As a part of our Unity EarthCare team, I have been involved in educating myself steadily over the past two years in the area of climate change, and what’s happening “out there” on our planet Earth to save ourselves from climate change disaster. After all, I’m one who wants the truth, and I want to make a difference while I can.
So I got interested in watching documentaries. It started when Stan Perrin, our EarthCare team leader, brought some DVD’s on recycling issues to our EarthCare meeting one day. After watching “Bag It!” and “Straws” I found others online that were very intriguing. I began to create a list of my favorites. Some were daunting about the statistics and projections. Others were truly inspirational on what others were already doing on their own. There was one TED talk on YouTube that I saw where I met a man named Allan Savory who created his life’s work in bringing back the life of the land in areas that had turned to desert due to poor management in Africa. This man, I could see, was brilliant and sought after for his work by other countries.
Recently at the Green Living Expo where our EarthCare team manned a Unity booth, I created a two-page handout list with the assist of Beth Allen that contained many award-winning documentaries including the two above and the link to Savory. Some ‘docs’ show what people are beginning to do: they are downsizing their lives, their home, and their possessions to become more sustainable, be freer to truly live and have time for what they love, be financially freer, and to have a smaller footprint on Earth. And they love their new lives.
While surfing for a new piece to watch about environmental issues, I came across something that was truly exciting. Do you recall former Vice-President Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth”? Well, I found out what he’s been doing since. He started an organization called Climate Reality Project. And from this he created a yearly worldwide event called 24 Hours of Reality: Truth in Action. The next one is being held next week on November 20th and 21st. Trained presenters are going to schools, universities, churches, libraries, community centers, businesses, and homes here in the US and all over the world to start a much needed conversation about the facts and what we can do to make a difference toward the changes we need to make to ensure that there is a livable planet still here for the next generations. Those changes need to begin now before we pass a point of no return.
I would love to have been able to have a presentation here at Unity over those two dates and invite all our members as well as open it to the public, but there were conflicts with the dates and times. So instead, we at EarthCare are opting to invite a presenter to come on a date and time that would be more available for a larger showing. In the meanwhile, I plan on attending the closest open event in Rockford (located at the Unitarian Church) where I have already made friends with the Northwestern Illinois Chapter for Truth in Action. (I have 3 open seats if you wanna come with!)
And I encourage you to go online to www.24hoursofreality.org to find out more about this amazing project, or check out www.YouTube.com for last year’s broadcast hosted by Al Gore. You will meet some amazing everyday people who are making a difference already.
If you want a copy of my documentary list from the Green Living Expo, I’ll have copies available at Unity in Fellowship along with some info from 24 Hours of Reality this Sunday.
Namaste,
Patty Lynn Kyle
