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Reverential Ecology with Scholar Activists at Zaca Lake
by Janet Oakley Hunter

A weekend with the Institute for Reverential Ecology (IRE) 2004 forum,
'Hidden Connections' re-ignited my lust and awe for wild Nature, and inspired
humility. Reverential Ecology connects the spiritual and ecological dimensions and
the recognition that Nature is totally good, in and of itself. As this becomes
the basis of our sustainability thinking, we can appeal to people's deeper
heart and allow the infinite creativity of the Universe to unfold its love and
intelligence within us. We shall form a united identity with all beings of the
Earth community.

We live amidst crises of global proportion, yet there are brilliant and
heartfelt energies of the Universe now flooding our planet. 'Hidden Connections'
was just such a manifestation, on the shores of sacred Zaca Lake, which is
located about one hour's drive from Santa Barbara. The May 7-9th retreat was an
intergenerational forum on science, spirituality, and sustainable living. IRE
local coordinator, Phil Grant, collaborated with the University of California
student-initiated project, Education for Sustainable Living Program (ESLP), to
assemble a panel of presenters from among today's most lucid experts and
leaders in science, religion, the arts, and education.

Through plenary sessions and workshops, the presenters enchanted, educated,
and mobilized ESLP-participating students, over 60 in all. Also attending were
that many professionals and activists from the clergy, natural resources,
architecture, engineering, agriculture, human rights, education, and related
fields. Whole families attended. Julie Cordero, Chumash healer, provided the
group's spiritual invocation each day. Music and dancing by many into the dawn,
feasting, dipping into the lake, and stargazing reflected the 'Merry Month of
May' and Celtic Beltane timing of this gathering. The Zaca Lake staff prepared
fine international organic cuisine.

Brian Swimme, Ph.D., a specialist in mathematical cosmology, created a space
for our enchantment. His findings eclipse the misery and wasting of global
empire building and corporate-led mauling of the planet that characterize our
national identity at present. As director of the Center for the Story of the
Universe, a research affiliate of the California Institute of Integral Studies,
he synthesizes the implications of quantum physics and other scientific
discovery from the time of our common origins, 15-billion years ago in the primordi
al Flaring Forth, up to now. Just think, what would happen to the eagle if it
opted for total convenience in obtaining a mouse? Before long, it might not
even be able to fly anymore; fat, soft, and full of itself.

As Swimme relates in his book, 'The Universe is a Green Dragon,''We have a
vast new empirically grounded story of the Universe, one that explodes beyond
any previous telling of reality, one that encompasses all peoples because it is
rooted in concrete experience.' The energy and the nature of the stars
literally inform and are our being. He challenges us to burst through the
self-imposed limits of the passing Epoch of Man to scan the horizon for what we don't
even have language at present to describe. The first mammalian species, a kind
of shrew on the margins among the great dinosaurs, during its Triassic
beginnings, can be our humble talisman for the new Epoch of Earth.

ShahVandana Shiva also embraced the Universe Story as our cosmology in her
workshop. She is a spiritual warrior, defending the Earth, as a leader in the
International Forum on Globalization and author of 'The Violence of the Green
Revolution.' Cutting to the heart of the matter, she asks us to identify any
and all laws which impede us from fulfilling our duty to the Earth and to act
upon this knowledge. As she cautions, 'Not acting is acting on the wrong side.'
She dispels the myth of Free Trade, saying, 'This is not free, but rather
systems of productions destroying Earth.' Shiva has circled the planet in her
analysis of the huge issues concerning Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO). The
millions of farming villages comprising the vast majority of our world's
population, who daily feast on a healthy diversity of locally grown foods, and
benefit from 10,000 years of authentic store and knowledge of seed production, are
at risk of losing their freedom to grow their precious stock and to protect
its vitality in the fields. Our Central Coast is no exception to GMOs' pressures.

Multi-national corporate monopoly of GMO is dealing crushing blows to small
farmers worldwide. In a recent case, a Canadian court ruled that Percy Schmeiser,
a third-generation Saskatchewan farmer, must pay Monsanto thousands of
dollars for violating Monsanto's monopoly patent on genetically modified canola
seed. This was after rogue genetically-modified pollen infected Schmeiser's own
seed stock, thus converting it to the property of Monsanto. This ruling is a
harbinger of the forces in International Trade Law who want to make seed
saving impossible and GMO patent rights supreme.

Our Universe Story urges us to grasp how our vast and evolutionary safety net
of seed production, agriculture's genetic integrity, is being ripped apart by
the handful of multi-national corporations' patenting and enforcement of
GMOs; which are actually the result of scientists who move a few genes around in
ignorance and call themselves creators. They are essentially playing roulette
with worldwide famine, disease, and our true wealth, which is the Earth's
balance of natural resources. This false connection between technology as religion
and science as corporate control only perpetuates 'money and machines,
globalization's current yardstick for all humanity.'

The more than sixty students provided exhilarating energy and talent,
including a series of laughing exercises that we continued to request from Scott, a
UCLA student and coyote amongst us. ESLP, as presented by the California
Student Sustainability Coalition, organizes full-credit courses and innovative
research and mentoring projects. The group has demonstrated an extraordinary
ability for fundraising and mobilization of the U.C. campuses to achieve nationally
recognized benchmarks for sustainability.

Matthew Fox is a liberation theologian and progressive visionary, founder and
president of University Creation Spirituality, and author of 25 books. His
workshop gave fascism a face, when most of us couldn't describe what it
actually means. He provided, 'There is a direction for knowledge, but unguided it is
not wisdom; it is only power.' He made us aware of a thought-provoking list
of 14 characteristics common to fascism, as drawn from an analysis of the
fascist regimes of Hitler (Germany), Mussolini (Italy),
Frâ ???

Corruption / Fraudulent Elections.

There were many other presenters, including Satish Kumar, Fritjof Capra,
Betsy Taylor, William Waterway, Adam Wolpert, Nandini Iyer, Helena Norberg-Hodge,
James O'Dea, Marcela Olivera, Brian Swimme, Lauren DeBoer, and Dennis Rivers.
The Institute of Reverential Ecology truly brings the four corners of the
Earth together. At the end we were refreshed, nourished, and ready to go! For
more information on presentation materials and future events, including next
year's forum, please contact IRE's website: www.reverentialecology.org.

Janet has worked as a scientist to conserve our magnificent wild Pacific
Salmon species; and to sustain rural communities and cultures among South American
Indigenous Peoples, who are suffering from globalization. She can be reached
at 805-305-0463 or email janetohunter @ hotmail.com.


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