Background References
Awakening theDreamer, Changing the Dream Symposium
Index for Background References (V-2)
Updated December 2009
Module1:
Eco-Spot Connection[Page…]
1B – The Pachamama Story [Page1]
Module 2:Where Are We?
2A – Environmental Sustainability [Page…]
2B – Environmental and Social Justice [Page …]
2C – Spiritual, Psychological and Emotional Impact [Page …]
Module 3:How Did We Get Here?
3A – Worldviews and Assumptions [Page …]
3B – Another Worldview [Page …]
Eco-Spot: Island Home[Page …]
Module 4:The Universe Story [Page …]
Module 5:What’s Possible For The Future?
5A – History and the Emerging Dream [Page …]
WOMBAT [Page …]
Module 6:Where Do We Go From Here?
6A – Personal Stand [Page …]
6B – In Blessed Unrest, Choosing Action [Page …]
Module 7:Finale: Hope Committed in Action [Page …]
Awakening the Dreamer,Changing the Dream Symposium
V-2 Background References
Updated October 2009
These are the background references for the” V-2” version of the Awakening the Dreamer, Changing the Dream Symposium. For comments on, or additions to, this document, or to find out about The Pachamama Alliance, the organization that created the Symposium, please go to: or email and indicate “Background References” on the subject line.
V-2 Module 1A: Eco-Spot Connections
Key Points: / Source/References:1A-1
Narrator:
It’s the third planet from the sun—a tiny sphere spinning through a moment in time—a remarkable place that was kind enough to yield just the right elements to sustain a phenomenon called life, where each creature is as unique as this world we call home. And a day begins in much the same way for all. Maybe that's when it crosses your mind—in the warmth from a ray of sun or the kindness of a stranger—it occurs to you how one life touches so many others. And you begin to see how all things are connected, like the blood that unites one family. And you come to realize that mankind did not weave the web of life; we're merely a strand in it, and whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves…on the third planet from the sun. (Voiceover: Linda Hunt)
1A-2
Eco-Spot Connections Video / A non-profit Earth Communication Office (ECO) created the 60-second video spots we have been showing today. They would love to get them distributed as much as possible, in movie theaters, in any and all settings. There is a CD with about 20 of the spots on it available at their website
Earth Communications is working to change the way that media is used, refocusing it from a tool for selling things, to a tool to help re-imagine a sustainable future. See:
V-2 Module 1B: The Pachamama Story
Key Points: / Source/References:1B-1
Awakening the Dreamer, Changing the Dream Symposium / A symposium is a form of meeting where ideas can be shared; the word derives from the Greek verb sympotein meaning "to drink together." For more see
1B-2
This Symposium was created by The Pachamama Alliance. / The Pachamama Alliance is a non-profit (or you could say “social profit”) organization that works primarily with indigenous groups in the Amazon basins of Ecuador and Peru.
The destruction of the world's rainforests is driven by a complex web of social and economic forces, many of these a logical result of modern society's worldview -- a view that, although rich in technological insight, is often ignorant of the value of nature's apparently free and limitless services. It is a view guided by maximum short-term financial gain while disregarding the long-term costs of ecological degradation. It is a worldview in which tropical forests can show up as a cash crop to be harvested rather than as an irreplaceable ecosystem to be protected. This is not, however, the only worldview.For more information, see:
The Pachamama Alliance now has an important role in assisting Ecuador to consider moving to a non-petroleum based economy. Millions of acres of pristine rainforest have been protected by the Ecuadorian government and its stewardship has been granted to the Achuars.
The Pachamama Alliance has assisted the Ecuadorian government of Rafael Correa government in adopting a green constitution. Ecuador has become the first country to approve a constitution that, among other reforms, recognizes certain inalienable rights for nature. Under five provisions in the new constitution's Rights of Nature chapter, an ecosystem has the "right to exist, persist, maintain and regenerate its vital cycles, structure, functions and its processes in evolution," and "every person, people, community or nationality, will be able to demand the recognitions of these rights." For more information, see:
The Pachamama Alliance is also fostering with the Ecuadorian government the development of a gift-economy incubator in Quito, inspiring greater volunteerism and a shift in our cultural ethos towards generosity. In a gift economy, goods and services are given without any strings attached; it is an economic system where wealth is decreased by hoarding and it is the circulation of the gifts within the community that leads to increase – in both connections and relationship strength. The gift-economy is an ancient, indigenous idea that is curiously finding its footing in the modern Internet economy.
For more information, see:
See the following links for some details on progress made in protecting forests and the rights of indigenous people in Ecuador:
1B-3
Pachamama / Pachamama is a word in the Quechua language of the Andes. Quechua was the language of the Inca empire. It is the most widely spoken of all American Indian languages. For more, see Wikipedia at:
1B-4
Narrator:
“…The Achuar are an ancient dream culture … in Ecuador and Peru.” / Achuar (Ah-chwar)
To read about the Achuar people see the NAE website:
and see Wikipedia at:
Read about the importance of dreams to the indigenous people:
1B-5
Narrator:
“… they began to see what the outside world and its thirst for oil was doing to the land…” / To see a movie about oil damage in the Amazonian rainforest, go to:
As an Achuar leader said, because they live here, they preserve the forest, they love the forest—so that it can be sustained and give life to nature for all living beings. They believe that life is under the ground, on the surface of earth, and in the atmosphere. These three things are interrelated so that the world can exist. Therefore, it’s not possible to say, ‘I'll take the oil and ignore the forest.’ Everything is connected to everything else in this world. The territory of the Achuar is sacred to them as they explain on this website:
1B-6
Indigenous people / The term “indigenous people” has no fixed, standard definition. Literally, the word “indigenous” means originating from or native to a place. In this broad sense, we are all “indigenous” but most of us raised in the dominant culture lack a deep connection to place.
To understand more about this complex concept, see:
1B-7
Lynne Twist / Lynne Twist is co-founder of The Pachamama Alliance. She is also the founder of Soul Money Institute. She is a global activist, fundraiser, speaker, consultant, and author. She has dedicated her life to global initiatives that serve the best instincts in all of us. She has raised hundreds of millions of dollars and trained thousands of fundraisers to be more effective in their work. An original staff member of The Hunger Project, an organization started in 1977 to end world hunger, Lynne served as a leader of this global initiative for 20 years. Lynne has spent more than three decades working in positions of leadership with many global initiatives, including: ending world hunger, protecting the world’s rainforests, empowering indigenous peoples, improving health, economic, and political conditions for women and children, advancing the scientific understanding of human consciousness, creating a sustainable future for all life.
For further information, see:
For a video, see:
1B-8
Lynne Twist:
“… we would need to changethe dream of the North – the dream of the modern world, a dream deeply rooted in consumption and acquisition, without any regard to the consequences…” / To learn more about the materialistic dream of the North, see:
If we consider that the dream of the North is a trance, the following article can be useful:
1B-9
Bill Twist / Bill Twist is co-founder of The Pachamama Alliance and has been President and Chairman of the Board since its inception. He has an extensive background in business and was the Senior Vice-President for Financial Services for Comdisco, a New York Stock Exchange company. He is on the Board of the Centro Economicos Derechos y Sociales in Ecuador, an NGO working on economic and social rights issues in the Andes countries in South America. He is also the Board President of the Champion Securities Company.
1B-10
Bill Twist:
“… But we took the request of the Achuar very seriously…” / The Pachamama Alliance’smission is two-fold:
-To preserve the Earth’s tropical rainforest by empowering the indigenous people who are its natural custodians.
-To contribute to bringing forth an environmentally sustainable, socially just and spiritually fulfilling human presence on this planet as the guiding principle of our time.
See
1B-11
Narrator:
“The intention is that by the end, …, you see them as interrelated facets of one profoundly interconnected whole.” / For video on interconnectedness see:
For an article on the interface between science and metaphysics, see:
For a video discussion on oneness between a physicist and a mystic, see:
For an article on interconnectedness by a biologist, see:
1B-12
Narrator:
“… the scope and urgency of the planetary situation we face.” / For a short video on the global crisis, see:
For a brief overview of the planetary situation, see:
For an article on the state of the world, see:
1B-13
Blessed unrest / For definition of blessed unrest, see:wikipedia.org/wiki/Blessed_Unrest
For a video on defining blessed unrest:
1B-14
Narrator:
“… One such legend is found throughout much of the Americas — the Prophecy of the Eagle and the Condor.” / For more information on the Prophecy of the Eagle and the Condor, go to:
Other possible sources: or
1B-15
John Perkins / John Perkins is a board member and one of the founders of The Pachamama Alliance. Economist, activist and author.
John Perkins spent three decades as an Economic Hit Man, business executive, author, and lecturer. He lived and worked in Africa, Asia, the Middle East, Latin America, and North America. Then he made a decision: he would use these experiences tochange the world. For more information, see: or
John’s website:
For more information on "time of prophecies", see at John’s organization, Dream Change:
1B-16
Don Alverto Tazo / Don Alverto Tazo is a shaman of the Andes. A shaman is a practitioner of shamanism, a term used to denote a number of separate practices and belief sets found in different indigenous peoples in many different parts of the world. Shamans might typically be active as healers and intermediaries with the spirit world on behalf of their own community.
For more about this complex topic read:
1B-17
Domingo Paez / Domingo Paez is an Achuar leader. He was the first Achuar who ran for Congress in Ecuador. Although he did not win, he has been an active leader in his community for quite some time. There is no information on Domingo on the web, you can find out more about the Achuar:
V-2 Module 2A: Where Are We? Environmental Sustainability
Key Points: / Source/Reference:2A-1
Sustainability / Sustainability is the ability of the current generation to meet its needs, without compromising the ability of future generations to meet theirs. The UN definition of sustainability was originally put forth in Section 3, #27 of Our Common Future, a report from the United NationsWorld Commission on Environment and Development (WCED) and was published in 1987. This report was also called the Brundtland report in recognition of former Norwegian Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland's role as Chair of the World Commission on Environment and Development.
The report is one of the seminal environmental documents of the 20th century. It is representative of the growing global awareness in the second half of the century of the enormous environmental problems facing the planet, and of a growing shift towards global environmental action. As the report observes, humankind saw the earth from space for the first time only a few decades ago, and yet this has had a profound impact on the way in which we perceive the earth and our place on it.
For a copy of the report see this link:
Or this link from the World in Balance website:
Here is one of the various definitions of sustainability:
Sustainability can be defined as humanity’s investment in a system of living, projected to be viable on an ongoing basis that provides quality of life for all individuals of sentient species and preserves natural ecosystems. Sustainability in its simplest form describes a characteristic of a process or state that can be maintained at a certain level indefinitely.
See more on this definition at:
The Iroquois Confederacy, as well as many other indigenous peoples, held care and respect for the earth as a duty. The Iroquois had as guiding principles the consideration of impacts to peace, nature and future generations when making decisions. This principle was referred to in the presentation to the United Nations made by the people of the Six Nations in 1995: “In making any law, our chiefs must always consider three things: the effect of their decision on peace; the effect on the natural world; and the effect on seven generations in the future.”
A synthesis of these definitions can be found at:
2A-2
Ecology and biodiversity / The term ecology refers to the relationships between organisms and their environments and the study of those relationships. It also refers to the branch of sociology (human ecology) that is concerned with studying the relationships between human groups and their physical and social environments. And a third definition is the study of the detrimental effects of modern civilization on the environment.
See definitions at Answers.com:
Biodiversity is another term widely used in relation to ecology. Biodiversity is defined as the variation of life forms within a given ecosystem, biome or for the entire Earth. Biodiversity is often used as a measure of the health of biological systems. Biodiversity found on Earth today consists of many millions of distinct biological species, which is the product of four billion years of evolution.
For more information, see:
In May 2008, there was a convention on biodiversity:
For a video on Biodiversity:
In terms of lack of biodiversity, just 12 crops and 14 animal species now provide most of the world’s food. Less genetic diversity means fewer opportunities for the growth and innovation needed to boost agriculture at a time of soaring food prices.
2A-3
Narrator:
“What kind of world is our modern way of life actually producing?” / Human activity is putting such a strain on the natural functions of Earth that the ability of the planet’s ecosystems to sustain future generations can no longer be taken for granted. An excellent summary of the impact of all this on the environment is in the comprehensive United Nations Millennium Ecosystem Assessment report (a study carried out by 1,360 scientists around the world, completed in 2005), which concludes unequivocally that we are in an environmental crisis. The Millennium Ecosystem Assessmentpresents the findings of the 1,360 scientists worldwide who worked for five years to evaluate the impact of human presence on the planet. Initiated in 2001, the objective of the MA is to assess the consequences of ecosystem change for human well-being and the scientific basis for actions needed to enhance the conservation and sustainable use of those systems and their contribution to human well-being. Each part of this assessment has been scrutinized by governments, independent scientists, and other experts to ensure the robustness of its findings. The assessment report as well as other related information can be found at:
See summary of reports at GreenFacts website:
2A-4
Narrator:
“One place to begin is with the dramatic changes that have occurred in population.” / The world population was estimated at 6.71 billion in July 2008 by World Fact book.
See the chart created by the Population Reference Bureau ( the chart entitled World Population Growth through History at:
Find out more about current world population, development and social issues at the following links:
See current population count and other real time statistics at:
Find out more about current world population, development and social issues at the following links:
2A-5
Narrator:
“For thousands of years, human population on Earth remained relatively steady. But then, about 200 years ago, at the time of the industrial revolution, humans learned how to harness the energy of fossil fuels. That allowed agricultural productivity to increase dramatically, and human population began to grow exponentially.” / Sunlight is the energy which was absorbed on earth during the Carboniferous Period, 400 million years ago. Then, for a period of about 70 million years, the sunlight which fell on the planet was the single and primary source of energy. It was “trapped” in the growth of plant matter, both on land and in the seas. The accumulation of dead plant matter over this period, its fossilization and subsequent compression by geological forces has resulted in the reserves of what we call fossil fuels.
Find out more on the link between population growth and the industrial revolutionat the following link:
The concept is brilliantly described and discussed by author Thom Hartmann in his book Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight and on his website:
2A-6
Narrator:
“… ever-expanding process of extraction, production, consumptionand disposal of natural resources.” / Two examples of our over-consumption relates to paper and water. For information on paper consumption and ideas for reducing paper consumption visit the following sites:
For a visual interpretation of paper consumption (as well as visual representation of the consumption of other commodities such as plastic and cell phones) , see the Running the Numbers exhibit by artist Chris Jordan at his website:
Statistics used for creating his art work include: