tagged w/ change the world
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A friend of mine who has just been laid off helped another poor guy who is in even worse shape, even as I whined about how bad we have it.
We need to help each other any way we can.A friend of mine who has just been laid off helped another poor guy who is in even... more
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Above is the link to a short piece about how one development foundation in Northern Thailand transformed part of the Golden Triangle into a flourishing and sustainable community. People who once had nothing, now have an education, a job and, most importantly, hope for the future. The Mae Fah Luang Foundation was voted the top Social Innovation of 2009. This is the future of sustainable development- this short film was made to inspire you to think on a global scale and to take action because change on a large scale starts with one person.Above is the link to a short piece about how one development foundation in Northern... more
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"When does planting a tree become a revolutionary act – and unleash an army of gunmen who want to shoot you dead? The answer to this question lies in the unlikely story of Wangari Maathai.
She was born on the floor of a mud hut with no water or electricity in the middle of rural Kenya, in the place where human beings took their first steps. There was no money but there was at least lush green rainforest and cool, clear drinking water. But Maathai watched as the life-preserving landscape of her childhood was hacked down. The forests were felled, the soils dried up, and the rivers died, so a corrupt and distant clique could profit. She started a movement to begin to make the land green again – and in the process she went to prison, nearly died, toppled a dictator, transformed how African women saw themselves, and won a Nobel Prize.
Now Maathai is travelling the world with a warning. As she told the United Nations climate summit last Tuesday, it is not just her beloved rainforest that is threatened now, but all rainforests. 'As human beings, we are attacking our own life-support system,' she says. 'And if we carry on like this, we are digging our own grave.' "
Read her story, it is admirable, she went through hell.
A few excerpts:
"It was not only humans who were being cut down. Her forests began to be slashed by the British and replaced with vast commercial plantations growing tea for export. These plantations couldn't absorb and store water in the same way, so the groundwater levels fell to almost nothing, and the local streams dried up. After independence, Kenya's corrupt new ruling class continued the same policies, treating the forests as their private property to be pillaged."
More:
"I can't live without the green trees, and nor can you. I'm humbled by the understanding that they could get along without me though! They sustain us, not the other way round. We don't really know where we came from, where we are going, and what the purpose of all this is. But we can look at the trees and the animals and each other, and realise we are part of a web we can't really control."
One more excerpt:
"People said it would make no difference – that you can't make a dictator hear you, he's too strong," she says. "But I was in Japan a few years ago and I heard a story about a hummingbird. There's a huge fire in the forest and all the animals run out to escape. But the hummingbird stays, flying to and from a nearby river carrying water in its beak to put on the fire. The animals laugh and mock this little hummingbird. They say – the fire is so big, you can't do anything. But the hummingbird replies – I'm doing what I can. There is always something we can do. You can always carry a little water in your beak."
Winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004, she predicts catastrophe in Africa and for the world if we don't do something about it.
She says we have to deal with poverty and the environment problem at the same time:
"They have to be dealt with together. When you're poor, you will take whatever you can to stay alive today, which degrades the environment, and makes you ever poorer. It's a matter of breaking the cycle. Paying people to plant trees was the best idea I had to break the cycle and it is working."
I admire her, she is one of my heroines.
I want to end this post with a few of her words:
"And people took what they needed but didn't accumulate or destroy in the process. Those are values we need to rebuild in Africa."
The whole world needs to be rebuilt based on those values.
Join Organic:
http://current.com/groups/organicgreen/"When does planting a tree become a revolutionary act – and unleash an army... more
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Editorial
Aug 31, 2009
Positive News Issue
The new issue of Positive News will be posted out to people on 09/09/09, which coincides with the launch of a new movement, born from the desire for change and resonating with an increasing number of people, from all walks of life.
The 999 It’s Time team has identified 9 core action areas where we can all engage with positive change. This interesting group of individuals, who are championing each cause include, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall on consumerism, Sam Roddick who is tackling activism and founder Rory Spowers who will be promoting the issue of awareness. On 9th September 2009, 999 It's Time will orchestrate 9 maximum profile events and actions, aligning itself with thought-leading activists, artists, scientists, politicians, economists and thinkers, to wed the most credible and creative ideas into the 999 It's Time Manifesto.
On the same day, WorldShift 2012 will also be launched. This global movement is dedicated to co-creating the foundations of a peaceful, just and sustainable world by the end of 2012. The organisation believes that an enlightened government is needed to address these issues and seeks to unite and engage everyone in this process by signing the WorldShift 2012 Declaration to commit to transformational change.
The autumn issue of Positive News highlights other worldwide movements such as Tck Tck Tck and 350, an unprecedented alliance of non-governmental organisations, trade unions, faith groups and individuals calling for an ambitious, fair and binding climate agreement. The paper features a competition, One Minute to Save the World, encouraging amateur filmmakers to participate and publicise the need for a strong climate deal this December in Copenhagen. We also report on the World March for Peace, which celebrates the 140th anniversary of Gandhi’s birth – the first of its kind to circle the planet, through six continents and 90 countries.
Something quite remarkable is happening in the way that people and organisations, from all around the world, are joining together to participate in a collective vision to create a more positive future.
Francesca Sandwell
Youth Editor
p.s If you would like to read more about these events and other articles, please subscribe to receive a copy of the paper.
999itstime.org/
worldshift2012.org/
Photo: Earth Day at Golden Gate Park © 350.orgEditorial
Aug 31, 2009
Positive News Issue
The new issue of Positive News... more
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How do you convince a civilation that we not need only just change but drastic change? When very few will listen because they are too comftorable with their lives and too scared to do anything about whats happening? We need to stop depending on our government to do something about it because they won't unless we say something.
What we need is to unite and do something about it ourselves. Lets stop being stuck in the past and thinking about what great radical changes there were and make radical changes for ourselves. WE NEED TO DO SOMETHING NOW!!!! This is the 21st century for crying out loud we haven't done anything. Lets stop getting pissed off and saying nothing while we watch the world get worse and show the world that we can get off our lazy american asses and do something about it!
If there's anyone out there that feels passionately about this as i am please talk to me i'm so sick of this and i'm ready to do something about it.....it's time to be revolutionariesHow do you convince a civilation that we not need only just change but drastic change?... more
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In a first stage, the emotion that our appearance will generate will strengthen your relationships on a worldwide scale.How could you know whether our arrival is the consequence of your collective choice ? For the simple reason that we would have otherwise been already there for a long time at your level of existence ! If we are not there yet, it is because you have not made such a decision explicitely.Some among you might think that we would make you believe in a deliberate choice of yours so as to legitimate our arrival, though this would not be true. What interest would we have to openly offer you what you haven't got any access to yet, for the benefit of the greatest number of you ?IHow could you be certain that this is not yet another subtle manoeuvre of the "third party" to better enslave you ? Because one always more efficiently fights something that is identified than the contrary. Isn't the terrorism that corrodes you a blatant example ?Whatever, you are the sole judge in your own heart and soul ! Whatever your choice, it would be respectable and respected !n the absence of human representatives who could potentially seduce into error you ignore everything about us as well as from about those who manipulate you without your consent.In your situation, the precautionary principle that consists in not trying to discover us does no longer prevail. You are already in the Pandora's box that the "third party" has created around you. Whatever your decision may be you will have to get out of it.In the face of such a dilemma, one ignorance against another, you need to ask your intuition. Do you want to see us with your own eyes, or simply believe what your thinkers say ? That is the real question!After thousands of years, one day, this choice was going to be inevitable: choosing between two unknowns.Why spread such a message among yourselves ?Translate and spread this message widely. This action will affect your future in an irreversible and historical way at the scale of milleniums, otherwise, it will postpone a new opportunity to choose to several years later, at least one generation, if it can survive.Not choosing, stands for undergoing other people's choice. Not informing others stands for running the risk of obtaining a result that is contrary to one's expectations. Remaining indifferent means giving up one's free will.It is all about your future. It is all about your evolution.It is possible that this invitation does not receive your collective assent and that, because of a lack of information, it will be disregarded. Nevertheless no individual desire goes unheeded in the universe.Imagine our arrival tomorrow. Thousands of ships. A unique cultural shock in today's mankind's history. It will then be too late to regret about not making a choice and spreading the message because this discovery will be irreversible. We do insist that you do not rush into it, but do think about it ! And decide !The big medias will not be necessarely interested in spreading this message. It is therefore your task, as an anonymous yet an extraordinary thinking and loving being, to transmit it.You are still the architects of your own fate..."DO YOU WISH THAT WE SHOW UP ?"
In a first stage, the emotion that our appearance will generate will strengthen your... more
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MYCALL
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Whoever transmitted this translated message to you is irrelevant, and should remain anonymous in your mind. It is what you will do with this message which matters !Each one of you wishes to exercise her/his free will and experience happiness. These are attributes that were shown to us and to which we now have access. Your free will depends upon the knowledge you have of your own power. Your happiness depends upon the love that you give and receive. Like all conscious races at this stage of progress, you may feel isolated on your planet. This impression makes you sure of your destiny. Yet, you are at the brink of big upheavals that only a minority is aware of. It is not our responsibility to modify your future without you choosing it. Consider this message as a worldwide referendum! And your answer as a ballot!Who are we? Neither your scientists nor your religious representatives speak unanimously about the unexplained celestial events that mankind has witnessed for thousands of years. To know the truth, one must face it without the filter of one's beliefs, however respectable they may be.A growing number of anonymous researchers of yours are exploring new knowledge paths and are getting very close to reality. Today, your civilization is flooded with an ocean of information of which only a tiny part, the less upsetting one, is notably diffused. What in your history seemed ridiculous or improbable has often become possible, then realized, in particular in the last fifty years. Be aware that the future will be even more surprising. You will discover the worst as well as the best. Like billions others in this galaxy, we are conscious creatures that some name "extra-terrestrials", even though reality is subtler. There is no fundamental difference between you and us, save for the experience of certain stages of evolution. Like in any other organized structure, hierarchy exists in our internal relationships. Ours is based upon the wisdom of several races. It is with the approval of this hierarchy that we turn to you. Like most of you, we are in the quest of the Supreme Being. Therefore we are not gods or lesser gods but virtually your equals in the Cosmic Brotherhood. Physically, we are somewhat different from you but for most of us humanoid-shaped. Our existence is a reality but the majority of you do not perceive it yet. We are not mere observations; we are consciences just like you. You fail to apprehend us because we remain invisible to your senses and measure instruments most of the time. We wish to fill this void at this moment in your history. We made this collective decision but this is not enough. We need yours. Through this message, you become the decision-makers! You personally. We have no human representative on Earth who could guide your decision.
Whoever transmitted this translated message to you is irrelevant, and should... more
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MYCALL
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