|
Peter Forbes used King’s speech to illustrate how stories can change people and nations, and how you can connect with people in opposition by revealing the why, the Big Picture, the shared Vision, and the shared Values. ‘Common Values’ tend to unite people, whereas ‘Strategies’ spelling out the how, the steps, facts and figures tend to cause conflict and divisiveness. The secret is to focus more on the why and less on the how. To achieve a breakthrough on contentious issues, Peter advised, ‘Ask people what they care about; then let people talk.’
One other critical element in connecting with the 98.5% of the people outside the Realm of Environmentalism is language. Peter walked us through a short exercise and it quickly became apparent that words like ecology, natural heritage, watershed, stewardship, sustainability; ‘Green’, organic, etc. are overused by Conservationists and poorly understood by the uninitiated. Words like the Spirit of Nature, love of the land, dreams, nurture, home, achievable tasks, etc. are more likely to resonate.
Peter closed his workshop session by re-emphasizing that Conservationists must move beyond ‘Acres’ and focus on what is most important: We must tell people that we are proud to be Conservationists - tell stories that paint a picture of the world we long to see - rethink and reinvent ‘SUCCESS’ - connect people to one another and to Nature - choose the one significant thing we each personally can do to build ‘Whole Communities’ - …
In the evening Peter succeeded in captivating his audience from the start. Without a word he flashed a series of stunningly beautiful photos of people, mountains and valleys on the big screen. He then proceeded to tell us three stories of people who profoundly changed him and the course of his life: For one and a half years he lived in a tent in a valley in the Mountain Kingdom of Nepal, miles from the nearest road to the outside world. The valley had been designated to be flooded as part of a hydro development project and the people, who for generations had lived the simple life and tended their rice paddies in this isolated valley, were to be displaced. Peter Forbes went there to record ‘The Before’ for National Geographic. The heart-warming interaction with the young and old in this remote valley made a deep and lasting impression on him. Unlike people from many other parts of the world, these people wanted to live nowhere else. It was their Querencia.
Dr. William Coperthwaite, originator of the taper-walled ‘Yurt’, author of The Handmade Life: In Search of Simplicity, and good friend of the late Buckminster Fuller (architect of ‘Geodesic Dome’ fame) became Peter’s mentor and idol. Coperthwaite has a Ph.D. from Harvard, but has chosen to live the simple life in the woods, on an isolated stretch of coastline in Maine. There, without telephone, computer, or TV, he labours in his round three-story version of a ‘Yurt’ patterned after the ‘Yurts’ used for centuries by the nomads of Mongolia. Coperthwaite is intent on capturing the healing, creative, communal and spiritual nature of the ‘Yurt’ and characterizes the thrust of his work as not simple and self-sufficient living, not ‘Yurt’ design, not social change, but as ‘Encouragement’- encouraging people to dream, seek, experiment, plan, create and to find a better way to be One-with-Nature.
The third person who had a profound impact on Peter’s outlook was Gladys, a black woman in Harlem. Gladys almost singlehandedly transformed an empty urban wasteland, covered with litter, into a street-side garden and forest - an ‘Oasis of Green’ for her neighbours in the heart of Harlem. We gave Peter Forbes, the driving force of ‘Whole Communities’, a standing ovation.
Day 2: On Friday morning, Howard Clifford started us off on an emotional roller-coaster account of why and how his family donated their 1200-acre Alba Wilderness property to the Mississippi Madawaska Land Trust Conservancy under a 999-year Conservation Agreement. In a quiet manner Howard related how a sequence of coincidences led the Clifford Family to acquire the property in 1979, how they restored it into one of Lanark County’s Gems of Nature, how Howard himself helped an elderly cancer patient achieve her dying wish to reconnect with Nature on this land and how he was moved by the simple and eloquent words of a visiting native chief talking about the spiritual attachment to the land.
Howard considers 'Nature' the best preacher, the best teacher, the best friend, the pathway to the soul. 'Nature' refreshes the spirit again and again. He advised us to engage landowners emotionally and in a non-threatening way to share the still natural and ecologically valuable parts of their land. He ended his emotional presentation with this profound insight: “If we don’t protect Nature we loose our Soul.” We all sat there in hushed silence as the eyes of more than one filled with tears. At the end, Howard also got a standing ovation.
|
Tags
You must be logged in to add tags.
|
Writer Profile
EnviroKlaus
Klaus Keunecke: A volunteer for nature, an LWI Member, a Bullfrog Power Customer.
Websites to visit: www.olta.ca, www.wholecommunities.org, www.yurtinfo.org
|
Comments
You must be a TakingITGlobal member to post a comment. Sign up for free or login.
|
|
