Photo by Danielle KlockThomas Hoebbel on the rooftop of Center Ithaca

Greg and I made our way downtown from the "We Make Our Future" Conference to be part of the local effort to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to the magic number of 350 parts per million, which is identified as the tipping point that must be reached in order to begin the reversal of global warming.

We arrived on the Commons just in time to stand as part of the number 350, which was outlined in blue masking tape on the promenade pavement. People stood on the tape to form the human 350, as Tom Hoebbel took a photograph of the moment from the roof of Center Ithaca to be posted on the 350.org Web site for the October 24 International Day of Climate Action. 

Photo by Danielle KlockBob Rossi helps fill in 350

The Fall Creek Brass Band played some jumping tunes, while Shira Golding and Ari Moore of Share Tompkins hosted the sixth in an ongoing series of swap meets where people can share goods, services, and labor. This type of sharing not only promotes the reuse of goods and reduction of consumption, but also helps establish an equitable platform where everyone is recognized as having a contribution. They cheerfully shared information on a variety of free resources available to the Ithaca community, including Ithaca Freeskool, which strives to equally redistribute knowledge (for free!) through classes, workshops, projects and more, and is fully driven by the offerings of local people who want to share their interests and knowledge.

Photo by Danielle KlockShira Golding and Ari Moore of Share Tompkins

There were several other groups, including the Finger Lakes Cycling Club, who offered information on ways to reduce our carbon footprints to help reach the 350 goal. Even the tape that was used to form the 350 was reinvented as a soccer ball by Bob Rossi of the Green Resource Hub, and others.

TAGGED WITH: 350, global warming, international day of climate action, Ithaca Commons

Nicola Coddington, executive director of New York Interfaith Power and Light led the conversation by specifically addressing the issue of climate change with a change of heart. As science alone has not solved the environmental problems we are facing, we must now look toward faith and the human-Earth relationship.

A DVD on the work of Thomas Berry was presented, where it was suggested that we are moving into the "Ecozoic Period." That although the first hundreds of millions of years of life on Earth were developed without human involvement or interference, it is now impossible for humans to be separate and not take an active role in the regeneration of Earth's ecosystems and health. What happens to everything on the Earth in turn happens to us as humans.

Climate change was presented in the discussion as a moral and ethical challenge, which is at the heart of what religious or spiritual organizations address. Coddington reminds us that the Golden Rule, which is present in some form in every religion, extends to the responsibility we must have in our relationship with the environment and the planet.

Photo by Danielle KlockKarryn Olson-Ramanujan reads from Valuing Spirituality and Development

If you plug the words in, it makes a mighty impact: "Do unto the Earth as you would have the Earth do unto you." Suddenly we can see that our actions are karmic, and how these issues that have been examined scientifically for the past 25 years or so can be addressed from a moral and spiritual perspective.

Other ways that spirituality plays a role in facing our environmental challenges is through gratitude for what we have and the celebration thereof. Through development of our appreciation and celebration we can move beyond fear, guilt, and denial, and move toward hope and transformation.

Because the scale of climate change is so urgent, we cannot wait for slow change, and must transform and make an impact with intention.

Karryn Olson-Ramanujan, co-founder of the Finger Lakes Permaculture Institute introduced us to the Baha'i faith. She says that if we are able to understand and fully recognize that we are all connected, that we can quickly shift our consciousness and subsequently transform the physical world.

Valuing Spirituality and Development is a Baha'i publication that asks, "Can we have spiritual indicators of development?"  Ramanujan read briefly from the book and identified the five Foundational Principles of the Baha'i faith as equity and justice, unity in diversity, equality of sexes, trustworthiness and moral leadership and independent investigation of truth.

The connection between spirituality and sustainability was then opened up as a discussion with the audience. The ideas of personal responsibility and reconnection with our bodies were addressed, among other topics of interest, with the underlying currents looping back to the work of Thomas Berry and others. 

TAGGED WITH: climate change, environmentalism, global warmin, morality, permaculture, spirituality

After hearing Dorothy Cotton speak this morning, I had the opportunity to attend a session on Youth Empowerment by Dan Flerlage, Teachers for a Sustainable Future.

Before getting started, Dan played a clip from Saturday's beaming of Jim Garrison, from the World Forum.  I was actually quite pleased to see him speak again - it was the by far the most sobering session I attended all weekend.  Jim's talk focused on the climate reduction goal of 2020 and warned that if we let that date get changed to 2050 in the Copenhagen summit, the results will be disastrous.  As Dan summarized, "the summit in Copenhagen is the next Kyoto."

Dan's session was attended by around 50 people, the majority of whom we're high school students.  We started by brainstorming a list of impedements that keep young individuals from making change.  Among the answers listed were: isolation, lack of hope, a forum, time, money, contacts, and data.

Dan accepted the impediments, but challenged the group - "Your power is far beyond what you think"  Next, we brainstormed a list of strengths that youth today have to offer.  Among the answers listed were: proficiency with technology, provide a conscious for justice, holding adults accountable, more energy, more time, and less deeply conditioned cynicism.

Dan then played another clip from YouTube (see above) which announces the October 24 Call to Climate Action.  After watching the video, we broke into workgroups to brainstorm plans that we could implement in our own schools, communities, and families to make a change over the next 6 days leading up to the 24th.

The groups came up with a variety of ideas including using social networks to spread awareness, removing plastic utensils from school lunchrooms, and calculating and sharing our own carbon footprints.  In the end, the take home message was indeed that we have the power to affect a change and that the youth of today have ample tools and energy to use them.

TAGGED WITH: copenhagen, kyoto, youth

The theme of this year's Bioneers conference was "We Make Our Future."  Sunday morning's keynote speaker, Dorothy Cotton, began her talk by challenging the audience to consider whether we really believe that to be true.

Photo by Danielle KlockGay Nicholson, of Sustainable Tompkins, welcomes conference attendees

Dorothy Cotton has a background as a community organizer in the civil rights movement and had the opportunity to work closely with Dr. Martin Luther King.  While the challenges of that era were distinct, Dorothy was able to draw several connections to the challenges we face today with climate change and global warming.  As she explains, the solutions to both problems lie in our ability to realize our own individual and collective power.

Recounting several memories as anaolgies, Dorothy explained how as a culture, we are "programmed" into patterns of thinking.  She told the story of her sister's father-in-law, Mr Buck, who was unsure whether he could sit down at a restaurant even after it had been  desegregated.  Patterns of thought can be difficult to change - especially those that are fundamental to the way society functions.

Photo by Danielle KlockDorothy Cotton engages the audience with a story

She made the point that although many remember the civil rights movement for the marches and race riots, there was actually much deeper work being done to transform individuals.  They were waging a battle against a system - a pattern of behaviors and thoughts that were entrenched in the culture.  In order to change the system, they needed to use their own collective power to be the change they wanted to see.

Dorothy told stories of boycotts at Woolworths, wade-ins at white beaches, and sleep-ins in hotel lobbies.  Through her work with the Citizen's Education Program, Dorothy taught individuals to discover their own power as "citizens" and inspire a transformation in people to decide "We're not going to take it anymore."

Photo by Danielle KlockCal Walker introduces Dorothy Cotton

Dorothy urged us to realize was that although we have progressive leaders, it is not someone else's responsibility to solve our problems.  We must all become conscious citizens and take personal responsibility for our future.  We have the creative abilty as an empowered community to solve our problems.  There is no blueprint for the future and we make the road by walking it.

Dorothy was introduced by Cal Walker, executive director of Village at Ithaca, who gave an heartfelt introduction of a woman we he so clearly respected and admired. Cal's organization works with children and the schools to ensure equity and access to Ithaca's diverse resources.

TAGGED WITH: change, civil rights, dorothy cotton, transformation