Developing a Universal Philosophy for D.r.e.e.m. Reality

We are always on the mission to conceptualize and communicate the mission, fueled by great passion, of D.r.e.e.m. Reality. Our scope of goals is ultimately to change the world of course but we have to be more focused to be truly effective.

In the process of trying to explain the multi-level purpose of D.r.e.e.m. Reality to our new Directors, I thought that an inverted triangle or better yet, a spiraling model, or concentric circles like a stone-in-a-pond would work well. Also, I think it would be an effective "marketing tool" to have our goal/philosophy on one solid graphic. BOOM, put it on pamphlets, the "about us" page, all that.

So here is the start of that project. First we need to verbalize the ideas...then comes the fun graphic!

We all must initially start with creating a Healthy Self, then that in turn will allow for a Healthy Community, furthermore a Healthy Globe (both environmentally and culturally), and Finally a Healthy Universe and Cosmos. This concept isn't completely new of course, but we think it is an especially effective path for D.r.e.e.m. Reality.

***

Universal Values of D.r.e.e.m. Reality:

• Health of Self - Nutrition, Physical Activity, Self Discovery, Self Love, Life Path Satisfaction, Spiritual Fulfillment

• Health of Community- Local Sustainability, Local Ecosystems, Community Identity, Strength, and Unity

• Health of Global Environment and People- Renewable Energy, Cultural Appreciation, Global Peace, Love of Allkind

• Health of Universe and Cosmos- Greater Awareness, Energetic Cooperation, Spiritual Regeneration

Blue Gold: World Water Wars (Review and Action Plan)

Recently, we had the incredible opportunity to watch an empowering documentary about the quickly depleting fresh water supply of the world, called Blue Gold: World Water Wars.

This documentary provides moving interviews with leading organizers and researchers involved in examining and improving the fresh water situation facing the world. By illuminating the reality of this water crisis as it already exists in other nations, a frightening message is made clear...We NEED to become aware and take action. Water is the most essential element that sustains life and the way we live our lives as consumers is poisoning it.

The movie also addresses how the rapidly spreading privatization of water poses a very real threat. Protected by their legal right to act as an "Individual", corporations are pumping public water supplies, bottling it, and shipping it to other locations for a profit. This not only decreases the availability of water to the local citizens, it also removes the water from it's local ecosystem - increasing desertization in the area. Furthermore, by allowing the privatization of a diminishing vital resource, we are allowing the inevitable control and marketing for sale of that resource. It isn't difficult to imagine a future where the issues surrounding the distribution of water parallel the issues that today surround that of the world's oil.

The movie and website encourage awareness and action that we all can take in order to shift this future. It proposes the following five methods for us all to accomplish this.

*D.r.e.e.m. Reality commits to take these actions and maintain a focused intention to educate ourselves and others about more local and global sustainability, concerning water and other vital resources. *


Blue Gold: World Water Wars - Action Plan

1.What watershed do you live in?

You know your state, city, street, and country. Know the name of the waterhole which you depend on for survival. How can you protect it if you don't know it?

Take Action:

1. In the USA, click here to find your watershed based on your zip code.
2. All other countries, click here to find your watershed.

2. Who owns your water? Are they taking care of it?

Take Action:

1. Call your Water Utility (phone number on your water bill). Ask them if they are run by the government or a private company. If the later, ask who?
2. Is your water provider properly taking care of your water? Food & Water Watch can tell you.

3. Take control of your water.

Take Action:

1. If your water utility is privately owned, organize your community to stop it. Contact one of the organizations listed in #4 for guidance or aid on how best to organize your community action. As "Blue Gold" demonstrates, many others have already organized and are fighting the battle. Get in touch with them and learn from them.
2. Ask the organizations if there are already local groups in existence. If so, join them.
3. Write your local government to protect the public water and maintain control of it for the public.
4. Read the rest of this Action Plan site for specific guidance on each area of the crisis.

4. As an individual, you can only fight local battles. Support the below organizations who are fighting the global battles to change the laws and keep water a human right.

Take Action:

1. Contact the organizations below.
2. Offer your support financially, through volunteer work, and by signing the campaign petitions.
3. Ask them for recommendations of local organizations you can join.

• Food & Water Watch
• Council of Canadians
• Polaris Institute
• People and Water
• Flow For Water
• Ryan's Well
• Michigan Citizens for Water Conservation
• River Alliance of Wisconsin
• Save Our Groundwater
• FogQuest
• Potters For Peace
• France Libertés Fondation Danielle Mitterrand
• Navdanya
• Anti-Privatization Forum in Johannesburg
• Controlled Environment Agriculture Center
• One Drop Foundation
• Better Globe
• Global Water

5. Learn about the world water crisis and history of water conflicts.

Knowledge is power.

Take Action:

1. Read Blue Gold Water News daily
2. BBC Water Crisis site
3. Pacific Institute Water Conflict map
4. UN Water Statistics

~Dani

The Blossoming of our Board of Directors!

While we are patiently awaiting the response from the Secretary of State concerning our Articles of Incorporation, we are building a strong force of Directors.

Last month Melinda and I enthusiastically welcomed Conor to the Board. We were thrilled for him to bring on his consistently practical and revolutionary mind to the team. This past weekend, after our Fresno-Santa Cruz bike adventure, we are honored to welcome FIVE driven and strong women as new D.r.e.e.m. Reality Directors and potential Officers!

Annette - an extraordinarily inspiring woman, who is constantly impressive with her ability to not only talk the talk but gracefully walk the walk as well. She will be an essential addition to the motivation and action of D.r.e.e.m. Reality. Additionally, she has offered to be the official accountant for D.r.e.e.m. Reality as she is getting ready to finish up her studies regarding this skill. Perhaps we will be welcoming her as our Treasurer as well...when she returns from a month-long visit to Thailand!

Crys - one of the incredible motherly figures essential to the nurturing of any successful project. In addition, she has paramount organization, leadership, and integrity skills. She is a Culinary Artist and specializes in community size preparation. As a Food Director at a large kids' summer camp she has developed aspirations for a more sustainable, nutritional, co-operational food preparation and service. Essential for the long term goals of D.r.e.e.m. Reality and the foundational work necessary.

Ashley - another powerful nurturer, she has been gifted as an incredible healer. Presently finishing her Masters work in Chinese Medicine at Five Branches University, she is fully dedicated to improving and sustaining health through numerous Eastern methods including acupuncture, sound healing, herbal medicine, nutritional awareness, and so many other beautiful methods. She is driven, caring, creative, a strong leader, and has an innate ability to see deep truth that can be counted on.

Jacqueline - yet another passionate and talented woman. Driven in the fields of Western medicine, child health, education, and sustainability - we eagerly welcome her wisdom and strength. Also on the path to attain her Masters in Nursing at UC San Francisco, she offers innumerable resources for the organization. We hope to learn more about Grant Proposals with her on the team.

Shiree - seemingly molded right from the Earth, she is a true lover of life and land. She is a role model in her ability to act without fear, especially in pursuit of one's passions. A lady warrior, vessel of creative energy, unquestionable D.r.e.e.m.er. She was also with us at D.r.e.e.m. Reality's premier at the Rainbow Gathering in 2009. Finally, she has chosen to be a student of Horticulture at the beautiful UC Santa Cruz campus - ready to provide so much knowledge to the organization.


All of these women have acted as guides, educators, motivators and mentors to us in other aspects of our lives. They deeply share the goals that this organization promote; enacting them in their daily lives and dreams. It is an honor to have every one of them joining the team!

WELCOME TO THE TEAM LADIES!

~Dani

IBikeFresno.org

Always on the look out for projects to evolve our selves, the organization, the world, and the universe we have proudly joined IBikeFresno.org in their "Million Mile Challenge" for May - bike month!

Not only do we make a significant effort to ride our bikes - to the store, to work, to the park, etc. We also just made a 150 mile bike ride from Fresno to Santa Cruz! It took us 4 days and 3 nights and we went up over Pacheco and Hecker Pass along Hwy 152. What an amazing adventure and trial of heart, body, and soul!

So...

The Fresno County Bicycle Coalition, together with the City of Fresno, have joined forces to enact the Bicycle Master Plan (BMP) to make the city a more bike-friendly community. IBikeFresno.org is the resource center for cyclist to find out about community biking activities, convenient routes, business contacts, and of course to bring everyone together for health and environmental awareness.

May's Million Mile Challenge intends " to log a million collective miles in the month of May and we need your help.We don’t really care why you ride, we just want you to get out there and pedal. Commute to work. Run an errand. Take the family to the park. Train for a race. Run the dog. Cruise around town. Every time you take a bike ride, come back to I Bike Fresno and log your miles. By using the green colored box on the right you can set up an account and start logging those miles starting from May 1^st."

We openly invite and encourage all of our Directors, friends, family, and fellow Fresno-ians to join IBikeFresno.org's Million Mile Challenge. When you sign up, make sure to join the D.r.e.e.m. Reality Team!

Get out there and bike for your, mine, and the world's health!

But let's keep going after May!

~Dani

Expanding the D.r.e.e.m. Reality Library

D.r.e.e.m. Reality is coming closer and closer to launching its first major research project focused on conducting a large scale study of ecovillages throughout the United States. The purpose of this study will be to collect data on the different social, economic, and physical components of these different ecovillages. Ultimately this project hopes to publish a scientifically recognized study on the topic, to bring the concepts of sustainability, community, and environmental awareness to the scientific arena.

One of the first steps to conducting a study is to make sure there is an understanding of other literature concerning the topic. Therefore, we are always looking to expand our D.r.e.e.m. Reality library and have recently purchased some new books:

• Finding Community: How to Join an Ecovillage or Intentional Community (Diana Christian). Finding Community presents a thorough overview of ecovillages and intentional communities and offers solid advice on how to research thoroughly, visit thoughtfully, evaluate intelligently, and join gracefully. Useful considerations include: Important questions to ask (of members and of yourself), Signs of a healthy (and not-so-healthy) community, Cost of joining (and staying), and Common blunders to avoid.

• The Dream of Earth (Thomas Berry). This first volume in a new series, the Sierra Club Nature and Natural Philosophy Library, explores human-earth relations and seeks a new, non-anthropocentric approach to the natural world. According to cultural historian Berry, our immediate danger is not nuclear war but industrial plundering; our entire society, he argues, is trapped in a closed cycle of production and consumption. Berry points out that our perception of the earth is the product of cultural conditioning, and that most of us fail to think of ourselves as a species but rather as national, ethnic, religious or economic groups. Describing education as "a process of cultural coding somewhat parallel to genetic coding," he proposes a curriculum based on awareness of the earth. He discusses "patriarchy" as a new interpretation of Western historical development, naming four patriachies that have controlled Western history, becoming progressively destructive: the classical empires, the ecclesiastical establishment, the nation-state and the modern corporation. We must reject partial solutions and embrace profound changes toward a "biocracy" that will heal the earth, urges the author who defines problems and causes with eloquence.
  

• Localization: A Global Economy (Colin Hines). This book is unique in going beyond simply criticizing free trade and globalization trends. Details self-reinforcing policies the create local self-sufficiency and shows clearly that there is an alternative to globalization--to protect the local, globally.

• And We're Doing It: Building an Ecovillage Future (J.T. Ross Jackson). A brilliant scientist, prominent financier and visionary described his experiences with developing ecovillages that restore our sense of community and our connection to the earth while providing us with environmentally sound and sustainable sources of livelihood. Ross Jackson's vision contrasts sharply with the rootless, money-mad, exploitive world of the global economy. It is grounded in the practical experience of hundreds of ecovillage and green enterprise experiments that are being developed around the world. Anyone interest in global, regional or local environmentalism should read this book. It is especially useful and inspiring to those who think good things can't be done. This is a wonderful guide to the development of self-sustaining, green communities, you can learn from the experiences of someone who has fought environmental battles -- and won. It sets forth a clear, practical, feasible vision of the ecovillage. How to do it and how to sustain it.

We are presently working on completing the notes and follow up report on Ecovillage Living: Restoring the Earth and Her People. As soon as that report is complete we'll post it for anyone to view. These books, as well as the rest of the growing library, are essential tools. While we are waiting for the legal confirmation of our organization we can be ready to hit the ground running!

~Phoenix
~Dani