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open share / musings

Good morning, afternoon, or evening, Reader!

I wish to start with gratitude for you and 438(!) others who receive the subtledream newsletter. It is a humbling and radical feeling each time I craft this publication together. 2+ years into this practice, I can tell you the discipline, the devotion, the learning, and the feedback from doing this has been invaluable. No social network algorithms (but perhaps spam filters, haha!) to hopefully reach you. Learning to let go of expectations. Doing it because *I* enjoy the process, while folks find value in the newsletter. And on top of that, enough of you like this enough that some of you even send me tips and/or pitch in on patreon. Wow! Am I a fortunate bean or what?

I write to you from sunny Albuquerque in New Mexico of the American Southwest. Spring is in full force here as the snow melts to new sprouts and first blooms, bringing vibrancy and an extraordinary aliveness to the high deserts throughout this region. I am here at Scott & Indy's house, good friends with roots tracing back to Conscious Impact in Nepal. The last time I spent time with them was at and after their beautiful wedding in 2021, when I had the honor of being invited to be their wedding photographer. This return visit is rather special too, as they are expecting! I am delighted to share time, catch up, and have space to rest my head and do a bit of work here, such as crafting this newsletter in their home office!

Life since the last edition of the subtledream newsletter has been quite colorful and rejuvenating. For the past 5 weeks, I've been spending time with my mom & dad, sisters, their kiddos; working on the Prius to get it road trip-ready; buying & selling goods/gear I've been needing; working on a few photo & videos gigs to refill the piggy bank; a quick trip up to Portland, Oregon; visiting good friends + recording for the Wilderness Within podcast throughout Norcal; soaking up some sun and magic of the Socal deserts in & around Joshua Tree National Park alongside a dear brother visiting from Norway. The freedom and vibe since hitting on the road a little over a week ago has been magnificent. Thank you to all who have contributed to this never-stopping journey of connecting, learning, and sharing.

One of the many special encounters during my time in California was unexpectedly reuniting with my 5th grade teacher. I went with my family to my elementary school for my youngest nephew Julian's open school afternoon, and as I wandered around the school with Julian, a familiar face appeared in one of the classrooms where he wanted to visit his playmate. What do you know - we looked at each other, did a double-take, and surely enough - I would stumble into Robin's (I never knew her first name until last week!) classroom 26 years later. It was a lovely catch up, as you'd imagine. I am very thankful for this surprise, and get this - my 5th grade teacher is now a subscriber to this newsletter. Hooray!

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So far, I've driven Spaceship Prius about 1700 km (1100 mi) from southern California into the Southwest through Arizona into northern New Mexico where I type this to you. Here's the route thus far:

In the coming weeks, I'll head through the Rockies into Colorado with a stop with an old friend Zach (a supporting patron!) and his wife, visiting a couple folks in the region and most certainly enjoying the incredible mountains & forests there. Then I will drive through eastern Colorado into Kansas, Missouri (no planned stops in either states, yet), and into northern Arkansas amongst the Ozarks to spend time with 2 friends, Mikayla & Jay, who are living an incredible new chapter of their lives in a off-grid homestead and hunting/growing/raising a good chunk of their own food in harmony with natural cycles and the seasons. I am SO excited to experience this with them, learn from them and the land, and also to record what will most certainly be a very special and insight conversation for the Wilderness Within podcast! Thank you to you all especially for your continued support for this to manifest last year as well as this year.

After Arkansas, I will north towards Chicago, where Tim (met via Conscious Impact) & Trina's wedding at the end of April. I am positively pumped!

​Here's the route from Taos towards to Chicago:

And beyond? The Great Lakes states of Wisconsin & Minnesota, North Dakota, Montana, and back into the PNW in time for summer! Incredibly fortunate for this journey and the network of good people I've been able to lean into and build massive excitement for the reunions and opportunities ahead.

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As usual, I compile/curate a special bonus album for my supporting patrons. They make this publication and my creative pursuits possible, ad-free, and financially (more) feasible. Here's this edition's accompanying post + album for you special bunch who I am so thankful for!

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global good news

When I was in northern California last month for a series of beautiful reunions and recordings for the Wilderness Within podcast, I got to meet up with Gustavo, 1 of my students from the programs I co-led in Ecuador last year. Gustavo shared with me that he enjoys receiving this newsletter because there is SO much good news in the world, and a vast majority of them he/we don't really ever hear about! He is right, and hence why I continue to be an advocate for sharing GOOD news as many of us are emotionally & spiritually brought down by all the noise and chaos that dominates typical news. Enjoy this well-loved section for this edition of the newsletter! As always, we have got FutureCrunch to thank for dishing these out; I am simply the filterer & compiler.

The campaign to make insulin less expensive just scored a major victory, with Eli Lilly, one of the three biggest manufacturers in the US, announcing it will cap the price at $35 per month. More than eight million Americans with diabetes rely on insulin; this move will be life-changing for those who are financially insecure or not properly insured. Vox​

As predicted, following Eli Lilly's cut to insulin prices last week, Novo Nordisk now says it will cut its prices by 75%. Experts expect the third top insulin maker in the United States, Sanofi, to follow suit. Before this, insulin prices were five to ten times higher in the US than in other high-income countries. Ars Technica​

After two decades of failed negotiations and political deadlock, this is the moment when UN conference president Rena Lee confirmed that nearly 200 countries have reached a landmark deal to protect ocean life, charting a path to conserving international waters. It's the first international agreement on ocean protection since 1982, and a hugely important victory for life on Earth. In Rena's words:

​UNICEF on how the lives of girls around the world have improved in the last decade. More girls are completing high school, fewer are having children, more have access to family planning, fewer child marriages take place, female genital mutilation has decreased and the proportion of girls being infected by HIV has fallen. It's not enough - but it shows that progress is possible.

A new national park in Australia will protect 437,394 hectares of globally significant wetlands, as well as salt lakes and playas. The site, called Thurloo Downs, is located on Karenggapa and Parundji country and is home to 50 threatened species. It's the largest acquisition of private land for a national park in NSW history. Environment NSW​

107 countries around the world now provide paid parental leave for fathers. Back in the 1990s, only 46 countries had a paid leave policies for fathers, largely high-income nations. "There is widespread recognition that we don't solve gender equality without dads getting leave." Axios​

Seaweed is having a moment. A recent study found that substituting 10% of diets with seaweed by 2050 would free up 110 million hectares of agricultural land, while only using 0.03% of the ocean’s surface. Seaweed farms, which have a long history in Asia, also eliminate the need for fresh water, pesticides, and fertilizers. Hakai​

The Vjosa River in Albania, home to more than 1,000 animal and plant species, has been declared a national park. For years, its fragile ecosystem was under threat: at one point as many as 45 hydro projects were planned across its length. But earlier this week, after a decade-long campaign by environmentalists, it was declared the first wild river national park in Europe. Guardian​

Forest certification is slowly gaining ground in central Africa. Nearly 6 million hectares are now certified under the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) or the Pan-African Forest Certification (PAFC) standard: 2,989,168 hectares in Congo, 2,535,880 hectares in Gabon, and 341,708 hectares in Cameroon. Both schemes are recognised by the Fair & Precious initiative.

The proportion of teenage girls in New Zealand giving birth has halved in the last 10 years, and child poverty has fallen dramatically, with 77,000 fewer children living in low income households compared to 2018, and eight of nine child poverty measures seeing a statistically significant reduction during the same period. National Tribune​

​Ghana is including free long-term contraception in its national health insurance program, a move that will allow millions of women to avoid paying out of pocket for implants, IUDs and injections. In Liberia, a new program has cut teen pregnancy in five of the country's fifteen counties by at least half since 2017.

Latin America is poised to become a major renewable energy producer, with more than 319 GW of utility-scale solar and wind projects due to be launched by 2030 - equivalent to about 70% of the region's total current capacity from all sources combined. France24​

Feeling negative about the United States? Michigan just passed a law protecting LGBTQ citizens, Minnesota has become the fourth state to provide free meals to all schoolchildren, Illinois has become the third state to enact mandatory paid leave, New Mexico has passed a law that prohibits life imprisonment for juvenile offenders, Arizona has pioneered an urban food forest that's become a model for climate action, Oregon just approved $200 million for the state's homeless, Maryland has passed a bill extending Medicaid coverage for transgender people, Washington state has upheld a new tax on the wealthy to fund education, Tennessee is seeing historic reductions in child poverty, and Seattle has become the first US city to outlaw discrimination on the basis of caste.

California has announced a plan to transform its oldest prison, San Quentin, into a centre for rehabilitation modelled after Norway's incarceration programmes, which have some of the lowest recidivism rates in the world. It's a landmark moment for criminal justice reform, marking a fundamental shift away from the punitive American system. Guardian​

Substantial majorities of Americans think progress toward inclusion and diversity is on the right track. In a new poll, 86% believe more should be done to promote gender equality, 69% say more should be done to foster acceptance of LGBTQ people, 70% think businesses should promote racial diversity, and 58% are happy with new pronouns.

International delegates at the Our Ocean Conference have committed nearly $20 billion to ocean conservation, including funding for expanding and improving marine protected areas and biodiversity corridors. Panama, this year's host, also announced it will add 93,389 km2 to its Banco Volcán MPA, bringing the country’s total marine protection to over 54%. Mongabay​

An Egyptian startup is tackling ocean pollution by turning plastic bags into outdoor paving tiles that are tougher than cement. To date, the company has recycled five million bags and hopes to increase that number tenfold by 2025. It’s good news for the Mediterranean Sea, which suffers from 74,000 tonnes of waste every year from Egypt alone. Reuters​

Kenya is scaling up its rollout of the Mosquirix malaria vaccine, after a pilot program for 400,000 children was shown to substantially reduce deaths in eight counties. Early modelling estimates that one life is being saved for every 200 children vaccinated. This is big - there are an estimated 3.5 million cases of malaria in Kenya every year. ABC​

The humble push bike is the new king of the road in London. Cyclists now outnumber motorists at peak times in the city's centre, following sustained efforts to encourage cycling and deter car use. Over the last decade, motorists have declined by 64% and cycling has increased by 386%, with an estimated 800,000 journeys a day now made by bike in the English capital. Forbes​

This year’s Ramadan will be greener, with mosques around the world banning single-use plastics ahead of breaking fast and some banning plastics all together. Links between Islam and sustainability are nothing new - the Quran instructs Muslims “to be mindful of God’s creation and care for the environment.” WEF​

A 20-year project combining public health and conservation has brought mountain gorillas in Uganda back from the brink of extinction. Improvements in community sanitation and hygiene have resulted in fewer gorillas picking up human diseases. In 1997 there were only 650 mountain gorillas in the wild, by 2018 there were 1,063, and conservationists expect another increase at the next census. New Scientist​

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original work / offerings

Today I am excited to announce the soft relaunch of subtledream.com!

Why a 'soft' relaunch? The site is not yet at the state I'd like it to be, and it'll continue to be worked on and improved over the coming months, however, it is time I have my work publicly visible out there to have a presence and for me to attract potential collaborators, customers, connections.

Why is this a big deal? I've been a procrastinator & perfectionist (a combo that can lead to starting but not finishing projects), waiting for the 'perfect time' to dedicate myself to my site's complete makeover, but I never did carve the time for it. Ambitions & goals alone were not enough; I have not been pulling the weight and prioritizing my time well enough for the past TWO YEARS... meanwhile, the guilt and shame continued to build up - oops.

Last week, as a friend asked for my portfolio to refer me to a couple who is tying the knot soon and may be looking for a photo/videographer, I realized that my gallery page wasn't loading properly. I ended up spending hours into midnight refreshing several of my galleries with some of my best work from recent years. I realized that much of my apprehension from simply re-linking my portfolio (I unlinked them in 2021 in prep for the announcement of this newsletter) has to do with me being too critical of my own work (never good enough), not wanting to show it to the world when it is not "done" (a false ideal), and being afraid that I've dropped the ball so many times on having a robust online print shop, that anything less than THE perfect gallery + order system wouldn't cut the mustard. Ooof.

Pretty ridiculous now that I've written it out, eh?

So, with that little confession expressed (thanks for reading/listening), allow me to present you -- some of you who have never even seen my actual work beyond some Stories and very occasional Posts I put on Instagram - my photo + video portfolio on my very own site, subtledream.com​

And now that it's out, I must continue to dedicate time and create that new prints gallery I have been promising folks - especially my supporting patrons who have been so patient. I am most certainly be sharing that news with you all here and on socials. Thank you!

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recommendations

This one is a real goodie especially for those who are keen on communal and intentional living:

Living Off-Grid in a Tiny House Community Built by Self-Reliant Couple

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A new-to-me video channel on YouTube that I've really enjoyed recently is Big Think, "Big Think is the leading source of expert-driven, actionable, educational content..." - keyword there: actionable

Podcast recs: The Wild with Chris Morgan, Hidden Brain, Good Life Project, The Rising Man Podcast (especially for the fellow men out there)

Some have asked me about doing yoga or starting a practice, so I shall link the videos I filmed of my love here once more: Streamside Yoga, Grand Canyon Yoga, and the tip jar for her 😃

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gratitude

For those of you who are new to this newsletter, welcome and thank you! Your time and attention are invaluable, and I sincerely hope you find value here. 😊

This publication is a labor of love & devotion. For each edition, I spend hours compiling, writing, editing, and weaving content altogether. It is made possible in huge part due to patrons who pitch in regularly on patreon. This income, as minuscule as it might be relative to salaries of those jobs in economically "developed" countries, has been an essential pillar of additional support for me financially. Supporters allow this publication and my creative pursuits to be possible, keep them ad-free, and be financially (more) feasible. I also must thank friends around the globe who hire me for their family portraits, engagements, weddings, business/org photo & videoshoots, etc. that contribute to the financial pie. 🚙🏕️

Without these supporters, there would likely be no newsletter, and it'd be a bigger challenge for me to commit the additional time and resources to commence The Wilderness Within amidst commitments and life itself. I am ever thankful for their financial support month after month. If you're keen to learn more or ready to pitch in, head over to my patreon page, or if regular contributions aren't your thing, I also have a tip jar - think of me as a "street busker" with cameras, curation, and musings.​ 💰

These are the humans that make this newsletter, the podcast, and other aspects of my life possible: 🤗

Grateful for you Reader,

Jonathan