People’s Movement for Mother Earth Rights

More than 35,000 people from around the world gathered at the “World People's Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth” held in Cochabamba, Bolivia this past April. Bolivia’s indigenous President, Evo Morales, called the conference in response to the failure of world leaders to provide leadership at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP 15) held last December in Copenhagen. The participants succumbed to a corporate agenda producing a non-binding and weak accord that will potentially increase global warming by more than 2 ° C, and threaten all life on this planet. The predictable outcome would be increasingly dramatic climate change, millions of environmental refugees, dramatic impact on global food production, and increasing global instability.

In contrast to the gulag gray and somber crowd-controlled Copenhagen accords, the colorful and chaotic People’s Conference was very positive and upbeat. Father Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann, Former UN President of the United Nations General Assembly said to me, I think this conference marks the beginning of something that is real and for service. I believe you will see very shortly, a movement not only at the level of grass roots trying to awaken their governments into doing something, but you will begin to see people coming together with the idea of gathering a majority of the general assembly of the UN security council. Many people attending this conference felt it was the start of a global people’s movement of unprecedented power and commitment! There was a visceral sense of hope and possibility as we left the conference.

Read the entire letter from Michael here.

Upcoming Events

Through the blessed vehicles of movement, song, poetry, inquiry and silent witnessing; this day will be entirely devoted to learning the knack of transforming the energy held in suffering into life-giving creative energy. William Blake has said "Energy is delight", and it is profoundly true. When the energy of feelings are condemned and sequestered into the unconscious, these energies fester like a wound, deadening us, robbing us of vitality, sensitivity, awareness and joy.

The same energy that has been held in suffering can become healing, dynamic aliveness that deepens your life and humanity with compassion, presence, freedom and the capacity to fully embody all that you love.

11:00-6:00 Saturday March, May 22 - $145
To register call 530.477.7757, or register online:
moving-meditation.com/alchemy.php

When: July 18th to the 24th 2010
Where: Carleton Hotel of Oak Park
1110 Pleasant Street
Oak Park IL 60302
708.848.5000
www.CarletonHotel.com
More information: www.andrewharvey.net

Moving Meditation News

Last month I had the privilege of spending 10 days dancing in NY with Gabrielle and the Moving Center School staff. What a treat! After many decades of dancing and almost 12 years of teaching I have gained a whole new appreciation for this practice. During that time I realized how important it is to me to give you the full benefit of my training and experience.

For me this is a sacred practice. A focused intention in a moving body can heal, transform and ignite our deepest passions and open up awareness of our profound interconnectedness and the sacred relationship to all life. The patterns in our bodies are reflections of the patterns in our lives. If we consciously put the body in motion, we create the potential to break habitual and disempowering patterns. This exquisite landscape of the 5 Rhythms is a precious gift that never stops giving as long as we engage ourselves in the practice. I invite you to engage in the power of the practice and join me on Fridays in conscious movement. After the 45-minute warm up on Fridays we will be engaging in this movement practice when I am here to teach. This will be a guided practice, not just a dance. I welcome the spirit of intention you bring to this practice.

Alchemy With Maniko

11:00-6:00 Saturday March, May 22 - $145
To register call 530.477.7757, or register online:
moving-meditation.com/alchemy.php

Release in the Rhythms With Stacey Bella

Come spend a luxurious weekend at Harbin Hot Springs: dance your heart out on a great floor, soak in the healing waters, take in the fabulous food, connect with community extraordinare. Fuse your 5Rhythms practice with the essence of yoga, releasing muscle and joint tension using hands, balls and rollers. We’ll liberate tension, delve into tightness, let go of all the ways we hold on and dance this freedom into reality. In wave upon wave we’ll find new ways to support and surrender to our dance, feeling the joy of moving our precious body through the landscape of the rhythms.

June 4-6, 2010: Friday 6:30-9:00pm, Saturday 11:00-4:00pm & 7:00-9:00pm, Sunday 11:00-4:00pm

• 6 catered meals
• camping or conference center sleeping bag space
• unlimited use of hot tubs and grounds

$295 thru May 10 / $325 after May 10
Enroll via Pay Pal: www.bodyjoy.net/workshops.html
Or call or email Bella to enroll: (916) 267-5478 bella@bodyjoy.net

New Podcasts

Click here to view the Podcasts page, and to listen to the following podcasts:

James O’Dea: Creative Stress
James O'Dea is a Fellow and immediate past president of the Institute of Noetic Sciences and a former faculty member of the Omega Institute. He is a former Executive Director of the SEVA Foundation and a former Director of the Washington, DC office of Amnesty International. He is a member of The World Wisdom Council and currently collaborating with the Global Systems Initiatives in Washington DC, and an Evolutionary Leaders group spearheaded by Deepak Chopra. His latest book is Creative Stress: a path for evolving souls living through personal and planetary upheaval. www.jamesodea.com

Velcrow Ripper: Fierce Light: Where Spirit meets Action
Acclaimed filmmaker, writer, sound designer, and media activist Velcrow Ripper creates powerful, cinematic documentaries, dramas and non-fiction novels that deal with the central issues of our times. His over 30 films include the multi-award winning feature documentary sensation, ScaredSacred, and FierceLight: When Spirit Meets Action www.velcrowripper.com

Tim Van Wagner and Cathe’ Fish: Living Lands Agrarian Network

A Nevada City native, Tim Van Wagner partnered with Leo Chapman of Bluebird Farm, a local CSA, after completing college. In addition to farming the two created the Living Lands Agrarian Network whose mission is to serve as a network of ecologically minded farmers and community members working to strengthen our community’s ties and connections to the land, support agrarian education and ecological literacy, and carefully steward the land on which we farm and live. www.eco-farm.org

Since 1987, Nevada County resident, Cathe' Fish, speaker, sustainability teacher, master gardner and permaculture educator, has been working as an experienced drylands Permaculture Design Consultant. Cathe' has also taught passive solar building design at straw bale workshops for many years. Besides teaching permaculture classes, giving permaculture consultations, and creating permaculture designs, she farms at the Living Lands Agrarian Network. www.practicalpermaculture.com

Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann
Father Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann, M.M., is a Nicaraguan diplomat, politician and Catholic priest. He was the President of the United Nations General Assembly from September 2008 to September 2009. He presided over the 63rd Session of the United Nations General Assembly. Shortly after his election, d’Escoto Brockmann stated:
They elected a priest. And I hope no one is offended if I say that love is what is most needed in this world. And that selfishness is what has gotten us into the terrible quagmire in which the world is sinking, almost irreversibly, unless something big happens.

Book of the Month

Twelve by Twelve: A One-Room Cabin Off the Grid & Beyond the American Dream, by William Powers

This captivating account of living into the question of, “How much is enough”, by the author of Blue Clay People and Whispering in the Giant’s Ear is a must read for anyone interested in living a more meaningful life. Powers shares his experience of living off the grid without running water or electricity and discovering the power of living the life of a “wildcrafter”, someone who “shapes their inner and outer worlds to the flow of nature, rather than trying to mold the natural world into a shape that is usable in the industrial world.”

Bill Powers draws on his many years of international aid work to find solutions to not only the global “eco-cide” that is happening on our planet but to create a more meaningful and fulfilling life, while lightening our ecological footprint. This thought provoking book will lead you to question many of the beliefs and assumptions you have about living the good life! For more information or to order this book, which is being released this month go to www.williampowersbooks.com

Articles

Climate Game Changer: Can Cochabamba pick up where Copenhagen failed?

President Barack Obama's offshore drilling announcement is bad news for efforts to stop runaway climate change, especially following December's failed climate talks in Copenhagen.

But there is hope — and a whole new approach — coming from an unusual gathering later this month. Representatives of 50 governments will meet with ordinary people and social movement leaders from around the world in Cochabamba, Bolivia, to work on solutions to what may be the biggest threat ever faced by humankind.

To read the full article, click here.

A Civilizational Tipping Point

In recent years there has been a growing concern over thresholds or tipping points in nature. For example, scientists worry about when the shrinking population of an endangered species will fall to a point from which it cannot recover. Marine biologists are concerned about the point where overfishing will trigger the collapse of a fishery.

We know there were social tipping points in earlier civilizations, points at which they were overwhelmed by the forces threatening them. For instance, at some point the irrigation-related salt buildup in their soil overwhelmed the capacity of the Sumerians to deal with it. With the Mayans, there came a time when the effects of cutting too many trees and the associated loss of topsoil were simply more than they could manage.

To read the full article, click here.

Taxpayer Dollars Subsidizing Destruction

One way to correct market failures is tax shifting—raising taxes on activities that harm the environment so that their prices begin to reflect their true cost and offsetting this with a reduction in income taxes. A complementary way to achieve this goal is subsidy shifting. Each year the world’s taxpayers provide at least $700 billion in subsidies for environmentally destructive activities, such as fossil fuel burning, overpumping aquifers, clearcutting forests, and overfishing. As the Earth Council study Subsidizing Unsustainable Development observes, “There’s something unbelievable about the world spending hundreds of billions of dollars annually to subsidize its own destruction.”

To read the full article, click here.

Saving Civilization is Not a Spectator Sport

Given the enormous environmental and social challenges faced by our early twenty-first century global civilization, one of the questions I hear most frequently is, What can I do? People often expect me to talk about lifestyle changes, recycling newspapers, or changing light bulbs. These are essential, but they are not nearly enough. We now need to restructure the global economy, and quickly. It means becoming politically active, working for the needed changes. Saving civilization is not a spectator sport.

To read the full article, click here.

Reduce, Recycle, and Replant – Data Highlights on Restoring the World’s Forests

Earth Policy Institute

The world’s forests, which cover a third of Earth’s land area, provide us with many essential services. They absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and give us oxygen, limit soil erosion, aid in flood control and aquifer recharge, and host a wealth of biodiversity. But as human populations have grown, so, too, have the demands placed on these natural systems. As vast swaths of forests have been cleared for agriculture and development, the use of forest products has also climbed, further increasing pressures on the world’s trees.

To read the full letter, click here.

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Donate to Conversations

Dear Friends,
For the past four years I have been funding Conversations, The Well of Light and other associated projects out of my own pocket and fund raising events. In order to keep this newsletter coming and keep moving towards syndicating Conversations we need your help. Please consider making a tax-deductible contribution if you enjoy receiving our monthly newsletter or listening to Conversations.

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Thank you so much. Your support is greatly appreciated.

Blessings,
michael

Upcoming Shows on Conversations

May 11th
Will Steger: empowering climate change solutions
Steger has been an eyewitness to the ongoing catastrophic consequences of global warming. A formidable voice calling for understanding and the preservation of the Arctic and the Earth, Will Steger is best known for his legendary polar explorations. He has traveled tens of thousands of miles by kayak and dog-sled over 45 years. Thus the Will Steger Foundation is educating, inspiring and empowering the public in a campaign to solve global warming. Steger is the author of four books. www.willstegerfoundation.org and www.willsteger.com

May 18th
Membership Drive Special: Rupert Sheldrake: Morphic Resonance
Rupert Sheldrake, one of the world’s most innovative biologists and writers is best known for his theory of morphic fields and morphic resonance, which leads to a vision of a living, developing universe with its own inherent memory. He is the author of numerous books including A New Science of Life: The Hypothesis of Formative Causation which has just been updated and renamed Morphic Resonance. www.sheldrake.org

And...
Father Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann, M.M., is a Nicaraguan diplomat, politician and Catholic priest. He was the President of the United Nations General Assembly from September 2008 to September 2009. He presided over the 63rd Session of the United Nations General Assembly. Shortly after his election, d’Escoto Brockmann stated:
They elected a priest. And I hope no one is offended if I say that love is what is most needed in this world. And that selfishness is what has gotten us into the terrible quagmire in which the world is sinking, almost irreversibly, unless something big happens.

Don’t miss this 2 hour membership special from noon til 2pm on May 18th.

May 25th
Paul Blank, MD How Everyday Products Make People Sick
Paul D. Blanc, M.D., is a Professor of Medicine and holds the Endowed Chair in Occupational and Environmental Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco. In his recent book he reveals the hidden health dangers in many of the seemingly innocent products we encounter every day—a tube of glue in a kitchen drawer, a bottle of bleach in the laundry room, a rayon scarf on a closet shelf, a brass knob on the front door, a wood plank on an outdoor deck.

June 1st
Elisabet Sahtouris, Ph.D: Earth Dance
Elisabet Sahtouris, Ph.D-- internationally known as a dynamic speaker and media personality-- is an evolution biologist, futurist, author and consultant on Living Systems Design. Dr. Sahtouris shows the relevance of biological systems to organizational design in businesses, government and global trade. Her books include A Walk Through TIme: from Stardust to Us, Biology Revisioned, co-authored with Willis Harman, and EarthDance: Living Systems in Evolution. www.sahtouris.com

June 8th
Thomas Greco: The End of Money and the Future of Civilization
Thomas H. Greco, Jr. is a community and monetary economist, educator, writer, and consultant. He is a former tenured college teacher who has spent more than 30 years studying and writing about ways to achieve greater harmony, equity, and sustainability through business and economics. His special expertise in monetary and financial structures has led to innovative designs for private community currencies and payment systems. His latest book is The End of Money and the Future of Civilization. reinventingmoney.com

June 15th
Melanie Lenart, Ph.D Life in the Hothouse: How a Living Planet Survives Climate Change
An award-winning journalist, Melanie Lenart, Ph.D., is an environmental scientist and writer specializing in climate change and forests. As a scientist, she studied forest dynamics in China, Colorado, and Puerto Rico, where she lived during two major hurricanes. She was involved in an Arizona agricultural experiment testing how plants responded to elevated levels of carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas responsible for the ongoing warming of the planet. www.u.arizona.edu/~mlenart/index.php

June 22nd
Kevin Griffin: One Breath at a Time
Kevin Griffin is an author, teacher and lecturer based in the SF Bay area. He teachers “Dharma and Recovery” at Spirit Rock Meditation Center and is the co-founder of the Buddhist Recovery Network, an international organization that serves people in the recovery community through training, treatment and research. www.kevingriffin.net

June 29th
William Powers: Living a meaningful life
William Powers has worked for over a decade in development aid and conservation in Latin America, Africa, Washington, D.C., and Native North America. His essays and commentaries on global issues have appeared in the New York Times and the International Herald Tribune, and on National Public Radio. He is the author of numerous books including the soon to be released, 12x12 about living off the grid and simplifying life. www.williampowersbooks.com

Conversations airs every Tuesday at 1pm PST on KVMR.
For current shows or more information go to www.AreWeListening.net

Videos

Endangered Species Condoms

Meat.org: The Website the Meat Industry Does not Want You to See
Please don't watch this video if the truth of how we treat our animals is too much to for you. It is pretty gruesome!

Hot Site of the Month

One Day’s Wages is a new grassroots movement of people, stories, and actions to alleviate extreme global poverty. ODW promotes awareness, invites simple giving, and supports sustainable relief through partnerships, especially with smaller organizations in developing regions.

A Call to Action!

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Well of Light Seva Team

The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.
— Mohandas K. Gandhi

Seva is selfless service to a cause you believe will benefit others. It is the willingness to perform any task for a greater cause without prospect of recognition or reward.

Well of Light has many opportunities to serve our community. If you would like to participate on the Well of Light Seva Team please call Michael Stone @ 530.477.7757 or email michael@welloflight.com

"I don't know what your destiny will be, but one thing I do know: the only ones among you who will be really happy are those who have sought and found how to serve."
- Albert Schweitzer

Poetry Corner

— Robert Browning

– e.e. cummings