I arrive home to meet Stacey Murphy and Janell Kapoor. The "virtual reality" of our Internet interview rings truer to me than my drive down Center Street in Auburn, Me. They are true champions of diversity and thriving nature. Their sheer enthusiasm, compassion, and commitment to regeneration heal my sickened heart. They bring me the good tidings that I am not a voice crying in the wilderness; I am--they are--the voice of an evolving future.
Their love of our beautiful planet leaps across the distance between their sanctuary in Asheville, North Carolina and the sun porch from which I broadcast in Sabattus, Maine. It refills my heart just as truly as if they had travelled here just to hug me. Through their eyes, I can see the blossoming of spring that hasn't yet emerged here, but will, from beneath the dirty snow still melting away. No, I am not alone; I am not the odd man out.
So who are Stacey Murphy and Janell Kapoor anyway? Like my wife and me, they are facilitators of a united-in-its-diversity visionary voice. I discovered my affinity to them during the month of March, 2014, when they co-hosted the Whole Earth Summit live online. For three days, 42 global luminaries discussed their visions for the future of food, water, community, regenerative design, and social transformation.
Imagine being in the company of activists such as Vandana Shiva, the 13 Indigenous Grandmothers, Bill McKibben, Charles Eisenstein, Vicki Robin, Raj Patel, Joel Salatin, Terry Tempest Williams, Rob Hopkins, and Starhawk. These folks are not just visionaries; they are realizers. They are living out their vision, passion, and mission. And they are just the most visible of millions who, behind the fake façade of Center Street in Anyburb, USA. Janell and Stacey are among the many visionaries that are co-creating a thriving future now. Beauty and health become abundant when we look to a future that is beyond the mask of western "civilization".
The purpose of the Whole Earth Summit was to "Gain valuable insights and inspiration to be more dynamic, community-oriented and effective on the ground, where you are."
Stacey and Janell are passionate about local power. They explore and passionately believe that --local projects ripple throughout the landscape and shake up the status quo" in the hopes that you will be "awesomely inspired so that you've got to take your next leap".
Ultimately, Stacey and Janell champion and model a mode of being that is more than top-down or bottom-up. Our top-down/bottom up mentality signifies a follower-leader mode more so than a co-creator mode.
Stacey and Janelle's way of working is in line with the Gaia Hypothesis of James Lovelock where the Earth is a living planet, habitable for a multitude of species, including human beings, via the complex interactions of inorganic and organic life. In essence, we human beings, alongside everything else, co-created this planet. We are not separate from Gaia, in the same fashion that our lungs are not separate from us. We are participants in her life.
This living, relational process of Gaia ultimately produced an atmosphere containing the mixture of oxygen and carbon dioxide we have today. We human beings are simply cells in the lungs of the planet. Whether we are healthy or cancerous cells depends on whether we honor her homeostasis and her balance. Ideally, we all work together on behalf of the life, home, and beauty we love!
As such, Janelle and Stacey speak to the importance of collaboration. While many may not realize it, the movement towards a healthier planet is huge! Not only is it huge, it's also more diverse, spread out, and almost indestructible by corporate -- government power because of its diversity.
To increase this diversity, Janelle and Stacey work with ASHEVILLAGE INSTITUTE, which is a nonprofit located in Asheville, NC. It is dedicated to sustainable solutions in action. There, they host educational programs, including the Whole Earth Summit, Urban Farm School, Permaculture Design Courses, Natural Building Extravaganza, and Wise Water School.
This kind of organic work runs counter to the corporate modus operandi, which is about standardization. Standardization makes one extremely vulnerable to extinction. This is why a quick walk in the woods reveals a wild diversity of plants, animals, birds and insects. If there were only oak trees in a forest, than a disease in the oaks could wipe out the entire forest.
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