Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Earth Circles



I so value the Internet for the way it connects us, empowers us and enables us to learn. I also love the way that smart, creative, conscious people use the Internet to make wisdom, information and tools freely available to others. Today, I discovered www.earth-circles.org - a really well-conceived resource that provides the structure, guidance and an excellent workbook for people to transform their deep concerns about climate change into meaningful local action.

As with much of the leading work in this area, Earth Circles acknowledges our collective and individual grief at our disconnection from Nature and the damage we are doing to the planet. That grief, suppressed and ignored results in denial, numbness, evasion and feeling so overwhelmed that we justify staying on the same mechanistic, materialistic, consumerist treadmill - even though we know it's wrong, even though it makes us feel terrible, even though it's destroying Life...

Drawing on Joanna Macy's despair and empowerment work, Earth Circles encourages the meeting of small groups of people to provide the supportive opportunities to air their despair and tap its power to transform our current human lifestyles into sustainable, just, more fulfilling, more conscious ones.

For humans to live in balance with all other life forms, we need a radical change in our thinking and ways of seeing the world. The prospect of radical change frightens and immobilises us. By working in small groups, Earth Circles propose that we will find the comfort, the will, the inspiration and a greater intelligence that will help people to move. It's clear from a browse through the seven sessions in the Earth Circles workbook, that participants will not only be better equipped to take effective action, but will have gained valuable skills in self-reflection and connection with others. It's a great curriculum for raising human consciousness.

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