For Children – Life on Planet Earth: My Story.

An activity book to learn about ecosystems, biodiversity and the changes taking place on planet earth. The young person learns about plants and animals, climate change and the Paris Agreement in an introductory and enjoyable way with words and designs. She or he writes about experiences and desires for planet earth. The book provides fun with a scavenger hunt, biodiversity bingo and going on a picnic. When completed, there is an author certificate for Life on Planet Earth: My Story!

For Adults – Creating A Masterpiece: The Arts and Climate Change Conflict.

The book shows how the creative arts and peaceful conflict service providers, such as mediators, can promote the objectives of the United Nations Framework on Climate Change and Paris Agreement. It provides information about raising awareness, educating, and using interdisciplinary responses to transform climate change conflict by seeking positive solutions.

For the upcoming COP26. Both books recognize the importance of education for climate action. Complimentary copies of the books will be provided to the UNFCCC Secretariat at COP26.

VIDEO EDUCATE

The Sustainable Schools Virtual Summit

Photo Credits

Photos by Dani and EduCCate

Guest Author Bio
Charalee Graydon

Charalee Graydon was born in Alberta, Canada. She is a writer, journalist, academic and past lawyer. She works in the areas mediation and collaboration and is currently a faculty member at EUCLID University.

Charalee holds degrees in Bachelor of Arts in English and Political Science, and a Juris Doctorate in Law. Following receipt of a Rhodes scholarship in 1982, she pursued legal studies in Oxford, England where she obtained a B.C. L degree. She held academic positions in England, New Zealand, and Canada and is presently a faculty member at Euclid University. She completed her Ph.D. in Mediation and Conflict Resolution in June 2020. She has also practiced law in British Columbia and Alberta, Canada.

She has published three books of literary fiction  and one of which has been translated and published in Spanish.

She developed programs for students, judges, and the corporations on legal issues and published academic works in environmental law, sentencing and commercial law.

Blog / Website: Charaleegraydon.com

In many countries, we are asking the health care system for more that they have the capacity to do. Yet the system is responding by working together, by collaborating to deal with the problem. Communities are sharing limited resources, staff, and supplies.

When responding to the Pandemic of COVID 19, several articles and interactive meetings are being organized. Peacekeeping, collaboration, and mediation groups are reaching out to communities. Unesco has provided useful online resources about responses to COVID 19. Mediators and peace-building organizations are creating groups to provide methods to deal with problems arising as a result of the illness and the effects it is having on society. I have had the good fortune to be able to participate in town hall meetings with Mediators Beyond Borders International that is providing ideas and reflections on how people can reach out to mediators and peace-builders during this time.

An approach I wish to share with you is set out in a video by an expert in the area of collaboration. The creator of the YouTube video, David Savage, has provided authority to share his video with World Mediation Organization members. The video, Global Medical Collaboration provides a method by which medical people from different countries can share information about dealing with the virus and searching for medical solutions. David is the author of the book, Break Through to Yes, Unlocking the Possible within a Culture of Collaboration and an expert in using collaboration to address difficult situations.

People are moving forward with programs to work together to share information and methods of dealing with the isolation that results from the lock-downs. It is being made clear that social distancing does not mean social isolation. The World Health Organization has published information on the issue which gives a positive message to those experiencing the lock-downs and the social distancing required to stop the spread of COVID 19. Recent news is that France has devoted resources to helping people deal with abusive situations which have increased with lock-downs in the country. Thus, the virus has more than one effect that must be addressed. One problem which is occurring is the mental health toll on young people and the elderly as set out in the World Health Organization article. Another is the roller coaster ride the economy is experiencing.

From this short review, it is apparent that the COVID 19 virus which started approximately three months ago, is going to be with the global community for more time . Global communities are working together to address the health, social and economic issues. The air is cleaner as a result of the pandemic but to rebuild a better society that recognizes biodiversity is the challenge we face. A recent article in Science and Business, Science in Overdrive, shows that the scientific community is using collaboration to work toward methods to combat COVID 19. We must now be patient and work toward addressing world challenges by working together as a global community.

STAY SAFE!

Note from the author on April 4, 2020: When reviewing the World  Health Organization site, it provides ongoing updates. It was made clear, as of 10/04/2020, that countries should not move too quickly to lessen restrictions as there is a risk of a resurgence of the COVID 19 outbreak should they do so.

Photo Credit

Image by Pete Linforth from Pixabay

Guest Author Bio
Charalee Graydon

Charalee Graydon was born in Alberta, Canada. She is a writer, journalist, academic and past lawyer. She works in the areas mediation and collaboration and is currently a faculty member at EUCLID University.

Charalee holds degrees in Bachelor of Arts in English and Political Science, and a Juris Doctorate in Law. Following receipt of a Rhodes scholarship in 1982, she pursued legal studies in Oxford, England where she obtained a B.C. L degree. She held academic positions in England, New Zealand, and Canada and is presently a faculty member at Euclid University. She practiced law in Canada.

She has published three books of literary fiction  and one of which has been translated and published in Spanish.

She developed programs for students, judges, and the corporations on legal issues and published academic works in environmental law, sentencing and commercial law.

Blog / Website: Charaleeg.com

My entire adult life has been dedicated to being a community leader through grassroots service, activism, and organizational development. When given the choice between just making more money and potentially making the world a better place, I always have chosen the latter. I live my life by the motto “Serve locally; transform the world!,” believing that it is both easier to have a deep impact in one’s own community, but also that those benefits have ripple effects across the planet.

While it may seem like things are dire, the current economic crisis is also an amazing opportunity to reassess how it is that we work and live together. To challenge the stories we have about what is valuable and what isn’t. And to learn to come together in renewed, more interconnected ways.

About a year and a half ago, I left the career I had been developing as an adult ESL teacher. I loved my students, but everything else about my work felt limiting. Getting a decent, steady paycheck, for example, was often both a blessing and a curse. Over and over again, I watched co-workers (and sometimes myself) making decisions primarily based on personal job retention and/or maintaining the reputation of the organization we worked for. Too often, the need to challenge the larger systems our programs functioned within was either squashed, or marginalized in favor of maintaining the safety of the status quo. In the end, all of us – students and teachers alike – suffered as a result.

Here are a few other conclusions about our society in general that have come to me since leaving my teaching position.

1. The dominant paradigm tells us that we have to choose between taking care of ourselves financially and serving our communities.

2. The ways in which most jobs are structured make it difficult for the average person to place service and social activism work at the center of their lives. In other words, what drives our hearts is too often marginalized by trying to take care of basic needs.

3. There is a strong storyline that says “you must be self-sufficient, and that any form of asking for financial support from others means you’ve failed.”

4. The majority of paid work is underwritten by a single employer, or a small number of people donating money or paying for goods and services.

While I have not had a steady full time or part time job over the past sixteen months, I have been very active in my community. From volunteering my time to help develop a small non-profit to being part of the visioning team for an urban, eco-centric village project, my life has been rich with wonderful people, amazing ideas, and loads of generosity. More and more, I have been asking myself: “What would it look like if this were the norm? What if more of us didn’t have to choose between taking care of our financial needs and serving others?”

And so, I have started an experiment in generosity. There are basically three ideas behind the community change maker campaign.

1. First off, I want to spark conversations about what we value as work, and what we collectively support financially as work. Specifically, I’m hoping to inspire more people to re-center serving and giving back in the communities we live in. And that we need to find creative ways to help each other be able to afford to serve more, as opposed to treating service, volunteering, and the like as something “extra” people do when they can. Or as something only the financially privileged are able to do.
2. The campaign is raising funds to support my work in three community groups here in Minneapolis/St. Paul. The idea behind this is that there are different kinds of generosity that mutually support each other. I can give much more of my time and skills because others have given money, well wishes, and written support.
3. When the campaign is finished towards the end of April, I hope to be able to share my experiences and learnings with others (online and in person) who are actively serving and giving in their community, but who are also living on the edge financially. Too often, basic financial needs prevent people from doing more in their communities, and I’d like to be a part of changing that, through offering a different approach to dealing with those financial needs.

Although it’s designed to support my current work, I want others to do something similar. Indeed, I’d like to spark a community change maker revolution.

In this age of high unemployment and crumbling economies, we need to create ways to re-center service, while also shifting how we think about supporting each other financially. Instead of considering community as the place where we go home to after long, stressful work commutes, let’s come together to make our communities the lifeblood of our existence. Places where joy, service, and sharing spontaneously arise on a daily basis.

I view this project as an inspirational prototype. Not only for folks like myself who are taking a deep (risky) plunge, but also for anyone who wants to keep their day jobs, but perhaps could shave some hours off of their regular schedules to do more volunteering and activist work.

It’s already happening. What I’m doing is not brand new, but maybe the way I’m framing it is. Regardless, the world is calling us to think anew how we work, come together, and live. Come join me and be part of the change maker revolution.

Photo Credits

Photo courtesy of Nathanserves

The inclination to unburden ourselves of stuff isn’t new and the motivations have been many. Think of Ghandi making his own clothes or self-sufficient religious movements like the Amish or writers like Henry David Thoreau musing a century and a half ago about living simply on the shores of Walden Pond. Economist E. F. Schumacher’s book, Small Is Beautiful, became required reading for many undergrads following its publication in 1973, the tail end of the hippie, back-to-the-land movement of the ‘60s. In recent years, those who have stripped their lives to the bones – whether or not they’re part of the voluntary simplicity movement – are motivated by a range of concerns from spiritual to environmental.

What’s new about Siberry’s decision is that it might just be part of a mass movement. In a paper published last year, environmental writer Chris Goodall coined a term and identified a phenomenon called “Peak Stuff.” In his study of British consumption patterns over the past couple of decades, Goodall discovered that the acquisition of stuff peaked a decade ago, long before the 2008 stock market crash. Everything from food to clothing, cement to fertilizer, cars to energy and even travel have peaked and for the most part are now on the decline, and all at a time of prosperity.

Goodall doesn’t speculate in his report why Britain may have reached peak resource use, but in interviews since its publication, he has. In fact, he’s hopeful that what he’s discovered is evidence of no less than the triumph of environmentalism. Is it possible that the popularization of environmental concerns about over consumption are finally taking hold on a large scale? We’ve been warned now for decades that economic growth can’t go on forever, that sooner or later we’ll use up the earth’s resources or effectively kill the planet trying. What Goodall hopes he’s seeing is a nation-wide trend that could be happening in many other similar post-industrial countries in which consumers are changing their lifestyles to reduce their impact on the planet. At the same time, in the spirit of the voluntary simplicity movement, they are improving the quality of their lives.

Of course, that’s not the only explanation for what Goodall has discovered. Participants in the 1992 Earth Summit in Brazil coined the term “eco-efficiency” to describe their hopeful theory that it’s possible for an economy to create more wealth with fewer resources and see a corresponding reduction in waste and pollution. Goodall’s study could be the first evidence we’ve seen that economic growth could actually be good for the environment. Resource use could be reduced as an economy evolves from an industrial base to one more dependent upon information and services. As for the material goods we do consume, we’re using them more efficiently. Think for example of all those eco-efficient appliances and of cars built with far less metal than before.

Here’s yet another explanation. The average Brit just has less money. In other words, the Occupy Movement is right, at least about the widening prosperity gap between the wealthy one percent and the rest of us. Think of it this way. Much of the increase in wealth that Goodall sites went to a very few people. Those few people aren’t going to make a statistical difference in economic activity because the wealthy aren’t out consuming great quantities of stuff. They might buy a more expensive home, car or yacht, but that’s not going to show up in the numbers like several million people buying more bread or shirts or electric heat with a marginal increase in wealth.

Goodall’s got us thinking for sure, but the answers to the questions he raising are not clear. Are we actually decoupling from stuff on a global scale out of concern for our planet? Are we seeing the evolution of western society from an industrial model to an information and services model? Or are we seeing the natural result of a widening gap between the richest and the rest? Whatever the answer, the issue of resource gluttony and resulting environmental, social and spiritual damage remains. After all, even Goodall’s numbers don’t show an enormous swing away from material consumption. The point remains, more stuff ain’t good for us. Ask Jane Siberry.

Photo Credits

Jane Siberry 

Chris Goodall, author of the study “Peak Stuff”

Nobel Prize winner, Paul Crutzen

We humans could soon have our own epoch. We could join epochs named for ice ages and tropical periods when major families of plants, birds and animals appeared or disappeared such as dinosaurs, whales and grasses. This newly proposed Epoch even has a name – the Anthropocene, the human epoch.

We have of course brought this on ourselves. Some argue that the Human Epoch should begin around the time we figured out how to farm because of the impact of agriculture on natural diversity, ecosystems and species extinction. Others claim more recent human developments should mark the start of the Anthropocene Epoch like the Industrial Revolution because it brought on shifts in atmospheric conditions on a global scale.

No matter what human development marks the beginning of this new Epoch, it’s a startling way to think about the human impact on the Earth. Sure, the evidence of our impact on the Earth is in the news all the time, but we don’t tend to think of our human footprint on such a broad and permanent scale. We’re talking an Epoch in the Geological Time Scale named for activity, the large proportion of which spans only a few generations.

Ecologist Eugene Stoermer and Nobel Prize-winning atmospheric chemist Paul Crutzen both seem to lay claim to coining the term Anthropocene, but together in 2000 they published an article in the Global Change Newsletter on the idea simply called “The Anthropocene.” Since then, others have taken up the idea.

In the February 2008 edition of GSA Today published by the Geological Society of America, 21 British scientists supported the Stroermer/Crutzen proposal to add an Epoch to Earth’s history and presented it to the Stratigraphy Commission of the Geological Society of London. They wrote, “From the beginning of the Industrial Revolution to the present day, global human population has climbed rapidly from under a billion to its current 6.5 billion, and it continues to rise. The exploitation of coal, oil, and gas in particular has enabled planet-wide industrialization, construction, and mass transport, the ensuing changes encompassing a wide variety of phenomena.”

Geological Time Scale

According to the scientists, those phenomena include the usual suspects like global warming and species extinction, but there are surprises in the list too. Of course, increases in greenhouse gasses head the list because that change will lead to sharp and sustained global temperature increases and therefore to major changes planet-wide. Dramatic increases in erosion and sedimentation from agriculture and river damming far exceed natural processes. We’re driving other creatures to extinction on a massive scale, most notably on the coral reefs as we warm the oceans. This change will be magnified because we have so thoroughly isolated and compromised large ecosystems, species won’t be able to migrate as the Earth’s temperature increases. In other words, there will be fewer escape routes than there were at the last ice age, for example. Add to rising sea levels changes in ocean temperature and acidity levels and you’ve got yourself a period of change in the Earth’s history that is large enough, widespread enough and permanent enough to qualify as an Epoch.

The scientists claim that these changes suggest “we have entered a distinctive phase of Earth’s evolution that satisfies geologists’ criteria for its recognition as a distinctive stratigraphic unit, to which the name Anthropocene has already been informally given.” But they go further, claiming that human impacts may be so extreme, they may mark the end of the whole Quarternary Period of the last 2.5 million years.

Of course, it’s the human need in us to characterize, categorize and name that drives us to examine ourselves and our lot in this way. It could be argued that naming a whole geological time division after ourselves is just another example of the human-centric perspective that colours all our observations. After all, we could be wiped out by a super-efficient bacteria or an asteroid strike or a large volcanic explosion or of course by our own short sightedness. The Earth would simply move on without us.

Possibly, but the evidence that we’ve changed the planet for good really does seem overwhelming and it is right in front of us. Most of us live in cities that literally cover whole coastal plains, valleys and plateaus. Many of us drive our cars on highways where forests once grew. Much of the food in our cupboards was grown on farms that replaced once massive and diverse grasslands and forests. We’ve dammed the Earth’s major rivers and a lot of smaller ones for electricity. The list of planetary changes we’ve brought about is long. I say let’s go for it. Come on Geological Society of London, let’s make it official. Let’s call a spade a spade. Let’s name what we’ve done and deal with the resulting feelings of guilt and hopelessness by approaching our future on this planet differently than we’ve approached the past. Welcome to the Anthropocene Epoch.

Photo Credits

Paul Crutzen by U. Dettmar

Geological Time Scale @ www.deadsetfreestuff.com

In the email, Kiva – a microlending organization we belong to – highlights a few possible loan recipients among the thousands registered with them. I click on one and read the story of Hector Hernandez of Nicaragua. He’s approached one of Kiva’s 141 partner organizations for a small loan to finance a food stall he’s set up. I learn that his request is already 40% financed. Small loan requests from Kiva’s borrowers can often be financed in a matter of hours, though many take weeks. I call up our Kiva account and apply $25 of our credit towards his loan.

Microlending isn’t new, but Kiva’s approach to it is – the non-profit organization’s on-line presence amounts to banking through crowd sourcing. My kids and I are one of over 600,000 lenders that have supplied about a quarter billion in loans in 60 countries. Kiva relies on a global network of micro lending institutions, 450 volunteers and almost 50 employees at the head office in San Francisco.

Jerilyn Camarines Fish Monger, Phillippines

Initially, I set up our family account with Kiva as a learning tool for my kids. I’d hoped they might learn about how people in other parts of the world live and work. I hoped they’d learn about lending people a hand, about the principle of sharing wealth, about the sources of human dignity, so I made them a deal. I’d start us off with $100. Every time one of our loans was repaid, I’d add that amount to our little bank and when they left home years in the future, they could either apply all the money in the account toward their education or keep re-lending or a combination.

When we started, the kids showed a lot of interest. They took the time to look carefully through the site at the various requests for loans from around the world – a cooperative store in India, a car repair shop in Mexico, a housing improvement loan in Mozambique. They selected the loans they wanted to make. As the loans were repaid, I showed them the reports and asked them to fund new loan requests. Although they eventually lost interest, I continued on with Kiva, reading the updates and making new loans. But we still talk about Kiva and the loans I’m making, so I hope that before they leave home after graduation, they’ll again get involved in the decision making. Because they were involved in the first place and we continue to talk about it, I believe the experience has given them many things to think about, in particular social justice.

Kiva’s goal is to help alleviate poverty around the world. Their website states, “We envision a world where all people – even in the most remote areas of the globe – hold the power to create opportunity for themselves and others.” While the idea and practice of microlending is not without valid criticism – some say that such loans have little impact, that perpetuate a cycle of dependency and an us-and-them mentality, and that they’re really about the lenders feeling good about themselves – I believe Kiva might just be the best we can do, as far as microlending goes.

Rosalinda Matea Rosales Rosales, Loom Operator, Guatemala

For one thing, Kiva is breaking the mould when it comes to microlending. Kiva doesn’t operate only in what’s typically referred to as the developing world. Recently former US president Bill Clinton announced for Kiva the launch of a community coalition in Detroit to offer over half a million dollars in microloans. Partners include Michigan Corps, the Knight Foundation and ACCION USA. The development is the first in a series called “Kiva City,” a way for the organization to grow more quickly in the US. Kiva City creates alliances between Kiva, local civic leaders, local community organizations and financial institutions. One Detroit borrower started a newspaper made for and sold by the homeless and at risk, while another is employing high school students to build bike trailers for those who use bicycles to get around the city.

Here’s another Kiva innovation that relies on the power of the internet to connect people. Within the Kiva community, lenders are creating communities. They might be people from a particular country or people who share a particular political or religious approach to social justice. Within one team called “Friends of Bob Harris,” 661 members have loaned over a million dollars. Bob is writing a book about Kiva with the working title, The 1st International Bank of Bob. “I hope the book will get more people to feel attracted to Kiva, excited about microlending, and more connected to the rest of the world,” says Bob. As a travel writer, Bob says, “I saw so much poverty that I decided to turn all of those paycheques into Kiva loans.”

Truphena Anyango, Pharmacy Owner, Kenya

A few days after I make my mini-loan to Mr. Hernandez, an email notice arrives informing me that his food stall is now 100% financed. I’m not worried about the loan defaulting. The repayment rate for Kiva loans is 98.87%, higher than ordinary banks could ever dream of, and the amount is so little to me that default can’t hurt me. I’m not even concerned that, as with so many non-profits these days, a high percentage of my contribution might be going to administration fees. Every penny I lend goes directly to funding loans. Admin costs are covered through optional donations from lenders. In other words, it’s up to me whether or not I want to contribute to Kiva’s operating costs. Otherwise, Kiva relies on grants, foundation support and corporate sponsors for operating funds.

In the coming months, I’ll get notices that tell me what percentage of the loan Mr. Hernandez has repaid and the corresponding percentage of my $25 has been returned to my account. When my account exceeds $25, I’ll lend it again. A million others will do the same, and together we can provide funding for thousands of small improvements to people’s lives around the world.

All Photos are the property of Kiva.