Revolutionary Peace - The Purr Heard 'Round the World

On Sunday, January 18, the Cloud Forest Institute board of directors held our first quarterly meeting of 2015.  But this was not a typical meeting.  Director Govinda Dalton had come prepared to video record a live webcast of presentations via his website earthcyles.net. We were to be broadcast live around the world over the internet. The presentations were given by representatives of 4 projects under our fiscal Sponsorship as well as our esteemed invited guest, John Llewalyn. 

The first presenter was Dennis O'Brien of Share Jerusalem. Denny visited the holy city briefly in 2012.  This  is how Denny felt after his talk ..."Thank you all very much for listening to my presentation.  It is the first time I ever told the story of my trip to Jerusalem and the lasting impression it made upon me.  It meant a lot to be with understanding and nurturing people.  Your perspectives and suggestions may allow me to continue my work in that area after two years of hunkering down and focusing on local needs.  Perhaps in 10 years the first Palestinian team at the Little League World Series will mark the beginning of a new era of peace.  Just this past year the first Israeli team appeared.  In ancient Greece, all fighting was halted during the Olympics.  Instead of throwing rocks they'll throw softballs, swing bats instead of clubs, run around the bases instead of running from rubber bullets.  George Carlin has a great skit about baseball, how it compares so favorably with warlike football.  "Instead of conquering territory, they're trying to come home . . ."

Denny's ideas were an ideal seque to John's discussion about creating "Full Spectrum Non-Violence". John has been an anti nuclear activist since the Vietnam War. In 1971, Penguin Books published his book, "Ecology of Devastation: Indochina." in which he researches and analyzes the whole war as an attack on the environment." John was a congressional candidate in Northern California in 2012. His goal was the passage of a National Peace Conversion Act to convert the U.S. economy from weapons production to renewable energy production. Here is what John shared with us and the world on January 17..........

"I’m inviting you to join me in creating “Full Spectrum Nonviolence” in the human community on Earth, from personal to international relations. With the United States now in an escalating thermonuclear confrontation with both Russia and North Korea, and military tensions rising between the US and China, we are all hostages in a dangerous game of threat and counter-threat. I thank, from my heart, President Obama for his sagacious forberance in the face of provocations, the sign of a true world power. Especially, the opening of normal, friendly relations with Cuba is a great de-escalation. I’m visionary enough to foresee that the whole human race is in the process of realizing itself as a single living creature with tremendous beauty of diversity. The path toward Full Spectrum Nonviolence is full spectrum de-escalation of conflicts."