A Powerful Movement Towards Justice

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Dedicated to bringing forth a human presence on this planet that is environmentally sustainable, socially just, and spiritually fulfilling.

July 2020

A powerful movement for change is building. We see and feel it, in the Black Lives Matter protests and the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival, with hundreds of groups and thousands of people mobilizing with concrete policy demands, and police departments all over the country being re-imagined. This is a time for each or us and each of our organizations to find our role in the bigger picture of what is happening.

Although these crises may seem separate - health, unemployment, police brutality, racism, climate disruption, political polarization, wealth inequality - the Pachamama vision reminds us of their interconnectedness. Our society cannot address any one of them unless we are willing to look at their root causes and work for justice in every area of our society.

This month’s newsletter focuses on these crises and how individuals can respond – by listening, learning, and taking action. (Click here to read the rest of this message.)

Written & Recorded by:
Sue Staropoli, one of the leaders of the Pachamama Alliance of the Rochester Area

Hope
Our mission is to plant ourselves at the gates of hope—not the prudent gates of Optimism, which are somewhat narrower; nor the stalwart, boring gates of Common Sense; nor the strident gates of self-righteousness, which creak on shrill and angry hinges; nor the cheerful, flimsy garden gate of “Everything is gonna be all right,” but a very different, sometimes very lonely place, the place of truth-telling, about your own soul first of all and its condition, the place of resistance and defiance, the piece of ground from which you see the world both as it is and as it could be, as it might be, as it will be; the place from which you glimpse not only struggle, but joy in the struggle—and we stand there, beckoning and calling, telling people what we are seeing, asking people what they see.

-Victoria Safford

In This Issue

Anti-Racism Information and Resources
Blog: Standing in Solidarity - What is Mine to Do?
Seeds of Hope
Project Drawdown
Action Items
Pachamama Alliance International
Further Resources

Anti-Racism Information and Resources

These is a new section in the Resources page of the PARA website with a list of anti-racism materials to help white people become informed about black history, white privilege, and more, so that they can respond to current events with greater knowledge and integrity. The document includes a list of 75 things white people can do to fight racism. You can also find more about this topic in our recent blogs here.

Blog: Standing in Solidarity - What is Mine to Do?

In these times of racial tension (and awakening for many of us white folks) – I am left with the question – What is mine to do? I am listening and learning so much as my mind and heart are opened with compassion for all that our brothers and sisters (and all gender identities) in the black community have been suffering for years/decades/centuries. It is new and shocking to us, but painfully not new or surprising to them. They’ve lived with this violence and oppression all their lives… (more)

Seeds of Hope: Healing Starts Within
Sunday, July 5
1:30-3:30 pm by Zoom

How do we celebrate Independence Day when the wounds of injustice in our society are so painful and fresh? To create peace and justice in the world, we need to come from a place of peace in ourselves. See the website for further information and registration.

These are momentous times to be alive! Let’s live in them as fully as we can.

Drawdown Programs

Drawdown solutions not only lower emissions of carbon from the atmosphere, but also address issues of health, employment, environmental injustice, and wealth inequality. Working on DD solutions is supporting the movement toward a just, sustainable way of life for all.

Drawdown 2020 is a bold new force in the campaign to reverse global warming. Project Drawdown remeasured, recalculated, and produced a digital, expanding, more powerful program. To learn about the exciting new changes, join a Drawdown 2020 presentation on Zoom. View the schedule and register here.

Action Items

21-Day Racial Equity Habit Building Challenge: For 21 days do one action to further your understanding of power, privilege, supremacy, oppression, and equity. This Challenge site offers readings, podcasts, videos, observations and ways to form and deepen community connections.
Work on the Elections! One of the best things you can do about climate change and racism is to work on the upcoming elections. To get the right leadership at every level - local, county, state and federal - where policies are made that support a life economy, not a death economy - here are ways you can become involved in action to reclaim our democracy and get people elected who support anti-racism and environmental sustainability! The League of Women Voters has many opportunities and resources to work on fighting voter suppression and increasing voter registration.
Environmental Voter Project engages in phone & text banking to increase voter turn-out among the 16 million environmentalists who don't vote! Trainings are held weekly - check it out!
Another source for a wider scope of knowledge and grass-roots action is The Banner - see the latest issue: "Juneteenth & 2020 Vision".

From Pachamama Alliance International

A Message About the Black Lives Matter Movement

As part of its Resilience and Possibility Program Pachamama Alliance International offered two important conversations:
Black Lives Matter and the Work of Pachamama Alliance
Black Lives Matter Panel: Implications for a Connected Future

Further Resources
Visit the Resources page of our website to find the Community Calendar, and Sustainable Shopping/Purchasing Power, which highlights ways to support black-owned restaurants and other businesses, as well as other resources to support your journey of learning and living in a socially just and earth friendly way.

If you discover events and resources to share, email padricial@gmail.com with subject line "Newsletter Resources".

Like our FB pages
Pachamama Alliance Rochester Area
https://www.facebook.com/PachamamaRochester/

Rochester Drawdown
https://www.facebook.com/RochesterNYDrawdown.

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STAY AWAKE.

LISTEN.
MAKE A DIFFERENCE.
ACT.
BE KIND.
MOVE.
BELIEVE.
TRUST.
LOVE.

HOPE.

Do not be afraid!
These are days of power and possibility!
You are here now because you are needed!
Continue the adventure!
Keep making your difference!

www.pachapeopleroc.org