FOUNDATION
OUR MISSION AND ACTIVITIES ARE BASED ON THE EARTH COMMUNITY CONCEPT AS DESCRIBED BY DAVID C. KORTEN, IN HIS BOOK, THE GREAT TURNING-FROM EMPIRE TO EARTH COMMUNITY.
KORTEN EXPLAINS THAT FOR THOUSANDS OF YEARS THE EMPIRE MODEL, WHICH ORGANIZED SOCIETY BY HIERARCHIES OF DOMINATION GROUNDED IN VIOLENT CHAUVINISM OF RACE, GENDER, RELIGION, NATIONALITY, LANGUAGE AND CLASS CREATED FORTUNE FOR A FEW AND MISERY FOR MANY.
MANKIND IS MAKING THE CONSCIOUS DECISION TO CREATE A NEW MODEL CALLED EARTH COMMUNITY —GROUNDED IN PARTNERSHIP, LIFE- AFFIRMING VALUES, MUTUAL RESPONSIBILITY & ACCOUNTABILITY.
OUR GOAL IS TO CREATE A WORLD THAT WORKS FOR ALL AND PROVIDES THE OPPORTUNITIES FOR EVERYONE TO HAVE A SECURE AND FULFILLING LIFE.
MEANING, FOR EACH PERSON, IS FOUND IN DISCOVERING THEIR UNIQUE PLACE OF SERVICE TO THE WHOLE COMMUNITY. OUR GROUP IS PART OF AN EARTH-WIDE MOVEMENT.
HISTORY OF HOW THE GROUP CAME ABOUT AND DEVELOPED
In February 2015, there was a post on Facebook for people from small towns in Colorado to join the International March Against Monsanto to be held on May 23. I added my name, Joan Mieritz & Pagosa Springs, CO. I expected that in the next months I would receive directions and information, but that didn’t happen until a few days before May 23.
I am a fairly responsible person, so as May approached I purchased a large roll of white paper and paints for people to make signs.
About two weeks before Saturday, May 23, I sent a brief article to the Pagosa Sun where I finalized the plans to not actually march around town, but to meet in our Town Park parking lot on Hermosa St. and see what happens.
It was a dreary, over-cast, cool day and we had a few brief periods of light rain, but the turn-out was good.
Waiting at the park when I arrived were David Mauriello a.k.a. Diamond and his partner Leah Shaper, who had previously organized & lead huge Marches Against Monsanto in large Eastern cities, like Philadelphia. They had recently moved to Pagosa to set up the Oppenheimer Ranch Project, a high alpine permaculture ranch. They had boxes of left-over materials like car decals, badges, small banners and all sorts of written information. They were their own March Against Monsanto just waiting for people to come. Their material contributed so greatly to the day. I’m not sure who had the most fun, David & Leah or the visitors, sharing & learning of all the horrors of Monsanto. I had no idea of all the terrible things they have done in the world. I knew many bad things, which is why I sponsored the March, but after all the information they had, I felt sick & very angry. I’m sure David & Leah thought the turn-out was small compared to the huge numbers in big cities, but I don’t think they ever got over their initial surprise that the little town in Colorado they had picked out even had an attempt at joining the International March Against Monsanto which was in all major countries of Europe, India, dozens of large cities in the US, in Mexico and Argentina. And Pagosa Springs, Colorado. David & Leah were an unbelievable asset to our participation in this world-wide event.
Three hours, 9AM to Noon, were scheduled at the town park & people continued coming the entire time, each contributing their unique part. It was a productive morning. There were about 27 people documented by signing their names or leaving their business cards. Sometime between 10 & 11 AM, I started feeling that there was too much interest & concern for just a few hours of activity & then it was over. I started asking people for ideas for some kind of follow-up activity. The most daunting suggestion was that we study Gandhi.
I still remember when someone asked me if I had read the book, When Corporations Rule the World? I remember feeling like I crawled out from under a rock to be so intrigued by the idea & title. I was a bit upset with myself that I had until now, missed out on such important ideas & this book. I was captivated!! The next week, I put myself on the long waiting list at the library. When it became such a long wait, I ordered the book on line.
When it finally arrived, I had some tough & amazing reading ahead of me. But, I finally got to the point of being ready for the next step, setting up another gathering.
I scheduled a book discussion to be held at the library on Thursday, July 9th at 5:30. I went on line to get various talking points which I made copies of for people who had not read the books. That night the table in the library meeting room started to fill up, but the seat beside me remained empty until an older absolutely elegant-looking woman quietly sat down.
I welcomed her and we started chatting and then she quietly said to me that David Korten’s wife was her sister. She said she had sent my article about this meeting to them and they were so pleased with the interest. All I could think was “WOW!”
We had an interesting discussion mostly using the talking point—“The global economy has become like a malignant cancer, advancing the colonization of the planet’s living spaces for the benefit of powerful corporations and financial institutions. It has turned these once useful institutions into instruments of a market tyranny that is destroying livelihoods, displacing people and feeding on life in an insatiable quest for money. It forces us all to act in ways destructive of ourselves, our families, our communities and nature.” We also considered from The Great Turning—“We humans have a brief window of opportunity to navigate the passage from a 5000 year Era of Empire characterized by violent domination to an Era of Earth Community characterized peaceful partnership. This passage promises a more secure and fulfilling life for all.”
Phyl Collier, the elegant woman, brought several copies of YES! Magazines from her sister, Fran Korten. Everyone in the group was interested and most of the people were familiar with it. Our Library has had a subscription. The interest was so great that it was decided to meet again soon to share YES! Magazine with others in Pagosa Springs.
We met on Tuesday, July 28, at 5:30 at the Library to distribute free copies of YES! Magazine, that Phyl’s sister, Fran Korten had sent to us. The people were so interested in the various issues that it was difficult to focus on any one topic. At times we had several discussions going on at once, but that was very exciting.
We briefly turned our attention to activities that the group wanted to sponsor. It was easily decided that we should have a book “club” to continue discussing David Korten’s books and we found someone willing to be a discussion leader.
The possibility of showing films came up. Some specific suggestions were made & several people volunteered to research films.
A group was starting to take shape. We were following David Korten’s concept, so it was decided to call ourselves the Pagosa Springs Earth Community. We had another meeting set for August 13. Our plan for this meeting was to set definite activities with dates for this Fall.
On Thursday, August 13, at 5:30, we had our 3rd meeting at the Library with a SUN article & The Pagosa Daily Post putting out a call to be a founding member of the Pagosa Springs Earth Community. We had membership forms for people to officially become members. We decided not to have dues, since we had no expenses & there was no need to raise money. Lots of ideas for activities were presented. Many people volunteered for jobs that needed to be done.
On Thursday, August 20, there was a long article published in the SUN & Pagosa Daily Post, out-lining 4 major actions to be taken by the Earth Community. We had the first meeting of an “action committee” on Thursday, August 27.
SEPTEMBER 2015 ACTIVITIES
On Thursday, September 10, we had a meeting at the Library at 5:30, to discuss Corporate Greed. There were six members & a new person, who signed in as a Dr. from Texas, who Diamond googled at the meeting & found out that he worked for Monsanto. The Doctor did not say much & we didn’t have a real passionate discussion, but he, after a while said something to the effect that “we should BE CAREFUL”. After the Doctor left, Diamond researched more & he announced that we have “arrived as a force”, if Monsanto had already sent someone to “spy” on us. We all freaked out.
On Saturday, September 12, there was a fund-raising film in town about our water situation in Colorado shown at the Liberty Theater called the GREAT DIVIDE. It was sponsored by 5 local environmental groups 1. Geothermal Greenhouse, which I think used the money for their large growing domes being built in the park along the river. 2. San Juan Water Conservancy, 3. SW Sustainability, 4. Water Information Program, & 5. The Audubon Society.
The Pagosa Youth Center was closing down. On Friday, September 18, 8 members of the E.C. toured the building to see if we thought it could be saved. We could possibly purchase it as the Home for the Earth Community and to keep the Youth Center open. In a poll, 78% of people interviewed said that a Youth Center was needed since there is so little for kids to do in town. But, we found out that there was too much mold & it would be too expensive to repair. (As of February 2019, someone had purchased the building, but still has not been able to make it usable for the public.) After the tour, we meet at a coffee shop for discussion. We were very disappointed with the serious mold situation which we had not heard about. Our group decided to write a questionnaire for the High School to help determine the needs of the youth in our community.
OCTOBER 2015 ACTIVITIES Goal- Educate about Healthy Food choices
Thurs. Oct. 1, Chamber working on the questionaire
Fri. Oct.16, World Food Day= FOCUS ON World Hunger
Sat. Oct. 17, Anti-Monsanto/Big Corp. Rally in the Park 1-3 PM
Sun. Oct.25, Genetic Roulette Film at Lib.
NOVEMBER 2015 ACTIVITIES Goal- Education on GMO’S
Sat. Nov. 7, Genetic Roulette Film at Lib. 2 pm
Sun. Nov. 8, “ “ “ “ “ 2 pm
Mon. Nov. 9, 3 pm & 7 pm Chamber Book Study=Chap. 1, When Corp. Rule
Mon. Nov. 23, 3 pm & 7 pm “ “ Chap. 2 & 3 ” ” “
DECEMBER 2015 ACTIVITIES
Mon. Dec. 7, 3 pm & 7 pm Chamber Book Study= Part II When Corp. Rule
Sat. Dec. 12, 2 pm Phyl’s house GMO film & Xmas pot luck
Mon. Dec. 28, 3 pm & 7 pm Chamber Book Study= Part III When Corp. Rule (cold & snowy)
JANUARY 2016 ACTIVITIES
Mon. Jan. 4, 2 pm Chamber Book Study= When Corp. Rule
Mon. Jan. 10, 2 pm Chamber Book Study= When Corp. Rule
Wed. Jan. 13, 2 pm Chamber, General Meeting — Mission Statement & 2016 Activities
Tues. Jan. 19, 2 pm Chamber, Book Study=When Corp. Rule
Thurs. Jan 21, 2:30 pm Chamber General Meeting –Mission Statement & Action in 2016 ( Notes taken & written up by Karen)
Mon. Jan. 25, 2 pm Chamber Book Study=When Corp. Rule
FEBRUARY 2016 ACTIVITIES (Lots of SNOW)
Mon. Feb. 1, General Meeting 2:30 Chamber (completely Snowed Out)
Mon. Feb. 8, Book Study= When Corp. Rule (E-mail offer from David Korten to Skype)
Wed. Feb. 10, General Meeting Chamber (notes taken & written up by Karen)
Sat. Feb. 20, Library Film= Farmageddon ( Diamond & Leah )
Mon. Feb. 22, LAST BOOK STUDY OF WHEN CORP. RULE
Thurs. Feb. 25, Chamber 2 pm Research & evidence about GMO’s Snacks & free seeds
Sun. Feb. 28, Library Film= Fresh (Lynnis & Phyl )
MARCH 2016 SCHEDULE
3/3 Thursday, 2-5 pm Action Committee—Mission statement & Earth Week Plans
5 pm Library, Film—Farmageddon
3/7 Monday, 2:30, Chamber, Film—Fresh (Lynnis)
3/10 Thursday, Letter to the Editor, Pagosa Sun, The Dark Act by Joan Mieritz
3/15 Tuesday, 2-6 pm Chamber, Evidence (dangers of GMO’s, Glyphosate, etc.) (Karen)
3/18 Friday, 2-4:45 pm Finalize Earth Day Activities
3/21 Monday, 2 pm Chamber Joint Plans with SOS & other groups for Earth Week+ 4/15-4/23
3/23 Wednesday, 2:30 Chamber New Book Study ==Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollen (Lynnis)
APRIL 2016 SCHEDULE
4/1 Vista Print Order for Earth Community t-shirts & Earth Community membership cards
4/4 Monday, 1 pm Joint Planning for Earth Week
4/14 Thursday 2:30 Chamber Book Study==Omnivore’s D. (Lynnis)
4/16 Saturday 3:30 sponsored by SOS, Film—The Future of Energy
EARTH WEEK ACTIVITIES 2016 — Various groups sponsor activities
4/21 Thursday, 5 pm Library –LIFE LONG LEARNING SERIES Panel Discussion with members of various environmental groups —Joan Mieritz represented Earth Community (sharing our History much like what is written here, but of course with less detail.)
4/23 Saturday, 11-3 pm at Martie’s Mercantile 0n hwy 160 & 8th Street (a little cool & rainy)
4/25 Monday, 2:30 Chamber, Book Study==Omnivore’s D. (Kirsten & Joan)
4/28 Thursday, 5-7 pm Chamber Meet & Greet for Mark Garcia, incumbent LPEA Board
MAY 2016 SCHEDULE Focus on Bees==”Pollinators” Month
5/12 Thursday, 2:30 Chamber, BOOK STUDY==Omnivore’s D.
5/21 Saturday 11 am-2 pm frontage road along #160 near 8th Street MARCH & HONK AGAINST MONSANTO (Great Weather)
5/23 Monday 3:30-6 pm Library Reception for Dr. Carol Thompson- worked in GMO Agriculture in Africa– Guest Speaker (friend of Karen)
5/31 Tuesday 2:30 Chamber, NEW BOOK STUDY==COOKED BY Michael Pollen
JULY 2016 SCHEDULE
7/14 Thursday, 2-4 pm Chamber, discussion of YES! MAGAZINE on Gender Justice
AUGUST 2016 SCHEDULE
8/8 2 pm Library– Guest Speaker—FRAN KORTEN Publisher of YES! MAGAZINE & wife of David Korten
2017 SCHEDULE
9/11 1:30 Library—Guest Speaker—FRAN KORTEN—retired & On the staff of YES! MAGAZINE & Partner with David Korten.
2018 SCHEDULE
1/16 Tuesday, Library Discussions of YES! MAGAZINE FALL 2017 ISSUE ON RENEWALABLE ENERGY WINTER 2018 ON SOLIDARITY
There may have been a few activities that I missed listing here, including perhaps a few YES! Magazine discussions at the Chamber.
What happened to the Earth Community?
You might be asking—what happened to the Earth Community after reading about the great start in 2015 and part of 2016 having much activity??? It is a situation of several individuals who were core members experiencing unusually difficult times in life.
I can describe for you how hard it was for me to deal with the shocking death of a very close friend, neighbor & Earth Community member who was part of the group from the first “March against Monsanto” in the Park in May 2015. On May 20,th 2016, she was having a wonderful time with her husband on a day trip. They had gotten home, she started dinner & walked out onto her deck to feed her rabbits. Her husband heard a loud ominous thud & he ran to her body lying on the ground. He said that he knew immediately that she was gone, but he started CPR after calling 911. Tammy had had a brain aneurism & the coroner said she felt no pain & didn’t know what happened. But, I certainly felt pain, for months. Her sudden death knocked me for a loop. She had stopped by my house almost every day. She had a key to my house. She was only 54 and seemed healthy.
It devastated me & after the shock wore off, I was deeply depressed. I couldn’t think about the Earth Community or doing anything. I was numb for months. I just went through the necessary motions to make it through each day. I had handled other deaths better than this. I was beyond grief. Time and counseling finally helped me get my life & positive attitude back. It also helped me to make a special notebook for friends of mine who have recently died, with pictures & memorial hand-outs, etc. It helps, when I miss them, to have this notebook to read over & to work on additional information. It is a concrete representation of ways that these people contributed to my life. I feel their love and can express my appreciation for them.
At the same time that I was in this low functioning state, a mutual friend & close neighbor had her own severe reaction, turning to alcohol, to try to handle Tammy’s sudden death. I wanted to help her, but of course could not. It was terrible to see how she was destroying her life & hurting her family. It hurt me to watch. Dealing with alcohol abuse is the subject of thousands of books, mostly concluding that NO ONE can change the alcoholic until they want to change themselves. I had to distance myself, but was greatly impacted by her reaction.
Others in the group seemed to get slammed by life also. One of our most conscientious members got breast cancer. Another faithful worker’s aged mother fell and she had to give her constant care for what turned out to be the last year of her life. Another member had a serious flare-up of a past illness & could not do volunteer work. It was a terrible stressful time for too many core people.
And then in November, there was the 2016 election. I feel that the Earth Community should not get involved in American politics and this would become one of the most difficult political times, with our Nation divided, foreign governments interfering in our election & scandals & indictments happening regularly. There were times many people felt like they were fighting to save our democracy. Many Earth Community members worked in more directly political organizations because that is what this time called for.
I came to the conclusion that it was not the right time for the Earth Community. I asked Fran Korten about what David thought of the timing for the Great Turning from the Empire Model to the Earth Community Model. She chuckled & said that they do not have a crystal ball. I feel that there is no way to tell & there are so incredibly many factors that need to change for such a transition. The world is a huge complex place. It may take decades, maybe even hundreds of years, especially with the serious threat of global warming being a wild car for our planet. It may take longer if we first need to save our planet. A world model changing may not have priority or possibly the two changes could likely work together each supporting the other. Each country or area of the world will move at its own pace depending on specific conditions. The Empire model may, as is a quality of Empires, give a good fight and destroy much in the process of its demise. It is impossible to say what the future will bring. But we still have NOW.
Our 2019 Restart
I have concluded that the concept of Earth Community in Pagosa Springs is valid and the group needs to get back to functioning in areas that contribute to people’s lives and our community. I am talking with some of the past members and hope to have help with simple activities on a regular basis. Previously we planned on using our web-site to allow advertising of home grown & home produced products. Basically all advertising of these things has been by word of mouth, but I think it will help individuals & encourage the concept to have an on-line advertising ability. We have a great
farmers market, but only for several months each Summer and Fall. This would be full-time and year-round.
YES! Magazine will have quarterly discussions and there will be an ”on-going, but intermittent” book study as interest demands.
Probably the easiest & most popular activity was showing films. Our library has a great collection of films for individual check-out, but there is great value in group viewing and discussions. That is something that doesn’t take a lot of time, but is very educational and community-building.
Our community will have needs that a network of willing individuals can meet and that ad hoc committees can address. We can be an experiment for the concept of Earth Community.
After all the reading you have done of our history, we hope you will want to join in and contribute your support. There are no dues. Membership involves filling out an information sheet and having a membership card. Please let someone know of your interest and then get to work. There is always lots to be done, but it is all worthwhile & meaningful. You will be part of history & WORLD-WIDE change.
Thank You for your time in reading this and your participation in the future!!!
