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EarthSong eNotes March

Seasonal change draws us into the rhythms of the planet. The changes, of course, are more dramatic the further south or north we find ourselves from the equator.  This outer change invites a corresponding inner change.  In  southern Australia, there are signs that summer is drawing to a close.  Daylight hours are diminishing.  A subtle shift in the quality of the light, crisp, cool evenings and mornings bring with them a drawing down of the fruitfulness and vigour of summer growth.  Embracing this seasonal movement provides opportunity for the ongoing work of inner transition towards a new way of being into the future. Perhaps as we move towards the moment of equal light and dark we will take the opportunity to dream of a future which will be more enriching and satisfying for all. “Anything you can do or dream you can, begin it.  Boldness has genius, power and magic in it”  (Goethe)

Towards Earth Literacy:

The Pine Island Paradox, Kathleen Dean Moore, Milkwood Editions, Minneapolis, 2004.

Kathleen Dean Moore’s essays are evocative and nourishing, drawing the reader into the richness of re-connection and posing questions which invite us to frame an ecological ethic of care.

Nature writer and teacher of philosophy from the Pacific Northwest USA, her passion for seeing more deeply into the sacredness of what is commonly perceived as the mundane, is palpable.

….. an island is in fact only a high point in the continuous skin of the planet, the small part we can see of the hidden substance that connects everything on earth. It’s a sign – a beautiful, rock-solid, bird spattered sign – of the wholeness of being, the intricate interdependencies that link people and places. (p.4)

Uncovering the diversity of our world:   The Square Metre Project.

If you’re interested in being drawn more deeply into life’s wonders watch this short video and take up the square metre project.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvO_8_Ch6lE&feature=related


We seek to learn new ways:

Reading Circle

Join our monthly Reading Circle which features writers evoking the wonders of our Earth.

Treacy Centre

3rd Monday of each month

2-3 p.m.

For further information phone Pat: 83590107 or email info@earthsong.org.au

Canticles to the Cosmos

A DVD Series by Brian Swimme

Wednesdays, February 10th, March 10th, April 14th

The Nature of the Human will be the focus for our March gathering.

7.30 – 9.30 p.m.

Kildara Centre, rear 39  Stanhope St Malvern



We are being called into a new place:

World Water Day: Monday March 22nd.  Join like-minded folk who will celebrate the sacred nature of water and raise awareness about what’s happening to water around the planet.

Earth Hour: On Saturday 27th March 2010 at 8:30pm, people and organisations across the world will switch off their lights for Earth Hour. Please join them and consider marking the occasion by sharing a candle-lit meal with friends or creating a local community gathering viewing the night-sky.

Bush Blitz! – Australia’s International Year of Biodiversity kicks off…

Bush Blitz is the world’s first continental scale survey – a three year multimillion dollar partnership to document the plants and animals in hundreds of properties across Australia’s National Reserve System.  Teams of Australia’s top scientists will survey hundreds of Australian reserves to document the native plants and animals they protect. The surveys are expected to uncover hundreds of new species and provide baseline scientific data that will help protect Australia’s biodiversity for a generation to come.    www.bushblitz.org.au

Are you wondering how to recycle your mobile phones? Check out the act4nature website to see how Melbourne Zoo will process these phones and help save mountain gorillas. http://www.act4nature.org.au/Act-Now.html

Welcome to EarthSong 2010

IYB2010_Logo_English

EarthSong in the International Year of Biodiversity.

To focus our year on life’s incredible diversity, to celebrate the interdependence of the ecological systems of our planet, and to mourn their diminishment in these times of extinction seems apt as we enter this new decade.  Join us for our annual symposium which will focus on the plants and animals of South Eastern Australia .

Biodiversity is a word used to describe every living thing on the planet – everything that ever was, is now or ever will be.

The term refers to  plants, animals and micro-organisms, as well as the genetic material that is contained in each individual organism and the ecosystems which these organisms create.

Australia is one of seventeen countries defined as  megadiverse  in July 2002.  These 17 countries contain over 70% of the world’s species. Our ancient land supports the largest  number of native species of reptiles and overall non-fish vertebrates and has the fifth largest number of native plant species.(source Australian Geographic website)    Read more: http://www.australiangeographic.com.au/society/a-nation-of-megadiversity.htm#ixzz0d1qHTQsE

Towards Earth Literacy:


Wild Habitats

Wild Habitats: A Natural History of Australian Ecosystems,

Allan Fox & Steve Parish, ABC Books, Sydney, 2007.

A life-long obsession with nature  has brought together the photography of Steve Parish and Allen Fox’s story of how Australian habitats function.

The result is a book which provides two vital ingredients for our task of participating as  members of the earth community in a time of escalating change.

The stunning beauty of our continent, brought to life through the photography of Steve Parish combines with Allen’s explication of an ever-changing ephemeral landscape, filled to overflowing with diversity and drama. (p.8)


We seek to learn new ways:

Reading Circle

Treacy Centre

3rd Monday of each month

2-3 p.m.

Canticles to the Cosmos

Wednesdays, February 10th, March 10th, April 14th

7.30 – 9.30 p.m.

Kildara Centre, rear 39  Stanhope St Malvern


Details of EarthSong’s Programs for 2010  are located in the left column.

We are being called into a new place:

The Transition Decade will be launched at the Melbourne Town Hall on Sunday, 14th February, 12 noon – 3 p.m.  Drawing together and showcasing the work of environment and social groups working for a decade of transition to a safe climate and sustainable future.  Free event but please register. http://www.t10.net.au/

Earth Hour: On Saturday 27th March 2010 at 8:30pm, people and organisations across the world will switch off their lights for Earth Hour. Please join them and consider marking the occasion by sharing a candle-lit meal with friends or creating a local community gathering viewing the night-sky.

Sustainable Living Festival: This year’s main events will be at Federation Square, Friday – Sunday, 19-21st February. Anne Boyd from EarthSong will be a panelist on the Greenfaith sponsored conversation: Spirit of the environment. Click on the link provided to view the complete program and get a sense of the variety and depth of the movement creating a sustainable future: http://festival.slf.org.au/

Greetings From EarthSong

2010 EarthSong Core Team Programs.

Go to the left column for program details

Canticles to the Cosmos

Wednesdays, February 10th, March 10th, April 14th

7.30 – 9.30 p.m.

Kildara Centre, rear 39  Stanhope St Malvern


A New Heart and a New Mind

A residential program for educators

Wednesday 26th – Friday 28th May

Edmund Rice Centre, Amberley, Lower Plenty

Annual Symposium

Celebrating the International Year of Biodiversity

Friday evening 14th & Saturday 15th May

Treacy Centre, Parkville


Winter Solstice

Sunday June 20th, 4.30 – 7 p.m.

Edmund Rice Centre, Amberley, Lower Plenty


EarthSong Retreat

Friday evening 9th – Sunday 11th July

Centre for Ecology and Spirituality

Burns Road, Glenburn

EarthSong eNotes

EarthSong is an educational project, offering programs to promote a more harmonious human-earth relationship.

EarthSong eNotes will be a regular monthly feature of our ecommunication.  They will be posted via email to our friends and supporters who have subscribed to our new website.  We’ll keep you in touch with EarthSong programs and activities, share with you some of the resources which provide inspiration for our work and our living, and let you know about events we are participating in.  Key phrases from EarthSong’s vision statement will continue to frame our eNotes.

We are being called into a new place….

As Melbourne experiences its highest recorded November week of temperatures and the Coffs Harbour region is inundated with 500 mls of rain in one burst, the predictions that climate change would bring unprecedented weather events is eventuating.    As the build up to the December gathering of world leaders in Copenhagen gathers momentum, responses at all levels of community and society continue to keep before us the significance of this time in our planet’s emergence and the urgent need to act now.

The Presentation Sisters are sponsoring a postcard campaign urging our parliamentary leaders to bipartisan commitment to an emissions reduction of at least 40% by 2020.

The Faith Ecology Network (FEN)  is supporting Project Green Church’s campaign, encouraging groups to gather and be together in silence for an hour each week leading up to the Copenhagen gathering. Because silence is powerful. Silent vigil for a safe climate.

This year’s “Walk against Warming” is scheduled for 12 noon on 12th December nationwide. For information about the events in each state click on the link to visit Walk Against Warming

Living within Divine Mystery….


The absoluteness of Mystery

burns its energy

and I am alive.

The leaf of a Gingko tree

fans its green presence

and dances in the breath

of ancestral aliveness.

My toes feel the caress of a busy ant

as it searches and discovers

this is too big to cart away.

My breath,

one with all other breaths,

whispers the secrets

of a beauty known only

to the one who lives a spirit of consciousness

in the allurement of love.

I be,

only to wait and ponder

the flaring forth of Mystery’s truth.

(Written at Mulgoa, Dec 2008, Carmel Crameri)


We seek to learn new ways…..

Fire

Recommended reading this month :

Awakening the Energies of Love:

Discovering Fire for the Second Time

Anne Hillman, Bramble Books, 2008

While Teilhard’s vision ends with a Love he calls Fire,

our own awakening begins when we find ourselves

at a threshold of conflict and dare to take the first step beyond it. (Hillman, p. 38)

“Anne Hillman completes Teilhard de Chardin’s work by providing the next step – a pathway into the most significant transformation humanity has ever undergone.  She shows how what he called the energies of love can ignite us and, once we have caught fire, how to embody its ‘200,000 volts’ in our lives.”  (Brian Swimme, PhD)

New books by Thomas Berry

Readers may be interested to know the following books are now available:

The Christian Future and the Fate of Earth, Orbis Books, Mary Evelyn Tucker & John Grim(eds.) 2009

Sacred Universe: Earth, Spirituality and Religion in the Twenty-First Century, Columbia University Press,  Mary Evelyn Tucker (ed.) 2009

EarthSong workshop at the Parliament of World Religions.

“Hearing Earth: Making a Difference”

The EarthSong Core team will present a workshop at the Parliament on Tuesday afternoon, December 8th.



Welcome to EarthSong

EarthSong is very pleased to be launching a more interactive website and it seems apt that it coincides with so many new faces of Earth emerging just now.  In those parts of our country which have experienced re-vitalising Spring rains the surge in growth of all things green is stunning for those who have the opportunity to take a moment each day to observe life around them.  Co-existing with the familiar seasonal variations of the more temperate regions of our land are the unprecedented events of dust storms and flooding which remind us of how delicately poised we are at this time of Earth’s emergence, and how urgent is our task of reducing our negative impact on its life systems.

Upcoming Events.

Annual General Meeting

Friends of Earthsong are invited to join us at our Annual General Meeting on Wednesday, 14th October, 6.30-7.30 p.m. at the Treacy Centre, 126 The Avenue, Parkville.

This will be an opportunity to join in conversation about the work of EarthSong over the past 12 months and to contribute to the vision for the future.

RSVP Friday, 9th October, email: pat@earthsong.org.au.

calisteomn

A residential program for teachers.

A New Heart and a New Mind.  Ecological Conversion: The Challenge of the 21st Century.

Wednesday, 18th – Friday 20th November 2009.
Edmund Rice Centre ‘Amberley’
7 Amberley Way, Lower Plenty

This program will explore current understandings of the origin and nature of the Universe, as a basis for opening up fresh insights into the place and role of the humanwithin a ’single, sacred community’ (T.Berry)  Principles for living out our ecological responsibility will be examined in the light of these understandings.

Participants will be invited to engage in interactive, creative processes.  Time will also be given for personal reflection.

Program Presenters: Each of the presenters, Anne Boyd, Carmel Crameri, Trevor Parton and Pat Long are experienced educators. Each has training in the fields of Earth Literacy and Spirituality and has led many seminars in these areas.

Registration: For further information please email pat@earthsong.org.au.

spiral

Exploring a New Cosmology: an Introductory Series.

The Centre for Faith, Life and Learning together with EarthSong presents these four sessions exploring how the stories we tell ourselves about the cosmos and our place in it shape the way we live and interact together.  Our need to reflect on these questions has never been more pressing.

Doncaster East Baptist Church

43-57 Tunstall Rd East Doncaster

Thursday nights: 7.30 – 9.30

October 8:  Modern Science: how has it shaped the new cosmology?

October 15:  Cosmology: the nature and power of story.

October 22:  Spirituality: celebrating the sacredness of all creation

October 29: Sustainable living: an ethical imperative.

Presenters: Anne Boyd, Carmel Crameri, Pat Long,  Trevor Parton.

$50 for the series, $15 per night.  Enquiries and bookings: 9842 8466.   Numbers are limited.

The Centre for Faith, Life and Learning is a joint project of the East Doncaster Baptist Church and Templestowe Uniting Church searching for an open and progressive approach to Christian Faith.

star formation

The Powers of the Universe.

The Grove Wholistic Centre for Spirituality is hosting this series of 5 evenings.  It provides an opportunity for a small group of women to view together and discuss the The Powers of the Universe DVD  series by  Brian Swimme.  Presenter:  Pat Long

Tuesday evenings:  October 13 & 20, November 10,& 17, December 1.  263 Nicholson St East Coburg.  Bookings are essential: ph. 9383 1993



Web site development

The EarthSong site is under development. Official Launch date  October 14 2009. More info to come.

  • Email subscriptionsto EarthSong feeds are now open. Enter your email address in the feeds box and get updates to the EarthSong web site delivered to your inbox.
  • Earthsong Resources pages are now live.