Conscious Evolution Resources (4/09)
The Great Turning
The Great Turning:
An important New book on the turning point of humans' relationship to the Planet and how to heal it to create a more sustainable, healthy future:
Background info:
The human species faces an apparent paradox. We have embraced economic growth as our primary indicator of human progress. Yet as economic output and consumption grow the number of people forced into lives of dehumanizing deprivation increases and the quality of life of all but the wealthiest among us declines.
The reason is as simple as it is disturbing. Sometime toward the end of the Twentieth Century the human species passed over a critical threshold in its relationship to our home planet. Humanity's collective demand on the regenerative capacity of Earth’s ecosystem grew to exceed the limit of what can be sustained. The more the economy grows the greater the demand, the more rapid the depletion of the living systems that are the source of all real wealth, and the more intense the unequal competition between rich and poor for what remains — a competition the poor invariably lose.
Travelers on a living spaceship, humans continue to live like cowboys on an open frontier — living out an old story in a new era. In deep denial and captive to the imperatives of global corporations and financial markets that value money more than life, those who hold positions of institutional power remain resolutely committed to policies that enrich themselves, but impoverish people, community, and planet. To create a world that works for all, public policy must give priority not to aggregate growth, but to using the resources of planet and society equitably and sustainably to provide healthy, fulfilling lives for all people and other living beings. It means reorganizing economic life to produce more of the things that people need — like food, shelter, clothing, education, and health care — and less of the costly things we do not — like military hardware, pollution, traffic jams, and crime.
Hope for the human future rests, therefore, not with institutions of power, but with the millions of individuals all around the world who are awakening, as if from a deep trance, to the reality of our collective crisis. Acting out of love, compassion, and a deep sense of responsibility to people and planet, they are rejecting the disempowering mantra that there is no alternative to a dysfunctional status quo, putting their bodies on the line to stall the forces of corporate globalization, and living a new story into being. They see the human future as a matter of choice, not destiny, and seek a world that works for every person and the whole of life.
Related Resources/Forum/discussion groups:
- People Centered Development Forum
-The Great Turning Times
- YES magazine published by the Positive Futures Network and edited by David Korten.
Positive Futures Network is an independent, nonprofit organization supporting people’s active engagement in creating a just, sustainable, and compassionate world.
The Positive Futures Network (PFN) and its publication YES! magazine start with the belief that we need deep change if we are to avoid the breakdown of society and the natural world.
Our hope lies in the fact that millions of people around the world are creating the needed changes in their homes, communities, work places, and nations. Powerful innovations are taking hold within agriculture, businesses, criminal justice, schools--virtually every sector of society.
The work of the Positive Futures Network is to give visibility and momentum to these signs of an emerging society in which life, not money, is what counts; in which everyone matters; and in which vibrant, inclusive communities offer prosperity, security, and meaningful ways of life.
YES! Magazine
We are best known for YES! magazine. Our quarterly magazine invites readers to be part of a global community of change makers.
Each issue focuses on a theme, showing the possibilities and practical steps that can lead us all to a more positive future. In each issue you also find book reviews, practical advice for living more sustainably, the page that counts, special features, columns, and short "indicators."
Education Outreach
The YES! Education Connection Program supports educators and students in creating a more just and sustainable world. Educators can inform and inspire students by using positive YES! stories about solutions to real world challenges in class.
Teachers can apply online for a free one-year introductory subscription and find curricular resources and links to educational organizations working to shape a better future on the Education Connection's Resources for Teachers. The YES! Earth Charter Curricular Module ties YES! stories to the Earth Charter's principles and includes discussion questions, glossaries, and resources. The YES! Peace and Justice Curricular Module offers YES! stories of people solving tough problems nonviolently and includes discussion questions, glossaries, and resources. Teachers can also sign up to receive the YES! Education Connection News monthly email newsletter to get a dose of good news to use in class.
Outreach to journalists and leaders
The strong message of vision and action found in each issue of YES! makes it a valuable tool for activists and journalists. YES! is widely distributed at conferences and study groups, in faith-based settings, among elected officials, as background for stories in newspapers and magazines and on radio and television programs.
Our Website: www.yesmagazine.org
Our Website amplifies the reach of the stories we publish in YES! to hundreds of thousands of people throughout the world, many of whom may not have access to the hard-copy publication. We also use the Web to respond quickly to events such as the attacks of September 11, 2001, and the war in Iraq. We post discussion guides to each issue of YES! and links to relevant events and organizations readers can draw on to make change happen.
Books
In 2003, we published Making Peace: Healing a Violent World. In turbulent times, this book shows the power and practicality of alternatives to violence, hate, and domination. Making Peace presents alternatives through stories told by some of the world's great thinkers and activists, including Joanna Macy, Jamal Rahman, Michael Nagler, and others.
In 2000, we published Saying Yes! Conversations on a World that Works for All, a collection of some of the best interviews by Sarah Ruth van Gelder. The book features some of the most visionary contributors to YES!, providing a glimpse into exciting possibilities for social transformation.
Networking
How can we overcome the fragmentation of our social movements to generate real momentum for transformational change? One way is to bring together social change leaders from diverse movements and backgrounds in a space where they can develop trust with one another and discuss the best of the possibilities that lie ahead. That is what we at YES! did from 1999 to 2004, when we held 10 "State of the Possible" retreats for over 200 leaders.
In 2006, we published a booklet Movement Building for Transformational Change: Bringing Together Diverse Leaders for Connection and Vision by Fran Korten and Roberto Vargas. They tell of strategies used at the retreats for helping people open themselves to one another and see the underlying common basis of their work in a long historical context.
Speakers Bureau, conferences, and information sharing
A new speakers bureau, now on line, draws from the State of the Possible retreat participants to help conference organizers find diverse, positive speakers for their events.
Our staff and board members also frequently speak at conferences designed to inspire and engage people in creative change and we co-sponsor many of these conferences.
Through each of these activities the Positive Futures Network helps build the momentum for change so needed at this critical time of danger and opportunity.
Radio
Board chair David Korten, executive editor Sarah Ruth van Gelder, and executive director Fran Korten are all regularly interviewed on radio programs across the nation about current crises and possibilities for positive change.
Blessed Unrest
Join the billions of us working to restore the environment and fostering social justice ----recognize the "Movement with No-Name" and join it if you aren't in it!
A great video about this topic is available!
This research was compiled by Paul Hawkin, a leading environmentalist and social activist. His book is called "Blessed Unrest: How the Largest Movement in the World Came into Being and Why No One Saw It Coming."
See this link to read more about it and buy the book!
"Blessed Unrest is exciting, compelling, and very important. It describes the growing unrest that I encounter around the world, the frustration and courage of those who dare to challenge the power of the political corporate world. Paul Hawken states eloquently all that I believe so passionately to be true - that there is inherent goodness at the heart of our humanity, that collectively we can - and are - changing the world. Please read and share Blessed Unrest, a celebration of the awakening of the human spirit. It will inspire and encourage millions more to take action." -Jane Goodall, UN Ambassador for Peace
The book is a leading environmentalist and social activist's examination of the worldwide movement for social and environmental change
Paul Hawken has spent over a decade researching organizations dedicated to restoring the environment and fostering social justice.
From billion-dollar nonprofits to single-person dot.causes, these groups collectively comprise the largest movement on earth, a movement that has no name, leader, or location, and that has gone largely ignored by politicians and the media. Like nature itself, it is organizing from the bottom up, in every city, town, and culture. and is emerging to be an extraordinary and creative expression of people's needs worldwide.
Blessed Unrest explores the diversity of the movement, its brilliant ideas, innovative strategies, and hidden history, which date back many centuries. A culmination of Hawken's many years of leadership in the environmental and social justice fields, it will inspire and delight any and all who despair of the world's fate, and its conclusions will surprise even those within the movement itself. Fundamentally, it is a description of humanity's collective genius, and the unstoppable movement to reimagine our relationship to the environment and one another.
Awakening The Dreamer Symposiums
Pachamama alliance
The Pachamama Alliance believes that our ability to meet the challenges that face humanity as we make the transition to the next millennium, depends on our ability to successfully combine the best elements of these two worldviews into a single global vision, an alloy that blends the intellectual and scientific prowess of the modern world, with the deep and ancient wisdom of traditional cultures.
for information on the Austin chapter, please contact Emma Juniper, the regional coordinator.
Awakening the Dreamer Symposium: a couse of the Pachamama Alliance
For more information, go to Awakening The Dreamer
The Symposium asks 4 questions including:
Where on Earth are we going?
And what can we do about it?
The Symposium is a profound inquiry into a bold vision: to bring forth an environmentally sustainable, spiritually fulfilling, and socially just human presence on Earth.
If you are ready to explore what this vision means for you, and the opportunity to create an inspiring future, we invite you to attend.
"I was not expecting the effect this symposium had on me.I expected to be engaged and interested, but today I feel as if my life is on a different course than it was on Saturday. This affected me profoundly." - JS, Concord, CA
What is Enlightenment Magazine
What is Enlightenment Magazine
What Is Enlightenment? is not a spiritual magazine. Well, it’s not just a spiritual magazine. It is a spiritual, cultural, philosophical, and otherwise category-busting magazine committed to bringing a new perspective to politics, business, science, the arts, and the environment.
WIE is the engaged, evolutionary movement that has emerged from our passionate pursuit of the question of what enlightenment really is, and what it means in the world today.
At its core, WIE is about finding new ways to think: new answers to the difficult questions that are the challenge of our moment in history. Those answers, we strongly believe, can only be found by looking freshly at the emerging reality around us, without relying on older solutions that were sufficient for simpler problems.
And what we need are not just answers, but new ways to find those answers. This is the real mission of WIE, for which we need not only radical individual creativity, but radical collective engagement.
Conscious Networking Websites
*also see or request a larger file on this subject from Amanda Winters by emailing her
a) WiserEarth . . . www.wiserearth.org serves the people who are transforming the world. It is a community directory and networking forum that maps and connects non-governmental organizations and individuals addressing the central issues of our day: climate change, poverty, the environment, peace, water, hunger, social justice, conservation, human rights and more. Content is created and edited by people like you.
-the alliance already consists of:
107,279 Organizations
5,315 People
2,265 Resources
1,117 Events
217 Jobs
62 Groups
Here are some of the ways that you can get involved and make the site even more valuable for the community:
- login and create a profile that represents who you are, what you do, and what you are passionate about.
- is your favorite organization(s) in the WiserEarth directory? If not, please add!
- tell others about WiserEarth. Use the 'Invite friends' tool on your profile to invite others to join your network.
- join or set up your own group on WiserEarth.
- fund a volunteer - $1500 pays 3 months internship for our outreach and researcher team.
- keep track of the latest discussion in the "What do you do on WiserEarth?" discussion forum
Zaad
Our Mission. We're gonna change the world. Our math goes like this: you be the change + you follow your bliss + you give your greatest strengths to the world moment to moment to moment + we do everything in our power to help you succeed + you inspire and empower everyone you know to do the same + we team up with millions like us = we just affected billions = we (together) changed the world.
Our Plan. Ours involves Conscious Capitalism infused with Spirituality and a healthy dose of Enthusiasm, Love, Service, Inspiration, Passion, Humor and Teamwork. People CRAZY enough to think they can change the world, Courageous enough to do something about it, AND Committed enough to stick to it when they feel like giving up.
We’re in the process of building THE most inspired community of people in the world…social networking with a purpose, a community of seekers and conscious entrepreneurs circulating wisdom and inspiration and wealth and all that good stuff. We're passionate about inspiring and empowering people to bring their dreams to life, learning and growing and getting paid to do what they love, using their greatest gifts in the greatest service to the world. (And having fun in the process!)
Our Community. You (& Your Friends). Yes, you. You want more than the 9-5, the house and the car, the conditioning. The blah! Life is to be lived - Fully. In spirit. In love. In service. In celebration. (You've already swallowed the red pill, so let's go…)
Us. A community of Leaders, Visionaries, Thinkers, Artists, Writers, Healers, Teachers, Activists, Environmentalists, Conscious Entrepreneurs, and Many (many!) Others. People of many ages (from 12 to 90), many nationalities, from different countries (over 110!) and different backgrounds. Some already making huge differences in thousands of lives, others working to make a difference starting with themselves.
We’re thrilled you’ve joined us so early on and are excited to change the world together.
Our Name. We'll start with the name. zaad. It's Dutch for "seed." Amazing how much potential is in a tiny seed, eh? We think so, too. That power reminds us of the amazing potential within each of us. We thought the idea of creating a company that inspires and empowers you to bring your "seed" to actualization would be pretty powerful. So, we created "Zaadz."
Conscious Movies
a) The Secret www.thesecret.tv
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b) What the Bleep Do We Know www.whatthebleep.com/
and the newest version of this film, which is longer, know as
"Down the Rabbit Hole" (I found it at Blockbuster the other day!)
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c) The Shift Movie www.theshiftmovie.comto see an amazing, inspiring and informative clip and join their email list! The movie is not out yet==but emails will inform us of its progress………..
**About the movie:
A massive worldwide phenomenon is in progress, offering seeds of great hope for the future.
Millions of individuals, organizations and corporations around the world are waking up and embracing a new outlook with an emphasis on their responsibility to contribute positively to our collective future.
We are in the middle of the biggest social transformation in human history, The SHIFT.
At this critical point, it is imperative we make the masses aware of this global movement quickly. This evolutionary phenomenon is broader and deeper than the most visible SHIFT, the environmental movement. It involves our very understanding of who we are as human beings, and our responsibility to the world and to life itself.
THE SHIFT movie raises awareness to the story of our roles in an evolutionary shift in our collective consciousness.
As it chronicles the faces, the stories and leaders assisting in this social transformation, the film reveals its emergence & meaning.
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d) www.11thhourfilm.com
The 11th Hour is the last moment when change is possible. The film explores how we’ve arrived at this moment -- how we live, how we impact the earth’s ecosystems, and what we can do to change our course. Featuring ongoing dialogues of experts from all over the world, including former Soviet Prime Minister Mikhail Gorbachev, renowned scientist Stephen Hawking, former head of the CIA R. James Woolsey and sustainable design experts William McDonough and Bruce Mau in addition to over 50 leading scientists, thinkers and leaders who discuss the most important issues that face our planet and people.
11th Hour DVD release is set for April 2008
*This was recommended by Eckhart Tolle from his website www.eckharttolle.com
*there is also an 11th Hour Action network: http://www.11thhouraction.com/
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e) http://www.thespiritualcinemacircle.com/
Spiritual Cinema Circle provides subscribers with entertaining, soulful movies that will...
—Awaken your sense of joy and wonder!
—Inspire love and compassion!
—Evoke a deeper sense of connection with the universe around you!
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f) "Nobelity" www.nobelity.org is a feature documentary, which looks at the world's most pressing problems through the eyes of nine distinguished Nobel laureates. Filmed across the U.S. and Europe, in India and Africa, Nobelity follows Turk Pipkin’s personal journey in learning about these problems and what we can do about them. The true stars of the film are the children that Turk met along the way, for it is our kids and grandkids whose lives will be most affected by the decisions and actions of today.
Check out the trailer on the website.
***"One Peace at a Time" is The Nobelity Project Filming Sequel to Nobelity. Building on critical and audience acclaim for his film, Nobelity, Turk Pipkin is continuing his global journey of knowledge and action with the feature documentary, One Peace at a Time.
Nobelity is an eye-opening and inspiring look at the world's most pressing issues through the eyes of Nobel laureates, including Wangari Maathai, Sir Joseph Rotblat and Desmond Tutu.
While Nobelity deals with global problems, One Peace at a Time will focus on specific solutions. The goal is to create a virtual roadmap to a better future.
The problems we face in coming decades will be increasingly shared by every nation and person on the planet, meaning effective solutions will have to come from all quarters — individuals, nonprofits and NGO’s, businesses and corporations, governments and alliances of governments. Filmmaker Turk Pipkin has already begun to chronicle an array of effective and proposed solutions from each of these sectors, and will ultimately film in 15 countries on five continents.
***The Nobelity Project is a certified 501(c)3 education and action non-profit working towards a better future of all our children. One of our principal goals is to connect people all over the world with reliable information and innovative thinking on pressing global problems like global warming, the energy challenge, global health, economic disparity and development, cultural understanding, nuclear proliferation and general question of war and peace. Nobelity Project delivers specific, well-defined, programs that relate to these global issues.
see www.nobeility.com for more info or email NobelityProject@aol.com
(compiled with love by Amanda Winters )
The following are great resources to help us use humanity's collective genius in the service of an unstoppable movement to re-imagine our relationship to the environment and one another. Get Connected! Join the Movement !
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7) Austin, TX Conscious Evolution Resources:
1) AustinEcoNetwork -Subscribe to free listserv at www.austineconetwork.org/
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2) The 'Catalyst for Fun Newsletter' e-newsletter is found at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/catalystforfun
and is free and distributed each week to over 1000 people in Austin, TX.
Each issue contains connection possibilities personal and spiritual growth opportunities, ways to create a more unified, peace-filled world, and philosophical quotes. ……..Also, and very importantly! many cool and FUN events because…..after all, 'should a party break, we should be prepared!'.
Community resource files available which contain:
-networking newsletters and websites for singles and social opportunities, and for personal
development and recreation
- peace and community action resources
-free publicity sources
-event meeting spaces
-resources for conscious evolution in Austin and beyond
Find the files at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/catalystforfun
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3) Sacred Acres: Our intention is to embody a spiritual awareness in our daily interactions with each other, the Earth, and the present system we live in. We are creating a place for everyone to express their deepest truth and abundant bliss, whether it be through art, yoga, dance, singing, playing music, cooking, massage, healing of all sorts, or any other expression. We create space for conscious sharing and awareness expanding.
Where: We have 3 locations:
-The House of Hearts at 30th and Guadalupe - 603 W 30th street
-A bigger events space called Le Jardin D'esprit off 51st and Mopac - 3210 Hancock Drive
-Dubose Natural Farms in Blanco (forming organic CSA), and the yurts on the yet-to-be-named 63 acres of Land.
Our website is www.thesacredacre.com - please check our calendar at: http://www.thesacredacre.com/events.html
Our 2 houses in town are available to rent/host community events that are in alignment with raising health, healing, awareness, consciousness and creativity! Please bring cushions or chairs ! All of our events are family-friendly, nonsmoking, and welcoming!
Please walk or bike to events at the House of Hearts, and look forward to more kundalini yoga classes, raw foods preparation workshops, energy healing exchanges, permaculture theory and demonstration events, and more potlucks and music filled evenings!
Please join us!
Our list-serve is at http://groups.google.com/group/thesacredacre
What we offer:
Contact : Email Emma at ejuniper@gmail.com to:
--Facilitate a workshop or request an event/workshop
--Discuss adding your home/space as a Sacred Acres Community Space
--Learn about community living options in Austin
--Say hello or offer support!
All of our events are donation-based unless otherwise specified! We prefer donations in the form of coconuts, cacao nibs, fruits, veggies, or whatever you're inspired to share.