So much news that is encouraging… so much news that prompts us to keep up the effort…

“In countless localities, like green shoots pushing up through the rubble, new social and economic arrangements are sprouting. Not waiting for our national or state politicos to catch up with us, we are banding together, taking action in our own communities. Flowing from our creativity and collaboration on behalf of life, these actions may look marginal, but they hold the seeds for the future.” (from Joanna Macy’s webpage on which she describes the three dimensions of the Great Turning; click here)

What is the Great Turning? It is “…a name for the essential adventure of our time: the shift from the industrial growth society to a life-sustaining civilization.” (click here) This is about respect for life and nature, universal human rights, environmental, social, and economic justice, and a culture of peace…it’s about The Earth Charter (click here).

Here are links to the news that has drifted into my Inbox this week:

=Canadian-born, globally growing: Idle No More Movement (click here , here, and here)

=Speaking tour across Canada: Author and journalist Robert Fisk to talk on “Arab Spring”   (click here)

= “Palestinians Establish a new Village, Bab Alshams, in Area E1” (click here) (What is E1? click here)

= “O Little Town of Bethlehem” – a thought-provoking video (click here)

=Regarding the upcoming Israeli government elections (on 22 Jan. 2013): “Netanyahu government is Israel’s most anti-Zionist ever, says Amoz Oz” (click here)

As we all lean into new year’s resolutions and transitions, let’s share a sense of ‘loving courage’…a mix of the concept of ‘loving kindness’ (click here) with a desire to keep on ‘keeping on’…

in this new era, as we mark a new moon, here on this planet that we call home…

New moon over the Middle East – April 2009 – Photo Sherry Ann