April 2017

Dear Friends,

As Earth Day approaches, we'd like to share a few stories about Earth and our place in her community.
 
In Paul Kingsnorth's far-reaching article, he urges us to step back from our focus on fixing ecological problems to look more honestly at what is missing from the conversation: "questions about what has meaning, what matters, what is greater than us, and how we should behave toward it." Kara Moses writes about the need for us to "rewild" ourselves, to "rekindle a sacred connection to the Earth and its inhabitants." And Winona LaDuke introduces the term ecological amnesia - when people don't remember the river or the forest that used to be there - and calls on us to "be those people who do not forget."
 
Can we change our relationship with Earth? The recent news of governments in New Zealand and India granting legal rights to rivers and glaciers is certainly encouraging.

With gratitude,
Michelle Moore
Communications Coordinator



Orion Magazine

What if the collision between ecology and modern civilization isn't an environmental problem, but a spiritual problem?

"While we might not need a new religion, we do need a new sense of the sacred or an awakening of the most ancient one: a sense of awe, wonder, and respect for something greater than us. What could that something greater be? There is no need to theorize about it. What is greater than us is the earth itself - life - and we are folded into it, a small part of it, and we have work to do."
 
Kalliopeia grant partner Orion Magazine - a bimonthly publication exploring the connection between nature and culture - features a new article by Paul Kingsnorth, writer, poet, and cofounder of Dark Mountain Project. 


Honor the Earth

At the Geography of Hope Conference last month, Winona LaDuke, executive director of Honor the Earth, spoke about being responsible and accountable to the place we live. "It is really time to recover the names, recover the places, recover the relationship, recover the time, and recover the love of the ecosystems that we have come to be in."


St. Ethelburga's Centre

Kara Moses explores "rewilding spirituality" as part of her project for the Spiritual Ecology Youth Fellowship at St. Ethelburga's. " A rewilding of the self is a re-enchantment with the natural world, a re-awakening of our senses and intuition, a dissolving of the false boundaries between our atomised selves and our Earthly home."
The Cultural Conservancy

For the past 30 years, The Cultural Conservancy has worked to protect and restore indigenous cultures. This video highlights their work across many lands, supporting the traditional knowledge and practices of diverse communities.

Watch the video

Collective Eye Films

The new documentary, SEED: The Untold Story, follows the journey of passionate seed keepers around the world determined to protect our 12,000-year food legacy. The film will be streaming on PBS's Independent Lens until May 1, 2017.


Stories We Love

Recently, a court in New Zealand granted rights of personhood to a river that the Maori tribe of Whanganui recognize as an ancestor. On the heels of that ruling, the Ganges and Yamuna rivers were granted similar rights by an Indian court, and a few weeks later, the same court extended those rights to glaciers, forest wetlands, waterfalls - the whole ecosystem!
 
"The growing global movement for Rights of Nature - or the Rights of Mother Earth as some cultures prefer - seeks to define legal rights for ecosystems to exist, flourish, and regenerate their natural capacities. These laws challenge the status of nature as mere property to be owned and dominated by humans, and provide a legal framework for an ethical and spiritual relationship to the Earth."


Photo by Kathrin Stefan Marks 

Upcoming Events

The Nature Institute
April 20
Ghent, NY

Women's Earth and Climate Action Network
April 26
New York, NY

My Enemy, My Brother
April 29
Toronto, ON




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May 11-4 and July 13-16
Santa Barbara, CA

Mosaic Multicultural Foundation
May 13
Mill Valley, CA

Passionist Earth & Spirit Center
June 2-4
Louisville, KY