Animate Earth: Science, Intuition & Gaia by Stephan Harding, Coordinator of the Master of Science in Holistic Science at Schumacher College, invites consideration of the critical roles that intuition and holistic science play in healing our relationships with Earth. It argues for an expanded science that moves beyond mechanistic portrayals of nature so as to reveal nature as a sentient, living being rather than as dead, inert objects that are here for commodification. Its core premise that nature can be known by both science and intuition (yet acknowledging that Earth’s complex and intricate relationships are never fully known) supports CEJ’s position that humanity has a moral and legal responsibility to protect the entire Earth community which provides the basis of life for us and future generations.  I invite you to check it out at www.animateearth.com.

A second recommended film is Green Fire: Aldo Leopold and a Land Ethic for Our Time. This is a documentary of the life and legacy of famed conservationist Aldo Leopold. Although Leopold’s Sand County Almanac was published posthumously in 1949, his land ethic philosophy continues to live in the work of people and organizations across the Earth. Leopold’s vision of a community that cares about both people and land is at the heart of creating laws and policies that transform the commodification of nature into a way of mutually enhancing relationships. One can purchase a copy at www.GreenFireMovie.com.

The Economics of Happiness is the story of the disturbing consequences of market globalization and how localization movements can reverse these trends.  As Joanna Macy states, “(T)his film connects the dots between climate chaos, economic meltdown, and our own personal suffering. It presents the localization movement as a systemic alternative to corporate globalization, as well as a strategy that brings community and meaning to our lives.” This film is an in-depth analysis of the concepts that CEJ will be exploring in our upcoming True Wealth in a Green World conference.  I invite you to visit  www.theeconomics ofhappiness.org for more information.

There was very little official discussion on actually reducing the amount of carbon emissions.  While the U.N. representatives negotiated elements of a potential new framework to be adopted by 2015 and implemented by 2020, many of the NGO and civil society members advocated for action now. The official voices of the small island nations and Pan-African networks pleaded that mandatory reduction of carbon emissions not be tabled until 2020, as they are already experiencing dislocation due to rising sea levels and long term droughts.

One of the most energizing parts of being in Durban was joining other international colleagues from the Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature, including South African environmental lawyer Cormac Cullinan, former Bolivian Ambassador to the U.N. Pablo Solon, indigenous leader Tom Goldtooth, South Durban community activist Desmond D’sa, and Shannon Biggs from Global Exchange, in hosting a series of activities to advance the rights of Nature and strengthen coalition-building with other environmental and human rights organizations.

We spent a day in a wilderness reserve strategizing how best to advance the rights of Nature agenda at the upcoming Rio+20 Conference on Sustainable Development to be held in Brazil in June, 2012. I also joined Cormac for a panel presentation at Diakonia, the World Council of Churches headquarters in Durban, addressing “The Earth Bears Witness: Who Should Stand Trial?”

Desmond D'Sa, Tom Goldtooth, Shannon Biggs, Natalia Greene, Cormac Cullinan & Pablo Solon (L-R). Photo courtesy of Shannon Biggs, Global Exchange.

I completed my African journey with several days in northeast Kenya visiting our sisters who serve at St. Clare’s School for Girls near Meru, Kenya. While there I had the opportunity to teach several classes, sharing with the young women the U.N. Climate Change Conference outcomes and exploring with them the major influence of recently deceased Kenyan Nobel Laureate Wangari Maathai. We bonded immediately as I spoke of meeting Wangari at Thomas Berry’s memorial service at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in 2009, and the long-term impact she has had on my sense of eco-feminism and the empowerment of women and protection of Nature.

I also visited the Samburu National Reserve and met many elephants who wanted to get “up close and personal.” (Click here for video:  Elephants Samburu Dec. 2011.) The beauty of the Samburu game reserve and of the Kenyan spirit remain as gifts to me.

As we transition from the season of darkness into light, I extend to you my wishes for a graced holiday season, and my gratitude for your support and generosity throughout this year.

May we move forward into 2012 with the words of recently departed Vaclav Havel, playwright and previous President of the Czech Republic, in our hearts.  He wrote about the hope necessary in times of darkness: “Hope is not the conviction that something will turn out well, but the certainty that something makes sense, regardless of how it turns out.” It is the conviction that our lives will have meaning and our story will continue.

“True Wealth in a Green World”

February 10, 2012

Barry University School of Law, 6441 E. Colonial Drive

Orlando, FL

The program brings together speakers from green business, microlending, law, and other fields to examine what makes a society rich and explore methods of creating true wealth for all members of the Earth community.

Speakers will include:

+ Bill Belleville, award-winning environmental writer and documentary filmmaker, author of Salvaging the Real Florida:  Lost & Found in the State of Dreams and numerous other works focusing on nature, conservation, and a sense of place; learn more at Bill’s website, billbelleville.com;

+ Janelle Orsi, Esq., Director of the Sustainable Economies Law Center, pioneer in the field of sharing law, and author of The Sharing Solution:  How to Save Money, Simplify Your Life & Build Community;  find out about her “legal services for a sustainable, equitable, and sharing world” at janelleorsi.com;

+ Janie Barrera, President and CEO of AccionTexas, the largest non-profit microlender in the United States; visit acciontexas.org for more information about AccionTexas’s programs and community-based approach.

CLE credit will be offered.  For further information and to join the mailing list, please contact Jane Goddard at jgoddard@barry.edu or (321) 206-5788.

Click here for:    True Wealth Flyer    True Wealth Registration Form

                           True Wealth Program Agenda

The planning session location

Tom Goldtooth, president of Indigenous Environmental Network, flanked by Cormac Cullinan and Shannon Biggs of Global Exchange

Spiritual leader Mkhosi Rutledge blessed our planning session and aligned us with the spirit world

A monkey on the University of KwaZulu-Natal campus

Presentation – The Earth Bears Witness:  Who Should Stand Trial? - December 2, 2011

Cormac Cullinan and Sister Pat Siemen presented at the Diakonia Centre,  which is the Durban headquarters for the World Council of Churches and has been a center for faith-led resistance and organizing during the apartheid days; it is now a node for climate justice.  The Diakonia Centre continues to advocate resistance to the violence being done to the Earth community by the  commodification of Nature and market driven carbon mitigation mechanisms, rather than actual reduction in GHG emissions.

Sister Pat spoke to the “Earth bears witness” dimension and our own complicity in the violence being done to Earth by unexamined behavior patterns and addiction  to unrestrained economic growth that ravages Earth. She also explored the question of who could be an impartial judge and jury when we live in a such dominant human-centered worldview, raising the possibility that it is time for a “Council of All Beings,” with the most vulnerable  serving as the jurors. Expanded remedies need to include equitable restoration that brings forth Earth’s healing of eco-systems and species, and the ending of market systems that take precedence over people and planet.

Read a press release about the talk here.

Global Day of Action March – December 3, 2011

Getting the word out

Cormac Cullinan and the Earth Balls

Cormac Cullinan and Shannon Biggs

Sister Pat with Jane (intern, Cullinan & Associates) and Sarah (partner in Cullinan & Associates)

Starting the march - Shannon Biggs (in red), Lia (in front, intern with Cullinan & Associates), Jane (intern with Cullinan & Associates), Osprey Lake and Robin Milam

A great banner

And one more

Every day we feel the mounting urgency to radically alter the economic structures that feed on ceaseless consumption and the exhaustion of ecosystems that can no longer refurbish themselves. In addition, so many families suffer from unemployment and loss of homes. The voices of the global Occupy Wall Street movement give hope that democratic participatory processes will restore greater economic equity and civility.

As the Director of CEJ, I will be attending the civil society sector of the U.N. Climate Change Conference beginning November 28 in Durban, South Africa.  The various events on my schedule include a Multi-Faith Rally for Climate Justice and a talk by Pablo Solon, former Bolivian Ambassador to the U.N., on “Rights of Nature and Climate Politics.” Pablo Solon’s approach is based upon concepts that are foundational to CEJ, as well.

The Center for Earth Jurisprudence is joining with the Global Alliance for Rights of Nature and regional climate justice groups in raising our voices to demand the adoption of policies that enforce significant reductions in GHG emissions. Also essential is the adoption of just adaptation and mitigation policies to assist those countries most disproportionately impacted. While the official outcomes of COP 17 do not look promising, we stand in solidarity with those who demand equitable climate change policies.

Before my return I will be visiting with some of our Adrian Dominican Sisters who live and minister in Meru, Kenya. During my time in Kenya I will be particularly mindful of Wangari Maathi, a visionary pioneering environmental leader and founder of the Green Belt Movement in Kenya who died in September. Wangari was named a Nobel Peace laureate in 2004 for her life’s work with women in rural Kenya and environmental activism. Later she joined the struggle against powerful politicians grabbing the land and forests of Kenya. She was beaten and arrested numerous times because of her resistance to political and environmental oppression.

I remember meeting Wangari at the memorial ceremony for Thomas Berry at St. John the Divine in 2009. Her determination and humor were infectious. I will be giving thanks for her life and inspiration as we continue in the struggle for justice for all beings of Earth.

I’ll be updating the blog when I return from Africa.

Sister Pat