I found this video a couple of years ago, when there was much talk about whether the Bush administration would go to war with Iran. Thought it appropriate to pull it out and share it now, giving recent events in Tehran. Behind all of the images on the news, there are people just like us…
Seth Godin on the tribes we lead:
In 2005, after recording street musician, Roger Ridley, in Santa Monica, Mark Johnson began a remarkable journey. Moved by a crowd in a New York subway pausing in the morning rush to watch a pair of monk musicians, Johnson was enchanted by the power of music to bring together people who would otherwise ignore each other. Believing in the necessity of our coming together as a human race and that music is the best way to do this, Johnson embarked on a journey around the world with a mobile recording studio and crew. He filmed and recorded 100 musicians in locales from subways to African villages to the Himalayas, and from New Orleans to Johannesburg to Moscow to Jerusalem.
The result is Playing for Change, a multi-media movement that includes an online community, a documentary, Playing for Change: Peace Through Music, a series of concerts, and a cd/dvd that’s scheduled for general release on April 28.
Out of the project, the Playing for Change Foundation was created in 2007, to organize benefit concerts and other efforts to raise funds for building music and arts schools and other projects in communities in need of hope. So far, the Playing for Change Foundation has projects in Johannesburg and Guguletu, South Africa and in Dharamsala, India and Kathmandu, Nepal.
You can read more about Playing For Change here and here and here, and watch Mark Johnson’s interview with Bill Moyers here.
Want to get involved?
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No Impact Man is a gold mine of information on how to make realistic adjustments toward sustainability in your lifestyle. Colin Beavan began his blog in February of 2007 to chronicle his family’s efforts to adjust their lifestyle so they would have no net impact on the environment. Since then, in addition to the blog, which continues with frequent practical articles that will help you to live more sustainably, Beavan has created a a soon-to-be-released book
Here’s how Beavan described No Impact Man when he began the project:
No Impact Man is my experiment with researching, developing and adopting a way of life for me and my little family—one wife, one toddler, one dog—to live in the heart of New York City while causing no net environmental impact. To do this, we will decrease the things we do that hurt the earth—make trash, cause carbon dioxide emissions, for example—and increase the things we do that help the earth—clean up the banks of the Hudson River, give money to charity, rescue sea birds, say.
In mathematical terms, in case you are an engineer or just a geek who likes math, we are trying to achieve an equilibrium that looks something like this:
Negative Impact + Positive Impact = Zero.
No net impact. Get it?
Beavan and his family completed their one year experiment and decided to continue their no-impact lifestyle. His blog shares the whole process with a lively community of readers and includes articles like “42 Ways Not To Make Trash”, “The No Impact Sustainable Eating Plan” and “Doing Stuff Instead of Watching Stuff”. If you’re unsure about where or how to take further steps toward sustainability in your own lifestyle, No Impact Man will give you plenty of ideas to consider and lots of encouragement along the way.
On April 22nd, Earth Day, how better to celebrate than to see Earth, the movie? Disneynature‘s new film stars polar bears, elephants, and humpback whales, and with James Earl Jone’s voice for narration, how can you go wrong? Film-makers spent over five years and 2000 hours in the field to capture the story of three animal families in their struggles to survive a year on earth. From Alastair Fothergill and Mark Linfield, producers of “Blue Planet“, “Deep Blue” and the “Planet Earth” series, the film has gotten some rave reviews. Jake Brewer, at The Huffington Post, says Earth is “breathtaking” and that Fothergill and Linfield “completely and utterly” deliver on their intent to inspire with the film. According to Brewer,
Earth is a stunning masterpiece that will leave even the most ardent coal lobbyist in awe of our planet and yearning to see more — and to preserve it.
You know what’s even better? Not only will going to see Earth inspire you to do something to care for our precious planet. If you buy a ticket to see Earth during the first week, Disneynature will plant a tree in the Brazilian Atlantic rainforest in your honor. Cool, huh? See you there.