GreenplanetFM Podcast

Do you want to elegantly express yourself and feel empowered by having more freedom and really connect with people? Plus, "Making Life Far More Easier, Fulfilling and dare we say it - Wonderful?"

Never before have we needed a greater range of communication skills to allow us to reconnect as family, community and a global society. To speak authentically and from our heart.

With the media polarisation of society, be it local or global - along with an education system that is constantly needing to encourage our skills in conflict resolution as well as reconciling opposing points of view, how are we going to become a more caring, unified and trustworthy society?

New Zealand is often rated as one of the most peaceful countries in the world and yet has a very high rate of domestic violence and teen suicide -- both indicators that more can be done to give alternatives to beating up on ourselves and each other.

Nonviolent Communication (Also known as "Compassionate Communication") is one option.

It has been shared in this country and around the world in schools, workplaces, spiritual communities, social change organizations, and public workshops. It helps develop the ability to empathize with ourselves and others, to express ourselves with both authenticity and compassion, and to transform conflicts into creative opportunities to connect even more effectively.

It teaches us how to joyfully reclaim our freedom from "shoulds" and "have to's", discover what truly matters, and to improve relationships with ourselves and others. All of these skills are vital for today's changing world, where we are increasingly faced with the reality of our interdependence across cultural and political differences.

Though NZers are a polite people, we are often not as forthcoming in speaking our truth because we do not want to hurt other people's feelings or, are actually fearful of talking truth to power.

However the imperative is: that it's not about being nice, it's about being real!

We here in this country - especially our men folk are basically a quiet, unemotional people (except when the All Blacks or Yachties are winning) and in general lack the vocabulary to express ourselves emotionally when in a situation that requires both presence, mindfulness and … being vulnerable.

When we embrace Nonviolent Communication we find that there so many more tools to assist us to a deeper quality of our being - being authentic and speaking from our heart - from a space that is not encumbered with anger, frustration or poor self worth.

In our present busy and stressful daily life the imperative is, that we are now able to enlist the methods on NVC - to bring about a deeply felt shift in our response to both life, love and people and open up a new vista on how we approach existence.

Starting with the 'macro' big picture the USA versus the Soviet Union (now Russia) if we could deescalate the nuclear tensions then in 1990, why not now - today? Donald Trump has been for it!

Also, on the micro - how are you doing with your relationships with your family, sisters and brothers, or your loved one? Are you stuck and have internal dialogue constantly gnawing away inside, because you find it to difficult to communicate or just lack the assistance in articulating your needs to 'clear the air?'

From the macro to the micro - to reconciling differing points of view in our living rooms with family - to total frustration with the political system and your local political representative. - how can we de-escalate differences in our daily life?

This is what non violent communication can do …

But how?

How do we stop the war in our own heads and also beating up on our own selves and also stop the wars with the people that we love? - our wives, husbands and loved ones?

This naturally includes the work place, in team games and localised groups.

Plus how do we go for what we want and instead of to a place of fear and frustration and focussing on what we don't want to - how do we go for what we want?

With NVC - Nonviolent Communication - it is a big piece of the how - a way to decouple yourself from conflict and use wise choices and tools to take a step back and then mindfully engage in coming together once again.

Tim mentions that with domestic violence very predominant - much of it due to lacking in able to express oneself intelligently - and by needing a larger vocabulary tool box in which to draw from. Also that having a sense of worth and valuing oneself so that we are not in a constant state of victimhood.

It is very important to being able to articulate and clarify how we feel and also ready to listen. These are not strong points in our society and many are to be found in the male of the species.

Jean mentions she knows of a NVC practitioner who has worked with people who have physically abused their partner and he introduced NVC communication as part of his group intervention with them. This resulted in zero % recidivism rate - which is unheard of.

So how do you get past the thoughts and the blame and so if we are angry at somebody and we go into our 'habit thought' it is THEIR fault that I am so unhappy - that we might want to punish them and beat up on them in someway - but that may be a tragic attempt to meet their needs for more happiness or more well being - it's just not going to get us where we want to be.

Instead we want to teach people - we want to teach ourselves - how to go for what we really want.

So part of the how is to catch ourselves and step back … as to what is our intention here. So do we want to connect or do we want to do the same old patterns of judging and blaming?

It will most probably get us more of the same so the first thing is the zero step - to ask ourselves what is my intention here?

Take a breath and take stock … to reconnect to ourselves - we do it with practice and tuning into our body and self connecting … am I noticing that my muscles are getting tense? Is my voice increasing in volume - i.e - am I shouting … Am I noticing that my voice isn't getting higher?

Sooooooo, what am I feeling? Scared? Angry? So what am I needing ….? Some peace? Some power? Or a way to step back into well being … and am I at this moment, having power over my own self or am I - at the mercy of my habits - old thought patterns - my habit energies and I might be about to say the same old thing that I have said before … you idiot, why are you doing this … and I am just going to get the same results I've gotten before which probably will not be at all beneficial!

So NVC gives us tools as to where to put our intention to get the outcome we really want and to really put our attention to connect with the person that you are committed to - then we are on the same page and then we may have some very different smarties as to what you want to see happen next.

This interview covers many instances of how we can clear old patterns and break new ground in understanding relationships. When partners learn to adeptly articulate their needs and express lovingly and mindfully their needs - play comes into it and repartee and banter can come into it as well.

The importance of all parties agreeing in the spirit of goodwill to find a way forward really allows non violent communication to come into its own where relationships flourish and everyone finds themselves on the same page.

Taking the 'vibes up' - communicating their needs - then singing the vibes up again at the end.

Non Violent Communication needs to be a skill that every person leaving school needs to embrace. The need for peaceful relations needs to be championed continuously from the Prime Minister's office all the way down and across our nation.

http://www.nvc.org.nz

Klaus has just returned from addressing the highest body of the United Nations. The General Assembly - on Earth Trusteeship in April of this year.

He is a Professor of Law and Director, New Zealand Centre for Environmental Law, University of Auckland; Chair, IUCN World Commission on Environmental Law Ethics Specialist Group.

With all the mounting ecological challenges, climate change, melting tundra, ocean acidification etc - that face us today these are finally being acknowledged as the logical symptoms of a disease and Klaus reiterates this - a disease that is permeating our society as a result of economics gone mad.

As an extension of the Chicago school in the 1970's and then policies by Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher we are left with posing the question - who will look after the planetary environment?

That economics having been the main and in many ways the only fundamental agenda over the last 35 - 40 years that we (even ordinary NZers) are realising we are now in deeper trouble. That without factoring urgent ecological solutions and taking action - we are to experience environmental blow-back of increasing proportions.

We have been going backwards over this time especially as we have added another three and half billion souls to the planetary population. In doing so - the web of life 'Nature' - that embraces and integrates all the ecosystems that are layered over each other from the micro to the macro have been put under unprecedented stress. All due to the increase in mans dominating nature especially around deforestation and pollution at all levels - that has been so overwhelming that our planet's biota, natural systems and feedback loops are unable to cope with the rapid changes that are upon us. It's all happening far too quickly and our biosphere can not adapt fast enough in the time available. Thus, with multiple tipping points being reached the possibility of cascading problems is an extreme urgency that has to be addressed. Biosphere collapse has to be avoided!

Today, business people in general when we sit them down and talk 'one on one' they will agree that the commercial sector are grabbing and extracting voraciously from the earth, however when they go back to their corporation they cannot or are unable to initiate change. The main reason being that the business world in general has failed themselves by still being 'ecological illiterate.' This being predominant in the extreme in the global political arena as well.

Today the concept of sustainability has so often been distorted, co-opted, and even trivialized by being used without the 'ecological context' that gives it its proper meaning. So, it is worthwhile to reflect about what "sustainability" really means.

What is sustained in a sustainable community is not economic growth or competitive advantage, but the entire web of life on which our long-term survival depends. In other words, a sustainable community is designed in such a way that its ways of life, businesses, economy, physical structures, and technologies do not interfere with nature's inherent ability to sustain life. It may be also likened to 'durable prosperity' - that nature will last ad infinitum.

The first step in this endeavor, naturally, must be to understand how nature sustains life. It turns out that this involves a whole new conception of life. Indeed, such a new conception of life has emerged over the last 30 years. Called 'The Systems View of Life' it is grand synthesis of this new understanding of life. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=If2Fw0z6uxY

Looking back.

Historical Limitations.

Klaus reviews Western civilisation over the last 3-4,000 years and though we as a Western material culture have 'seemingly' benefited hugely from our endeavours we have gradually committed so much ecological and cultural damage - that we are now belatedly realising that there is a limit to growth on a finite ecological - planetary system - that we are now teetering on overhang.

When we go back to Greece the word oikos means household and nomos means management. Oikonomos, economy, is thus - those things concerning the management of the house or home as on our 'home' planet - earth. Note that eco for ecology and economics also have the same root prefix.

Thinking in terms of relationships is crucial for ecology, because ecology —

(as mentioned above - derived from oikos) is the science of the relationships among various members of the Earth Household. Many indigenous cultures embody profound ecological awareness and think of nature in terms of relationships and patterns.

Looking at what the Western model has brought to the world.

Dualism: Can be seen as another Western construct.

The separation between the human sphere and the natural sphere. Where once we were connected to the earth - the wind whispered, the trees sighed, the brook gurgled and oneness within nature permeated much of life from as far back as neolithic times. We were embedded in natural forces.

That over time the academic Greeks started to quantify and measure and objectify things and dualism and 'separation' gradually came into being. We put up walls and insulated and isolated ourselves from the environment.

Anthropocentric: human centeredness - that we can measure everything through the lenses of human experience and that we only look at the environment for its usefulness.

Materialism: the predominance of measuring any reality in the terms of matter as against energy or spirit - or the intangible. Having things and measuring success by 'owning' things and stacking them up all around us.

Atomism: and our modern science where we are very proud "knowing all about very little and losing the ability to learn a little about everything" … A shift from a more general understanding to more precise expertise - and thus not seeing the larger context. Locked into reductionism and reducing everything down to the mini particle and eventual invisible energy packets.

Greed: when individuals and materialism come together and the so called 'enlightenment' - celebrating the idea of individual freedom - another European invention - (has a lot of good things going for it - like human rights and even democracy and so forth) - the dark side is individualism that came into being and - taking it all - with no limits becoming a norm. This translates that one does not have a sense of collective interdependence and responsibilities anymore - and when you combine these with capitalism and materialism we see the 001% of the 1% express what they are doing at the top of the power structures of today.

This is what we have today. We have a great deal of separation - living in buildings doing our best to experience some sort of community yet people have in many ways - just become consumers rather than citizens.

Economism: that we measure everything through the lens of economic cost benefit analysis - time is money - be it Local or Central government. How much is that worth? How much did you win, how much did you lose? My net worth is ………..

Add up the 1st letters of these 6 words and they Equal = DAMAGE

This European experience is totally out of step of non European cultures thus the need to heal our planetary systems and be more open to listen ….

We need to become citizens of the earth see ourselves as brother and sisters with other parts of our planet. We are in this together - so we need to know what is it like to articulate what it is to be human on this - our beautiful planet earth.

The necessity now is to have a Nationwide Conversation and talk about long term strategies.

We are all integrated within the web of life - even if we do not realise it - and with all biota. However, with climate change upon us and the invisible membrane of our atmosphere that envelope's our planet as the only barrier between us and deep space.

The imperative is to understand we are together - breathing in and out - this invisible barrier that is fundamental to our survival as a species. As Chief Seattle the American First Nation medicine man stated "whatever we do to the web of life - we do to ourselves."

That we as humanity need to understand what the 'global commons' is and then how to honour it and respectfully work with it. This is when we learn to become 'Ecologically Literate.'

http://earthcharter.org/virtual-library2/images/uploads/Korten%20Earth%20Charter%20Indianapolis%20Talk.pdf

Why were three courageous Australian Quaker grannies for Peace arrested by military police for blocking the road to Shoalwater Bay Military Base Queensland, in 2015? BUT - That did not deter them. They protested again, at the super secret spy station - Pine Gap on September 2016.

Having enticed Helen Bayes into the studio, this interview covers not only the story of these staunch seniors, but also explains something of Quakers, and their peace testimony.

As part of Peace Convergence 2015 'Quaker Grannies for Peace' set up a tea table blockading the access road to Samuel Hill / Shoalwater Bay military base, which is used for the Talisman Sabre military exercises.

(Talisman Sabre is a biennial joint Australia-United States military exercise. It involves joint exercises performed by the Australian Defence Force and the United States Military across six locations in northern and central Australia, the Coral Sea, and in Honolulu, Denver, and Suffolk, Va., though the bulk of the exercises are concentrated at the Shoalwater Bay Military Training Area, and other locations in northern and central Australia.)

Grandmother of thirteen, Helen Bayes explains why they would protest this: "Our Quaker peace testimony from 1661 says 'We utterly deny all outward wars and strife and fighting with outward weapons for any end or under any pretence whatsoever."

The grannies set up a table and chairs and prepared tea and cake in order to engage in dialogue with military personnel.

"Negotiation is not currently part of the war rehearsals, so we are drawing attention to this missing element," said Helen, " Yet it essential to achieve peace."

The Quaker Grannies said they came "with the conviction that a world of increasingly destructive weaponry threatens our continued existence and that nonviolent strategies are essential to our survival".

After being arrested by military police and handed over to local police, the Grannies were convicted, on July 14, 2015, of trespass, and fined $500 each, with no conviction recorded.

In 2016 "Quaker Grannies for Peace" set up breakfast on the road to Pine Gap, and invited military personnel arriving for work at the base to sit down with them.

The action was one of a series of events marking the 50th anniversary of the secret US military facility at Pine Gap, by groups advocating for the base's closure.

Founder of the Quaker Grannies Helen Bayes said: "We are asking Australians whether it is appropriate for a foreign country to be operating a secret facility with no transparency on Australian soil; a base that may well be implicating Australians in wars that our government has not entered into."

Located half-an-hour's drive south-west of Alice Springs, Pine Gap is one of Australia's most secret sites. It collects various kinds of data from the Asia Pacific and the Middle East, including targeting data for American drone operations and assassinations.

Partly run by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) and U.S. National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), Pine Gap is a key contributor to the global surveillance network ECHELON. (New Zealand's Waihopai Spy Base is also a part of ECHILON, or Five Eyes. It is a secure communication facility, located near Blenheim, run by New Zealand's Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB).)

Helen Bayes is a Melbourne based English-born activist who won the Australia's Human Rights Medal in 1999.

She was born into a Quaker family in Northern England and migrated to Australia in 1966, at age 22. She has 4 adult children and 13 grandchildren. She holds a BA in Social Work and BA (Hons) in Social Administration, and had a 15-year career in the National and State Public Service in the areas of Social Policy and Community Services.

Helen resigned from the Public Service and set up an international child rights advocacy NGO called the Australian Section of Defence for Children International, and has served that organisation in Australia, in Geneva, and on the International Council for 20 years. Helen Bayes was awarded the Australian Human Rights Medal for this work in 1999.

Helen's concern for the rights of children grew into a fascination with early Quakerism. As Eva Koch Fellow at the Woodbrooke Quaker Study Centre, she researched the views of the earliest Quakers on the nurturing and guidance of children and young people. She was the James Backhouse Lecturer in 2002 (the Australian equivalent of the SP Gardner Lecture), entitled Respecting the Rights of Children and Young People: A New Perspective on Quaker Faith and Practice.

On a lighter side, Helen collects Quaker bonnets, one of which she is wearing in the above photo.

News

https://www.greenleft.org.au/content/quaker-grannies-blockade-road-pine-gap-breakfast-spread-dawn

http://www.news.com.au/technology/innovation/pine-gap-spy-base-alice-springs-what-you-never-knew-about-topsecret-facility/news-story/b684b7e9ea355860379e50498f236486

Quakers – who are they

http://www.fgcquaker.org/explore/faqs-about-quakers

Addendum

You can about the book, "Dangerous Allies," by Malcolm Fraser, (Australian PM from 1975 to 1983) which argues that the time when it was in our strategic interest to have a strong military relationship with the US is over, and that now Australia would be better off with a more independent foreign policy. (New Zealand too!)

https://theconversation.com/book-review-dangerous-allies-by-malcolm-fraser-25995

and

https://www.aspi.org.au/publications/reassessing-malcolm-fraser/SI89_Malcolm_Fraser.pdf

and our Greenplanet interview with Murray Horton on why New Zealand needs an independent foreign policy:

http://www.ourplanet.org/greenplanetfm/murray-horton-time-for-independence-from-a-crumbling-us-empire

This interview was sponsored by The Awareness Party

This is an inspiring story of dedication to clean up the NZ environment and create new jobs. The proverbial Kiwi win/win situation. Yet, Zero Waste has to be a NZ wide Government sanctioned mantra if we are to get on top of our pollution challenges.

Being a staunch advocate of recycling for most of my life that when talking to Warren, I concur that to get the Powers that Be to make recycling mandatory - nationwide - has to become an election issue - so as to show the younger generation that adults do care for our children's future.

Warren and friends have just launched the Great Kiwi Bottle Drive

www.kiwibottledrive.nz

Where the small town and community of Kaitaia in the Far North recycled 20,000 bottles and cans in 4 hours. Exceeding expectations -

Where at the Kaitaia market - many people supported this ideal - with a very community spirited input.

Children were involved - many very young and it was heartwarming to receive their bottles and give the kiddies some money in return.

They filled a large curtain-side truck with empties. People cleaned up streets, roads, harbours and beaches and their uncles back yards and brought all the empty containers to get a refund.

Now this initiative is heading South to more towns and communities throughout the whole of NZ. Parliament being one of the stops.

With the idea of creating up to 2,500 plus jobs, savings for Councils, money for families and community groups. Including almost tripling our recycling rates with over 1 billion bottles saved from landfill, streets and our oceans!

Cash for container schemes - are going well around the world however NZ is lagging behind world opinion. Warren's team are about to change this!

Glass, aluminium and all plastic containers, plus the cardboard juice and milk containers need to have a deposit paid so that the loop is closed when they come back full circle to be either reused, or broken down and made into another item, or product.

'Reuse' stores are now popping up in communities here in NZ especially with clothes that have been outgrown etc.

Warren says that the police have mentioned that recycling depots helps keep kids off the street and involved in an active cause.

There is a very good Zero Waste program that Maori are involved in on marae throughout Aotearoa NZ. http://parakore.maori.nz/news/

Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/parakore

FB page has many members – and it's about growing the awareness https://theconversation.com/five-golden-rules-to-help-solve-your-recycling-dilemmas-65552 We have to get serious with our waste! Warren states that Recycling is not enough – that we have to embrace 'product stewardship' or 'extended producer responsibility' where the producer of a product has to be responsible for the whole life cycle of their products. The New Zealand Product Stewardship Council http://www.nzpsc.nz/ Has to be supported and understood. At present South Australia leads the way in Australasia with a very enlightened approach that has been in practice for over 40 years. Waste in NZ Landfills. Here in our country -186,000 cubic meters of space is taken up by bottles and cans etc thrown out in NZ each year. Nearly 200 metres high by 200 metres long and 200 metres in width. All this is potential money, being thrown away! Call to Action What works around the world is "refundable bottle deposits" Warren and team are pushing for a national deposit bottle scheme however, the packaging and beverage industry have successfully lobbied against one for 25 years … or more. This is why we have bottles, cans and containers scattered all over our clean green country image! New Zealand would have had a bottle deposit system over 20 years ago if it were not for the packaging and beverage industry lobbying against it. Also there is e waste – tires and batteries that have to be factored into dealing with this vexing problem of waste. Little do New Zealander's know that we already have container deposit legislation – that was under the Labour Government's Waste Minimisation Act 2008 Where the Minister can declare a product a 'priority product' for a product stewardship program – a mandatory one - like for tires, e-waste, batteries but the National led Government Ministry has made them all voluntary and it is not working – because … Listen to this startling interview to find out the reason why? NZ used to be ahead in so many sectors of the Environment and ecology - etc , but now we are well behind. Bottle banks – what happened to them? Listen to this! www.recycle.co.nz click on the half crushed and you can read: "Compared to other developed countries, NZ has a vague and scattered approach to achieving zero-waste status. This website aims to help us recognise and address the problems before it is too late." What a whopper of a statement! Nowhere in the world are they getting more than 40% without having a bottle deposit scheme http://www.cashforcontainers.co.nz/ Recently at the last local government annual conference in support of DDS Container Deposit System - 90% of Councils agreed to have a deposit scheme set up on all waste containers here in NZ . Plus a recent survey of NZ said 91% of NZers wanted it. But the lobbyists have been going around all the mayors and sowing discord … The narrative has been twisted to suit the status quo - time and time again, we have government by lobbyists (Shades of the USA) Lobbyists Undermining the Political Will. Learn about how NZ breweries and Cola producers fight tooth and nail not to have a deposit system here in NZ and also Australia – (an eye opener) Listen to the down right deceitfulness and lies in this battle against the drink giants as they target and discredit good honest people doing their best to enable a cash deposit to be gained from returning of containers after use. Now Northern Territory in Australia has adopted CDS and also New South Wales and Queensland – so the whole of Australia is coming on board except NZ. Because of the big breweries and soft drink manufacturers! See who the major culprit is … (No wonder I have not gone out and purchased their unhealthy sugar products for over 40 years.- I was correct! Tim) Plastics in the Global Ocean! Microbeads what are they? Microbeads are manufactured solid plastic particles of less than five millimeters in their largest dimension. They are most frequently made of polyethylene but can be of other petrochemical plastics such as polypropylene and polystyrene. Microbeads have become so ubiquitous that an estimated 808 trillion pieces swirl down American drains every day. They are now floating in the water column everywhere at different levels – when containers fall off ships – toxic chemicals and micro particles of plastic are 10 or 20 times more than the amount of plankton in certain parts of the ocean – fish eat them … This is a terrible story that needs action at every level of Government, in countries that have shores or outlets to the sea. We are overloading our world and particularly the oceans with plastic. Today many small groups in NZ are coming together and are putting in for waste and recycling contracts – most are holistic thinkers and co-operatives. They are community oriented and believe that by thinking locally they can achieve many good things for their localised environment. Raglan is one such community. Kiwbottledrive.nz sign the petition – please … https://www.nationofchange.org/2017/05/30/snake-vomiting-bottle-highlights-worlds-plastic-problem/ I enjoyed this interview, because Warren showed what we the people can do and it was very enlightening because we now know where the challenges lie and that we need to commit to organise. By taking action we can bring about a major change in policy to get NZ up there as a leader in conservation, and environmental concerns.

We as a human race are just now becoming aware of the extraordinary healings that occurred through Bruno Gröning (1906-1959) which ushered in a new era of spiritual healing. Bruno's teaching is a path to healing.

Bruno Gröning left behind the knowledge of how to absorb a natural healing power that can bring long-lasting health to every human being.

Back then and still today, healings of chronic illnesses that have lasted for decades, as well as of drug and other addictions, have occurred worldwide.

This is confirmed by numerous healing reports that have been carefully examined by doctors of the Medical Scientific Group and documented using medical evidence by independent physicians.

Doctors, psychologists and healing practitioners of the Medical Scientific Group regularly share their experiences through lectures, both domestically and internationally, in order to make Bruno Gröning's knowledge accessible to people worldwide.

Bruno Gröning, born in 1906 in Gdansk, was an unassuming worker who relocated to Western Germany as a refugee after World War II. Before the war he held various occupations, a carpenter, a factory and dock laborer.

Then, suddenly, he was the center of public attention.

The news of his miraculous healings spread all over the world. From every country came the sick, petitions and proposals. Tens of thousands of people made the pilgrimage to the places where he worked. A revolution in medicine loomed.

"Please, please do not be gullible! Today I say as I always do, 'You don't have to believe what I say!' I do not demand it. But you have one duty: to convince yourself of it!' Bruno Gröning

Trust and believe, the divine power helps and heals.

Lecture dates and further information:

https://www.bruno-groening.org/en

I have known Robina for over 30 years, she is one of New Zealand's most experienced Permaculture teachers. She is now an elder and is passing on the torch, sharing the taking on of roles, responsibilities, plus the methodology of a Permaculture educator and designer.

She has been extending the Permaculture philosophy of our social needs, the inner being and the 'invisibles' that link the web of life - on numerous levels.

Having a similar world view to Robina, Courtney too relates closely to indigenous ways of becoming more aligned within the localised environment.

Going beyond but inclusive of the the importance of the physical environment, they are looking at the social needs of both family and community, the inner being - our inner landscape and the 'invisibles' the agreements and codes of conduct - that we all embrace as we embed our being into the web of life - on numerous levels.

Robina relates her story of taking Permaculture out into the world.

Robina tells of her South African Permaculture venture where the NZ High Commission at that time, assisted in financing her with putting in a Permaculture system.

The task in the late 1990's was to change the school ground which were basically of sand – into a productive learning environment along with Josee Le bel her NZ colleague.It was a dangerous assignment as they were the only two European people in that locality. Plus, Daniel Nepia who with Maori whakapapa – (bloodlines), was seen to be coloured.

This initiative just took off and now it has been replicated around South Africa and it now fairly well embedded as a practice or way forward or blueprint in future education within South African Government structure.

Robina says it was challenging … and that she also worked with squatter settlement leaders and totally redesigned from a permaculture perspective - permaculture values and permaculture principles – their squatter settlements that were predominantly tin shacks with shelter being basically knocked together - but they could also easily knock them down again. So afterwards, when Robina's left, they, through a participatory process redesigned everything and knocking it all down replaced the settlement along permaculture lines. These included gardens and water systems etc. As an informal settlement.

Yet one of her more challenging assignment was in the first world and the United States. The Suquamish a Lushootseed-speaking Native American people, located in present-day Washington in the United States. Where they were very marginalised and living in substandard conditions and in no way were representing their previous culture with many working and gambling in casinos. To Robina it was tragic to see what had happened to them. (The same tribe that Chief Seattle was once a leader. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chief_Seattle)

Courtney Brooke

The need to know what the challenges are:

Courtney Brooke who comes from the South East of the USA, sees that the local population have increased urbanisation and that farms disappeared, thus people have lost touch with growing both veggies and fruit and it is beneath their dignity to get dirt under their fingernails.

Thus they frequent supermarkets and get their polished apples with a sticker on never daring to go out and pick an apple off a tree, or worse - pick one up off the ground for fear that there may be a worm hole in it. (that they just will not cut it out and eat it, which is still good and fresh). Such is the disconnect from nature in the first world, because it is educated (programmed) out of us.

That many people in the USA bees and wasps are bugs – no real distinction – get rid of them - and weeds, as against plants. Weeds are often plants that are good, but just in the wrong place in many instances… some are invasive whilst others are medicinal and culinary.

That there is a major predominance of mono crops in America – one is known as a lawn. A prestigious symbol of how well off we are and our well manicured lawn of a mono culture (one grass type only) is another game that is being played out. For example if a dandelion plant pops up on one's lawn yay it is a medicinal wild flower – but if you are not aware that nature's plants all have a medicinal quality and if you don't have a relationship with the plant kingdom – then this is just another weed that upsets the picturesque beauty of the lawn.

This is where permaculture uses and values diversity on our planet.

As for permaculture in NZ – Robina says we are a humble people – who like to grow quietly about transforming their land. It's like if someone stumbles upon a property and asks about it or talks to a neighbour who knows about it, and maybe asks if they could see that property and with no fanfare it grows from people talking and sharing and after a while it gets on the map and the general public hears about it.

She says most people are quite grounded and eloquent and can readily talk about how they manifested their creation and often do not mind talking about it and sharing so as to inspire more uptake. For example Robin and Robert Guyton http://foodforest.co.nz/the-guytons-riverton-food-forest-nz/ in Riverton the deep south of the South island and their food forest - a plethora of fruit trees, among perennial herbs and native plants – are thriving. This is where they value heirloom apples and pears due to the very temperate climate and at the autumn show many growers come and share all varieties plus grafted ones too. She says that this is deep within the culture.

Also with Community Gardens Auckland Wellington and Christchurch having many – Auckland having over 50.

See Kelmarna Gardens and their seed store http://www.kelmarnagardens.nz/

Plus the Hamilton Permaculture Gardens that has a whole permaculture example among the beautiful floral landscape plus a microcosm of a backyard quarter acre section these examples are all over the country, but is not shouted out across the media.

Brendan Hoare and Richard Main's names come up with what they did with organics at Unitec here in Auckland.

Courtney mentions that hui's and meetings and gatherings that are nationally happening around NZ annually are really important in every province around the country - where issues are talked about and training courses take place.

Shwe says, people are turning up to see how they can make 'broken systems better' being that permaculture is a 'solutions based design system' that is where the movement is also heading – be it a landscape system or a social system.

It is like looking into the book of nature and perusing the underlying patterns that uphold intact systems and using that patterning and language to create systems be it food systems, social systems, economic systems – what ever it is – a landscape system - that mimic those patterns of nature in order to create functional systems that are honouring life, earth and people.

Robina Passing on her Experience

Robina, says that as an elder after 35 years at the cutting edge of the wave, that in passing on information to the younger generation she is finding them hungry, savvy and quick to embed the old earth wisdom. That by passing over the baton to our planetary youth they realise that we have to take sustainability to a new level of enduring prosperity and deep ecology.

That it is time to take stock and actively and consciously pass on the skills of regeneration to younger people who are ripe and ready and who Robina says has another blueprint than her. It's like they have come into the world with a better knowing and the dedication to make a better world for them and future generations – in ways that she does not conceive of.

This being an intergenerational shift of wisdom deep knowledge and life energy.

Sun, seasons, wind, gravity, soil, tree belts, building materials, position, soil structure, microbes – and as a community etc.

Courtney talks about that many people who also turn up to Permaculture gatherings is that they have land that has been broken down and they want to turn these around and make them far better and viable. Because Permaculture is a solution based design system – they are always looking at grounded innovation. Be it a land based system or a social system – they are looking at how nature works out these situations. Or As Courtney says looking at the book of nature and the underlying patterns that uphold intact systems.

What Robin says from her perspective of Permaculture these days - it's now Social Permaculture. Since the late 1970's the focus has been on the landscape - transforming the landscape into productive , functional; sustainable systems – and she says that the weak link has been the people, hence the evolution of a people component and teachers like Robin Clayfield http://dynamicgroups.com.au/about-us/

in Australia and

Starhark http://starhawk.org in the USA

and Looby McNamara in the UK http://loobymacnamara.com/home/

(Plus Robina here in NZ).

This is by applying the permaculture principles of design and integrating it all into social systems – so that the can be really resilient. Check their web sites.

Invisible Structures

Bill Mollison the initiator of Permaculture also did a chapter on invisible structures – legal systems, how to communicate and how to do governance - to bring about sustainable communities, where you are land based as kaitiaki – care takers of land. Food production on the land and building soil fertility – having thriving children and families that are intact

Research global eco-village network. https://ecovillage.org it's a very good source of community resources and info – plus models of what to follow.

Sacred Earth festival URL http://kawaipurapura.co.nz/voices-of-sacred-earth-festival/

What has happened since the Christchurch Earthquake - is that it is now being called "the edible garden city."

Some Councils in NZ have sustainability as one of their platforms and this is where Permaculture can back into their Sustainability Department and offer them their experience.

Robina relates to her work with Project Lyttleton www.lyttelton.net.nz/ - giving permaculture workshops nearly every weekend to the affected people of that city – and tells a very emotional story of her connection to the city of her birth – and that grass roots organisations may hold the key to that city.

Transition Towns also is mentioned as we deal with the increase of climate change and where it is going. http://www.transitiontowns.org.nz

How do we mobilise a country to come together as a conscious ecological community at one and aligned with the land.

The subject of Nuclear Free Zones comes up as a grass root movement so does the ideal of having GE and GMO Zones as well and what are the catalysts to instil in people the need to take care of our children's future.

Robina said pre Christchurch earthquake people in say supermarket queues talked about the weather – post earthquake - the shift was immense – they showed deep concern for all people they stopped and talked with them – there was a level of commitment as they inquired caringly about each other.

What is the catalyst for rapid compassionate change?

What is it that will magnetise the community to wake up to their unity as the sharers of breath in our common future. Robina surmises – do we need an inner earthquake to snap us out of our dream spell of disconnection? So that we rise to the occasion of giving and or service to make the change that we at heart would love to witness and be part of.

There is a big awakening around our planet – however many, though they are concerned and care are still not sure what to do and put their energy into.

So Robina says – what is your passion? Just go and push the edge and step out. And if our intent is pure that in the spirit of goodwill, the world of nature and the 'invisible' does its part in coming in and just holding hands with us by opening up new territories and giving gifts and bestowing on us so much energy that you never look back …

www.Localisingfood.com - project around nz SOS save our seeds. Documentary Videos and short stories on this web site – global impact

Plus food forests growing in public places around the country

Courtney says she would dearly like us to become ancestors that future people will be proud to descend from … She also speaks so elegantly and in the flow with a youthful yet wise exuberance.

This was a delightful interview of Robina & Courtney - lots of passion and emotion - the salt of the earth.

https://earthcare-education.org/wp_earthcare/about-us/robina-mccurdy/

For over 45 years being on the leading edge of conscious change, Robert says "we now are leaving the Empire Era, that took over from the Tribal era, and we are now entering the Planetary Era".

I (Tim) went to a weekend 'Change Agent' workshop back in 1999 in Auckland that Robert presented and learnt much - hence I am still enthused as of today. However Robert is now taking the deeper context of change to another more focused 'local to global level.' They are called 'The 3 Harmonies.'

This below is an introduction to Change Agents, that leads into the Three Harmonies

A change agent is someone who can bring a vision into a manifestation here in our physical life. Usually it is someone in a catalytic role. Often, they bring people together and help them focus on something as a shared goal and enable something new to be born.

It takes a certain amount of courage, because a change agent is doing things before everybody else says – 'oh yes that's a brilliant idea.' Change agents need to recognise the value of some new approach and have the perseverance to shepherd it through to actual manifestation.

Note that not all changes agents are promoting change that you would approve of …

However the change that Robert Gilman promotes is with people who have a caring about what is happening on the planet, a caring for the earth and for its people and its species and who would like to be more effective in being able to manifest that caring.

Robert says that they have this inner intuition that they are here in this time in history to make a difference. Yet they often find it challenging. Robert's calling at present is to work with people who already in their hearts are oriented to making a difference and assist them to be more effective and joyous as change agents

Today the collective unconsciousness is stirring as it recognises that humanity is in a tight situation regarding its collective planetary future.

Robert suspects that there is also within that 'collective unconsciousness' the realisation of opportunity for a truly brighter future. (Robert's use of 'bright future' is totally different from the National party's use.)

He feels that the long-term trends show we are closing in-on, within a generation or two, ending warfare as an institution.

This is only one of the changes that his decades of working in this field lead him to believe are in 'the works' .

Humanity has many challenges – the warming climate, species extinction, various social problems, etc. – that we have we have yet to solve. Robert has spent over 40 years studying and writing about these challenges and now feels that we already have practical, tested solutions to essentially all of them. The obstacles to implementing these solutions all come back to fear, fear that we have inherited from 5000 years of cultures based on maintaining everyone in a traumatized state.

For thousands of years the winning strategy for worldly success has been to Enforce the Three Dominations:

1. The domination within. Doing everything with will.
2. The domination over others.
3. The domination over Nature.

During all that time, visionaries and idealists have pursued a different strategy, what Robert calls Embody the Three Harmonies:

1. the harmony within.
2. the harmony with others.
3. the harmony with nature.

As appealing as many have found this approach, it's not been a strategy for outward success.

Until now.

The long-term trends of cultural evolution suggest that we are currently in a 'tipping zone' where increasingly those who succeed in practical terms will be good collaborators who embody the three harmonies. Those who pursue domination will find themselves more and more isolated and unsuccessful.

With the goal of speeding up this 'birth' of the Planetary Era, Robert has developed an 'adventure tour to the future'. Called Bright Future Now, it helps people deepen their embodiment of the Three Harmonies so that they can personally step into that bright future now and be more effective and joyous change agents in service to the Earth and its life. Bright Future Now is a 6-week online, highly-interactive process that integrates into the lives of busy people all over the world.

Listen to this interview and discover how deepening your skills of cooperation can speed up your own transition into the Planetary Era.

Can New Zealand become non Aligned? Can we as a small educated nation control our own destiny and become more independent and not be dragged into the military industrial complexes, war games - based on planetary control by the corporate elite?

CAFCA, (Campaign Against Foreign Control of Aotearoa) announces the launch of AIM (Aotearoa Independence Movement) and invites you to join them.

CAFCA is preparing to initiate and drive a nationwide dialogue to advance the case for a non-aligned Aotearoa based on policies of economic, military and political independence.

This is not a new thing from CAFCA - it has been part of their core issues since they were founded more than 40 years ago.

Murray Horton talks most knowingly about political history and current day issues that contribute to the founding of the AIM campaign.

Murray has been a Christchurch-based political activist since 1969 and is the Organiser for both the Campaign Against Foreign Control of Aotearoa (CAFCA) and the Anti-Bases Campaign (ABC)

He is a University of Canterbury graduate, and has worked in a number of "real" jobs, the longest being 14 years as a Railways worker. His redundancy in 1991 was followed by his becoming the full time paid Organiser of CAFCA.

He says: "The advent of Donald Trump in the US provides an unprecedented opportunity to take a good, hard look at Aotearoa's place in the world.

And to ask the question - why are we still a loyal member of the American Empire?

As the old saying goes, you are judged by the company you keep.

CAFCA says it's time for this country to pull the plug, to finish the business started in the 1980s which saw us out of ANZUS; and break the chains - military, intelligence, economic and cultural, etc, etc - that continue to bind us to the American Empire.

Let's deal with the world on our terms, not on those dictated from whichever empire we happen to be a junior member of at the time.

Somebody needs to take the initiative and we're happy to do so.

"What is AIM? (Aotearoa Independence Movement.) It's a campaign, not an organisation.

What is a specific example of what being non-aligned would look like? An obvious one would be to get Aotearoa out of the Five Eyes spy network and close the Waihopai spy base. That would remove this country from being entangled in wars and spying that serve the interests of the US and and other countries, not ours. Another one would be to drastically tighten the foreign "investment" laws governing who owns our companies and land.

What will AIM do to "initiate and drive this nationwide dialogue"?.

That will be decided by the organisations and individuals that get involved in the campaign.

It is not about Donald Trump.

He is simply the catalyst who offers us a once in a lifetime opportunity to build this campaign and create a truly non-aligned Aotearoa.

We know that there are plenty of New Zealanders right across the political spectrum who are just as appalled as we are by what the world is witnessing going on in the US every day.

But it's not about whoever happens to be US President.

This is about the longer view and the bigger picture.

Nor is it "anti-American" (or "racist" or "xenophobic", for that matter).

We stand with the American people who are fighting back in their millions. We stand with them as we stood with them in common causes ranging from stopping the war in Vietnam to the invasion of Iraq and the failed attempt to impose the TPPA on our peoples.

The campaign has begun for a truly non-aligned Aotearoa. You'll be hearing more from us. We need as many people as possible to get actively involved" Murray Horton

See here for the Aotearoa Independence Movement's website.

It includes Murray's speech given at AUT Pacific Media Centre, "Time for Independence from a Crumbling US Empire."

http://canterbury.cyberplace.org.nz/community/CAFCA/aotearoa-independence-movement.html

Previous Interviews by Murray Horton on GreenplanetFM.com

http://www.ourplanet.org/greenplanetfm/murray-horton-spokesman-for-the-campaign-against-foreign-control-of-aotearoa-cafca 2014

http://www.ourplanet.org/greenplanetfm/murray-horton-of-the-campaign-against-foreign-control-of-aotearoa-cafca

2011

This interview is sponsored by 'The Awareness Party.'

http://www.theawarenessparty.com/

Jonathan Cole is a Solar Engineer bringing innovative and new solar techniques and technology to New Zealand.

Right from his landing in NZ Jonathan noticed that the sky was so much more brighter here than he had seen in the Northern hemisphere – even from Hawaii in the middle of the Pacific the horizons were now unclear.

Noticeable for him on most occasions here were the clearly defined razor sharp horizon lines when looking out to sea. He has not seen anything like this for 15 years due to the massive recent industrial outpourings north of the equator. That for New Zealanders, the lack of atmospheric pollution is taken for granted whereas Jonathan is becoming used to witnessing a yellowish haze that blurs the horizon line when looking out anywhere in the Northern hemisphere. Even when he in an airplane at 30,000 ft it's basically the same.

Whereas in the Southern hemisphere Jonathan states that there is a better chance for us in this hemisphere to have a healthy and comfortable life style, without atmospheric pollution - by introducing new clean steady state solar technologies

Though solar energy comes from a fusion reactor that could be very dangerous, however fortunately it's situated 93 mile -s away journeying through space. So we are basically safe, and that the atmosphere of our planet essentially can act as a shield without causing us to much harm.

Due to the ozone level over NZ and the lower latitudes of the Southern hemisphere being thinner – more intense sunlight there is a higher number of watts hitting the ground per square metre - especially when compared to the Northern hemisphere – so it is a natural move for us in NZ to start utilising this solar energy to power up our country.

Germany is far closer to the North pole than NZ is to the South Pole – so if the Germans are the top global solar country, then NZ has a huge advantage and opportunity to take this to the next level. Jonathan says NZ can easily do this and it would be cheaper as well, due our closer position to the equator.

Storage:

Pump water uphill … for night time gravity driven generation use. Having a central storage dam that can be used on demand. Tesla's name came up briefly as being able to tap into our planet as a spinning dynamo. Plus the large battery packs now becoming available.

Jonathan then tells us that he has been working on stored energy for the last 35 years and it is not just sun light – it's light energy that we can extract energy out of. Even when it is cloudy – light energy always hits the earth. So when there is light it can be turned into electricity.

He states he can store electricity in batteries that can now last 25 years on a solar system of his own design – and for the very few times that the days were heavily clouded – have a small generator just in case.

Also, that he has never had a power outage with his solar energy system. i.e no stoppage or failures.

Clean Power.

This is a major benefit as well as eye opening information!

Solar energy also has a very good advantage in that it gives you very clean power – that there are no surges or spikes as it evenly distributes the flow from the battery to all the appliances that need power. As a result he has never had a light bulb burn out or a stereo stop working or a washing machine or hot jug – because there is no surge or spike. This is where batteries and solar energy can save all your electrical appliances - from burning out. The unrecognised beauty of solar energy from batteries is that all appliances will last an exceptionally long time.

In NZ where we have 230 volts they can spike up to ten times higher - up to near 2.500 volts when the power surges along the lines. These are instantaneous and just blow many appliances out. This can occur for example when a very large refrigerator compressor in a supermarket turns on – and there is a huge ripple along the power lines and the knock on effect – results in spikes and thus the appliances can get fried.

He said that where he lives in Hawaii, he is still on the grid, but may only take 1 and a half % of power off it, just to cover heavily cloudy days.

Meaning 99% of electricity comes from the sun and the other 1.5% from the grid and in the USA, China and Australia this displaces an enormous amount of Co2.

Listen to Jonathan as he spells it out.

He further states that he can produce a solar energy panel that includes all the electronics - a small computer and batteries that will last for 25 years for $600 US. That is correct 'everything' lasting 25-30 years. What the electricity companies need to do is get in and do solar units too – there is good cash in this. Plus, they have the finance to further the research and paradigm, however they are suffering from stranded investment – being that they have already invested in their own future and have to now hang in for these next 30 years to extract whatever they can from their investment.

Costs Coming Down.

We may have plenty of hydro and windmill power generation here in NZ which is renewable – however solar is now delivering electricity at 8 cents a kilowatt hour – which Jonathan says is about a third of what we are paying here in NZ. Even with hydro power at 70% of power generation for NZ - it's a high maintenance operation. Solar power has virtually zero maintenance in their operation. Now and then wipe the solar panels.

Today solar panels are being made with over a 50 year life time and inverters that change DC current to AC with a 25 year guarantee. Which mean if something mechanical happens to it, you do not have to pay to replace it.

Solar is all solid state – with no moving parts and no friction – virtually zero wear and tear.

Other Subjects Covered.

Cells that can come in rolls like wall paper and that you roll them down your roof. At present they only last about 5 years.

In the next 20 to 30 years - Worldwide there is going to be a huge percentage of electricity demand that is going to be met by renewables - especially solar – mainly because it will outperform static combustible technologies including nuclear.

Transport of the future where practical – Tesla batteries & long haul trucking by GPS navigation.

Lack of space for car parking in cities be it in the CBD or having room to park and house cars in a family of two adults and two teenagers in the city … No parking on the street?

More people will opt for more public transportation in the cities and hire cars from drop centres if one is urgently needed. In Munich Germany - electric BMW mini smart car 33 cents a minute swipe your Credit Card and get in and start driving – you finds the car by a smart phone App in a street station near by.

Air transportation is being designed as well with specific air corridors to keep some sort of order - Germany -Lilium

https://lilium.com/

Tesla - Elon Musk – Hyperloop ground transport at high speeds

Listen to this conversation about transport that is electric, clean energy and silent

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperloop

Part Two

The Human Condition

Especially a durable prosperity that goes a step beyond sustainability.

That human beings can exhibit the highest elements of our nature and have faith that the forces of lightness gain predominance and make things better.

It is incumbent for us to utilise our creativity to improve the world or use it that ends up having so many negative consequences that future generations are having to pay for.

To be conscious of what choice we make when we wish to improve our world and planet's biosphere.

People be trained in schools about consequences.

That corruption of our inner being is expressed in the outer world – because we have not listened and taken into account our conscience

Listen to the end of this interview to Jonathan as he opens up on taking us into conscious thoughts and conscious actions - as we bring more light to the world.

http://www.lightontheearth.org/index.html

This soul brother is 'out there' he is prepared to give it a go for all that he is worth. Upfront and into it, and a courageous willingness to 'have a go'!

Back in the 1990's Rev Billy noticed a more overt method of marketing products that was being pushed into people's lives and as a vulnerable consumer it engaged him by appealing to his status and power, good looks and youth – and he was tricked into it. And it kept turning his head.

Then somehow with the help of friends and teachers and the fortune of the luck of the draw - he decided to resist! He was just tired of getting rolled over by the glam and whizz bang of seduction and the dazzle of neon super models when he walked through New York's Time Square. So out of these circumstances he emerged out of the pavement - as a preacher on the Broadway sidewalks of Time Square.

And with help of some cohorts created a theology in which Mickey Mouse was the antiChrist. Then he placed himself in front of the Disney store and began to encourage and exhort people, that if they entered the Disney store and shopped - they would be sinning! You will have to listen to Rev Billy rage against the machine – 'that they are all sweatshop products' – and that type of preaching would go on for hours and hours . And he received all sorts of different responses … and he got better at it. And he got what preachers got … your whoop – yes your whoop! …. And after some months he got his whoop up to speed and that he could preach at a thousand bored listless tourists, drifting like cattle and get them to consider to go into the Disney store - OR NOT. And this is when Billy's Ministry began.

It began in his own self-defence, but also a willingness to appear foolish and he encourages all his listeners (he laughs) to be foolish and we have to cross-over from that character that we have been 'conditioned' to be.

The American comedian Steve Martin in the movie "Leap of Faith" came up and Billy said that he was influenced in this role by comediennes, rock and roll and jazz. He would also go to Evangelical and Pentecostal 'performances' where there would be grandmothers passing out on the altar and people screaming - and then he states that many of those churches were right wing in their content. So he turned off the content and just learned how to preach. Listen to Billy, wind up and show how it's done!

Yet Billy did not really want to be a preacher, because he was brought up by abusive right wing Christian parents. However he in the end could not resist, because having the backup of a choir and great music made the message even more compelling. So when he really got good at it – the Church of Stop Shopping had to have a choir – and he found many people who agreed with his contention that consumerism is the devil – starting to sing his lyrics. – He doesn't really know how it actually happened - he said he was lucky – it was a blessing - out of the blue – it just became.

Surmising that it was partly persistence, stubbornness and the willingness to let go and be foolish.

Billy states that we have to be open to the mysterious and the earth telling us in whatever subtle ways we can perceive - that the indigenous peoples have been telling us from day one that consumerism and everything that it entails is not the way forward in our relationship to our great sustainer, our planet. It is not the indigenous people way to just make money and conquer nature.

Visiting Standing Rock in North Dakota

Listen to Billy tell us what happened up in Standing Rock in North Dakota where he took his Stop Shopping Choir and that so many other indigenous tribes from around our planet had converged in support of the First Nations of North America. He finds himself with the Aotearoa NZ Maori and in particular their haka - he realised that they had a deep connection to the earth. Listen to here his tell his story.

He said all other tribes were singing water related songs that were so very moving – that he and his Choir started crying.

He mentioned that the songs seemed to have Beethoven's 9th beat - that he felt his life changing …

And right next to him and the Savitri D were 15 Maori who when they dropped into their karakia (prayer) followed by a haka 'it scared the hell out of Billy and his group" … that knowing about other first peoples from around the world makes a huge difference to how he saw life.

That Rivers are becoming recognised as entities

He then mentions the Whanganui River ( awa) as having recently been given living status and classified as an entity. This he said was wonderful and that other countries like India are following suit. http://www.ourplanet.org/articles/new-zealand-government-acknowledges-a-river-as-a-living-entity-and-a-park-as-having-human-rights

He sees that the reengaging with this knowingness, that the Whanganui river is an entity – shows that the global neo-liberal economy has a limit. That this emergence of such an event means that indigenous cultures can now take the higher ground in seeing that the earth is both living and sacred. See India recently passing legislation as well as what has been happening in Bolivia and Ecuador etc.

Billy sees this as an earth-aluya moment in our history -this is what we are waiting for …

Billy states that he is very grateful for the leadership that has come his way. (It takes huge courage, especially in the USA). He is grateful that the indigenous – earth peoples have survived the extraction and murderous ways plus the diseases of our European culture. To still be here as carers of the earth – that which lends us bodies in which to live, plus free air, water and until recently a free food chain.

We need to drop the old story of conquest and empire and consumers consuming our planet and allow the old stories of pre 'city-state' culture, to come in. That the word natural needs to been seen as far more sustainable than cultural and allow the earth to re-enter our consciousness.

Being mindful in one's actions

Both Billy and Savitri D his dearly loved wife are very mindful and respectful of the lives of humanity and are very caring of how they language their connection both to people and our planet as a whole.

He intuits that the uprising on earth today is more than a message to him it is an instruction – that the earth is giving a signal to join her – in this uprising …

Covering

Then present situation in America and what leadership is required.

We have to come back to the living earth.

I then interview for 25 minutes, Savitri D - Billy's wife and leader of the 'Stop Shopping Choir'

The Church of Stop Shopping is a radical performance community of about 50 people.

Who are united around their values …

And recently they have been going inside banks to show their resistance as consumer activists. For example they even travelled to North Dakota to the Standing Rock - access pipeline. In super of the First Nation peoples.

Their strength is their creativity and communal energy which focuses on political activism, being radical earth activists with heart and soul.

Being earth oriented they look at natural systems for clues - such as a healthy bio-system is diverse. They look for resilience in their human community as much as they do in their physical landscape – some would say a permaculture view – a very broad view of integrated designs of things.

Yet a lot of their work involves standing on police lines protesting … and doing it with song and hilarious preaching plus ferocious preaching too. Disrupting the normal tone of protest – adding clever and artistic props that they make themselves. Plus, over the last 15 to 20 years they have developed a broad vocabulary to add to their protest and resistance – using every different strategy they can imagine. One continuous strategy is focus on climate change and to keep it in the public consciousness all the time.

This with keeping fossil fuels in the ground, trees deeply rooted and animals healthy … to reduce human chauvinism in its industrial effort to extract the last of earth's gifts out of her. Is what they are here to protect.

Savitri says she and her troupe are wild people who live in the city – being the human wilderness of New York city.

And New York is the entry point of the USA and the road is unknown – but people show up as they find a way to divine a way to survive and make a new life for themselves. As an artist it is very exciting but for an ordinary person too, just wishing to become financial stable.

Cultural creatives hare challenged to come together. As the arts now are becoming very commodified and institutionalised – and it is difficult for an artist to be political – as sponsorship option evaporates instantly – and has always been that way.

People in NY are in a hurry – but they are open …

Some of the protests were:

Singing about Monsanto and honey bees, neonicotinoids and pesticides, plus being pollinators where they dressed as honey bees – and the fact the the Stop Shopping Choir is so diverse that there are always creative input to their shows.

BP comes up for some attention … Marktown East of Chicago – is supposedly a cancer cluster area – so they went and sung to the people of that area – about capitalism and the extraction the fossil fuel industry – and these people are going through hard times so 'the choir' has to communicate with them in a gentle and respectful way – without undermining the value of what they have put into their own life – albeit working for a corporation that is basically only profit motivated.

That though in a hostile territory the payback was that they were very well received as they both educated and healed these workers by showing that they cared.

What are we to do?

Start sharing deep story with each other – being caring and insightful – be open to change and don't get sucked in by mainstream media – it is not productive at all.

What will make people more active and engaged?

Community holds us up and supports us – community is powerful and capable of profound things – someone gets tired. But there is always someone having an up day and they come in alongside you and lift you up. Tend to your garden and nourish all your relationships.

Gather together to work with you affinity groups = people you know and trust and build strong cohesive relationships. It's a long game and the challenges are not going to go away tomorrow.

Yet Billy states that in the USA things have never been darker yet things have never been brighter … yet we need Noble courage to stand up!

The present president is showing to the public face that the macho fundamentalism is bulldozing and extracting every last drop of what the earth can supply.

What was interesting was that Bernie Sanders presidential bid was largely an Occupy Wall St platform.

http://www.revbilly.com