Follow the Money...to the New Story!

Sandy Wells • Feb 19, 2021

The NEW STORY of our Earth home doesn't include funding fossil fuels.

Dear Friends,

Our Programs in Earth Literacies are about igniting our connection with the living Earth and the profound connection of all life that emerges on it. But did you know that our work promoting Earth Literacies goes beyond our workshops?


Increasingly, we are joining our voice to others who are finding ways to productively and collectively resist the exploitation and destruction of our earth home. Our friends at the Climate Pledge Collective and the young leaders in @Climate Strike Canada have been drawing attention to the fact that the money we put into Canada’s Big 5 Banks is being used to fund the climate-destroying fossil fuel projects we so urgently need to end. While each of us can find ways to consume less or to better account for our carbon footprints, these individual actions are meaningless if we don’t also realize that our banks are funding the climate crisis by financing the exploration and development of NEW oil and gas deposits.


According to this 2020 report from the Rainforest Action Group, developed fossil fuel reserves already exceed our carbon budget for keeping our future global temperature increase under 1.5C – not a safe level, but one that might be achievable and might avoid the worst of the worst future climate scenarios. Even if we left the rest in the ground, just developing proven fossil fuel reserves will guarantee a disastrous future.


On January 29, Canada’s Big 5 Banks were put on notice: Divest from Fossil Fuel Projects or the People will move their money. If you missed the action on January 29, and would like to participate, it’s not too late to learn more about fossil fuel financing and the BankSwitch campaign. To watch the BankSwitch webinar hosted by the Climate Pledge Collective, please click here. After you watch, be sure to do something: talk to someone about what you learned (even if it's uncomfortable); address a letter to your bank; plan a switch, if necessary. The movement to divest from fossil fuels will not be lead by the banks, but by millions of people demanding ethical, sustainable, energy development.


As the deadline for divestment nears (April 22, 2021, International Mother Earth Day), let’s keep in our hearts and minds the actions big and small, individual and collective, that honour the gifts of our Earth home and our obligation to sustain it into the future.


More info: https://climatepledgecollective.org/bankswitch/

Banking on Climate Change Report: https://www.ran.org/bankingonclimatechange2020

How to Switch: https://www.sustainableeconomist.com/how_to_fire_your_bank




a group of children are planting a miyawaki tiny forest in a field
By Sean Steele 02 Mar, 2024
Above: Children helping to plant a Miyawaki forest as part of an IVN Nature Education program - Image source
By Sean Steele 07 Feb, 2024
A new Earth Stories Blog exploring Miyawaki Forests Blog Post #4 with Outdoor Educator Sean Steele
By Sean Steele 16 Jan, 2024
Earth Literacies presents a new Earth Stories (blog) series exploring Miyawaki Forests
By Sean Steele 27 Dec, 2023
When I found out that the organization I was helping to support didn’t get the grant to fund a Miyawaki forest on a small plot of land adjacent to a city park, I initially felt somewhat discouraged. But, almost immediately, I realized that this kind of news wasn’t about to take the wind out of my sails...
By Sean Steele 13 Dec, 2023
Earth Literacies presents a new Earth Stories (blog) series exploring Miyawaki Forests. "It all started with a blank slate. Or, in this case, an empty patch of soil beside a park. As a research lead with Seedlings Forest Education, an organization in Victoria, BC that facilitates nature-based learning for children, it was my job to help the leadership team think about what they could do with a new parcel of land."
By Sarbmeet Kanwal 17 Mar, 2023
CLICK THE VIDEO ABOVE TO PLAY I am sure you have all heard that we are made from stardust. The calcium in our bones and the iron in our blood was created in the dust of an exploding star. Over time the dust cools and gathers itself into planets on which life can emerge. You’ve seen images of enduring stars, you’ve seen images of exploding stars (supernovae), and you’ve seen images of steadfast planets. But have you ever seen virgin dust gushing out of a star getting ready to explode? The James Webb Space Telescope just obliged us with such an image (see image above) and it’s an amazing vista to behold! In this first-of-a-kind image, shimmering purple eddies of dust are being cast off in all directions by a very bright star (WR 124) at the center. This swirling dust holds the potential to become the rocks on a planet’s surface, the water in its oceans and the air in its atmosphere. Given enough time, it can become the flesh, bones, and blood of a living organism. With yet more time the organism can develop sentience to build telescopes powerful enough to catch stardust in the act of its cosmic emergence. What we are witnessing is the ultimate generosity of a star that through its last few laboured breaths is scattering the seeds of life into the fecund emptiness of its mother’s womb. These cosmic seeds, forged out of the fire in its core and nurtured for millions of years in its belly, are ready to put down roots in other parts of the galactic expanse. Together with the gas in which they swirl, these proliferous seeds will grow into families of planets and stars, ready to evoke the sacred process of life if conditions permit. Such is the bequest of the stars to the story of cosmogenesis, a glorious pilgrimage our universe is in the midst of undertaking. Sarbmeet Kanwal, PhD Click Here to view our next Earth Literacies program Quantum Wisdom: Second Pillar of the New Cosmology with Sarbmeet Kanwal, Ph.D
British Columbia's First Miyawaki Forest
By Elaine Decker 09 Dec, 2022
Programs in Earth Literacies team member, Parker Cook, captured the excitement of a 10-hour day of forest planting and community building in a delightful 1-minute timelapse video. You’ll want to watch it over and over – seeing different things each time. Below is a quick guide with 5 scenes to help you track the range of people and chores that resulted in this bioregion specific community of plants that will grow 10 times faster, with 20 times more diversity into a 30 times denser than typical multi-strata breathing machine! Scene 1 (below) You’re looking North, with the L-shaped school on the Eastern side. Three ‘sections’ of the forest bed have been prepared with a meter deep mix of soil and humus and a topping of straw. At the top of the pic there are two red tents. In front of them are 400 plants identified by species and arranged in tree/shrub/ground cover categories.
By Elaine Decker 16 Apr, 2022
Meet today’s – and tomorrow’s – earth protectors Richmond School District (in Richmond, British Columbia, Canada adjacent to Vancouver) established an Environmental Stewardship Policy in 1998 which states: “As a result of our shared guardianship of this planet, implementation of this policy shall be the joint responsibility of the Board, students and staff in collaboration with parents and our community.”The Green Team at Richmond Secondary School has wasted no time taking up their part in this work. In 2020, RSS was one of 10 schools nation-wide to win $20,000 from Staples in the “Superpower Your School” contest which invited students to address environmental challenges with new technologies. The Richmond team’s project was the installation of solar panels at the school, producing electricity that is added to the school’s power grid making its carbon footprint lower than other schools. A TV located in the foyer details the daily energy consumption so that all students can see their impact.
Powers of the Universe
By Elaine Decker, Ph.D 11 Feb, 2022
Betsey Crawford, a colleague of Gertie’s (yes, our Gertie Jocksch who leads the Earth Literacies Team) from The Deeptime Network, is an artist, photographer, seeker and storyteller. On her inspiring website, she shares her exploration of the world identifying and understanding the powers of the universe that are at work in all she experiences: The Soul of the Earth Website: https://thesouloftheearth.com/powers-of-the-universe/ This is a rich resource for understanding the epic beginnings of the universe, our origins, and our possible futures. It’s a great companion to the deep study of the individual powers of the Universe as explained by Brian Swimme, and explored in the ongoing Programs in Earth Literacies sessions with Bernice Vetter and Margie Gillis, Wednesday from Feb 2 to 16, 2022 - click here to learn more or sign up for the next session.
By Elaine Decker 26 Jan, 2022
It seems pretty obvious that we love and care for the members of our family. Many of us hold extended family and neighbours in our circles of care and concern. We include our geographical location in our sense of identity – “I’m from Saskatoon”, or “I was born in Montreal”. And recently, we have made beginning efforts to acknowledge and respect the original families on the land that we currently call our home. In his January, 2022 webinar, “The Call to Become Spiritual Earthlings”, Diarmuid O’Murchu directed our attention to our place in the history of the cosmos, to our location in/of the earth, and to the acknowledgement of the kin with whom we share our home. O’Murchu expanded on the concept of a bioregion as “a natural ecological community with characteristic flora, fauna and environmental conditions.” He distinguished between this naturally bounded place and the artificial construct of the nation state. If we are to live as responsible spiritual earthlings, we need to meet and care for the other members of our local, natural communities – our kin. Bringing it home! In June, 2020, The Nature Conservancy of Canada published Ours to Save, a catalogue of 308 different plant and animal species that live in Canada and nowhere else on Earth. Many of these elements of the evolutionary cosmos are threatened with extinction, and it is our neighbourly responsibility to protect them. Check out your Canadian bioregion and your kin at natureconservancy.ca/ourstosave . Study your home. Here are two bioregion audits you can use to check how well you know your kin, and your neighbourhood. The first was written by Leonard Charles, Jim Dodge, Lynn Milliman and Victoria Stockley for the Coevolution Quarterly, Winter, 1981. https://dces.wisc.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/128/2013/08/Where-You-At-Quiz.pdf The second is Tina Fields’ expansion on the 1981 list of questions, divided into categories to allow for deeper inquiry. https://indigenize.wordpress.com/2013/03/21/bioregional-quiz/ Ecolibrium3, an organization committed to building resilient communities in the Duluth, Minnesota area, give us many examples of actions directed at living well within a bioregion. https://www.ecolibrium3.org/duluthclimateaction/communityinitiatives/ Share your ideas Explore your bioregion. Who are your neighbours? Your kin? Who is healthy and thriving? Who needs care? What action have you taken/could you take to live as a spiritual earthling? Tell your neighbours … send suggestions to Programs In Earth Literacies in the comments below!
More Posts
Share by: