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We Seek to Learn New Ways
The Sacred Connection: Tues 12 Oct 7.00 – 9.00, Tues 26 Oct 7.00 – 9.00, Sat 20 Nov 1- 4 This series will explore, through a variety of media, the experience of the sacred through connection with place and the power of the feminine in this context. Participants will be encouraged to spend time between sessions reflecting on the elements of interconnectedness in the other than human world and the spirituality that expresses this experience. The Grove: 263 Nicholson St East Coburg. Bookings are essential: ph. 9383 1993. Presenter: Anne Boyd
Towards Earth Literacy
We can probe a buttercup with the eyes of a mite, ride the electron shuttle of photosynthesis, feel the shiver of a neuron in thought, or watch in color as a star is born. We can see, more clearly than ever, how nature works her miracles. When we stare this deeply into nature’s eyes, it takes our breath away, and in a good way, it bursts our bubble. We realize that all our inventions have already appeared in nature in a more elegant form and at a lot less cost to the the planet. (Benyus, p.6)
This 1997 documentation of researchers who are applying nature’s ingenious solutions to the problem of human survival remains so pertinent in 2010. Key questions addressed in the book include how will we feed ourselves, harness energy, make things, store what we learn and conduct business. By coming home to earth and learning her ways we will uncover much more than solutions to human problems. Awe and reverence will be re-awakened in the face of nature’s wisdom. As we discover what nature already knows, we will remember how it feels to roar like a jaguar – to be a part of, not apart from, the genius that surrounds us. (Benyus, p.10) (Janine Benyus, Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature, Harper Collins, 1997)
Check out what’s happening in biomimicry: http://www.biomimicryinstitute.org/
 The International Year of Biodiversity will feature in the Spring issue of the EarthSong Journal. This 8 minute video clip reminds us of the wonder and necessity of the diversity at the heart of all life. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1VYmpTikgw
We are being called into a new place
WALK AGAINST WARMING Walk with the People. Not the Big Polluters.
SUNDAY, 15 AUGUST 2010, 12.30 p.m.
Join a Walk near you and help us convince our political leaders to Walk with the People. Not the Big Polluters. For details of events in every State click on the link provided: http://www.walkagainstwarming.org
Sustainable House Day is on again!
The ninth annual Sustainable House Day on Sunday 12 September will showcase some of Australia’s most environmentally sustainable homes to the public as millions of Australians continue to embrace renewable energy, recycling and other practices designed to lessen our impact on the environment. Environmental awareness – or being ‘green’ – is great, but putting it into practice around your own home is the best contribution you can make to living in harmony with our planet. Find out directly from home owners who’ve put sustainable living into practice, about reducing waste around your home, saving water, natural home heating and cooling and more. For details got to: http://www.sustainablehouseday.com/
Sustainable House Day is on again!
The ninth annual Sustainable House Day on Sunday 12 September will showcase some of Australia’s most environmentally sustainable homes to the public as millions of Australians continue to embrace renewable energy, recycling and other practices designed to lessen our impact on the environment. Environmental awareness – or being ‘green’ – is great, but putting it into practice around your own home is the best contribution you can make to living in harmony with our planet.
Find out directly from home owners who’ve put sustainable living into practice, about reducing waste around your home, saving water, natural home heating and cooling and more.
Tiny increases in the amount of daylight we are witnessing in the southern part of our ancient land are somewhat overshadowed by an experience of winter not evidenced in our recent past. The coldness brings with it an invigorating element should we choose to embrace it. Green shoots are bursting through the soil, a reminderof the invisible preparation for life and growth which is carried out in the depths of things. Some of our natives are flourishing in these conditions. Any moment now wattles will bloom in a stunning array of colour. Earth takes us by surprise at every turn should we take the time to find our place and attend to her activity. Perhaps her ways will create a path for us to walk.
We seek to learn new ways
EarthSong Retreat at Glenburn: July 9 – 11. Two places remain for this residential seminar, jointly sponsored by the Centre for Ecology and Spirituality and EarthSong. In a beautiful bush setting, experience a holistic opportunity to delve into the origins of the universe, the birth of planet Earth, the interconnectedness of life and the role of the human in this context. For more information: EarthSongRetreat Registration: $200. Download a registration form from our website or contact us if you wish to register: ph. 03 83590106.
New Cosmology and New Spirituality: This workshop, for those who know the “Powers of the Universe” articulated by Brian Swimme and those interested to learn about them, will explore the implications of embracing the new cosmology for our everyday living and our spirituality.
Saturday & Sunday, July 24th & 25th, 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. The Grove: 263 Nicholson St East Coburg. Bookings are essential: ph. 9383 1993. Facilitator: Margaret Mckinley.
The Sacred Connection: Tues 12 Oct 7.00 – 9.00, Tues 26 Oct 7.00 – 9.00, Sat 20 Nov 1- 4. This series will explore, through a variety of media, the experience of the sacred through connection with place and the power of the feminine in this context. Participants will be encouraged to spend time between sessions reflecting on the elements of interconnectedness in the other than human world and the spirituality that expresses this experience. The Grove: 263 Nicholson St East Coburg. Bookings are essential: ph. 9383 1993. Presenter: Anne Boyd
Towards Earth Literacy
The eucalypt appears to have a peculiar relation to the
cosmos, the greater universe. The branches seem to follow
a thousand centres in the sky. To be rinsed by the winds
of Neptune. To share affinities with the moon and the
Magellanic Clouds.
An organic relationship. Her limbs the bones of the
organism. Paying less heed to the sway of the seasons in a
zone where the seasons are weaker and the stars are
thicker. As if divining in the the stars the propitious time to
flower.
Attuned to a shifting rhythm. Her branches informed with
stars. (p.73)
John Anderson’s poetic celebration of place and being provides the reader with an opportunity to enter deeply into the richness of our land’s story.
The wonder of eucalypts, casuarinas, the Merri Creek and the Grampians are but a few of the beings honoured in exquisite poetic form. (The forest set out like the night, Black Pepper, North Fitzroy, 1995)
Practices of Place: Being Present in the Land. John and Vicki have moved from the Blue Mountains to Southern Tasmania discovering a new place of great natural beauty and elemental power, [where]everything has come under much closer scrutiny, including the very notion of spiritual practice and what spirit has to do with place (p.46). A deep attentiveness to where we are has the potential to transform fragmentation into wholeness. This thought provoking and evocative article can be accessed by subscribing to the online journal, PAN. John Cameron and Vicki King, PAN: Philosophy Activism Nature, PAN No 4, 2007.
We are being called into a new place
The Future of Renewable Energy In Australia: FREE PUBLIC LECTURE 6-8pm, Wednesday 14th July 2010, University of Melbourne. Zero Carbon Australia Stationary Energy Plan – to be launched at this seminar – argues that it is technically possible to reach 100 per cent renewable energy for Australia within a decade, and that the technology to achieve the transition is already commercially available. This event brings together key voices in the renewable energy debate to explore the state of the industry, survey the critical decade ahead, and discuss the challenges facing a zero carbon roadmap.
The Replace Hazelwood Campaign: National day of action Saturday 17th July 2010. The campaign to Replace Hazelwood, Australia’s dirtiest power station, is going from strength to strength.
Community groups are invited to create one of the following activities:
· Protest outside your Federal MP’s office or the local Commonwealth Bank branch (8% shareholder in Hazelwood)
· Hold a local vigil
· Go door-knocking
· Host a Replace Hazelwood themed event in your local park
Even better, get creative and come up with your own idea of how to call on the government to Replace Hazelwood.
Please register you action here so we can help get the word out. http://www.climateactioncentre.org/nationalhazelwoodaction
As an individual we hope you can join one of these actions or at least make a call to your Federal MP and State Labor Senator and ask them where they stand on the Hazelwood test. There is a list of MPs here: http://www.aph.gov.au/House/members/memlist.pdf and Senators here: http://www.aph.gov.au/senate/senators/contacts/los.pdf
 We draw close to the winter solstice, the time when the dark part of the day is longest. Earth’s seasonal movement invites us into her rhythms and patterns. Resting and waiting within the dark space, the birthplace of creativity, we enter into the realm of the Universe out of which all newness is manifest, the seamless Ground of all Being. The winter solstice is a time for experiencing the essence of existence, for celebration and feasting. EarthSong and the Edmund Rice Network will gather for ritual and feasting at Amberley, reconnecting with the untold groups who have gathered at this moment to honour the relationship between Earth and Sun. Please join us. (details below)
We seek to learn new ways.
Winter Solstice Celebration at Edmund Rice Centre, Amberley: Sunday, June 20, 4.30-7 p.m. Join the EarthSong Team and the Edmund Rice Network as we enter into the seasonal rhythms of the planet and touch the mid-winter mysteries of dark and light.
For details of this event click here: Winter Solstice
EarthSong Retreat at Glenburn: July 9 – 11. Bookings are now open for this residential seminar, jointly sponsored by the Centre for Ecology and Spirituality and EarthSong. In a beautiful bush setting, experience a holistic opportunity to delve into the origins of the universe, the birth of planet Earth, the interconnectedness of life and the role of the human in this context. For more information: EarthSongRetreat Registration: $200 Download a registration form (located on the left column of the web page)
We are being called into a new place:
2010 Deakin Lectures 6-12th June. “Brave New World? The Climate Change Challenge.“ An opportunity to hear a range of speakers including Tim Flannery, Melinda Dodson, Johannes Lehman and Sue Halliday. Click on the link for full details of the series and the opportunity to view them online 24 hours after the live presentation. http://wheelercentre.com/calendar/program/the-deakin-lectures-2010/
A Climate of Change. What are the facts? How might we critique current political approaches? What positions might we take in an election year? The discussion will be led by Will McGoldrick, Policy & Research Manager at the the Climate Institute. Saturday, 19th June, 9.30-12.30, Kildara, Centre, Rear, 39 Stanhope St Malvern (Melways ref 59 C7) sponsored by the Brigidine Community for Justice. RSVP 9509 0361 or email csbsecretary@brigidine.com.au.
Film
Cinemas are currently screening the film Food, Inc., which lifts the veil on the United States food industry and exposes the country’s highly mechanized underbelly. The nation’s food supply is now controlled by a handful of corporations that often put profit ahead of consumer health, the livelihood of the American farmer, the safety of workers and the environment. In a country that has bigger-breasted chickens, the perfect pork chop, herbicide-resistant soybean seeds and tomatoes that won’t go bad, there are new strains of E. Coli, widespread levels of obesity and an epidemic level of adult diabetes
Back on Australian shores, Seed International has produced a series of two videos on the great contribution local food can make in our lives, including examples from around the world and much more. There are links to these videos from the Community Harvest Project Website; a Victorian website which promotes the local food movement on a state-wide level. The harvest project’s slogan is ‘feeding our hearts, communities and environment, as we feed ourselves.’ Visit: http://communityharvest.org.au.
Towards Earth Literacy.
 This year’s State of the World Report by the WorldWatch Institute: Transforming Cultures: From Consumerism to Sustainability, gets to the heart of what makes cultural transformation an exciting possibility rather than a daunting burden, by reexamining core assumptions of modern life, from how businesses are run and what is taught in classrooms to how weddings are celebrated and the way cities are organized. (Muhammad Yunus, Founder, Grameen Bank, 2006 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate). The book documents that cultures of sustainability are well on their way. Our challenge is to make living sustainably as natural as consumerism is today. (Norton & Co New York, 2010) For further information about the Worldwatch Institute visit http://www.worldwatch.org/
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