Ecuador had agreed last year to accept money in exchange for not drilling for oil in Yasuní National Park, an area of the Amazon rainforest that last year set a record for the most mammal, bird, amphibian and plant species in the world.

But a fundraiser was held last night that collected the $116 million necessary to temporarily halt exploitation of the area for oil.

Digital Journal explains:

An odd alliance of governments, film stars, Japanese businesses, Russian institutions, and soft drink companies have come forward to help protect the heart of the Amazon rainforest in Ecuador from exploitation by oil companies.

Yasuní National Park in Ecuador has become the planet’s latest success story, with a United Nations “crowdfunding” initiative held Thursday night to raise $116 million, an amount needed to put a temporary halt to exploitation by the oil industry of 722 square miles of the Ecuadorian Amazon known as the Ishpingo-Tambococha-Tiputini (ITT) oil fields.

The Guardian has more:

Development of the oilfield, which was planned to take place immediately if the money had not been raised, would have inevitably led to ecological devastation and the eventual release of over 400m tonnes of CO2.

Ecuador agreed to halt plans to mine the oilfield if it could raise 50% of the $7.6bn revenue being lost by not mining the oil. While the world’s leading conservation groups pledged nothing, regional governments in France and Belgium offered millions of dollars – with $2m alone from the Belgian region of Wallonia. A New York investment banker donated her annual salary and Bo Derek, Leonardo DiCaprio, Edward Norton and Al Gore all contributed.

Please feel free to send this link on to your network and ask them play it forward. Let’s help this important film go viral.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAU2K4JwTjc&feature=share

If you are moved by Jim’s wonderful work, please consider making a tax-exempt donation to help recover the production costs.

CALL 808-339 2432 and thanks to all who helped!!

Go Planet!

JIM

What drives our desire to behave morally? Neuroeconomist Paul Zak shows why he believes oxytocin (he calls it “the moral molecule”) is responsible for trust, empathy and other feelings that help build a stable society.

Watch now.

As NPD subscribers know, I am excited about Gunter Pauli’s Blue Economy initiative and progress continues. The first translation into Spanish of the English Bestseller “The Blue Economy” by Prof. Dr. Gunter Pauli is now available.

The Spanish edition was presented by Prof. Dr. Gunter Pauli in Madrid at a conference of the “Instituto de Empresa” as well as a press conference for the newspaper “Diario de Mallorca” in Palma de Mallorca. This fall, the first German edition of the book will be released, and more languages are in preparation. If you are interested in obtaining a copy, please e-mail info@blueeconomy.de.

The Exit of Nuclear
:
With the Japan disaster, it is critical we find alternatives to nuclear energy as fast as possible. The Obama administration seems dedicated to the continued use of nuclear and of course the nuclear industry has no interest in eliminating itself so that job must come from people like Gunter and the emerging Blue Economy community.

Last week, ZERI Foundation presented a scenario to support the exit of nuclear power. Prof. Dr. Gunter Pauli illustrated to his audience, journalists and experts, how these technologies can be used to replace nuclear energy in an economically viable way. In a next step, “Blue Economy Design Lab” will cooperate with a series of companies and investors to prove the viability of this approach. The smart combination of existing technologies will be suitable to enable a rethinking in energy supply in consensus with our society and a financial surplus.” – was the comment by Prof. Dr. Ernst Ulrich von Weizsäcker, member of the Club of Rome.

The BE Facebook profile contains some impressions of the press conference. If you haven’t seen the excellent new Blue Economy Video concerning Nuclear’s Exit, here it is. Please take a few minutes to view this empowering solutions based piece and share it with those who believe in a nuclear future.

Clean Indoor Air in Buildings

Most of the buildings in which human beings work and live, have too dry air with an excessive amount of CO2 and are polluted with dust particles which endanger their health. For this reason, Gunter and his growing Blue Economy development team and investors are researching ever more innovative filtration systems to keep the air clean inside buildings.

We know plants improve the air. What is new is the pioneering work of Lars Thofelt, who observed how tropical forests catch dust particles from the air, let them fall down with raindrops and finally create more soil. He used his insights to design a rainforest in miniature which can be cultivated in large buildings. A mix of tropical plants not only removes dust particles, but also keeps the humidity stable, binds CO2 and even toxic formaldehyde – all this at a much lower cost than energy wasting filter systems.

If these micro-rainforests are planted in schools, the children can not only study in a healthier surroundings. Instead of studying uninspiring biology books, they have a close encounter with the functioning of ecosystems in their daily lives.
Interested?

Detailed information on the business model and its potential are available at community.blueeconomy.de – or as pdf, if you do not wish to register there.

We wish you many inspirations and look forward to jointly changing the way we do business!
Gunter Pauli and the Team of The Blue Economy

In a time when politics appears nothing more than a Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dumb affair and a lost cause and when it looks like we have the best government money can buy, the philosophy and activism they have begun sharing with diverse and empowered audiences is both refreshing and hopeful and absolutely worth a try.

Steve and Joseph need funding to complete their book and road show and if you agree their efforts are worth supporting, please join me in donating what you can afford to accelerate this emerging political paradigm. I will keep you posted on their progress. Perhaps we will finally understand and release the power of a United State of Us.

“….it was the story of a mighty vision given to a man too weak to use it; of a holy tree that should have flourished in a people’s heart with flowers and singing birds, and now is withered; and of a people’s dream that died in bloody snow. But if the vision was true and mighty, as I know, it is true and mighty yet; for such things are of the spirit, and it is in the darkness of their eyes that men get lost.”

– Black Elk

“There are no sides, only angles … and when we see things from the proper angle, we see we are all on the same side.”

– Swami Beyondananda

Back in the early 70s, Steve Bhaerman lived in a commune he and friends playfully called The Embassy of Atlantis because of its simultaneous location on Embassy Row in Washington, D.C. and in a parallel reality.

In the early 1980s Joseph McCormick was a cadet at Virginia Military Institute.

Obviously, these two individuals started out on very different paths coming from very different places.  And yet now, in these truly evolutionary times, their paths have united.  Despite vastly different backgrounds and experiences, they have come to similar conclusions, and find themselves on the same mission:  To reunite America around the virtues and values we have in common, because it appears to be the only way to coalesce the whole-brained, whole-hearted intelligence required to transform the current spiritual, political, ecological and economic crises into an evolutionary opportunity.

If you take a look at the current political landscape and see angry folks on either side of a barricade, it’s easy to feel discouraged.  However, when you also consider the “fierce conversations” Joseph has been leading in small communities and large cities, there is a genuine cause for optimism.  Individuals from both left of center and right of center – primarily conservative libertarians and progressive greens – have been gradually developing a new narrative that can lift the body politic out of the box of our current dysfunction.  By examining assumptions, comparing notes, sharing information and learning together, these two factions are calling forth a new political order that serves both the individual and the community, and honors ecology and economy.

By sitting in “council,” by airing all opinions and exhausting all positions, these groups have come to an obvious truth:  No political savior will be coming down from the heavens to make everything right.  We are left with the wisdom and resources of “we the people.”  We have met the savior, and he / she is us.  Moreover, the solutions don’t lie in the positions we find ourselves in but rather in a process that uses the energy of strongly held values inside a sacred circle to create emergent solutions that everyone in the group “owns” as opposed to unsatisfying compromise where each side loses something.

The American Evolution

In coming together from such different experiences and worldviews, Joseph and Steve have a remarkably similar take on America’s past, our present and our future.  While neither of them buy into the “American exceptionalism” that keeps us blind to our own shadow, they both deeply appreciate the practical spirituality behind the founding of this country.  What other country in the world was created on the notion of inalienable rights to life, liberty and happiness – where the formulators weren’t just blowing gas, but meant it?  And where else – particularly 235 years ago – did a band of extraordinary ordinary citizens stand up to the largest multinational corporation in the world, the British East India Company, and defeat the British army and navy?  Finally, and most importantly, what nation prior to then proclaimed that the citizen had the same sovereign rights as the king?

Joseph and Steve also share a similar view of the present.  The bipolar insanity – encouraged and cultivated by those who benefit from a divided body politic – has weakened us locally and globally.  Instead of focusing on finding outside the box solutions together, we tend to gather in the safe harbor of being right – or left.  While we might find comfort in positions and stands, there is no movement possible if everyone stays in their position.  There are those who appreciate the “stalemate” as the ultimate balance of power, making sure things don’t teeter this way or totter that.  However, if the problem is the proverbial house on fire, inactivity is not an option.

In regard to the future, Joseph and Steve have once again reached a similar conclusion.  We must integrate the most functional elements of progressivism (growth) and conservatism (protection) into a whole-brained, full spectrum politics where citizens from all across the political landscape come together to address the questions, “How do we wish to progress?” and “What do we choose to conserve?”

Is this possible?

Well, as Joseph has more than demonstrated in his transpartisan groups and meet-ups, when ordinary citizens are temporarily liberated from media “babblum,” and are held in a sacred circle of mutual respect, extraordinary clarity and wisdom emerges.

However, to access this wisdom requires … (ready, all you Creationists?) … evolution!  We must evolve from children of God to adults of God (or, for the non-religious, adults of Good) and stop acting like “tenants” of America and begin to act like “owners.”  This means facing the uncomfortable truths behind the real don’t ask, don’t tell policy (we promise not to ask the government what it is doing to “protect” us, and they promise not to tell us), and disabusing ourselves of the wishful thinking that our rulers will rule wisely without our involvement.  As Lord Acton said, “Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

And here is another fundamental principle Joseph and Steve agree on.  Just as there is no top down political savior, transformation involves a “critical mass of the heretofore uncritical masses” waking up to the realization that there can be no integrity at the top without integrity at the bottom.  The political evolution we seek is first a spiritual and psychological evolution, as we reconnect with our own internal Source and acknowledge and face our own individual and collective shadow with courage and compassion.

The Possible Dream

Those who mistook hopium for hope last time around may be understandably defended against being fooled again.  So let us affirm that we WILL be fooled again by the two major party candidates.  We can plan on it, in fact.  When push comes to shove in 2012, we will be leveraged to hunker down with whichever cultural tribe we feel most affinity for, and once again Lucy will pull the proverbial football away and we the people (Charlie Brown) will fall on our collective ass.

We will once again fall prey to political lies unless …

Unless we expose the current political game and refuse to play it, AND gather around a higher, deeper and more enduring truth.  The one unifying issue that both progressives and Tea Partiers agree on is, the rule of gold has overruled the Golden Rule.  In order to establish this “One Suggestion” as the true heart and soul of who we are, we have to recognize, acknowledge and celebrate the coherent field of love that “undertruths” both the religious expressions of God and the non-religious expressions of Good.

As the Swami would say, “the upwising is gathering esteem,” and the chutzpah of those in power has become so obvious to so many that a mass awakening seems to be occurring.  While there are those who would like to misdirect this anger against the wrong targets, there are enough people awakening on both sides to actually change the game this time around.  Thanks to information and activism, both on the internet and the outernet, we now have the power to gather ordinary people together to access extraordinary wisdom – and coalesce a heartful, soulful moral authority that will be so universally obvious that it will effectively encircle the mechanism of government.  When 80 percent of the people favor a principle or policy – and everyone knows it – that will effectively check the power of lobbyists lobbying against it.

Here’s the Wind Up … And the Pitch

On behalf of Steve and Joseph, I am inviting those subscribers who are motivated and able to join me in supporting a project they are dedicating themselves to for the next 18 months – completing their book, Reuniting America:  A Manifesto For Changing the Political Game, AND empowering transpartisan conversations, actions and policies that will make the 2012 election our first “real” election in generations.  The book will significantly expand upon the e-book version, using Joseph’s story and his own to “pace” both conservative and progressive sensibilities, while evoking the best of both impulses.  They will address the important issues of why we need to reunite America, and around what?  Finally, they will offer the principles and practices that are most likely to yield breakthough results inside these sacred circles.

Their intention is to have the book ready for publication by Labor Day, and self-publish at first for two reasons:  First, they want to have the book out, gathering momentum this fall as a lead up to next year’s electoral season.  Secondly, an already-successful book is a much easier sell to major publishers.  And, it’s far more compelling to have a book you can hold in your hand than a PDF you can download.

There are a number of forces in play right now that could very well launch the transpartisan movement through national media, and have it be part of the conversation whether the media likes it or not.  As Scoop Nisker used to say, “If you don’t like the news, make some of your own.”

Meanwhile, the budget for four months of writing and research plus the wherewithal to design, print and distribute books is $50,000.  Normally, a publisher would pay an advance like that (or at least they would in the old days) but they don’t have the time to wait.  Fortunately, they have a nonprofit 501 (c) 3 fiscal sponsor who has set up a fund to support Reuniting America as a nonpartisan endeavor to educate and inspire the body politic.  They are set up to take tax-deductible donations of $250 or more, and we invite you to make a donation and become a sponsor.  Here are the Sponsor Categories:

Profounder Founder: $5,000

Profound Founder: $2,500

Founder: $1,000

Founding Sponsor: $500

Sponsor: $250

All of the above will be honored on our Founders Page (unless you wish to remain anonymous) as will those who make lesser donations! To make a tax deductible donation of $250 or more, please make check payable to their 501c3 sponsor: Global Citizen Journey, 4425 Baker Ave. NW, Seattle, WA  98107  (Memo: Transpartisan Upwising)

For those who wish to make a donation of any other amount, please visit PayPal (http://paypal.com) and use sinfo@transpartisan.us to end your contribution.

And, of course, you can get a jump start on the whole idea by downloading their e-book here. (http://reunitingamerica.org)

Four-Month Budget

Steve Bhaerman, Writer’s Advance: $4,000 / mo x 4 months =  $16,000

Joseph McCormick, Writer’s Advance: $4,000 / mo x 4 months =  $16,000

Authors’ Travel, Research expenses: $2,000 / mo x 4 months =  $8,000

Book Design, Publishing Expenses: $5,000

Printing, 1000 copies: $5,000

__________________________

Total Production Expenses: $50,000

Finally, in the midst of all the bad news, here is some good news:  There will be good news … IF we make it.

Steve and Joseph send a wave of deep gratitude to their Evolutionary Co-Hearts.