Culture of Peace Initiative

A New Narrative on the Road

by Deborah Phelan (boatsie)

Photo courtesy of Global Oneness Project

Measure the success of a WiserEarth group by its ability to unite regional Wiser members in support of a common purpose and the Global Oneness Project emerges a surefire winner.

It's May roadshow,  “The New Narrative, Local Voices for a Global Future", a series of free interactive film cafes, recruited Wiser volunteers, sponsors, and participants in venues from Eugene and Portland, Oregon, Seattle and Olympia, Washington, and Vancouver, B.C.

Each cafe featured three short films, a Q&A with documentary filmmaker and Global Oneness Project Director Emmanuel Vaughan-Lee, and a guest speaker, Orland Bishop, founder of ShadeTree Multicultural Foundation in Watts, Los Angeles.

"Portland was a full house, with people hanging over the couches in the Kennedy School theater, engrossed in conversation," says Outreach Director Michelle Moore. "Orland Bishop's presentation left everyone on the edge of their seats, and many stayed around afterward, hanging out in the hallway, with so much to share with each other."

Among the numerous groups participating were NWEI, Ecotrust, and SEA Change Gallery.

In attendance at Seattle's cafe: Mike Seymour (Heritage Institute), Rich Henry (For the Grandchildren), Michael Harris (Power of Hope), Jon Ramer (Interra Project), and Erika Berg (Compassionate Action Network). 

"The Heritage Institute is offering teachers clock hours and PDUs for attending the events and also for using the films," says Moore.  "We had a great turnout out of passionate teachers."

Moore explains the rationale behind the three films chosen for this series: "The first questions some of the assumptions of our current way of living and looks toward an emerging recognition of our great collective potential. The second shows an example of the power of love to transform a violent community. The third documents an area in Ethiopia that has been sustainable and biologically and culturally diverse for thousands of years and is now threatened by Western influences. This film provides insight into a value system and cosmology that is a basis for long-term survival."