Healing Our World and OurselvesHome
Healing Our World and Ourselves
Reflections on our first Conference, which was held February 15-16, 2013 at the First Unitarian Church of Orlando
On February 15th and 16th we explored the transformational process of healing of our world and ourselves. Three Keynote speakers interacted with one another, with a panel of people active in specific causes, and with all 116 participants. Music, poetry, shared meals, and meditative exercises filled out the weekend. You can watch videos of part of the conferences: The Democracy Tree, Music and Poetry, Introductions, Keynote Speakers, and the Earth Rights song. The program from the event, including Problem & Solutions statements from each speaker and panel member can be found on our Facebook Group page or you can download the pdf here.
(Panel of persons involved with local “boots on the ground” groups, in conversation with keynote speakers about ways to impact both local issues and the larger concerns)
Healing of the Earth – Keynote Speaker
Patricia Siemen, Director of the Center for Earth Jurisprudence, Barry University School of Law, will discuss Earth Law and how care for the earth is integral to care for ourselves. Visit the CEJ Facebook Page.
Maintaining the Right to be Heard – Keynote Speaker
David Cobb, National Projects Director of Democracy Unlimited, national spokesperson for Move to Amend, will explain how this Amendment will preserve the individual’s right to vote, and remove civil liberties from Corporations, that have heavily influenced the electoral process, and promoted legislation that protects the rights of corporations over people and nature.
Healing of Ourselves – Keynote Speaker
Bruce Alexander, professor and author of Peaceful Measures: Canada’s Way Out of the War on Drugs and The Globalization of Addiction: A Study in Poverty of the Spirit.
When we think of addiction in the broadest sense, we realize that two of the most damaging addictions in society are the addiction to money and to the media circus. Can we set ourselves free of addictions of all kinds to think clearly, without bias, and with compassionate action for all living beings? Can our society begin to restore its own health, with the help of each of us?
Humankind is 200,000 years old but compared to Mother Earth, we’re “the new kid on the block.” Yet, we have wreaked more havoc than any other species on earth. We’ve polluted waterways, caused the extinctions of whole species and exterminated ancient cultures. Can we save Mother Earth, indigenous peoples, and yes–capitalism, and transform our own lives as well? In this period of rapid social change, and climate change, can we protect human rights and the delicate ecosystems of nature, hopefully within a free market society?
Conference Co-Sponsored by the Unitarian Universalist Church of Brevard, Florida
and the Unitarian Universalist Legislative Ministry of Florida. This ministry is funded in part by the Fund for Unitarian Universalist Social Responsibility
Registration for 2013 UUMLF Legislative Day, download form here.
Hosted by the First Unitarian Church of Orlando
Friday, 2:00 PM – 8:30 PM and Saturday, 9:00 AM. – 5:00 PM
All fees sliding scale. Affordable lodging available.
For information and registration, see the Conference Schedule and Costs page and the Registration page
or call Rev. Gregory Wilson at 772-486-4029
The earth is disturbed, stressed, and cries out. Only the earth’s first generation people can hear. The rest of the human species is numbed auditorially , visually, gustatorially, olfactorally, and kinesthetically. Numbed by the layers of cultural indoctrination and centuries of being disconnected from the earth. The voice of the earth is crying all around us, deserts where there were none, dead zones where life flourished, food with out nutrients, air that is foul, acidified oceans, and so on… In order to belong to this culture based on power one must let go of the value of earth. The abstract value system becomes more primary than clean water. The Achuar, an indigenous people of the Amazon rainforest, a first generation people. “Having made their home in the rainforests of Ecuador and Peru for centuries, they have much wisdom to offer about living in harmony with the natural world and with one another.
In the 1990’s, facing oil development on their ancestral lands, Achuar elders decided to reach out to the modern world that was threatening their very existence. They issued a call for allies who would work to “change the dream of the modern world” and transform the culture of overconsumption driving the destruction of the rainforest.”, and the destruction of much of the depth of the planet. The Achuar people called out for help to the people of the North and The Pachamama Alliance was formed. An answer to the call for help. We at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Brevard heard their call and this conference is an answer to that call. The Unitarian Universalist Legislative Ministry of Florida has partnered with us in answering this call. Your response to this conference is also an answer to that call. Come join us to develop an on going response to this planetary crisis. The conference covers three areas; The Earth, Human governing processes and the spiritual recovery from being indoctrinated to a harmful way of life.
Rev. Gregory Wilson
Dynamite program, gregory. Looking fwd to it.
Blessings – Cathy
Yes, we have to travel the way back to harmony and responsibility for the source of life, our mother earth. I am definitely interested in participating.
I hope this doesn’t duplicate the one I did before. I would like to register and hope this is the registration page.
I received your registration. Thank you. You also should have received a follow-up email. I look forward to hearing from you.
So sorry I did not get news of this in time to attend. I will plan to connect with Patrician Siemen when she returns to Miami and Barry University.
This connects directly to the work we are already doing here with PDA (and David Cobb) and with my work with students at Florida Intl. University.
Bless you all in the Fl. UU Legislative Ministry and y’all in Brevard County.
You are, hopefully, our FUUture! Ama-la Linnea Pearson, UU Chaplain, FIU