Dear Steve,
thanks for information about the other "EARTH DAY".
I went into the private archives of the original father and founder of
EARTH DAY - John McConnel and his EARTH SOCIETY FOUNDATION and studied
about 500 pages history of 30 years of EARTH DAY and even longer the
HISTORY of the PEACE BELL.
and I am meeting tonight a guy who organized for 10 years on GERMAN
sometimes at EUROPEAN level April EARTH DAY, but all these people seem
to have only one source of information, "thiers.."
EARTH DAY was proclaimed in 1969 to be on EQUINOX March 20-21and we will
have also a great event here in VIENNA, where we sit together in memory
of LORD YEHUDI MENUHIN who signed last the EARTH CHARTA, showing his
SEEDS OF CHANGE.
The event in VIENNA will focus on EARTH RHYTHMS with GRAF KAYSERLINK
and how we can go beyond the one day, the one model, the eye, the one
CLUB, beyond this me or you traps.
It is so silly that people who want to do something for the EARTH do not
speak to each other and fight for "their" EARTH" isn't it our EARTH!
some years in desperation I wrote "which world is in Trouble". Se Earth
in trouble form the UN Climate Summit:
http://www.ceptualinstitute.com/genre/benking/UN-climate.htm
But comming back to your announcement. John McConnell is doing the
celebration now since 30 years. It is fine that some nice and engaged
people also wanted to have an EARTHDAY party in CALIFORNIA in 1970, but
the date has some meaning for nearly all cultures on EARTH, it is spring
in the traditions from JAPAN to AMERICA, from Africa to IRAN!
So getting that accepted and that nearly all years the Secreatry of the
UN and many UN-organizations join in, make annoucnements which are all
on teh web, see below, is a mayor achievement of JohnMcConnell.
We will have this event and ceremony at one minute at many locations on
this planet and at the right time and season, a time which is acceptable
and has meaning for many!
I feel and it is me as a "non-member" and friend of many from both sides
of "Earth Day"
I feel it is not appropriate to widely distribute the"other" day as the
DAY when we are in full swing gtting ready in the next 24 hours.
All information about Earth Day is at:
http://www.earthsite.org/earth99.htm
and I even remember it from the WOC site.
Excuse me, I have to rush and find it not appropriate to put this issue
on the table when we are all rushing for the events world-wide and
outsiders can only get confused - and this looks like the purpose of
that message you forwarded.
We can blame EARTH DAY founder John McConnel for not registering and
copy- righting - but it is not his day it is OUR DAY on EQUINOX, for all
of us, and when the UN and many countries have adopted it, why continue
with this crazy me or you mine or our party. I liked both in teh past,
but still we have to be true to the origine and purpose.
The impact of seeing EARTH from ORBIT was a great impulse, but is is
time to see with many eyes, not just with the birds-eye.
http://www.ceptualinstitute.com/uiu_plus/isss98/house-of-eyes.htm
a time to go beyond th one MODEL.
I just felt the time for your broad distribution is bad and John
McConnel, an old man, has other things to do than find out who else is
making a party on which continent and why.
I just read from the African Philosophy:
I AM, BEACAUSE WE ARE;
AND SINCE WE ARE , THEREFORE I AM"
maybe this can help
excuse the rush
Heiner
Steve Kurtz wrote:
> Maybe of interest.
>
> Steve
> -----
> -------------------------------------------------------------------
> Mark Dubois
> International Coordinator
>
> ----------
>
> A CALL TO ACTION
>
> We are at the threshold of a new millennium -- faced with a rare
> opportunity.
>
> We invite you to join us in making Earth Day 2000 the beginning of a
> new
> chapter in the environmental history of the Earth.
>
> Human history is full of important accomplishments. Our ancestors
> have
> left awesome achievements, material and spiritual, for us to enjoy.
>
> Yet we have also inherited enormous challenges. For the first time in
>
> history, humans have the power to alter the entire planet. We are
> changing
> the climate, triggering an epidemic of extinctions, drilling holes
> through
> the ozone layer, reproducing and consuming beyond the world's carrying
>
> capacity, and maintaining an arsenal of weapons capable of causing
> more
> destruction than an asteroid collision.
>
> Now it is our turn to choose our legacy. Working together, we can end
> the
> world war we are winning against the planet and ourselves. A vibrant,
>
> healthy planet with flourishing human communities can be our gift to
> future
> generations.
>
> We invite you to begin organizing for the largest demonstration on the
> planet.
>
> On April 22, 2000, the millennial Earth Day, hundreds of millions of
> people
> will join in actions to create a sustainable global environment.
> Earth Day
> 2000 will call for tangible results and far-reaching policies to
> protect
> the environment. It will enlist a new generation of environmental
> activists, building alliances that transcend the boundaries of
> countries,
> continents, and cultures. It will galvanize the sort of broad, deep
> support that makes tough choices politically possible.
>
> We cannot afford to waste time complaining, avoiding, denying, or
> fighting
> each other.
>
> Together, we can create a positive future.
>
> Earth Day's Precedent
>
> Earth Day began in the belief that people, working together, can
> accomplish
> extraordinary things. Earth Day is unique in that it links citizen
> activists around the world with each other while inspiring action on
> personal, community, national, and international levels.
>
> On the first Earth Day in 1970, 20 million citizens in the United
> States
> came together to create a national environmental agenda. Within two
> years,
> the country's main environmental agency had been created. Important
> laws
> to clean the air and water and to protect rare species had been
> adopted.
>
> On Earth Day 1990, over 200 million people in 141 countries on every
> continent participated in celebrations in their communities. The
> mobilization of citizen groups that started with Earth Day 1990
> empowered
> citizens, linked non-governmental organizations (NGOs) globally, and
> pressured heads of state to participate personally in the UN Earth
> Summit
> in Rio de Janeiro.
>
> Since 1990, Earth Day has been embraced by citizen groups the world
> over as
> an international citizens' day. In Canada, Japan, France, and many
> other
> countries, national offices coordinate Earth Day activities. In
> Eastern
> Europe, the Regional Environment Center reports that most of its 2300
> affiliates organize yearly for Earth Day. We look forward to
> connecting
> with those groups who have already been using Earth Day as an
> organizing
> tool, and with those who are ready to begin doing so.
>
> Earth Day Celebrations and Actions
>
> Earth Day is celebrated in diverse ways. In 1990, Earth Day ignited
> environmental imaginations in France, where participants formed a
> 500-mile
> human chain along the Loire River, stretching across the country, to
> honor
> one of Europe's last clean rivers. In Asia, an international team of
> mountain climbers from China, the Soviet Union and the U.S. picked up
> the
> more than two tons of trash left on Mount Everest by earlier
> expeditions.
> Five thousand Italians staged a roadway lie-down to protest car
> fumes. In
> Haiti, Earth Day was officially declared a National Holiday. In
> Jordan,
> 10,000 students joined a national cleanup. In Tokyo Bay, 35,000
> Japanese
> environmentalists gathered on Dream Island, an island made of garbage,
> to
> set up a temporary recycling center. To learn more about Earth Day in
> 1990
> and years since, see http://www.sdearthtimes.com/edn/calendar.
>
> Join Earth Day 2000
>
> Earth Day 2000, the 30th anniversary of Earth Day, will use grassroots
>
> organizing and cutting-edge technology to educate, empower, and
> inspire
> actions that protect the public interest.
>
> Earth Day will create global networks that connect activists
> together. It
> will prod organizations to think more ambitiously about the immensity
> and
> urgency of their work.
>
> Connect your efforts with those of other activists to create a global
> force
> for change.
>
> Join Earth Day 2000.
>
> Please return the following important contact information so we can
> collaborate
>
> Name:
> Organization:
> Address:
> Postal code:
> Country:
> Telephone:
> Fax:
> Email:
> Website:
> Prefer to be contacted by
> Email___ mail___ fax___(please indicate one)
>
> Earth Day 1999 Plans
>
> Earth Day 2000 Plans
>
> Other Comments:
> -
SHARING FUTURES - times, spaces, voices, views, values,..
in SHARED PERSPECTIVE
Heiner BENKING, Box 2060, D - 89010 Ulm, [EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://www.ceptualinstitute.com/genre/benking/homepageHB1.htm
http://newciv.org/cob/members/benking/ or
http://www.uia.org/guests/benking/
http://www.geocities.com/~acunu/millennium/resume/res-hb.html full
version at:
http://www.geocities.com/~acunu/millennium/resume/hbenking.html
http://www.ceptualinstitute.com/genre/benking/ifsr/IFSRnov98pp.htm
* ME/FUTURES -
http://www.ceptualinstitute.com/genre/benking/borderland.htm
http://www.ceptualinstitute.com/genre/benking/recentsurvival9899.htm
**************************************************************
There is growing lament that wisdom, imagination and virtue are lost
when messages double, information halves, knowledge quarters,...
and noise without origin, quality, and purpose is everywhere.
But how to overcome this downward spiral?
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