about it. He may be reached at 510-528-7730, or his email is
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Correction Moore recently received a draft of a contract from a California
publisher that he feels comfortable with and shares his concerns and ideals.
He has not yet signed a contract.
Butterflies Symbolize Peace for Berkeley Earth Day '98
Organizer Alan Moore wants the butterfly to become the leading symbol for
millennium activities
by Jeffrey Obser
Berkeley Voice
4-23-98
As a metaphor for springtime, nothing compares to the butterfly taking off on
a flower-scented breeze. For everyone who's felt like a caterpillar in a
cocoon these last months, the release of thousands of butterflies promises to
be a high point at the Earth Day celebration in Berkeley this Saturday, April
25.
Students at several area elementary and middle schools have been nurturing
about 2,000 chrysalises for almost a month, and will release their butterflies
at noon, just after the parade, at the beginning of ceremonies at Martin
Luther King Jr. Park.
"The mayor feels that this is an amazing learning tool for children all over
the Bay Area and she's delighted to take part in it," says Tamlyn Bright,
Mayor Shirley Dean's neighborhoods liaison.
During the release, Earth First activist Julia Butterfly, who says her life
was transformed by an encounter with a butterfly, will address the crowd long-
distance from the 200-foot-high Humboldt County old-growth redwood tree she
has resided in for the past four months.
Beyond the obvious springtime symbolism, butterflies have long been a metaphor
for expanding environmental consciousness. During the transformation inside
the cocoon, the caterpillar's body at first rejects the emerging new butterfly
cells, fighting them off as an immune system threat. But eventually they take
over, replacing a pudgy worm with a beautiful creature that flies. Those who
incorporate the butterfly into peace activities and events fancy that humanity
could undergo a similar transformation -- one "cell," or awakened person, at a
time -- until the old society and consciousness is overwhelmed by the new.
The Mayor and City Council have declared April 22-30 Butterfly Berkeley Week
and have adopted an Earth Proclamation, which expresses the hope that the year
2000 will be the turning point for "a better world based on equality, justice
and a sustainable planet." In addition, Mayor Dean will attend a special
butterfly release by over 250 students at the Willard School on Thursday,
April 30.
Alan Moore, head of the Butterfly Gardeners' Association, a Berkeley-based
group that has sponsored such events throughout the Bay Area, wants the
butterfly to become the leading symbol for millennium activities. He has
joined with many peace, environmental, and social justice groups to make
butterfly gardening and launching a part of their events, and has worked to
bring the practice into women's shelters, homes for seniors, and prisons.
In the last few years, Moore has urged President Clinton to start a butterfly
garden on White House grounds, met Pete Seeger at last summer's World Peace
Festival in Armenia, New York, and launched butterflies at several events
commemorating the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Moore, 52, says he has lived on a shoestring for over a year. He came to the
West Coast for a series of environmental conferences and in January, decided
to stay.
"In the six weeks I was in California I just fell in love with it."
On February 9 he was sworn in to the Berkeley Peace and Justice Commission,
and has been staying at the Berkeley Unitarian Fellowship. "Ever since I got
to California I've had people put me up in all the different cities I went
to," he says.
Since he started this work, Moore says, he has spent untold thousands of
dollars of his own money donating butterfly farming kits, which cost $35-$50
for about a dozen caterpillars.
"Within a year, [butterfly farming] should be in every school in the area," he
says. "I'd like to find a backer, because we've got programs for nonviolence
that absolutely turn kids around in a day. There's just something about the
delicacy of butterflies and the caring for them. Teachers have reported that
when kids did these projects, they were cooperating like they never did
before, and fights were down."
Moore owned a landscaping business in Allentown, Pennsylvania four years ago
when he first started organizing butterfly launches. "Basically, the idea
just flooded into me," he says. "It took on a life of its own." But after
four years, his business was faltering and he wasn't making any money.
Last year, his wife gave him an ultimatum: "If I didn't make any money by my
birthday she was going to leave me."
She left him.
"And then six days later the United Nations invited me to do the opening
ceremony for the Earth Summit," Moore says.
"I hate deadlines."
Which is too bad, because Moore says he's writing a book.
Lepidopteran lover floats butterfly zoo idea
The Las Vegas Sun
By Bob Shemeligian
8-31-93
Wearing a stripped multicolored jersey and gold shorts, 48-year-old Alan
Moore flew in and out of town late last week just like a butterfly.
And like the lepidopteran, Moore, who makes his home in Allentown, Pa,
hardly stopped to eat.
Then it was off to San Francisco, where Moore was scheduled to address the
Garden Writers Association on the ecological and aesthetic value
of...butterfly zoos?
Indeed, Moore may be the Johnny Appleseed of butterflies.
Two weeks ago, after he toured a butterfly garden at a composting
conference in eastern Pennsylvania, Moore fell in love with butterflies and
the feeling was reciprocated.
Moore darted to a neighborhood nursery, purchased a butterfly bush (there
is such a thing) and quickly planted it in his backyard.
"The bush was sappy, real fragrant," Moore said. "As soon as I planted it,
two monarchs landed on the bush. I could have touched them. It was heavy."
Moore quickly left his landscaping business, stretched his wings and
started traveling across the country to promote butterfly gardens and zoos.
What's the difference, you ask?
"A butterfly garden is not enclosed. A butterfly zoo is screened," Moore
explained.
Moore choose Las Vegas as one of his destinations because his parents live
here, because he once attended Fremont Junior High and because he thinks
butterfly zoos would be perfectly wonderful in "sin city."
"Las Vegas could do a butterfly garden like no one else," Moore said.
"Butterfly zoos would be perfect for the casinos."
And perfect for wedding chapels.
"At weddings, you release a butterfly as the bride walks down the steps.
Instead of rice, you'd throw butterflies," Moore said. "Also, you could put
an attractant on the bride's veil so that butterflies would fly around the
bride's head. It would be like a living canopy."
It may sound a little farfetched, but Moore has the support of the Sierra
Club, which supports butterfly sanctuaries along power-line rights of way.
The idea being that because of the butterflies, utility companies will mow and
groom instead of spray herbicides.
But a butterfly zoo as a tourist attraction? Is Moore kidding?
"It would be great," Moore said between sips of Coca-Cola. "The
butterflies would land right on you. They don't eat, but they drink, and they
like human sweat, so they'd mooch a drink."
Moore has been working so hard on his butterfly zoo proposal in recent
weeks that he was hospitalized for exhaustion in the days before he left for
Las Vegas.
"I haven't been getting much sleep, and I haven't been eating," said Moore,
who quietly took flight from his Allentown hospital after a night of tests.
"I couldn't stay there. I had to much work to do," Moore said.
He finished his Coke and was out the front door of the newspaper before I
could catch him.
"Wait,": I said to Moore. "One more question."
"Sorry," the butterfly man told me. "I've got to fly to San Francisco."
(For more information about butterfly zoos and gardens, call Walt Barbuck,
secretary for the local branch of the Sierra Club, 735-9411.)
