Cape Verde on The Rise

No. 31
Spring 2011
www.positivenewsus.org
from around the world
Cape Verde on The Rise
Cape Verde has become one of the most successful self-sustaining economies in
sub-Saharan Africa and earned a reputation as one of its star democracies
Sarah Wilkinson
Separated from West Africa by 400
miles of ocean, with hardly any
arable land, few natural resources,
little fresh water and recurrent cycles
of drought, the ten-island Republic
of Cape Verde is not a likely African
success story.
Yet, despite its challenges, good
governance has transformed the
country into one of Africa’s thriving nations. A stable political climate,
secure economic policies and efficient management of aid has kept
Cape Verde on course to meet most
of its Millennium Development
Goal targets – particularly those
surrounding poverty, health, education and gender parity.
Cape Verde has experienced one
of the fastest economic growth rates
in Africa and as a result, has reduced the number of islanders living
in absolute poverty and halved the
amount of families eating less than
the minimum dietary requirement.
The modernization of its health
service is still a work in progress,
but new hospitals and clinics mean
that 76% of Cape Verdean families
now live within half an hour of
Photo: Life on Cape Verde’s Ilha de Santiago
medical assistance. Life expectancy, which was 52 years in
1960, is now at 75, the third highest
in Africa.
The country also focused on education, which leads to a 90% at-
:
e
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In Th
© Nacho Puell http://bit.ly/eCErRi
tendance rate in primary schools.
The success is partly due to a nationwide free school-dinners program, an extra incentive for parents
to send their kids to school. “This
is a strong investment in the fu-
ture,” says José Maria Neves, the
country’s prime minister.
Cape Verdean schools have also
eliminated gender disparity. In fact,
the attendance of girls is higher
than that of boys.
5
In order to prevent a migration
of skills and talents, university facilities are expanding and young
entrepreneurs receive incentives to
set up businesses.
The government’s decision to include human rights education in the
curriculum is one of the most significant steps forward, embodying
free speech into the fabric of the nation. And the independent watchdog
organisation, Freedom House, declared Cape Verde the “best democracy” in the sub-Saharan region,
while Transparency International
ranked it the third least corrupt
country in Africa, behind Botswana
and Mauritius.
Only 60 years ago, these ten islands were among the most destitute places in Africa, but as African
Development Bank President Donald Kaberuka points out: “Here is
evidence that no matter how bad
the initial conditions, with good
governance, solid institutions, and
a peaceful political and social climate, take off is possible.”
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It brings hope
Exemplifies solutions
Inspires to action
Connects those who create
positive change
We envision a world in which people treat each other
with respect and kindness, where we consider the
Earth to be our home to care for and to enjoy. And we
see that this world is in the process of emerging!
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2
Positive News is a reflection of this widespread movement and tells its powerful stories.
reporting positive change • pioneering solution-based journalism • informing and empowering
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Positive News
WORLD
A Woman Leading Change in Yemen
Alice Hackman
With two presidents unseated in Tunisia
and Egypt and highly publicised protests
across Libya, the recent demonstrations
in Yemen are catching the world’s attention. But one thing is different in Yemen:
the international face of the Yemeni prochange movement is a woman.
Profiled in The Washington Post, The
Toronto Star and Time Magazine, journalist
and human rights activist Tawakkul Karman
(photo, right), represents a courageous
image of Yemeni women. Long before she
was photographed leading February’s
protests against the government, she was
called a brave defender of freedom of expression and human rights in Yemen.
Today, she continues to protest, demanding
peaceful change. Together with fellow female human rights activists, such as journalist
Samia al-Aghbari, Tawakkul remains on the
frontline of protests in the Yemeni capital.
They may not be representative of Yemeni
women in general, but they are indeed inspiring. In fact, one Yemeni man was so impressed
by al-Aghbari’s courage during the protests
of 13 February when she was knocked onto
the pavement by a member of security, that
he wrote her a poem, Revolution of the Green
Hijab, to Samia al-Aghbari and all the other
revolutionaries, which was published on the
Nashwan News website the following day.
Although they are not all out on the streets,
there are a number of inspiring women in
Yemen who are human rights activists, jour-
nalists, doctors, educators, wives of political
detainees, photographers, and tweeters. They
are the women who quietly start their own
revolutions.
There are others. In May 2010, a literacy
eradication course inspired women in rural
Dhamar, a governorate south of Sana’a, to
go home and ask their husbands and brothers for
rights to education, inheritance and political participation. Course organisers
received phone calls from
confused male family members asking what they had
been discussing. Participants also prevented a man
from marrying off his 12year-old daughter.
When Tawakkul was detained by security for organising recent protests, she
made the most of the situation
by chatting to her fellow
women detainees about their
rights. "I was happy to discover the prison and talk to
the prisoners," she said.
It may be too early for a
female president in Yemen,
a country usually associated
in the Western mind with Al Qaeda, poverty
and oppressed women, but Tawakkul Karman adds a new, welcome dimension to the
political landscape.
Content from Middle East Online
Freedom
an idea whose time has come
Franklin Roosevelt, gave out to the world
what he called the four freedoms.
“The first is freedom of speech and expression – everywhere in the world. The second
is freedom of every person to worship God
world with a new brilliance and galvanizes
ordinary people into extraordinary action.
Many of the important stepping stones of
the past 70 years have been connected with
freedom: the Hungarian uprising of 1956,
the Prague Spring of 1968, the
Tiananmen Square protests,
the East European ‘velvet revolution’ and the fall of the
Berlin wall in 1989, the dismantling of apartheid in the
early 90s in South Africa, the
protests against military dictatorship in
Burma in 2007.
Now, the quest for justice and independence
is igniting the Arab world. One after another,
tired and corrupt regimes are buckling under
pressure from a new generation of educated,
committed and, most importantly, ordinary
people whose main characteristics are a desire for the sort of change inspired by the
will to do good. Some commentators have
been calling it the ‘leaderless revolution’,
while others are perceptively calling it ‘leaderful’. This reflects the multitude of women
and men who are stepping up to leadership
realizing it’s up to them to create lasting
change.
We learn that true freedom is a resource
of the spirit which always focuses on the
good of the whole. Perhaps we are also
being shown that we experience the greatest
freedom when we serve, because we love
humanity and the world.
The most contagious human
“quality
which can be organized
and made effective is goodwill.
© Jonathan Rashad
The Egyptian Revolution: over 1 million protesters gathered in
Tahrir Square demanding the removal of the regime
There is no power on Earth greater than an idea
whose time has come. One such idea is embodied in the word freedom, which has been
so much in the forefront of the news recently.
The history of the past 250 years has been
deeply affected by the idea of freedom, as
people struggled with the injustices and imposed poverty of a world order that focused
on the preservation of the wealth and safety
of the few at the expense of the misery, destitution and slavery of the many. Unsurprisingly, moves to establish various freedoms –
even the idea of freedom itself – were often
suppressed.
An interesting example of this is Friedrich
Schiller’s poem, Ode to Joy, which
Beethoven used in his 9th Symphony. What
most people do not realize is that the poem
was originally an ode to ‘freedom’, but the
censors would never have allowed it to be
published in this form. What a difference
this makes to the first line of the poem: ‘Joy,
beautiful spark of the gods,’ instead of ‘Freedom, beautiful spark of the gods.’ Joy is
mystical and no threat to the established
order: freedom is a call to action based on a
vision of a better future.
Like all that is suppressed, the yearning
for freedom erupts to the surface in unexpected ways with unpredictable and sometimes astonishing results. In the Second
World War, when a large portion of humanity had most of their freedoms extinguished,
and there existed a very real possibility that
the whole of humanity would become enslaved to distorted ideologies, President
in their own way – everywhere in the world.
The third is freedom from want – which,
translated into world terms, means economic
understandings which will secure to every
nation a healthy peacetime life for its inhabitants – everywhere in the world. The fourth
is freedom from fear – which, translated into
world terms, means a worldwide reduction
of armaments to such a point and in such a
thorough fashion that no nation will be in a
position to commit an act of physical aggression against any neighbor – anywhere in
the world.”
These four freedoms became adopted as
the visionary ideals for the post-war era.
What a tragedy for humanity that during the
last 70 years these freedoms have continued
to be denied to so many people and trampled
on in so many countries of the world - sometimes by the very nations claiming to defend
freedom. Yet despite setbacks, the idea of
freedom is gaining power and momentum. It
is pulsing with renewed insistence in the
consciousness of an awakening humanity.
Just when oppression, injustice, and poverty
seem to be immovably entrenched, it is then
that the light of freedom shines into the
”
MORE INFORMATION:
www.worldgoodwill.org
Story from Positive News UK
Positive News
The Emotional Lives of Animals
G ri ef , f ri en d sh i p, grat i t u d e, w on d er, an d ot h er
f eeli n gs w e an i mals experi en c e
him silently and pecked gently at his body. One, then another, flew off and brought
back pine needles and twigs
and laid them by his body.
Marc Bekoff
Scientific research shows that many animals are
very intelligent and have sensory and motor
abilities that dwarf ours. Dogs are able to detect diseases such as cancer and diabetes and warn
If you think about it,
humans of impending
heart attacks and strokes. human emotions are the gifts
Elephants, whales, hippopotamuses, giraffes, of our animal ancestors.
and alligators use lowfrequency sounds to communicate over long distances, often miles; and They all stood vigil for a
bats, dolphins, whales, frogs, and various ro- time, nodded their heads, and
dents use high-frequency sounds to find food, flew off.
communicate with others, and navigate.
Many animals also display wide-ranging
EMPATHY
emotions, including joy, happiness, empathy,
A few years ago while I
compassion, grief, and even resentment and
embarrassment. It’s not surprising that ani- was watching elephants in the Samburu Namals—especially, but not only, mammals— tional Reserve in Northern Kenya with elephant
share many emotions with us because we also researcher Iain Douglas-Hamilton, I noticed a
share brain structures—located in the limbic teenaged female, Babyl, who walked very
system—that are the seat of our emotions. In slowly and had difficulty taking each step. I
many ways, human emotions are the gifts of our learned she’d been crippled for years, but the
animal ancestors.
India Launches Court
for the Environment
“
”
GRIEF
Many animals display
profound grief at the loss
or absence of a relative or
companion. Sea lion mothers wail when watching
their babies being eaten
by killer whales. People
have reported dolphins
struggling to save a dead
calf by pushing its body
to the surface of the water.
Chimpanzees, cetaceans,
and elephants grieve the
loss of family and friends,
and gorillas hold wakes
for the dead.
Donna
Fernandes,
president of the Buffalo
Zoo, witnessed a wake for a female gorilla,
Babs, who had died of cancer at Boston’s
Franklin Park Zoo. She says the gorilla’s longtime mate howled and banged his chest; picked
up a piece of celery, Babs’ favorite food; put it
in her hand; and tried to get her to wake up.
I once happened upon what seemed to be a
magpie funeral service. A magpie had been hit
by a car. Four of his flock mates stood around
other members of her herd never left her behind. They’d walk a while, then stop and look
around to see where she was. If Babyl lagged,
some would wait for her. If she’d been left
alone, she would have fallen prey to a lion or
other predator. Sometimes the matriarch would
even feed Babyl. Babyl’s friends had nothing
to gain by helping her, as she could do nothing
for them. Nonetheless, they adjusted their behavior to allow Babyl
to remain with the
group.
SPIRITUIAL
EXPRESSION
Do animals marvel at their surroundings, have a
sense of awe when
they see a rainbow,
or wonder where
lightning
comes
from? Sometimes a
chimpanzee, usually an adult male,
will dance at a wa-
Quick Look
terfall with total abandon. Jane Goodall describes a chimpanzee approaching a waterfall
with slightly bristled hair, a sign of heightened
arousal. “As he gets closer, and the roar of the
falling water gets louder, his pace quickens, his
hair becomes fully erect, and upon reaching the
stream he may perform a magnificent display
close to the foot of the
falls. Standing upright, he sways rhythmically from foot to
foot, stamping in the
shallow,
rushing
water, picking up and
hurling great rocks.
Sometimes he climbs
up the slender vines
that hang down from
the trees high above
and swings out into
the spray of the falling
water. This ‘waterfall
dance’ may last 10 or
15 minutes.” After a
waterfall display the
performer may sit on
a rock, his eyes following the falling
water. Chimpanzees
also dance at the onset of heavy rains and during violent gusts of wind.
AND ... GRADTITUDE
In December 2005 a 50-foot, 50-ton, female
humpback whale got tangled in crab lines and
was in danger of drowning. After a team of
divers freed her, she nuzzled each of her rescuers in turn and flapped around in what one
whale expert said was “a rare and remarkable
encounter.” James Moskito, one of the rescuers,
recalled that, “It felt to me like it was thanking
us, knowing it was free and that we had helped
it.” He said the whale “stopped about a foot
away from me, pushed me around a little bit
and had some fun.” Mike Menigoz, another of
the divers, was also deeply touched by the encounter: “The whale was doing little dives, and
the guys were rubbing shoulders with it … . I
don’t know for sure what it was thinking, but
it’s something I will always remember.”
Marc Bekoff wrote this article for
Can Animals Save Us?, the Spring 2011 issue of
YES! Magazine
India has established a court dedicated exclusively to environmental cases, after the National
Green Tribunal Act 2010 was
passed by its parliament.
Following Australia and New
Zealand, India is now the third
country to create a tribunal of this
kind. The initiative aims to bring
more financial liability upon polluters.
The tribunal will hear cases
across the country related to ecological issues, and will be made up of
20 members who are environmental science experts. A network of
civil courts, it has the power to
order “compensation and restitution of damage caused from actions
of environmental negligence” according to India’s Ministry of Environment and Forests.
Environment minister Jairam
Ramesh commented: “Anybody
and everybody can approach the
tribunal to claim civil damages
arising out of inadequate implementation of environment laws.”
The ministry is intending to organise workshops in rural areas
to teach people about procedures
related to the National Green Tribunal and how to access it.
www.moef.nic.in
From Positive News UK
Record Numbers of
Salmon and Sea Trout
in English Rivers
Record numbers of salmon and sea
trout are being found in iconic
English rivers, say the UK Environment Agency, which has announced that river water quality in
England has improved for the 20th
consecutive year.
Over 70% of rivers are now
graded as ‘very good’ or ‘good’
under the organisation’s own classification. Cleaner rivers have resulted in the recovery of British
wildlife once thought to have vanished forever in some regions.
50 years ago, no salmon or sea
trout were seen in the River Tyne,
but already this year, more than
15,000 have been recorded migrating up river. The number of sea
trout in the Thames has also hit a
new level.
The improvements have been
achieved through investment by
water companies, tougher action on
polluters, reduction in discharges
from industry and businesses, and
changing farming practices.
From Positive News UK
Positive News
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EARTH NEWS
Carsharing Is Good for the Planet
Donna Beckwith
What do you like about Ithaca
(NY) Carshare?
Members share 13
cars. Each member
has access to a
clean, new car – any
time of the day or
night. The organization pays for gas,
upkeep, parking and
insurance. While the
average car owner
pays between $400
and $600 per month,
Let's see... The fact that I don't
have to maintain a car, I always
have a reliable car when I need
one or I can be flexible. Gas is
included. Being a part of Ithaca
Carshare and not owning a car
has simplified my
life more than I
Studies show that for each
had ever imagined it would.
carshare vehicle, up to 15 privately
~Ithaca Carshare
owned vehicles come off the road.
member
“
When I need a
vehicle, Ithaca
Carshare is alCarshare members walk, bike, and ways
available
What's good
and convenient;
bus more.
for you, good
plus a ton less
for your wallet,
expensive.”
good for the
By reducing individual car
community, and good for the the most active carshare memownership, the innitiative is
ber pays less than $100.
planet? It’s Ithaca Carshare!
“My doctor recommended also helping to reduce traffic
And it's so good, it's spreading. Ithaca Carshare recently getting more exercise,” shares congestion, increase transportareached 1,000 members, a new one member. “I got rid of my tion options, and make affordmilestone for this program. car and am walking a lot more. able access to cars. EZ Access,
”
Compartiendo Buenas
Energías en España
Som Energía es la primera cooperativa dedicada a la producción y consumo de energías
renovables de Cataluña. Esta
cooperativa nace con el propósito
de ofrecer a sus miembros energía
que se genera a partir de fuentes
limpias al mismo precio que la
electricidad convencional.
La cooperativa ha sido fundada
por iniciativa de una serie de
profesores, estudiantes y antiguos alumnos de la Universidad
de Girona. Gracias a la unión
de sus miembros han podido
superar los principales obstáculos
a los que se enfrenta todo aquel
que desee hacer uso de las energías
renovables en su hogar. "Por
ejemplo, una pequeña instalación fotovoltaica para una
casa particular puede costar entre
15.000 y 20.000 euros [más de
27.000 dólares]", según comenta Antoni Márquez, miembro fundador de Som Energía.
Para ser miembro de la cooperativa, cada miembro aporta
un poco más de 100 dólares al
capital social de la cooperativa.
Este importe cubre el coste del
consumo mensual de energía –
como en el caso de las fuentes
convencionales – y el objetivo es
que la energía se obtenga al mismo
precio. Ya hay 250 miembros a
nivel nacional, sobre todo en
las provincias de Girona y
Barcelona. Cualquier persona,
asociación, empresa, ayuntamiento u otras cooperativas
que lo deseen, pueden participar en esta iniciativa.
La intención de Som Energía
– un proyecto aún en sus inicios – es empezar a vender la
energía renovable a sus miembros en septiembre de 2011. La
energía será inicialmente comprada a vendedores externos en
el mercado. Sin embargo, el
objetivo final es que la cooperativa no sólo pueda consumir,
sino también producir energía
renovable, evitando así la dependencia de otras empresas.
Som Energía centrará sus
esfuerzos en cuatro fuentes renovables: biogás, energía solar,
energía eólica y biomasa. "En
el caso de la energía eólica",
explica Antoni, "nos centramos
en instalaciones de pequeña escala, no en los grandes parques
eólicos. Siempre hemos sido
unos grandes defensores de las
pequeñas instalaciones, repartidas por todo el territorio en
donde estén situados nuestros
miembros."
MÁS INFORMACIÓN:
www.somenergia.cat/es
Artículo de Noticias Positivas
España / www.noticiaspositivas.net
for example, is a new program,
supported by grants, allowing
those with low incomes to join.
Ideally, participating members use the cars as part of a
network of choices. Each member is urged to walk, ride bicycle
and use public transit. The cars
simply add increased mobility.
MORE INFORMATION:
www.ithacacarshare.org
607.277.3210
S ha r i ng G o o d
Ener g y i n S p a i n
Som Energía is the first renewable energy production
and consumption cooperative in Catalonia. It has been
created for the purpose of offering its members energy
that is generated from clean
sources, at the same prices as
conventional electricity.
The cooperative was set
up at the initiative of teachers, students and former students at Girona University.
They joined forces in order
to overcome the main obstacles that confront those
wishing to have renewable
energy in their homes. “For
example, a small photovoltaic installation for a private home can cost from
€15,000 to €20,000 [over
$27,000],” we were told by
Antoni Márquez, a founding
member of Som Energía.
To become a member of
the cooperative, one contributes a little over $100 to
its share capital. This covers
the cost of monthly energy
consumption - as with conventional sources - and the
aim is for the energy to be
supplied at the same price.
There are already 250 members on a national scale,
mostly in the provinces of
Girona and Barcelona. Any
person, association, enter-
prise, town council or other
cooperative can take part in
this initiative.
The intention of Som Energía – a project still in its
early stages – is to start selling renewable energy to its
members in September 2011.
The energy will initially be
purchased on the market
from external sellers. However, the final goal is for the
cooperative not only to consume, but also to produce renewable
energy,
thus
avoiding dependence on
other enterprises.
Som Energía will focus its
efforts on four renewable
sources: bio-gas, solar
power, wind power and biomass. “In the case of wind
power,” Antoni explains,
“we are talking about small
scale facilities, not large
wind farms. We always advocate small installations,
spread around the territory
where the members are located.”
Energy Supplier Makes
Green from Green
CARDIFF, UK - Energy from the wind
will soon be used to make devices that
capture the power of the sun, thanks to
plans for a modern windmill at a firm in
Wales producing the latest generation of
solar cells. It will be the first time in the
world that green energy is generated to
create a product that also makes renewable energy.
The 120 meter-tall windmill from
green energy supplier Ecotricity started
powering operations at the Cardiff-based
firm, G24 Innovations, last December. An
award-winning green technology firm,
G24 Innovations creates lightweight and
flexible solar cells, which are built into a
range of bags and cases to recharge laptops, smart phones and other gadgets
while on the move.
Dale Vince, the founder of Ecotricity,
said: “It’s a small glimpse of the future
and, for me at least, a very exciting one –
the idea that we can harness renewable energy and use that to make devices which
themselves harness more renewable energy.”
The windmill, Ecotricity’s first in Wales,
is being installed under its Merchant Wind
Power (MWP) program. Situated on the
grounds of the G24 Innovations site in
Cardiff, it will produce 5.9 million kilowatts every year. Electricity generated, but
not used by the site, will be put into the
grid for other homes and businesses to
use.
ACTION CARD
Positive News
PEACE
Bridges to Freedom
one woman’s journey from Iranian prison to peace
Tegra Fisk
Last September, Sarah Shourd was freed
from prison in Tehran, Iran, after 15 harrowing months. Her fiancée Shane Bauer and
friend Josh Fattal, both in their late 20’s, are
still there. With widespread international support for their freedom and innocence in the
face of Iran’s charges of espionage, Sarah
was finally released. Desmond Tutu, Barack
Obama, Ban Ki-Moon, and Noam Chomsky
have all praised the three hikers’ “cultural
peace work”. I spoke to Sarah about her experiences which have honed her desire to
“work the rest of my life for peace in the
Middle East.”
Sarah began with a heartfelt account of the
best year of her life among the culturally diverse artists, writers, and humanitarian workers in Damascus, Syria. She had been there
for a year with Shane, he - involved in photojournalism, she - teaching Iraqi refugees.
Sarah Shourd in Sana'a, Yemen
Sarah recounts one of her favorite memories where while walking home late one
night, she was nervous to find she was being
followed. Calling out the Arabic phrase for
help, “Oh People!” ten neighbors immediately ran out to assist her. She doesn’t think
such a caring response would take place in
her native Oakland in California.
Her stories are poignant with the irony of
her and her friends’ imprisonment in light of
their strong desire to promote cultural exchange. “Everywhere we go, in all our work,
we try to bring the best of our culture to other
places and gather the best of theirs to bring
home,” she says. Sarah expresses a passionate wish that experiences such as hers do not
inspire more fear between countries, but inspire us to “make the walls between our
countries breathe and be porous”.
She remembers her guards being surprised
by her anguish at being away from her
mother. They tought that “Most Americans
don’t care about their mothers so deeply.”
“Our false assumptions and lack of information,” says Sarah, “are perpetuated by
sanctions and distrust by both governments.
Since the US and Iran cut off ties 31 years
ago, there has been a widening gulf of misunderstanding between Iranian and American
people. We must chip away at ignorance by
being open to the rich cultures of the Middle
East, seeking out information and promoting
cultural exchange.”
This peace activist envisions a future of
promoting more understanding between people of the US and the Middle East through organizing cultural collaborations involving
artists, filmmakers, musicians and writers.
She has also vowed to use her prison experience as a springboard for spending the rest of
her life influencing change in her country’s
policy towards the Middle East.
Sarah recalls the moving experience when
a prison guard brought her a rose from the
garden saying, “Sarah, I know someday you
will be free.” Presently, her full time work is
with the campaign to free Shane and Josh, but
Sarah says she can hardly wait to know Iran
and the Middle East not as a prisoner, but an
ambassador of peace.
Theater of War
Ancient Greek plays help modern-day combat veterans express their feelings
for something much bigger than a
performance," explains Bryan Doerries, the project’s director. "When
veterans see their own lives reflected
upon warriors in ancient times. The
two ancient stories are almost like
textbook descriptions of wounded
BROOKLYN, NY - It's a tough
soldiers today, and show their strugchallenge to help troops and vetergle under the weight of
ans feel more comfortboth psychological and
able opening up about
Sophocles, a general himself, physical injuries. Read
their private thoughts.
understood firsthand the mental, with emotion by actors
Traditionally our servand actresses, they
ice members have
emotional, and physical toll of war.
have much that is imbeen trained to bottle
portant and relevant to
up their feelings and
instead stay focused on the tasks at in ancient stories, they open up and say to military audiences.
The plays serve as inspiration
hand. Today, we know that every- talk about things they might not have
one needs a time out to address shared with anyone. Maintaining for a panel discussion which immeemotional needs, especially when one's humanity in the face of war is diately follows the readings. Each
experiences carry psychic wounds something people have been strug- panel includes an active duty soldier
gling with for thousands of years." who has experienced at least one
with them.
Today, after more than 100 read- deployment to Iraq or Afghanistan,
Some of history's bravest heroes
suffered mentally from battle, and ings for about 20,000 service mem- a veteran who has experienced at
today's service members and rela- bers, Theater of War seems firmly least one deployment, a spouse or
other family member, and a mental
tives are no different. Overcoming established as a good idea.
Since autumn 2009, Theater of health professional or a member of
stigmas about psychological injuries
can be an uphill fight that seems War has presented readings of Sopho- the military chaplaincy. After the
endless, but now a new project is cles' Ajax and Philoctetes to mili- panel a town hall style discussion
helping. The Theater of War project tary communities across the United takes place.
Often, active-duty personnel
is making headway across the US. States. These timeless plays depict
"This is about theater as a vehicle the psychological wounds inflicted worry about the stigma of postby Ruth Robertson
“
”
ACTION CARD
A panel discussion during Theater of War
traumatic stress disorder. Some do
not even seek help after their military career is over. But in the audience participation segment of
Theater of War, internal thoughts
find their way into open discussion.
Both active service members and
veterans find they can begin to
speak out loud about internal
trauma. Many say they have been
moved to tears by the performances.
Service members' families too
are benefiting from the open discussion that Theater of War fosters.
Some say they feel they have been
on battlefields at home, dealing
with the stresses their loved ones
experienced far away. The plays
have touched about 20,000 service
members in more than hundred locations since the performances
started less than two years ago.
This spring, Theater of War will
broaden its audience even further as
it makes its way onto university
campuses including Columbia University, University of Pennsylvania,
and Emory College.
What They Say About Peace:
The way of peace is the way of love. Love is sist the temptation to drown in fatalism, to shake
your head and sigh and just throw in the karmic
the greatest power on earth.
towel... Realize that this is the perfect moment
~Peace Pilgrim
to change the energy of the world, to step right
up and crank your personal volume. Remember
magic. And finally, believe you are part of a
Stop thinking this is all there is... Realize that
for every ongoing war and religious outrage and groundswell, a resistance, a seemingly small
environmental devastation and bogus Iraqi at- but actually very, very large impending karmic
tack plan, there are a thousand counter-bal- overhaul, a great shift, the beginning of someancing acts of staggering generosity and thing important and potent and unstoppable.
humanity and beauty happening all over the
world, right now, on a breathtaking scale... Re- ~Mark Morford, San Francisco Chronicle
Positive News
SPRING FORWARD!
Good morning, Egypt. I truly
missed you in the past 30 years!
They lied at us. Told us Egypt died 30
years ago, but millions of Egyptians decided to search and they found their
country in 18 days.
~ Wael Ghonim
Thank you, Wisconsin. You have
made people realize this was our last
best chance to grab the final thread of
what was left of who we are as Americans.
~ Michael Moore
And it is still true, no matter how old you are, when you
go out in the world, it is best to
hold hands and stick together.
~Robert Fulgrum
If
there’s no
dancing at the revolution, I’m not coming!
~ Emma Goldman
Across the continent, on the shores of small
tributaries, in the shadows of sacred mountains,
on the vast expanse of the prairies, in the safety of
the woods, prayers are being repeated, as they
have for thousands of years, and common people
with uncommon courage and the whispers of their
ancestors in their ears continue their struggles to
protect the land and water and trees on which
their existence is based. And like small tributaries
joining together to form a mighty river, their force
and power grows. This river will not be dammed.
~Winona LaDuke
A revolution is gaining momentum
through the actions of countless individuals and groups around the world
because people are realizing that our
needs can be met without destroying
our world. We have the technical
knowledge, the communication tools,
and material resources to grow enough
food, ensure clean air and water, and
meet rational energy needs. To see this
as the larger context of our lives clears
our vision and summons our courage.
~Joanna Macy
I arise in the morning torn between a desire to save the world and
a desire to savor the world. This
makes it hard to plan the day.
~E. B. White
Man must evolve for all human
conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression and retaliation.
The foundation of such a method is
love.
~Martin Luther King Jr.
BIEN Idea
Scholars and organizations worldwide are getting behind an idea whose
time has come: to provide a Basic Income for every human being on the
Planet
Ruth Robertson
Bien means "good" and BIEN stands for
Basic Income Earth Network. BIEN started
in Europe in 1986. At that time the E in
BIEN stood for "European" but the network quickly grew to include international
groups in support of the idea…so the E was
made to stand for "Earth".
Believers in a Basic Income say that social policy and economic policy can no
longer be conceived separately, and Basic
Income is the only viable way of reconciling two central objectives: poverty relief
and full employment. It may sound like an
impossible dream, but a Basic Income
would mean income unconditionally
granted to all on an individual basis.
The vision of BIEN includes common
ownership/stewardship of the earth and
equal sharing in the benefits of technical
progress. Organizations that are part of
the BIEN network act on the behalf of
many causes such as the elimination of inhumane working conditions and interregional inequalities. They work for dignity
for the poor and for liberty, equality, and
efficiency. They strive for the viability of
cooperatives and for autonomy from
bosses and bureaucrats.
Last year BIEN held its 13th annual congress in Brazil. São Paulo was chosen for
several reasons. Brazil's cash transfer system is one of the most comprehensive in
the developing world, and is said by some
to be the closest thing yet to a genuine
Basic Income. Several years ago, Brazil
adopted a law that includes the introduction
of an unconditional and individual Basic
Income for all its permanent residents.
Some economists who support a Basic
Income argue that existing welfare delivery
systems need to be dismantled, not expanded; they say that handing out subsidies
would liberate the poor from an unwieldy
government apparatus and let them buy
what they decide themselves they need.
Others say that the changes need to happen in smaller steps and that a good start
is free public transportation for all, a solution that is also healthy for the planet.
From Kyoto to Calgary, in Mexico and
Germany, there is serious discussion over
what would once have been unthinkable,
a Basic Income for every human being on
the planet. "After all", BIEN believers say,
"The earth belongs to everyone"!
MORE INFORMATION:
www.basicincome.org
bien@basicincome.org
Positive News
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Positive News
Victory for Ecuador’s Indigenous People
as Chevron is fined $8.6 billion for Amazon oil pollution
Seán Dagan Wood
The people of Ecuador’s Amazon region have
achieved legal justice after an 18-year battle
seeking damages for crude oil pollution.
The $8.6bn fine, issued by a court in Lago
Agrio, Ecuador, is the largest ever awarded
for an environmental case, though it is below
BP’s $20bn compensation fund for the impacts of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill in 2010.
According to human rights groups, it also
represents the first time indigenous people
have sued a multinational corporation in the country where the crime was committed, and won.
The case was brought on behalf of 30,000
people affected by the environmental catastrophe. Chevron inherited the suit when it
bought Texaco in 2001 and has denied the allegations of environmental damage.
Before being bought by Chevron, between
1972 and 1990, Texaco released 18.5 billions
of gallons of toxic waste into rivers and water
sources, the lawsuit claims. The company reportedly spilled millions of gallons of crude
oil and left a vast quantity of waste pits behind, which continue to contaminate the soil
and water. According to affected communi-
ties, the contamination has caused widespread health problems.
Justice does exist, said Guillermo Grefa
of the Kichwa indigenous group. “I can now
dream of drinking clean water, water with no
oil residue, and that the Earth will begin to
clean and heal.” And Emergildo Criollo, a
plaintiff and Cofán leader said, “This is a
great victory... Our fight won’t stop until
Chevron is held accountable and pays for all
the damage it left in the Amazon Rainforest.”
The oil firm is appealing the decision,
which it claimed was “illegitimate and unenforceable.” In a statement, the US-based company said: “It is the product of fraud and is
contrary to the legitimate scientific evidence.”
The legal battle could potentially continue
for months or years before plaintiffs see any
compensation, but campaign groups hailed
the verdict as a historic ruling for human
rights, environmental justice and corporate
accountability. Amazon Watch and Rainforest
Action Network, which have spent years
working to help the Ecuadorian people and
protect the Amazon, said Chevron’s guilt for
extensive oil contamination in the Amazon
rainforest is now official.
Both organizations accuse Chevron of having waged unprecedented public relations and
lobbying campaigns to avoid cleaning up the
environmental and public health catastrophe.
“It is time Chevron takes responsibility,” they said.
The case was initially filed in a US federal
court in 1993 and transferred to Ecuador at
Chevron’s request, but they have now attacked Ecuador’s courts as evidence turned
against them.
“It is a critical benchmark in a long struggle for justice,” said Han Shan of Amazon
Watch, “a struggle that will not end until the
affected communities get the cleanup, clean
water, and critical health care they need and
have sought for so long.”
Story from Positive News UK
Victoria indígena en Ecuador
– multa de 8.6 billiones de dólares a Chevron por contaminación de crudo en el Amazonas
Los habitantes de la región amazónica de
Ecuador han conseguido que se haga justicia
después de una larga batalla legal de 18 años
de duración para obtener una indemnización
por el crudo vertido en sus territorios.
La multa de 8.600 millones de dólares impuesta por un tribunal de Lago Agrio,
Ecuador, es la mayor multa asignada a un
caso medioambiental, aunque se sitúa por detrás del fondo de compensación de BP, por
valor de 20.000 millones de dólares, para
subsanar el impacto del vertido de petróleo
en el Golfo de México en 2010.
Según diversos grupos de derechos humanos, este caso también representa la
primera vez en que los pueblos indígenas han
demandado a una multinacional en el país en
el que se ha cometido un delito y han ganado.
El caso fue presentado en nombre de las 30.000
personas afectadas por la catástrofe medioambiental ocasionada.
Chevron
heredó la demanda cuando
adquirió Texaco
en 2001 y siempre ha negado las
acusaciones por
daños medioambientales.
Antes de ser
adquirida
por
Chevron, entre
1972 y 1990,
Texaco vertió
84.000 millones
de litros de residuos tóxicos a
los ríos y demás
fuentes acuíferas, señala la demanda. Al parecer, la compañía vertió millones de litros de
crudo y dejó una gran cantidad de residuos
de crudo en los lechos de los ríos, que siguen
contaminando el suelo y el agua. Según las
comunidades afectadas, la contaminación ha
causado graves problemas de salud en la
población.
"Se trata de una gran victoria", dijo
Emergildo Criollo, demandante y líder
Cofán, que vive en el norte de la Amazonía
en Ecuador, pero añadió: "Nuestra lucha no
se detendrá hasta que Chevron asuma sus responsabilidades y pague todos los daños que
dejó en la selva amazónica."
Chevron también apelará la decisión, después de tacharla de “ilegítima e inaplicable."
En un comunicado, la compañía estadounidense ha afirmado que "es producto de
un fraude y es contraria a las evidencias científicas legítimas disponibles."
La batalla legal podría continuar durante
meses o años antes de que los demandantes
puedan recibir algún tipo de indemnización,
pero los grupos activistas han recibido la sentencia como una decisión histórica para los
derechos humanos, la justicia ambiental y la
asunción de responsabilidades corporativas.
Amazon Watch y Rainforest Action Network,
que han pasado años trabajando para ayudar
al pueblo ecuatoriano y proteger la Amazonia, afirmaron que la culpabilidad de
Chevron con respecto a la enorme contaminación por petróleo ocasionada en la selva
amazónica ya se ha hecho oficial.
Ambas organizaciones acusan a Chevron
de haber llevado a cabo unas campañas de
relaciones públicas y de presión sin precedentes para evitar la limpieza de esta
catástrofe medioambiental y de salud pública.
"Es hora de que Chevron asuma su responsabilidad," afirmaron las organizaciones.
La demanda se presentó inicialmente en
un tribunal federal de EE.UU. en 1993 y se
trasladó a Ecuador, a petición de Chevron.
Pero la compañía ha atacado ahora a los tribunales de Ecuador aduciendo que las pruebas se han vuelto en su contra.
"Es una referencia fundamental en esta
larga lucha por la justicia", dijo Han Shan, de
Amazon Watch, "una lucha que no terminará
hasta que las comunidades afectadas consigan los niveles de limpieza, agua potable e
higiene que necesitan y han buscado durante
tanto tiempo."
Traducido por Noticias Positivas España /
www.noticiaspositivas.net
Positive News
YOUTH
ImMEDIAte Justice
and Sex Ed
For many of us, sex education consisted of halftruths whispered in the school cafeteria or movies
in health class that suggested abstinence and heterosexuality were our only options. In 2009 Tani
Ikeda, a new film program graduate of the University of Southern California (USC) , posed the
question What would happen if young women took
sexual health education into their own hands?
The answer was ImMEDIAte Justice, a summer program that Ikeda, along with cofounders
Sylvia Raskin and Laney Rupp, created for young
women in Los Angeles that teaches media literacy
and sexual health through filmmaking. Participants
learn to write, direct, and film their own sex-ed
videos with a ‘for youth by youth’ philosophy.
ImMEDIAte Justice aims to provide teenagers
with an equally comfortable space, where they can
develop the ability to educate peers with powerful
stories. “Through ImMEDIAte Justice we’re reclaiming our bodies and our stories,” says Ikeda.
“Now we’re the ones holding the cameras.”
Cafe in Cameroon helps young
people join global sustainability effort
As part of a growing network around the
world, Open World Cafe Cameroon
opened in the city of Yaoundé in January
2011. The new facility offers vocational
training for unemployed young people,
providing access to information technology facilities and promoting education in conservation, renewable energy
and international development.
Youth educator Joshua Konkankoh,
the coordinator of nonprofit Better
World Cameroon, who set up the cafe,
said: “My vision is to link school nature clubs and underprivileged children
living in city slums and rural areas, to
youth networks and sustainability professionals worldwide.”
Scaling up an existing facility,
which includes a market garden and
tree nursery, Joshua plans to serve traditional organic food and drinks at the
cafe and develop it into a sustainable
community
center where
people
can
meet and discuss environmental issues.
Long-term, he
hopes to also
develop the
cafe into a distribution centre for organic
food, working with small-scale farmers.
Joshua said he is committed to giving a
voice to indigenous knowledge systems,
while helping underprivileged youths integrate into modern society.
The Sweden-based Open World Foun-
dation created the Open World Cafe
model as an open-source concept bringing together passionate individuals and
workshops on personal development,
leadership and sustainability issues. Besides Cameroon, the cafes currently exist
Joshua Konkankoh addresses a crowd
Photo by Open World Foundation
“
My vision is to link school nature
clubs and underprivileged children
living in city slums and rural areas, to
youth networks and sustainability
professionals worldwide.
”
communities around the world, sharing a
common vision of a prosperous and sustainable way of life.
Promoting healthy lifestyles and encouraging a holistic approach, the cafes
offer nutritious foods and spaces for
A Permaculture Journey
or are on the way in Sweden, Brazil, India
and Spain.
“The organization is creating a platform for a growing network of inspiring
and action-oriented individuals; people
who believe in themselves and their visions for a better future,” said Christiana
Soderberg, head of communications at the
Open World Foundation.
She added: “Some of the biggest decisions have been made over a cup of coffee.”
MORE INFORMATION:
www.openworldcafe.com
Story from Positive News UK
Nicole Vosper
The journey begins...
Almost ten years ago, as a teenager, I
wrote my first article for Positive
News UK, [the sister publication of
Positive News US]. In that time, life
has been such a learning curve in finding effective ways to work for social
change. What I am coming to realize
is that in this past decade, it has been
the grassroots work going on quietly
in the background that is really sowing the seeds for sustainability.
Projects emerging around the
world are practically responding to
the social and environmental challenges of our time. Many of these
projects, be they edible playgrounds
or community orchards, are being organized on permaculture principles.
Permaculture is hard to strictly
define due to the diversity of its manifestations across the planet. It is the
shorthand for both ‘permanent agriculture’ and ‘permanent culture,’ as
coined by two Australian ecologists in
the 1970s.
Informed by studies of nature-
based peoples and ecological principles, it is a design system that works
with the unique attributes of particular
places.
Landscapes are consciously designed so that they can meet the needs
of human communities in a low-impact way.
For the past two years permaculture has been playing an ever more
prominent and positive role in my life.
My family and I have recently become the caretakers of a wonderful
corner of land in Somerset; 4 acres
filled with an old orchard, woodland,
a field and stream, raised beds, and a
greenhouse. Most days I feel like a
whistling Snow White surrounded by
wildlife.
Everyday I’m given opportunities
to put permaculture into practice, part
of which is simply letting nature do
her own thing and using those
processes to our benefit. In recently
mulching the neglected beds in our
greenhouse, I felt like my role was
more like an event organizer – just
setting the scene so the bugs could
move in and have a massive welcoming party at our place.
By layering down cardboard, comfrey, compost and all manner of other
organic matter, all the beneficial
micro-organisms were invited for a
feast. In return for doing what they do
best we will be gifted with healthy soil
to grow healthy food. This is the
essence of permaculture: beneficial
relationships.
Permaculture principles also help
us deal with
the right now,
and not only
design for the
future. One
of my present
favourites is
using ‘small
and slow solutions’, on
the premise
that
our
efforts should
be at a manageable, human-scale. So
when I stand in the garden of our new
home, looking at the dilapidated
raised beds and mountains of opportunistic plants (weeds), I take a deep
breath and remember ‘small and
slow,’ knowing that it will take time
to grow and shape into the abundant,
productive ecosystem that it has the
potential to become.
I am at the beginning of my apprenticeship as a permaculture designer, as part of undertaking a
Diploma in Applied Permaculture Design. I had my first tutorial last week
and set out what I would like to
achieve over the next two years. I plan
to chart how successful I am in creating a livelihood, being of service to
the land and my community, and will
reveal if I really do gain the skills and
confidence I desire to practice permaculture on a broader scale.
I will also be writing a dedicated
permaculture blog for the new Positive
News UK website (www.positivenews.org.uk) which will hopefully bring
readers one step closer to the grassroots changes happening worldwide.
News and events will be featured, as
well as living examples of pioneering
projects and inspiring people.
If you have suggestions for articles or
would like me to cover an event or
project you are organizing, please
email: nicolevosper@gmx.com
Positive News
YOUTH
Tiny Superheroes Inflict Kindness on Strangers
No one has yet fully
realized the wealth of
sympathy, kindness,
and generosity hidden
in the soul of a child.
The effort of every true
education should be to
unlock that treasure.
~Emma Goldman
MISSOULA, MT - Super Cooper cannot
sling webs. He does not pilot an invisible
airplane, communicate telepathically with
sea creatures or leap tall buildings in a single bound.
Super Cooper does possess a guileless
enthusiasm, a proper red superhero's cape
and an open-book approach to reporters not
usually found in men of steel.
He readily told a reporter about his latest
act of derring-do-good. "We saw someone
next door and we said hi. And we gave him
flowers. And we tell him he could come to
our school."
We managed to extract the name of their teacher explained that they would not courage development of empathy, someSuper Cooper's favorite fellow caped cru- be fighting bad guys; even after she told times in short supply among preschoolers
sader, Eliza, before Super Cooper handed them that they could not "fly" on slick ice, who don't want to give up their truck, their
the phone to his preschool teacher and re- only on dry pavement; and especially after doll or their purple crayon.
Since the kids became superheroes,
a crafty parent fashioned capes for the enturned to his toys.
Kristal has noticed a change. "It has made a
Cooper Spataro, 3, and his classmates at tire class.
Kristal's students, who range from 3 to 5 world of difference," she said. Bickering is
Missoula Community School in Missoula,
Montana, are ‘superheroes of kindness,’ years old, most recently took part in the on the wane; helping is on the rise. We're
not telling them that they have to help
performing weekly acts of good will that in- mission Cooper described.
The superheroes' acts usually benefit someone who needs help, but now they just
clude cleaning school windows and delivering paper flowers to residents of an those outside school walls. One of the pri- see it."
Unexpectedly, the small superheroes
mary goals of the kindness effort is to enassisted living community.
have spawned adult sideTeacher Kristal Burns came up
kicks in their community
with the concept after hearing
explained Kristal: "They're
about Laura Miller, aka Secret
getting these random letAgent L. Ms. Miller performs freters from people. ... Can
quent small acts of kindness using
we go on a mission with
her secret agent pseudonym, leavyou?"
ing small notes and treats in public
"They're not too small
places for passers-by to discover.
to make a difference.
She encourages others to embrace
That's been a really neat
the random good deed.
outcome of this. They're
"I was intrigued," Kristal said.
just being their kind
"We were talking about how wonselves, and people are so
derful it would be to teach the kids
thankful."
to do that. At the same time, we
love superheroes and we want to
CONTENT FROM:
be superheroes, but superheroes
often hit and punch. Why don't we
DailyGood.org
be superheroes of kindness?"
and from AOL.original
Superhero preschoolers roaming the streets of Missoula
The kids loved the idea, even after
Boy Helps with the Gulf Oil Spill
“10/10/10 was global work day for 350.org.
I cleaned up a stream near my house.
What did you do?” ~ Dylan
Dylan Stock was in first grade
when the Gulf oil spill began
last spring.
His class at The Principia
School in St. Louis studied the
spill's effect on birds. Dylan
moved by the news wanted to
do something. So he went to a
hair salon to gather human
hair to be used on booms to
capture the spreading oil in the
Gulf of Mexico.
The six-yr-old was just getting going. With help from his
mother, Carrie Silver-Stock,
he created a website, onestartsmany.com. "I was really
worried about the sea creatures," Dylan says. "My mom
asked me if I wanted to make
a website, and I said 'sure!'
And I came up with the name
One Starts Many."
The website includes
Dylan's ideas on how to protect the oceans.
At a fundraiser last November, he collected $1,145 to
send to two Gulf charities,
Kids in Need During Disaster
which buys clothing for children in a fishing town hit by
the oil spill, and the Audubon
“ Dylan traveled to
the Gulf last summer
on his own ‘fact-finding’ mission.
”
Institute in New Orleans, which treats
stranded and injured marine wildlife.
With support from WitKids, a program
that supports kid-based projects (its motto
says "whatever it takes to make the world a
better place"), Dylan traveled to the Gulf
last summer on his own ‘fact-finding’ mission, which included meeting New Orleans
Mayor Mitch Landrieu.
In September, the young environmental
crusader spoke to first-graders through
fifth-graders at his school to tell them about
his trip. He also invited them to become
members of his new Ocean Club, which he
established at the school. The club already
has helped to clean up a local creek.
"It's inspiring for us that he felt like he
could make a difference," says Mrs. Silver-Stock. She and her husband, Steven
Stock, wanted "to nurture that in any way
that we can," she says.
It looks like Dylan isn’t done. "I think
I'll stay interested in the ocean for a
while," he says.
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Positive News
CARE
She Brings Soup, Care and Respect
Homeless herself as a child, Betty Chinn has dedicated her life to those in need
Jen Sotolongo
EUREKA, CA - Every day, for over
20 years, Betty Chinn loads her
Blue Angel truck with coffee and
food and drives to a city-owned
parking lot in Eureka, to serve a
group of 150 or so people in need
of a warm meal and companionship. She then goes on to 10 other
locations throughout the city, returns home by eight in the evening,
rests for a few hours and then begins the routine again early the next
morning.
Stemmed from her childhood in
China where she found herself an
orphan surviving on the streets at
the age of seven during the era of
Mao Zedong’s Communist rule, Betty
views her work as a way of serving
those who live as she once did.
Her parents, both successful
physicians, became a target of
Mao’s Cultural Revolution. Though
Betty spent the next four years
without a home facing rejection and
ridicule. Such difficult life took a
child. Betty vowed to help the community, by simply extending to
them the humanity and care she as
I don’t think she has any agenda other
“
than trying to help people out… It kind of
rekindles my faith in the goodness of people
and I’m proud to be associated with her.
- Eureka Police Chief Garr Nielsen
Betty hugs a homeless man
during her trip to Hong Kong
her father managed to flee, her
mother was imprisoned, and her
siblings were sent to labor camps,
leaving Betty to fend for herself.
toll on her and she became a mute.
Eventually, she escaped to Hong
Kong, and then on to the US, landing in Eureka, where she began
anew. She regained her voice and
eventually married Leung Betty, a
Humboldt State University physics
professor, with whom she raised
two sons.
In time, she realized there were a
number of homeless individuals in
the area living the life she did as a
”
a child never received. She began
by cooking and serving meals to the
homeless in her family kitchen.
Among her most successful accomplishments is a public shower project.
Betty’s work has grown to include a sustainable group of volunteers who help with cooking,
sorting through clothes, picking up
donations, and more. As her outreach efforts continue to grow, she
continues gaining more and more
support in the way of donations of
clothing from the community or
funding from local businesses.
Though Betty has received the
Minerva Award in 2008, an honor
which recognizes remarkable
women in California, as well as the
Presidential Citizens Medal, the
second highest civilian award in the
United States, from President
Obama in 2010, Betty remains reserved and considers herself no
hero.
“Everything I do is a way of saying thanks to those who showed me
kindness when I needed it,” she
says.
MORE INFORMATION:
Bettychinn.org
707.496.4420
Gatherings of Altruists Break
Social and Economic Stereotypes
By Samanvaya Ram
CHENNAI, India - Power of voluntary action
of just one person can be significantly felt in
a congregation of several individuals. Ennangalin Sangamam – meaning ‘the confluence
of good thoughts’ in Tamil language - represents a network of such people.
Ennangalin Sangamam was a result of a
question: “if there are so many positive initiatives, how come we don't know of them?”
Mr. J Prabhakar, an illustrator by profession,
took up the challenge by coordinating the
first meeting of unknown individuals performing selfless acts of service in the southern state of Tamilnadu in India.
Every year, the first Sunday of the year,
for the last six years, ordinary individuals get
together to celebrate volunteerism, share their
stories of service, and simply to partake in the
spirit of solidarity and togetherness.
The gatherings include a mix of farmers,
rickshaw drivers, government employees,
teachers, housewives, philanthropists,
bankers, factory workers, and business executives. They are breaking every stereotype
across the social, economic and cultural spectrum of the Indian society. They are gathering
to celebrate what they highly value - human
care for each other and for the planet.
The meeting place is abuzz with action. A
group of youth makes an open offer to tutor
any special needs children, a rickshaw driver
passes around a booklet he prints, a head of a
religious institution suggests ways in which
employment can be created for youth.
“I don’t get
to see such bonhomie amongst
people!” Exclaims a head
of a major drug
company who
has come for
the first time.
In one corner, a smaller circle forms addressing different aspects of education and
sharing their learnings on creative teaching.
Taking on positive initiatives seems to ignite
many of those present.
“It is the feeling that we are not alone,”
somone explains, “that there is a larger community, design and process of positive action
that we are a part of…that keeps bringing me
Report Looks at Generosity Across the World
into this gathering each year.”
Currently, the network, which started with
128 in its first year, has grown to over 800
people in the sixth year (2011). So, what are
we doing next June first Sunday?
MORE INFORMATION:
jp.sangamam@gmail.com
Donating money to charity is something
that is traditionally seen as being driven by
how wealthy a person is. However, it
Australia and New Zealand have topped
in their own localities and across bornating to charities, 39% volunteering
is clear that hapthe World Giving Index - the first report of
ders.”
their time and 65% helping a
piness plays
its kind looking at charitable behavior
The creators of the report, the Char- Ghana stranger.
Afghani- an imporacross the world. The index indiities Aid Foundation (CAF), looked
For the 153 countries intant role.
Sri
Lanka
45 cluded in the survey, which
cates that
at three different types of charitable
stan
The findBelarus behavior – giving money, giving time represented 95% of the world’s
happier
8
ings suggest
39
people
and
helping
a
stranger.
While
Australia
population,
CAF
compared
the
Hong
a
positive
106
are more
and New Zealand came out on top overall, strength of the relationship between
cycle
where
one
person
gives to
Kong
likely to
Malta was found to be the country with the giving with both a nation’s GDP and
charity, the charity improves the
give
largest percentage of the population (83%) how happy people said they are. CAF found happiness of the individuals they support and
18
India
money to
giving money. The people of Turkthat the link between happiness and giv- they in turn are more likely to give.”
134
charity than
menistan are the most generous with
ing is stronger than the link between
those who are wealthy.
their time, with 61% having given
wealth and giving. Richard Harrison,
Italy
The report states: “The level of giving in a time to nonprofits. Liberia was
CAF director of research, said: “We MORE INFORMATION:
country indicates something about the number one for helping a stranger
have always thought of ourselves as a
29
strength of civil society – the extent to which (76%).
charitable nation and now for the first www.cafonline.org/default.aspx?page=19428
individuals are willing and able to contribute
The US finished fifth, alongside
time we can see how charitable we are Story from Positive News UK
towards addressing the needs of others both Switzerland, with 60% of the population do- compared to the rest of the world.
Positive News
CARE
SEEDS OF LOVE FOR ERROL
Jonathan Milner (Errol’s Dad)
When the cardiologist first examined Errol he
told us our son would be a million dollar
baby. I laughed. He didn’t. I cried. Our outof-pocket medical bill for Errol’s first year of
life was a whopping $24,000. And that didn’t
include the normal baby gear like formula
and diapers.
As Errol got older and our medical bills
continue to mount we looked into government programs to ease our medical expenses.
Cary, my wife, got a call today from the Social Security Administration: we do not qualify for Medicaid or any other government
assistance because last year we made $3,000
too much. I’ve never made too much before!
Our little family inhabits a nether land of
middle class existence where we have too
much money for government health care support, and too little money to pay our health
care bills without going broke. So we throw
a party. Or, to be more exact, our amazing
friends and neighbors throw a bill-paying
party called Seeds of Love for Errol.
If it weren’t for the spectacular generosity
of our friends, family, neighbors, and community, we would never be able to repay our
staggering health care bills. Millions of
Americans don’t have our fantastically good
fortune. In fact, 700,000 Americans go bankrupt each year from health care expenses. 80
percent of them have insurance. We have insurance! And 22,000 of our fellow Americans
who lack insurance and can’t afford a doctor
die each year from treatable diseases here in
the richest country in the history of the world.
It’s a tragedy. It’s a huge moral failure.
But here in this little corner of the country
our loving community comes together to save
our house, our future, our behinds! We are the
luckiest family in the world.
It all began one evening when a group of
neighbors sat around the dinner table at Eddie
Ingle’s. “I was talking to Cary and Jonathan
the other day,” says Eddie, “and even though
they have insurance, Errol’s surgeries have
cost them thousands and thousands of dollars.
And then Eddie posed a simple question,
“What can we do to help?” Eddie told his
friends about a wonderful slow food dinner
party he had attended where locally grown
food had been prepared and served. And then
he answered his question. “What if we grow
some food and make a meal to raise money,
to help pay Errol’s medical bills?”
A seed was planted.
The seed was nurtured, and before long
Seeds of Love were sprouting up throughout
our neighborhood, Washington Park. Neighbors clear land and plant gardens of corn,
tomatoes, beans, and basil for our harvest
dinner. A neighbor tends her fruit trees and
makes jar after jar of fig preserves.
On a hot spring day Team Errol – in their
spiffy new Errol t-shirts - held a community
heart health day in our neighborhood park.
The soccer field was full of parents and children stretching out into yoga, pilates, and taichi; doctors and nurses taught our children
about heart health; nutritionists suggested
healthy meals; and neighbors sold lemonade.
The whole event came to a screeching halt
Photo by www.errolclifford.com
Preparing a ritual in memory of Errol
when Errol rolls up in his wheelchair and the
teens and kids swarmed him like paparazzi.
“Errol! Errol! How are you, buddy?”
There is more! A roadside farmers market
sold homemade jewelry, and neighborhood
honey and flowers. Three girls held a lemonade stand for our little friend. A family
churned ice cream and invited everyone up
and down the street to enjoy and contribute
to the fund. Seeds of Love bumper stickers
and t-shirts cropped up. At his thirty-third
birthday party, a neighbor charged a dollar to
light a candle for Errol on his cake.
In Minnesota, a slow foods dinner raised
money for Errol. 100 painters made art for a
silent auction for Errol. And on a long hot
Saturday in August, the original group from
Eddie’s came back together to shuck corn for
the big dinner. Eddie and Team Errol invited
the community to give their time and energy
to one sweet little boy and his struggling family. And their love transformed Washington
Park into a bountiful garden!
Although our beloved Errol is gone, the
Seeds of Love he planted continue to grow.
After Seeds of Love paid our medical expenses $50,000 of the fund remained, and we
are using it to start a community garden for
people of all abilities.
MORE INFORMATION:
www.errolclifford.com
Story from Charter for Compassion
‘Happy Lady’ Dances in the Streets
ST. LOUIS, MO • "If people think I'm
crazy, I don't care." Arms spread wide,
feet tapping and hips swaying, Erica
"Happy Lady" McElrath of St. Louis
greets daily commuters on the street cor-
ner while rocking to the beat of her headphones.
Her only payback comes in the form
of big smiles and honking car horns. "I
don't want money," said Erica. "I come
“
Do something
that you enjoy, no matter what your
circumstances.
~ Erica McElrath
”
out here to make people smile."
Erica lost her full-time job in January.
Since then, she has spent her days doing
what she loves — dancing in the streets.
Her message to people at a time of economic distress: do something that you
enjoy, no matter what your circumstances.
The Happy Lady graduated from Parkway Central High School and has spent
the past 21 years working as a nursing assistant. She began singing and dancing
publicly on her days off a few years ago
to help her through the pain of divorce.
Videos of Erica dancing in various
downtown locations have popped up on
YouTube. Her own YouTube channel,
"BouncyLady40," shows a clip of her
grooving to the song, "Play That Funky
Music."
"People think I'm crazy, but I don't
care," she said. "I can't dance a lick. I just
be bouncing and going with the music."
The occasional unhappy gesture from a
passing motorist doesn't bother her either.
"I just smile and wave," she said.
Recently, Erica's brave outbursts of
joy earned her a job opportunity with Liberty Tax Service, which offered her a position as a dancing Statute of Liberty to
promote their new location.
"Just be happy and do what you love,"
she said. "The money will come."
Story from DailyGood.org
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Positive News
WORLD
Locals Cultivate Agricultural Solutions in Africa
Danielle Nierenberg
Worldwatch senior researcher
Danielle Nierenberg spent the
last year touring over 25 countries in sub-Saharan Africa in
search of agricultural innovations that are adaptive, sustainable and ecosystem-friendly.
Nourishing the Planet has been assessing
the state of agricultural innovations in Africa
— from cropping methods, to irrigation technology, to agricultural policy — with an emphasis on sustainability, diversity, and ecosystem
health, as well as productivity. The project,
an initiative of the Worldwatch Institute, aims
to help eradicate world hunger. Following are
just two of the projects I met with during my
time in Africa.
Kenya - Anywhere from 700,000 to a
million people live in Kibera, which is likely
the largest slum in sub-Saharan Africa — it’s
hard to count the exact number because people don’t own the land. But despite the challenges — a lack of clean water, sanitation
services and land tenure — they are thriving.
We met a self-help group of women farmers, who are growing food for their families
and selling the surplus. These
food culture and traditions.
groups are present all over Kenya,
They started with Sunrise pregiving young people, women and
school. By teaching young children
others the opportunity to organize,
early about growing, preparing and
share information and skills, and
eating, they are cultivating the next
ultimately improve their wellbeing.
generation of farmers and consumers,
The women we met are growing
helping to preserve the country’s culivegetables on what they call ‘vernary traditions. In addition to teachtical farms’ by filling tall bags with
ing about planting indigenous and
soil. The women grow crops in
traditional vegetables and fruit trees,
them on different height levels by
DISC puts a big emphasis on food
poking holes in the bags and plantpreparation and processing. “If a pering seeds. They received training,
son doesn’t know how to cook and
seeds and bags from French huprepare food, then they won’t know
manitarian organization, Solidarites,
how to eat it,” says Edward.
to start their gardens.
Students working with DISC grow
The women informed us that
© Nourishing the Planet / B Pollack up with more respect and excitement for
more than 1,000 of their neighbours
DISC co-coordinators and children involved with the food farming. “As youth we’ve learnt to
are growing food in a similar way.
grow fruits and vegetables, to support
program at Buiga Sunrise Pre-school
In fact, during the 2007 and 2008
our lives,” says Mary Naku of her inNairobi slum conflicts, no food could come used to be considered a ‘punishment’ for volvement with the project. Thanks to DISC,
into these areas but most residents did not go young people. It was something that they did students no longer see agriculture as an ophungry because many were growing crops – if they could not go to university or find jobs tion of last resort, but rather as a way to make
in the city, according to Edward Mukiibi and money, help their communities and preserve
in sacks, on vacant land, or elsewhere.
These small gardens can yield large benefits in Roger Serunjogi, co-ordinators of the Devel- biodiversity.
terms of nutrition, food security and income. oping Innovations in School Cultivation
All the women told us that they saved money (DISC). Edward, 23, and Roger, 22, started
because they no longer had to buy vegetables DISC in 2006 with their own money, estabat the store. They also claimed the food tasted lishing gardens at 15 pre-school, day and board- www.nourishingtheplanet.org
ing schools. Their aim was to improve nutrition, Tel: 202.452.1999
better because it was organically grown.
Story from Positive News UK
Uganda - In Mukono District, farming raise environmental awareness, and preserve
Poland’s Report Calls for New Farming Vision
A report from the International Coalition to
Protect the Polish Countryside (ICPPC) is
proposing a rethink of modern agriculture
and how to best fulfill its purpose of feeding humanity.
The Manifesto for 21st Century Food and Farming states:
“It is necessary to entirely step
aside from state and corporate
control of the food chain …
Maintaining and re-establishing
the genuine independence of
farmers throughout the world is a prerequisite for our survival as sentient, healthy
human beings.”
ment. It advocates that a new understanding
is required to achieve this, and is proposing
“a people-led and people-owned renaissance of agriculture.”
People’s creativity and
ingenuity need to be harnessed, it states, and the
inspiration should be
drawn from “time-honored peasant and family
farming practices that
still form the foundation
of self-sufficient, sustain-
People need to have the right of
“
lawful access to unused or barren land
for the purpose of growing food for their
own consumption in ways that do not
harm the environment.
”
ACTION CARD
Father and son farming traditionally in the Beskidy
Mountains in Malopolska province of Poland
The vision of the report is for all
peoples to be fed with good quality,
affordable and mostly local foods in
ways that do not harm the environ-
© ICPPC
able and ecological agricultural production
throughout the world.”
Farmers should have the right to save
their seeds, the report affirms, and to culti-
vate, distribute and trade the produce resulting from these seeds. People should also
be able to maintain the biodiversity of local
native plants, herbs and animals for culinary, medicinal and general environmental
health. The manifesto also suggests that
people need to have the right of lawful access to unused or barren land for the purpose of growing food for their own
consumption in ways that do not harm the
environment.
The manifesto was launched at an international seminar in Zakrzów, Poland, which
was organized by ICPPC and drew leading
food and farming campaigners. The conference was held to commemorate the 10th
Anniversary of ICPPC, Poland’s leading independent voice calling for the retention of
small and medium-sized family farming enterprises and the abolition of GM (genetically modified) foods and factory farming.
ICPPC president Sir Julian Rose said:
“We stand at the cusp of a watershed for
food and farming: total control of the food
chain by corporate agribusiness or farming
for the people with the people. For those
who appreciate nature and seek healthy
food, we have no choice but to unite our efforts to ensure the survival of environmentally-friendly and independent family
farming worldwide.”
MORE INFORMATION:
www.icppc.pl
jadwiga@icppc.pl
Story from Positive News UK
Positive News
HEALTH
Dance Class Helps Parkinson's Patients
An unusual dance class is taking place:
one taught by professional dancers and offered free of charge for people with Parkinson's disease and their caregivers. It's one of
a small but growing number of such classes
worldwide.
at Evergreen Hospital Medical Center in
Kirkland, says that, in many ways, dance is
ideal for those with Parkinson's.
Research is showing that exercises that are
more creative and engaging may help the
brain enhance its nerve connections and improve how the brain
works, she said.
There's something beautiful about seeing
But just as important,
the dance
those with Parkinson's and their caregivers taking
class is an opportua dance class together. Especially a husband and nity for joy, creative
expression and sowife — seeing them dance together again.
cializing — an antidote
to
the
The class is called Dance for Parkinson's, depression and isolation that can come with
based on the Dance for PD program created any illness.
in 2001 by the Brooklyn-based Mark Morris
"The joy is wonderful," confirmed Jenny
Dance Group and the Brooklyn Parkinson Getchell, 46, of Sammamish, who has had
Group. Seattle and Spokane are among some Parkinson's since she was 8. Plus, "I feel real
40 communities worldwide that have repli- comfortable around people with Parkinson's
cated the model.
because they know what it's like."
The idea is that dance helps ease the
"Putting someone on a treadmill and just
symptoms — and some hope might even asking them to walk more — that's a chalslow the progression — of Parkinson's dis- lenging task for someone who already has
ease, a disorder of the brain that leads to rigid movement problems," Dr. Giroux said. But
muscles, shaking, impaired balance and dif- "tapping into an exercise that's fun and enficulty with walking, movement and coordi- gaging — that's going to work."
nation.
Dr. Monique Giroux, medical director of
the Booth Gardner Parkinson's Care Center From DailyGood.org
“
”
Participants get a kick out of the one dodging
an imaginary ball during a dance exercise
KIRKLAND, WA - The students walk in
slowly, some rigidly or with a bit of a tremor.
They take their places, not at a ballet barre or
on the dance floor, but sitting in chairs.
As the live music starts, they flutter their
fingers like hummingbird wings, point their
toes along the ground. Limbs loosen and start
to flow. And perhaps something even more
important happens: Smiles emerge and
laughter erupts.
The Wonders of Watercress
New UK research backs the cancer- eliminating properties of watercress
Sarah Wilkinson
Watercress is packed with 15 essential vitamins
and minerals. Weight for weight, it contains
more vitamin C than oranges, more calcium
than milk, more iron than spinach, more folic
acid than bananas and has secretly enjoyed
superfood status for centuries. Now, research
from the University of Southampton in UK,
has found new evidence that regularly eating
the plant could help prevent cancer.
The benefits of watercress were first recognized in ancient Greece when Hippocrates,
the father of modern medicine, is said to have
deliberately located his first hospital beside a
stream so that he could grow a plentiful supply of watercress with which to treat his patients. The Greek general Xenophon had his
“
A reveler celebrates at
Alresford Watercress
Festival.
”
soldiers eat it to increase their strength before
battle; Anglo Saxons took it to prevent baldness
and ‘spring clean’ the blood; Roman emperors
believed it enabled them to make bold decisions; American Indians used it to dissolve
kidney stones; and philosopher Francis Bacon
claimed it could ‘restore a youthful bloom’.
Watercress experiments during the 1930s
found it to be a powerhouse of nutrients. It
was consequently assigned as a staple ingredient in school dinners.
Through the latter half of the 20th century
however, the popularity of watercress fell,
mainly due to increased competition from
imported and more exotic produce. But in
2003, British watercress farmers joined
forces to revive the profile of this great plant,
forming the Watercress Alliance.
Cancer-preventing properties
The new research from the University of
Southampton has found that volunteers who
ate a bowlful of watercress a day, had elevated levels of cancer-fighting molecules in
their blood within hours of eating it.
The findings revealed
that the plant compound
abundant in the leaves
of
watercress
that causes its
peppery taste,
phenylethyl
isothiocyanate
(PEITC), is
able to
block the function of a protein called Hypoxia Inducible Factor (HIF), which plays a
key role in cancer development. As tumors
develop, they outgrow their existing blood
supply. To get past this barrier, cancer cells
send out signals that cause the surrounding
normal tissues to grow new blood vessels and
supply the growing cancer cells with oxygen
and nutrients.
HIF is necessary for this process to work.
However, PEITC blocks its function and
thereby inhibits the growth of cancer, while
also helping recovering patients avoid a recurrence of the disease.
“We are very excited by the outcome of
Professor Packham’s work,” says Watercress
Alliance member Dr Steve Rothwell, “which
builds on the body of research that supports
the idea that watercress may have an important
role to play in limiting cancer development.”
Benefit to smokers and others
The study follows a dietary trial by the
University of Ulster, which found that DNA
damage to white blood cells was considerably reduced in 60 healthy volunteers, including 30 smokers, who were asked to eat
an 85 gram bag of fresh watercress every day
for eight weeks.
Earlier research from Princeton University
in New Jersey, found that watercress protected smokers from a key tobacco carcinogen implicated in lung cancer.
Other trials at Ulster found that eating watercress protects against eye diseases such as
cataracts, and the raised levels of antioxidants
also protect cells from the effects of free radicals, which are responsible for heart disease.
History tells us that our ancestors believed
in the plant’s revitalizing powers, but wider
studies into its medicinal properties have yet
to be undertaken before bodies such as Cancer Research UK would be able to officially
endorse it.
For now, scientists have awarded the
aquatic plant natural superfood status and can
back its supplementary health benefits. The
encouraging findings from the University of
Southampton however, are the first step to
discovering if one of Britain’s oldest salad
vegetables might really be a key ingredient
in eliminating diseases such as cancer.
Story from Positive News UK
HEALTH BENEFITS
According to nutritionists, watercress can be used for the treatment
of respiratory congestions, coughs,
bronchitis and flu. Due to its high
iodine content, it has a strengthening effect on the thyroid
gland, so it is also beneficial during times of unhealthy radiation.
___________________
John Hurd has been cultivating
watercress for over 40 years and
was the first UK grower to gain
NFU approved organic status in
1994. For his free watercress recipe book
contact:
www.organicwatercress.co.uk
Positive News
Auroville: A Beacon of Hope
Radiates from South India
“
Auroville means everything to me. What better project in oneness to be involved with. I am so lucky to be
a part of it!
~ Bhavana, a long time Aurovillian
”
In the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu, the
seeds of a 40-year-old experiment are
abloom with vibrancy, beauty, and enthusiasm. This testing ground which
started off as a barren, rocky wasteland, through great dedication,
has been converted to a lush,
forested expanse. The participants are a mix of women, men,
and children from around the
world. The aim of the experiment
is the functional realization of
human unity. Its name: Auroville.
Auroville was founded in 1968 based
on the vision of a French woman of TurkishEgyptian descent named Mirra Alfassa, better
known during her time in India as The Mother. The
Mother, whose life was filled with metaphysical and
transcendental experiences, was the spiritual collaborator of Sri Aurobindo, who himself - in addition to being
an Indian nationalist and freedom fighter - was
a yogi, visionary philosopher, poet, and
spiritual evolutionist.
Upon its founding, a handful of
soil from each of 124 countries
and 23 Indian states was
placed into an urn as a symbol of Auroville's communal spirit.
The Solar
Kitchen is a
major kitchen
for the Auroville
community which derived its name from the big
solar-bowl on its roof. Daily, the bowl provides
steam for cooking approximately 1,000 lunches.
Spread
over
800
©Auroville
hectares, Auroville’s
dirt roads and profusion of trees
offer cool respite from the tropical
heat. At its heart is a giant golden
sphere called Matrimandir - a space
for peace and meditation.
Sadhana Forest is a thriving re-forestration community based on a gift economy model. In the photo
children from a nearby village come to help
plant trees, sing songs to the baby trees, and
have lots of fun in the mud.
“
What is Auroville?
In the West,” says Nitzan, a
youth
at
Auroville,
“you’re surrounded by
so many more distractions that you
have a tendency to
lose yourself in
them. Here there are
a lot of different opportunities in terms of
doing sports or arts without
having to pay for them. You can
just go up to somebody and say
you’re interested in learning something and they will help you. This
is one of the most beautiful things
about this place.
Auroville is meant to be a
universal town where men
and women of all countries
are able to live in peace and
progressive harmony, above all
creeds, politics and nationalities.
What is it’s purpose?
The purpose of Auroville is to realise human oneness
– in diversity. According to its website, Auroville
is recognised as the first and only internationally
endorsed ongoing experiment in human unity
and transformation of consciousness. It
is also concerned with - and practically researching into - sustainable
living and cultural, social and
spiritual needs of humankind.
Who are
the Aurovilians?
They come from some 45 nations, from all age groups, social classes, backgrounds and
cultures. The population of the
township is constantly growing,
but currently stands at around 2,160
people, of whom approximately onethird are Indian.
Residents and
visitors take part in a
Non Violent Communications (NVC) Workshop at the Joy Living and
Learning Center.
©Auroville
”
MORE INFORMATION:
www.auroville.org
Positive News
Transition Movement Cultivates
Wholesome Solutions
lenges of peak oil and climate
change. Communities across the
UK - I recently attended a lecture at UK - and increasingly across the
the Environmental Law Foundation world - are taking back control.
where Rob Hopkins, co-founder of
Food is a particularly good exthe Transition Towns movement, ample of an area of life where ‘trangave an impressive address as a sitioners’ can and do make a big
keynote speaker.
difference in a short space of time.
The major shift that human soci- Food is fundamental to our survival
ety must make, he proposed, is the and wellbeing, but many of us shop
transition away from dependence in large supermarkets, buying food
on fossil fuels. Transition Towns are that is imported from far away
developing and implementing countries. This has a high energy
strategies to prepare their commu- and carbon cost and depends upon
nities for a future without cheap, global distribution systems, which
plentiful oil, and with the increas- in turn rely on fossil fuels.
ing pressure of unpredictable cliSome transition groups have set
matic changes. The strategies are up garden share systems, to match
aimed at building in resilience at the people who want to grow food with
local level, or as Hopkins put it, ‘in- those who have the land. Often both
tentional re-localization.’
parties benefit, with growers lookWhy should people want to get ing after the owner’s garden and
involved with this? The answer is sharing with them the resulting prosimple: building in resilience to duce. More ambitious projects incommunity life is a good thing, clude fully functioning community
even without the pressing twin chal- farms, run by groups of committed
volunteers, with the
support of the wider
community.
Correction:
The aim of these
initiatives is not to enable a community to
The following quote was
self-suffimis-captioned in become
cient,
but
to
make the
the Karma
community’s
food
Clinic article
supply
more
diverse
of our last
and resilient.
Winter issue:
The transition model
also addresses the
psychological barriers
“Generosity to me...is
to behavioral change being selfish in the ultimate sense...being
including the feeling
completely aligned with our own spirit
of helplessness and
and...living from the space that inspires us,
anxiety.
that makes us come alive.” This was said by
Dr. Aumatma Binal Shah, not the Dalai Lama
(although it sounds every bit as profound!).
Melanie Strickland
Cheerful disclaimer
of Transition US!
Just in case you were under the impression that
Transition is a process defined by people who
have all the answers, you need to be aware of a
key fact.
We truly don’t know if this will work. Transition
is a social experiment on a massive scale.
What we are convinced of is this:
•
If we wait for the governments, it’ll be
too little, too late
•
If we act as individuals, it’ll be too little
•
But if we act as communities, it might
just be enough, just in time.
Everything that you read on our website is the
result of real work undertaken in the real world
with community engagement at its heart. The
site, just like the transition model, is brought to
you by people who are actively engaged in transition in a community. People who are learning
by doing - and learning all the time. People who
understand that we can’t sit back and wait for
someone else to do the work. People like you.
much more fulfilling than our current ‘throwaway society.’
MORE INFORMATION
To look up your local Transition
Group visit: www.transitionus.org
OFFICE MANAGER:
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Story from Positive News UK
a movie we like:
Documentary film, I AM, starts with two questions: what’s wrong with our world, and what
we can do to make it better?
Tom Shedyac, the celebrity filmmaker behind the inquiry steps in front of the camera to
share what happened to him after a cycling accident left him incapacitated, possibly for good.
Though he ultimately recovered, he emerged
with a new sense of purpose, determined to
share his own awakening from his prior life of
excess and greed, and to investigate how he as
an individual, and we as a race, could improve
the way we live and walk in the world.
Ironically, in the process of trying to figure
out what’s wrong with the world, Tom discovered there’s more right than he ever imagined.
He learned that the heart, not the brain, may be
our primary organ of intelligence, and that
human consciousness and emotions can actually affect the physical world.
Tom also discovers that, contrary to conventional thinking, cooperation and not competition, may be nature’s most fundamental
operating principle. Thus, I AM shows consen-
EDITOR:
Ilonka Wloch
ilonka@positivenewsus.org
Printed on
100% recycled newsprint using
soy based inks.
www.transitionus.org
But clearly transition is a journey. It starts with a few key individuals, then grows within the
community and continues to flourish with the support and commitment of more local people. There is
no end to that journey - transition is
a way of life, and one that sounds
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sus decision-making is the norm amongst many
species, from insects and birds to deer and primates. The film further discovers that humans
actually function better and remain healthier
when expressing positive emotions, such as
love, care, compassion, and gratitude, versus
their negative counterparts, anxiety, frustration,
anger and fear.
The film reveals what science now tells us is
one of the principal truths of the universe, a
message that is as simple as it is significant:
We are all connected - connected to each other
and to everything around us.
www.iamthedoc.com
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www.thepartystarterdotcom.com
“Take your brother’s need
as the measure for your action
and solve the problems of the world.”
The world has had enough
of hunger, injustice and war.
Now, extraordinary help is at hand. Maitreya, the World
Teacher, has come with a group of highly advanced teachers,
who have long guided humanity from behind the scenes.
They are now returning to the everyday world to help us
solve the critical global problems that threaten the very
future of the planet.
Maitreya is here to inspire us to live together peacefully as
one human family, to share the world’s food and resources
so that we all have the basic necessities of life: food, shelter,
health care and education. His open mission in the world
has already begun.
www.TheEmergence.org/pn
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Positive News
Clean-up Your Act
One man’s response to finding litter in the sea led to a global clean-up campaign involving 120 countries
© www.cleanup.org.au
Founder of Clean Up the World,
Ian Kiernan, with local volunteers
Millions of volunteers across the globe
joined forces to clean up their local parks,
waterways and woodlands on Clean Up the
World Weekend. The campaign works at a
grassroots level to mobilize global communities to clean and look after their local environments. The project began 18 years
ago, when Australian yachtsman Ian Kiernan was sailing round the world. Having
waited years to see the legendary, long,
golden weeds of the Sargasso Sea –
renowned for its deep blue color and clarity
– he was dismayed to find them tangled
with trash.
On his arrival home, Ian immediately organized a local clean-up campaign at Sydney Harbor. But when 40,000 willing
volunteers arrived to help, he realized that
the idea could be rolled out to the whole nation. After 300,000 people turned up for
Clean Up Australia in 1990, the next logical
step was to clean up the world.
Three year’s later, with the United
Nations Environment Program’s
support, the global campaign was
born.
The results have been staggering.
In its first year, 30 million people
across 80 countries participated.
Eighteen years on and more than
35 million volunteers from 120
countries get involved every year,
and the number keeps growing.
“Environmental protection at a
global scale often starts with small
individual actions,” Ian says. “We
bring together individuals and
small communities with large organizations and government in a
joint effort to make our planet a
cleaner and healthier place.”
Held 17th-21st September, last
© Ecologia y Reciclaje de Sonora
A recycling and ecology NGO in Mexico – Ecologia y
Reciclaje de Sonora, celebrated the day by building a
house from recycled bottles for the indigenous
community of San Pablo del Monte
year’s activities ranged from cleaning up
small villages in Africa, to parks in São Paulo,
mangroves in the Philippines and beaches in
the Maldives. Some communities also
launched long-term recycling programs,
restoration projects, tree planting events
and awareness campaigns.
“Across Europe, the Asian Pacific, the
Americas, West Asia and Africa, Clean Up the
World Weekend is when we unite to clean,
fix up and conserve our precious and shared
environment,” Ian explains. “It’s a weekend
where we rise above our geographical and
political boundaries to prevent nature loss.
We welcome more groups to join us.”
MORE INFORMATION:
www.cleanuptheworld.org
© www.cleanup.org.au
A family in India contributes their afternoon
Story from Positive News UK
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