By Paul Hawken

I have given nearly one thousand talks about the environment in the
past fifteen years, and after every speech a smaller crowd gathered
to talk, ask questions, and exchange business cards. The people
offering their cards were working on the most salient issues of our
day: climate change, poverty, deforestation, peace, water, hunger,
conservation, human rights, and more. They were from the nonprofit
and nongovernmental world, also known as civil society.

After being on the road for a week or two, I would return with a
couple hundred cards stuffed into various pockets. Over the years the
cards mounted into the thousands, and whenever I glanced at the bags
in my closet, I kept coming back to one question: did anyone know how
many groups there were? At first, this was a matter of curiosity, but
it slowly grew into a hunch that something larger was afoot, a
significant social movement that was eluding the radar of mainstream
culture.

I began to count. I looked at government records for different
countries and, using various methods to approximate the number of
environmental and social justice groups from tax census data, I
initially estimated that there were thirty thousand environmental
organizations strung around the globe; when I added social justice
and indigenous organizations, the number exceeded one hundred
thousand. I then researched past social movements to see if there
were any equal in scale and scope, but I couldn't find anything. The
more I probed, the more I unearthed, and the numbers continued to
climb. In trying to pick up a stone, I found the exposed tip of a
geological formation. I discovered lists, indexes, and small
databases specific to certain sectors or geographic areas, but no set
of data came close to describing the movement's breadth.
Extrapolating from the records being accessed, I realized that the
initial estimate of a hundred thousand organizations was off by at
least a factor of ten. I now believe there are over one million
organizations working toward ecological sustainability and social
justice. Maybe two.

By conventional definition, this is not a movement. Movements have
leaders and ideologies. You join movements, study tracts, and
identify yourself with a group. You read the biography of the
founder(s) or listen to them perorate on tape or in person. Movements
have followers, but this movement doesn't work that way. It is
dispersed, inchoate, and fiercely independent. There is no manifesto
or doctrine, no authority to check with. I sought a name for it, but
there isn't one.

Historically, social movements have arisen primarily because of
injustice, inequalities, and corruption. Those woes remain legion,
but a new condition exists that has no precedent: the planet has a
life-threatening disease that is marked by massive ecological
degradation and rapid climate change. It crossed my mind that perhaps
I was seeing something organic, if not biologic. Rather than a
movement in the conventional sense, is it a collective response to
threat? Is it splintered for reasons that are innate to its purpose?
Or is it simply disorganized? More questions followed. How does it
function? How fast is it growing? How is it connected? Why is it
largely ignored?

After spending years researching this phenomenon, including creating
with my colleagues a global database of these organizations, I have
come to these conclusions: this is the largest social movement in all
of history, no one knows its scope, and how it functions is more
mysterious than what meets the eye.

What does meet the eye is compelling: tens of millions of ordinary
and not-so-ordinary people willing to confront despair, power, and
incalculable odds in order to restore some semblance of grace,
justice, and beauty to this world.

Clayton Thomas-Müller speaks to a community gathering of the Cree
nation about waste sites on their native land in Northern Alberta,
toxic lakes so big you can see them from outer space. Shi Lihong,
founder of Wild China Films, makes documentaries with her husband on
migrants displaced by construction of large dams. Rosalina Tuyuc
Velásquez, a member of the Maya-Kaqchikel people, fights for full
accountability for tens of thousands of people killed by death squads
in Guatemala. Rodrigo Baggio retrieves discarded computers from New
York, London, and Toronto and installs them in the favelas of Brazil,
where he and his staff teach computer skills to poor children.
Biologist Janine Benyus speaks to twelve hundred executives at a
business forum in Queensland about biologically inspired industrial
development. Paul Sykes, a volunteer for the National Audubon
Society, completes his fifty- second Christmas Bird Count in Little
Creek, Virginia, joining fifty thousand other people who tally 70
million birds on one day. Sumita Dasgupta leads students, engineers,
journalists, farmers, and Adivasis (tribal people) on a ten-day trek
through Gujarat exploring the rebirth of ancient rainwater harvesting
and catchment systems that bring life back to drought-prone areas of
India. Silas Kpanan'Ayoung Siakor, who exposed links between the
genocidal policies of former president Charles Taylor and illegal
logging in Liberia, now creates certified, sustainable timber
policies.

These eight, who may never meet and know one another, are part of a
coalescence comprising hundreds of thousands of organizations with no
center, codified beliefs, or charismatic leader. The movement grows
and spreads in every city and country. Virtually every tribe,
culture, language, and religion is part of it, from Mongolians to
Uzbeks to Tamils. It is comprised of families in India, students in
Australia, farmers in France, the landless in Brazil, the bananeras
of Honduras, the "poors" of Durban, villagers in Irian Jaya,
indigenous tribes of Bolivia, and housewives in Japan. Its leaders
are farmers, zoologists, shoemakers, and poets.

The movement can't be divided because it is atomized -- small pieces
loosely joined. It forms, gathers, and dissipates quickly. Many
inside and outside dismiss it as powerless, but it has been known to
bring down governments, companies, and leaders through witnessing,
informing, and massing.

The movement has three basic roots: the environmental and social
justice movements, and indigenous cultures' resistance to
globalization -- all of which are intertwining. It arises
spontaneously from different economic sectors, cultures, regions, and
cohorts, resulting in a global, classless, diverse, and embedded
movement, spreading worldwide without exception. In a world grown too
complex for constrictive ideologies, the very word movement may be
too small, for it is the largest coming together of citizens in
history.

There are research institutes, community development agencies,
village- and citizen-based organizations, corporations, networks,
faith-based groups, trusts, and foundations. They defend against
corrupt politics and climate change, corporate predation and the
death of the oceans, governmental indifference and pandemic poverty,
industrial forestry and farming, depletion of soil and water.

The movement does not agree on everything nor will it ever, because
that would be an ideology. But it shares a basic set of fundamental
understandings about the Earth, how it functions, and the necessity
of fairness and equity for all people partaking of the planet's life-
giving systems.

The promise of this unnamed movement is to offer solutions to what
appear to be insoluble dilemmas: poverty, global climate change,
terrorism, ecological degradation, polarization of income, loss of
culture. It is not burdened with a syndrome of trying to save the
world; it is trying to remake the world.

This movement is relentless and unafraid. It cannot be mollified,
pacified, or suppressed. There can be no Berlin Wall moment, no
treaty-signing, no morning to awaken when the superpowers agree to
stand down. The movement will continue to take myriad forms. It will
not rest. There will be no Marx, Alexander, or Kennedy. No book can
explain it, no person can represent it, no words can encompass it,
because the movement is the breathing, sentient testament of the
living world.

And I believe it will prevail. I don't mean defeat, conquer, or cause
harm to someone else. And I don't tender the claim in an oracular
sense. I mean the thinking that informs the movement's goal - to
create a just society conducive to life on Earth -- will reign. It
will soon suffuse and permeate most institutions. But before then, it
will change a sufficient number of people so as to begin the reversal
of centuries of frenzied self-destruction.

From Orion Magazine:
www.orionmagazine.org/index.php/articles/article/265

The Commonwealth Engineers´ Council (CEC) is a professional body for
all engineers from across the Commonwealth. Representing 42
engineering institutions across five continents, CEC is a global
organisation which aims to advance the science, art and practice of
engineering for the benefit of mankind. The Council is headquartered
in London within the Institution of Civil Engineers, and is primarily
a virtual organization, levying no charge on its members.

The aims of the CEC include; to foster co-operation and information
exchange between member organisations, to support the development of
indigenous engineering organizations, to promote education, training
and professional development of engineers and to encourage the
transfer of technology from North to South. The CEC also acts to
represent its members, especially those in developing countries, to
the World Federation of Engineering Organisations (WFEO). The
President of the CEC, Professor Tony Ridley, sits on the WFEO
Executive Committee as CEC Representative, and attends WFEO meetings
in this capacity in order to voice CEC opinions, to raise issues
relevant to CEC members, and to act on the behalf of individual
member institutions when required.

The history of IYPF is very closely connected to that of the CEC, and
strong links exist between the two organisations, with CEC Deputy
Secretary Neil Bailey participating in the Organising Committee of
the forthcoming IYPS 2008. Under past-President Dato Lee Yee Cheong,
and before becoming a virtual organisation, CEC traditionally met
every two years on the occasion of the Commonwealth Heads of
Government Meetings (CHOGM). Although there was no CEC meeting at
Durban in 1999, CEC did organise a meeting in London during 2000,
this time widening the remit and focusing on Young Commonwealth
Professionals. Further change occurred in 2001 when the CHOGM in
Brisbane was delayed as a result of the events of 09/11; the CEC
event went ahead as scheduled, organised by young Australians and
becoming a meeting of Young International Professionals, leading
directly to the creation of IYPF.

Owing to the importance of engineering within international
development in general, and the fulfilment of the UN Millennium
Development Goals in particular, CEC is currently actively engaged
with issues of international development and poverty alleviation. As
well as advocacy and the raising of awareness, this also includes
maximising the contribution of skilled engineering professionals.
This is done through networking, through the provision of a forum for
debate and the exchange of ideas, and through specific initiatives
and events.

Forthcoming initiatives in which CEC is involved include
participation in the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting to be
held in Kampala in November 2007, with a workshop on urbanisation to
be hosted by CEC and its partners in BEPIC (Built Environment
Professions in the Commonwealth). This is intended to allow the
engagement of infrastructure professionals in the South in order to
address global issues of urbanisation and rural-urban migration. CEC
has also recently joined an international consortium which is bidding
for funds under the UK Government´s `Governance & Transparency
Scheme´, in order to establish a network of voluntary organisations
and NGOs across sub-Saharan Africa. By actively partnering Northern
and Southern organisations together, the consortium aims to transfer
skills and knowledge in order to promote the successful development
of a successful third sector locally, in the interests of furthering
economic development and transparency.

CEC strives to engage with all engineers across the Commonwealth, and
works through national engineering institutions, upon whom the
official CEC membership is conferred. However individual engineers
are welcome to contact the CEC´s Secretariat and can register to
receive the biannual newsletter, as well as submit articles and
opinion pieces for the benefit of their colleagues across the
Commonwealth. Further information on the CEC, its history, ethos and
membership base, can be found on the CEC website www.ice.org.uk/cec,
where you can also sign up for the newsletter. Alternatively,
additional information can be sourced by contacting the CEC´s London
Secretariat (neil.bailey@ice.org.uk).

On Saturday 07.07.07, over a billion people around the world watched
the Live Earth concerts against climate change. Will it make any
difference? That's down to us.

Saving the world will take more than seven concerts -- it depends on
us, millions of us, coming together across borders to take action and
pressing our governments and corporations to do the same. The Climate
Pledge below is much more than a petition -- it's a personal
commitment to seven simple things we all can do, and a challenge to
leaders to deliver before it's too late.

So go to this link now and sign the Pledge -- then tell seven
friends:
http://www.avaaz.org/en/global_climate_movement/b.php?cl=13460037

You can also see photos of our thousands of grassroots house parties
and community events in 125 countries around the world from Hong Kong
to the USA and Portugal to Peru, ordinary people looking each other
in the eye and joining in this pledge. The renewable energy is
catching on!

When it comes to our planet, we can be a lot more than spectators.
The Climate Pledge is the whole point of Live Earth. So add your name
now at this link, and send it to seven friends --
http://www.avaaz.org/en/global_climate_movement/b.php?cl=13460037

This week we could reach a million or more, then get started with the
rest of the world. Let's turn the moment into an unstoppable global
movement. The climate crisis demands nothing less.

With hope, Paul, Graziela, Ricken, Ben, Hannah, Iain, Galit, and the
entire Avaaz team

Here's the text of the pledge. It's more than a petition--it's a
statement of personal and political purpose. Just imagine what's
possible if millions of people sign it and take action:

I PLEDGE:

1. To demand that my country join an international treaty within the
next 2 years that cuts global warming pollution by 90% in developed
countries and by more than half worldwide in time for the next
generation to inherit a healthy earth;

2. To take personal action to help solve the climate crisis by
reducing my own CO2 pollution as much as I can and offsetting the
rest to become "carbon neutral;"

3. To fight for a moratorium on the construction of any new
generating facility that burns coal without the capacity to safely
trap and store the CO2;

4. To work for a dramatic increase in the energy efficiency of my
home, workplace, school, place of worship, and means of
transportation;

5. To fight for laws and policies that expand the use of renewable
energy sources and reduce dependence on oil and coal;

6. To plant new trees and to join with others in preserving and
protecting forests; and,

7. To buy from businesses and support leaders who share my commitment
to solving the climate crisis and building a sustainable, just, and
prosperous world for the 21st century.

This pledge is what makes Live Earth matter. It's the point of the
parties. It's the commitment that will lead to change. Sign the
pledge now, and send it to friends:
http://www.avaaz.org/en/global_climate_movement/b.php?cl=13460037

By Anna Rose, National Coordinator, Australian Youth Climate
Coalition
Presented at a Sustainability and Spirituality forum at the Burswood
Dome, Perth in June 2007

Whenever I hear someone talk about predicted climate change impacts,
I do a rough mental calculation about what that is going to mean for
my generation such as increased water security problems in Australia
by 2030. By the same year when I will be 47 years, many species will
be extinct, and environments like the Great Barrier Reef, Kakadu, and
the Queensland Wet Tropics, will have been destroyed. Sea level rises
in storms and coastal flooding will have a bad impact on Australia by
2050, and Australian agriculture will have dramatically declined due
to increased drought and fire. And when I reach 67 years, probably at
the stage of my life when I´d want to be spending lots of time with
grandchildren, I wonder what kind of world will exist for me to show
them?

Scientists tell us we have around 10 years - at the most - to make
enormous changes to our society and economy to avert this climate
crisis. This means that by the time I´m 34, I will know if the things
we are doing today were enough to keep our Earth living not only for
my generation, but for my children and grandchildren´s generations.

The issues at hand regarding climate change are no longer abstract,
especially for people my age. This is personal; here, now, today, for
you and me, as George Monbiot said, "The victims of global warming
are no longer abstractions. Among them might be my child, or yours,
me, or even you." We are the last generation that has the ability -
in terms of timeframe - to stop climate change, and prepare for the
effects that are already inevitable. I am looking at the earth we
inherited and I am terrified; I am terrified by what we are doing to
it, and by our enormous responsibility to preserve it.

Currently, children and youth account for nearly 40 percent of the
global population. Young people´s lives are today being threatened by
the use of fossil fuels, especially coal, from extraction to
consumption. Youth in the Pacific have already been forced to leave
their homes due to sea level rise. I have a friend my age in
Micronesia called Ben, he´s a University student like me. He can not
plan his future like a young person growing up in Perth is able to,
because he literally does not know where he will be in ten or twenty
years as his country is already being affected by sea level rise.
There are islands off the coast of Papua New guinea that are already
being evacuated because of sea level rise. It is expected that
climate change will force at least 1 billion people, from their homes
between now and 2050. Many of these will be young people, like Ben.

For me, climate change is an ethical issue, an issue of social
justice and survival. I have met many young people from around the
world who are already experiencing their spirituality and cultural
knowledge being destroyed by climate change; from Indigenous youth in
the Arctic who see their culture and way of life destroyed as the ice
recedes, to aboriginal young people here in Australia whose sacred
sites are by coal and uranium mines. In both cases the things being
taken are not just livelihoods but also their futures.

The climate change discussion in Australia has been dominated by
politicians, who won´t even be around when the worst impacts of
climate change start to hit. It´s time for young people to engage in
formulating climate policies and solutions. Youth are often excluded,
even though we are to inherit this world, this climate and its
effects. As young people, we have the right to determine our own
destiny, we have the vision, ideas, passion and huge stake in solving
this problem.

Our desire to engage in the decisions that affect our lives is being
impeded by the lack of support from Australian governments at all
levels.

For the sake of my generation, our governments need to implement
policies that simultaneously prevent dangerous climate change,
protect human rights, and promote social and environmental justice.
Fossil fuels and nuclear power are not sustainable resources and they
have devastating long-lasting effects. There are simple things our
governments can do right now - most importantly, set emission
reduction targets at least 90% by 2030, increase the Mandatory
Renewable Energy Target (MRET) to 20% or more by 2010, improve public
transport, ratify the Kyoto Protocol, and support climate refugees
from our neighbouring small island countries. We need a national
moratorium on fossil fuel exploration - no new coal-fired power
stations, and an end to fossil fuel subsidies. If Australia is
serious about climate change, we can not make excuses for the
continued expansion of our coal industry. Renewable energy and a new
type of economy is the way of the future, creating new, clean jobs
for my generation. We also do not have time for false solutions like
"clean" coal or nuclear power.

That may sound like a far-off dream, but it really isn´t, it´s a
dream borne of necessity. Climate change is already happening, and it
is young people who will be dealing with the fallout from the current
inadequacy of Australian climate change policy in the decades to
come. It is we who will have to explain to our children why, as a
community, we failed to protect our earth and their future.

At my University, for example, we´ve already begun. A large group of
us have been campaigning for the past 2 years to get our University
administration to adopt a climate action plan committing to
purchasing green energy, installing on-site renewables, investing in
energy reduction programs, and more. So far, the University has
agreed to spend 1 million dollars on renewable energy research. It´s
not enough, but it´s a good start. This is part of a growing movement
of young Australians already taking steps to reduce the impact of our
campuses and communities on the global climate. We are educating and
empowering our fellow students, creating a new generation of young
people taking action to protect our climate. The Australian Youth
Climate Coalition is now uniting many of these youth organisations to
make this movement even stronger.

The required technologies to start making the change already exist
today, and in fact, these technologies will improve in ways we could
not even imagine. Yet the problem is that we can not wait, as the
need to transition to a clean energy future is here and now. We need
to create the political pressure just today to address climate
change, otherwise, we will run out of time.

Albert Einstein said, when the bees disappear humans will have 4
years left. Well` the bees are disappearing already, and another
warning is when youth lose hope. I haven´t lost hope because I know
that we can stop dangerous levels of global warming if enough of us
demand change. Stand up and let your governments know that you
believe more must be done to tackle climate change. Get involved in
networks like the Australian Youth Climate Coalition. Join your
school or university environment group, and together we can change
things.

By Yewande Ogunnubi

Doing it for Africa is a project being pioneered by Heart of Healing,
a cape Town Based NGO. The project is aimed at creating an African
volunteer network. One of the aims will be connecting NGO's and
related projects in Africa through an accessible volunteer network.

To do this, a team of six South-African youth have committed
themselves to forming a Pan-African Social and Volunteer Tourism
network. The core mission is to cross Africa from South to North,
working and giving their time and energy to those who require it,
whilst profiling NGOs and related projects they visit.

By documenting the profiles, research and experiences on this
journey, on the 'Love to Africa' interactive web portal (which is
being developed), they aim to create:
· Volunteer tourism network;
· Put African corporate social investment (CSI) opportunities on the
map;
· Map out exciting routes for others to follow.

The young people will profile a wide variety of NGO's, working
projects and socially responsible investment opportunities and make
them accessible to the world by placing them on the map. The profile
format would be designed to match the NGO resource requirements with
the possible volunteers' contributions and skills - resulting in the
best outcome for all involved in the network.

This is a profound project that would definitely help to advance
human and social development in Africa. This is however a pilot
project and therefore the first leg would be mapping route from South
Africa through the following countries: Namibia, Botswana, Zambia,
Mozambique, Malawi, Tanzania, Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya, Sudan, Egypt,
Libya, and Tunisia.

We require contacts from INGOs, NGOs, CBOs, and FBOs in these
countries who would be interested in working with us to do this
mapping and be the reception points for the team of young South
Africans navigating the route.

The benefit of this project is enormous to the NGOs community in
Africa at large, volunteers, corporate organizations, and the various
communities visited and i encourage you to be part of it.

For more information you can contact:
lovetoafrica@heartofhealing.org
yewande@heartofhealing.org.za