New York City Metro Coalition

                                                               See Below For:

Who We Are:
Purpose, Mission and Goals:
Initiatives:
Leadership:
About our Icon:

Who We Are:   We are a Coalition of metropolitan New York region networks and organizations whose missions and goals are similar to those of WiserEarth.org and the vision of Paul Hawken and his associates.  Founding members include (see details in next paragraph): The Coalition for OneVoice; The New York City Sierra Club; One Spirit Learning Alliance; Neighborhood Energy Network; We the World; The National Service Conference; Student World Assembly; InterSpiritual Dialogue in Action; the Earth Values Caucus at the United Nations; and the Climate and Energy Caucus at the United Nations.  We meet reguarly through the auspices of NYC's vibrant Coalition for OneVoice (and its new fully interactive website www.coalitionforonevoice.org) and also often in association with the studio of famed tree artist Anders Knutsson (www.andersknutsson.com).  We welcome any and all persons, organizations, and networks in the New York City region to join us in uniting around and supporting the wider vision articulated at www.wiserearth.org.  Simply query us if you'd like to join us; see our mission and goals below.

Here are our Coalition-member details, all of whom will profile as organizations at WiserEarth:  (* means member of OneVoice Coalition; ** means Accredited NGO of the United Nations Dept. of Public Information)--* www.coalitionforonevoice.org; www.nyc.sierraclub.org; * www.onespiritinterfaith.org; www.neighborhoodenergynetwork.org; *, ** www.studentworldassembly.org; *, ** (InterSpiritual Dialogue) www.isdna.org; *, ** www.wetheworld.org; *, ** www.nationalserviceaeu.org; ** (Earth Values Caucus) www.cwed.org/earthcaucuspg.htm; (Climate and Energy Caucus) www.energycaucus.org.  

Purpose and Mission:  To collaborate with any and all persons, groups, organizations, networks and communities in the New York City region in uniting around and supporting realization of the vision shared by us and www.wiserearth.org. 

Goal:  To develop a growing community of dedicated persons, organizations and networks in the New York City area which can work together to address as many issues as possible across the breadth of our shared visions, interests, constituency mandates, and abilities, focusing especially on environmental issues and their inherent relationship with spiritual, ethical and human rights concerns.

Initiatives:  
     Initiative 1:  see TreeFriends & 2009-2010 Nature Awareness/ Greening NYC Initiatives below (and with updated report at

           end of this Initiatives section).
     Initiative 2:  serving the Group Membership Projects of our group members

     Initiative 3:  2009 Winter/Spring Course Offering on Hawken/WiserEarth agenda

     Initiative 4:  3-days of Events for International Day of Peace, Sept. 19-21st, 2008 (see report at www.coalitionforonevoice.org) .

Leadership Team:   Coalition for OneVoice:  Dr. Kurt Johnson, Jane Hughes Gignoux, Emily Squres, Len Belzer, Richard Schiffman, Gerard Senehi, Rick Ulfik; New York City Sierra Club:  Dan Miner; Earth Values Caucus:  Eleanor Rae, Alayne O'Reilly; Climate and Energy Caucus:  Dr. William Gellermann; We the World:  Rick Ulfik; One Spirit Learning Alliance:  Michael Pergola, Dr. Kurt Johnson; National Service Conference:  Dr. Kurt Johnson; InterSpiritual Dialogue in Action:  Dr. Kurt Johnson; Neighborhood Energy Network: Lois Sturm.  Special Advisor:  Paul Hawken.

About Our Icon:  " The Great Copper Beech" by Anders Knutsson (www.andersknutsson.com).  The New York City Metro Coalition is working with Anders and his New York studio as part of one of our New York City Initiatives.  Anders is known worldwide for his iconic tree portraits. 

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Initiative I: "TreeFriends" and the 2009 wider Greening of New York City Initiatives

Below, you'll see our original postings about this Initiative.  In response to our World Shift to Peace Festival in 2008, the Coalition will be expanding this initiative in 2009 to a broad-based program involving all aspects of "greening" in New York City, ranging from environmental awareness and the arts etc., to knitty-gritty technical challenges facing the City and region right now, including that of the transition re: green jobs economy.

Original "Tree Friends" statement, 2008:  Many, if not most, New Yorkers have very little opportunity to connect deeply to the natural world on a regular basis. We live in a man-made world of computers, electronic switches and devices, using artificial light sources, and underground transport. Concern about global warming or the environment may seem remote and unimportant compared to the pressures of our immendiate day-to-day lives. Whether we hang out in a third grade classroom, a Wall Street board room, a CVS stockroom, an upscale ad agency, or a high rise corporate cubicle, the world of nature has precious little chance to intrude.

TreeFriends is an initiative intended to invite our urban neighbors to get to know and build long-lasting relationships with some of our most powerful, influential, and magnificent fellow beings--our Trees.

Anders Knutsson is a Swedish-born painter and long time resident of New York City. For the last 14 years he has been painting some of our most impressive examples of the life form we often take for granted--the Tree. These paintings are in no way landscapes; they are true portraits. A fine portrait, one that can actually move the viewer, is not merely a good physical likeness. Rather it manages to capture the inner, spiritual being of the subject. When we gaze at the Mona Lisa or a Rembrandt portrait, we are inevitably drawn into relationship with another being. Something in our own inner knowing connects with the essence emmanating from the artist's rendition. Anders' Trees are such portraits.

The plan is to show some of the Knutsson Tree portraits in a public space in Manhattan (and hopefully later in the other boroughs), collaborate with performing artists--musicians, dancers, poets--to create a multi-sensory experience for New Yorkers, as well as visitors. These program would vary depending on the type of group attending. For instance, there would be different school programs to suit the interests of primary, middle, and high school students. Some programs would be interactive and energetic, while others might be more contemplative evoking guiet and stillness.

We hope to tie in TreeFriends with concrete actions sponsored by organizations working to protect, plant, and/or nurture trees and forests both locally and worldwide. Some of the activities may be out of doors in the parks and wildlands of the City, where we can join with urban park rangers, biologists, and others to actually explore and celebrate the City's little-known world of trees.

TreeFriends is currently in the early stages of development. We are reaching out to creative people in many fields who have a passion for the natural world in order to introduce them to Knutsson's Trees. Invariably on these occasions, people are drawn to the power, magesty, and intimacy of the portraits. In addition to engaging people in the arts, we are seeking New Yorkers with a history of making things happen to improve our way of life here, imaginative folk of all kinds who are willing to be the change we want to see in the world. 

For at 2009-2010 update on Tree Friends see the longer text immediately below these initiatives.

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Initiative 2:  Support of our Group Member Projects

Ongoing meetings of the Circle have each been reviewing ongoing projects of the Group's members and providing support, especially endorsement support.  We will continue to examine the projects of our individual Group members to see what air and support the Circle can provide.

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Initiative 3:  Winter/Spring 2009 Course Offering in Hawken/WiserEarth Vision

Dr. Kurt Johnson, at One Spirit Learning Alliance and Interfaith Seminary:  Message of the Mystic Heart, B:  The Common Core of Human Wisdom and Care of the Earth—Modern Spirituality, World Shift and the  Environmental Issues Confronting our Earth Today

This informational and discussion-based “short-course” extends the vision of world change in Brother Wayne Teadales classic The Mystic Heart: Discovering a Universal Spirituality in the World’s Religions to the arena of science and care of the earth.  In the context of OneSpirit’s work with www.wiserearth.org and other vehicles of world change, this course provides the context from the world’s religions and spiritual traditions for “Earth-Care” and recognition of the major global environmental challenges of today, drawing from (1) Brother Wayne’s work, (2) a recent series produced by Harvard University on this subject, (3) the comprehensive view of world shift and environmental concerns articulated by Paul Hawken in his bestseller Blessed Unrest (2007) and his www.wiserearth.org.  Dr. Johnson further draws from his participation in the Humanist Institute’s ecohumanism work, the American Association for the Advancement of Science’s “Dialogue of Science, Ethics and Religion” and, in conclusion, provides a succinct overview of today’s environmental challenges in the context of the modern Integral thinkers, particularly the Integral theory and Integral ecology of Ken Wilber. 

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Initiative 4.  See our report on this great program at www.coalitionforonevoice.org. 

Sept. 19-21 International Day of Peace Events included the Sept. 20th WORLD SHIFT TO PEACE FESTIVAL.   The circle was an active participant in creating three events in New York City over the International Day of Peace weekend.  NYC Metro Coalition participated with its key member Coalition for One Voice in the World Shift to Peace Festival (see Events herein) on Sept. 20th at Fourth Univeralist Church Landmark on the Park, a day with inter-religious leader Matthew Fox and concurrent workshops and presentations by OV organizations and individual members concerning environment, peace, social justice, wellness, and many more themes.   More information on this premier NYC event and its followup can be found at both www.coalitionforonevoice.org and www.onespiritinterfaith.org.

Updated Report on Tree Friends 2009-2010, from www.coalitionforonevoice.org:

TreeFriends. What is it? Where did it come from? What’s it good for?

For several thousand years most humans have been living out a story that goes something like this: As humans, we are separate from all other life forms, our job is to multiply, use other life forms to promote our needs and destroy any “enemies” who may get in our way. Humans, the story goes, are in charge and superior to all other life forms. The results of following this path have led us to a point today at which we are immersed in chaos and destruction on many fronts. It is increasingly obvious to more and more people that the path we have been following has led to a dead end. But people of all persuasions are wondering, where do we go now?

TreeFriends, whose mission is “using the arts to transform our relationship to the natural world,” invites people to start from a very different premise. If we pay attention to cutting-edge scientists and look around us at other life forms, we can accept and embody a very different version of reality: Humans are simply one species here on Earth, inextricably connected to and interdependent on our co-inhabitants. TreeFriends invites people to celebrate this new story and go forth to live fully, gratefully and joyfully from that awareness.

In a way, the story of TreeFriends story starts on January 31, 1971, when as his website states, “Navy Captain Dr. Edgar Mitchell embarked on a journey into outer space that resulted in becoming the sixth man to walk on the moon.  The Apollo 14 mission was NASA's third manned lunar landing.  This historic journey ended safely nine days later on February 9, 1971.  It was an audacious time in the history of mankind.  For Mitchell, however, the most extraordinary journey was yet to come.

“As he hurtled earthward through the abyss between the two worlds, Mitchell became engulfed by a profound sensation ‘a sense of universal connectedness.’  He intuitively sensed that his presence, that of his fellow astronauts, and that of the planet in the window were all part of a deliberate, universal process and that the glittering cosmos itself was in some way conscious. The experience was so overwhelming Mitchell knew his life would never be the same.”

Twenty-five years later, in The Way of the Explorer (with Dwight Williams, Putnam & Sons, New York), Dr. Mitchell expands on this experience. “…there was a startling recognition that the nature of the universe was not as I had been taught….There was an upwelling of fresh insight coupled with a feeling of ubiquitous harmony—a sense of interconnectedness with the celestial bodies surrounding our spacecraft….It was a signpost showing the direction toward new viewpoints and greater understanding. The human being is part of a continuously evolving process, a more grand and intelligent process than classical science and the religious traditions have been able to correctly describe….This new feeling…shook me to the very core” *

This pivotal, life-altering experience, which continued throughout the three-day return trip from the Moon, led Mitchell in 1972 to resign from the Navy and a year later found the Institute of Noetic Sciences. A courageous move at the time, Mitchell was determined  “to sponsor research into the nature of consciousness as it relates to cosmology and causality.”  Thirty-six years later the Institute, popularly known as IONS, describes itself in this manner.

The Institute of Noetic Sciences is a nonprofit research organization located in Northern California that conducts and sponsors leading-edge research into the potentials and powers of consciousness—including perceptions, beliefs, attention, intention, and intuition. The Institute explores phenomena that do not necessarily fit conventional scientific models, while maintaining a commitment to scientific rigor.

Since 1973, in large part thanks to the early IONS-supported research, the “story” of what science has come to accept as worthy of consideration has opened up and evolved in a number of directions. To give one example, the mind-body-spirit connection is now generally accepted by science as well as by medicine.

As the years went by, IONS attracted more and more members, people who were interested in learning about the ways in which direct (noetic) experiences could influence the material world. Then in 1979, three of those members, New Yorkers all, had the inspiration to bring together some of their friends to study the research that IONS was generating and invite cutting-edge scientists to come talk about their findings. They formed Friends of IONS (FIONS) which became the first of what are currently 200 local community groups that sprang up spontaneously and continue to seed themselves around the USA and throughout the world.

Over the years, FIONS members have explored new research in health and healing; quantum physics; neuroscience; extrasensory perception; UFOs; dreams; the interconnectedness of all life and many more topics that tend to lead to an expanded consciousness of reality. IONS and FIONS members often refer to themselves as “noetic explorers, more interested in the questions than the answers.”

Meanwhile, most of the rest of the world has been bumping along still caught up in the age-old story of materialism that insists everything is either true or false, right or wrong, good or bad. Coupled with that belief is the unassailable notion that growth—economic, social, political—is an essential part of life. At the same time, more and more people, with little support from mainstream society, have increasingly become aware that humanity may be on the wrong track. An inner knowing tells them that there is something fundamentally wrong with the “story” we are living as a human society. Some of these folk, whom sociologist Paul Ray has labeled “Cultural Creatives,” have been drawn to have grave concerns about how human activities are affecting the environment; others to how the traditional medical profession deals with health and healing; still others have focused on education, social justice or human rights issues. There are more than a few Cultural Creatives who are deeply concerned about all these areas.

These myriad and often courageous efforts to bring about change, until very recently, have continued to see themselves as separate, disconnected from one another. Yet scientific research on many fronts has been pointing out that all life is interconnected and interdependent.

As the self-described “Historian, Author, Geologian” Thomas Berry has been saying and writing for three decades, what we need is a “new story.” Cultural Creatives and others wondered, what could that story be?

Then in the Spring of 2006, a FIONS board member, feeling the need to take her noetic explorations into a new realm, reached out to a few colleagues “for the purpose of creating a coalition with one strong voice, which can work towards shifting the level of consciousness in ourselves, our communities and our planet.” This call evolved into the Coalition for OneVoice which, in October of that year, drew 600 people to its first public gathering—Passion to Connect—featuring Deepak Chopra and Andrew Cohen in dialogue, the cutting edge spiritual art of Alex Grey, several riveting performances and a stimulating World Café dialogue session.

Since then, OneVoice folk have continued to meet in small focus circles and for larger public events. An underlying question has accompanied these varied activities like a faithful friend: What is needed to help manifest a systemic change, the Shift that IONS has been pointing to for some time?

As anyone knows who has studied the power of intention, eventually a sustained non-manipulative question will manifest into a response. In early 2008, the first glimmer of such a response began to take shape and by spring, TreeFriends was conceived and, as with any new life form, gradually over many months developed into an initiative whose purpose was nothing less than an attempt to rewrite the human story at is most basic level.

Edgar’s experience coming back from the Moon on Apollo 14—“the nature of the Universe is not as I have been taught”—continues to live on, taking any number of forms along the way and now manifests right here in NYC as a bold new initiative called TreeFriends.

Others may tell the story differently, that’s the nature of storytelling.

* Used with permission

For TreeFriends

-Jane Hughes Gignoux