links over chaos , linked by schaaflicht

ancient knowledge
as the path to
a sustainable future

turtle island?
The name Turtle Island Institute (TII) is taken from the Gary Snyder poem and Native American story about the earth being the back of a swimming turtle - disrupt the natural processes and we all drown.

Another version of turtle island comes from "The Way of the Hopi" - the first time much of their oral tradition was ever written down. The Hopi's have an oral tradition of being a number of clans - some of whom stayed south, some went here or there. They basically remember crossing the Bering Strait, and then traveling down to South America. In their tradition, the turtle island is North America, with four arms a head and a tail. One arm is Baja, another the Bay Area peninsula, another is Florida, the other long island is Nova Scotia. The tail leads town to Central America, the head the Bering Strait.

our perspective
TII greatly respects the tales and cultural identities of indigenous peoples everywhere. By exchanging all kinds of knowledge - cultural, technological, spiritual, societal, etc. - every inhabitant of the planet will benefit. Future generations will have a better chance of inheriting an earth which can provide the same benefits that our generation have enjoyed and celebrated.

TII is best described as follows: A "virtual university" designed to develop interactive computer educational programs in sustainable development directed toward indigenous people in the Americas (Canada, U.S., Mexico, Central and South America, including the Caribbean and Costa Rica).

These programs, developed in cooperation with representatives of indigenous tribes, are planned to be disseminated through interactive video, pictures and text formats on the Internet. While focused toward indigenous people, the programs will be made available to schools and libraries everywhere.

Moving interactive educational formats will play an active role to "tell the story" of sustainable development projects such as: water reclamation, straw bale construction demonstrations, watershed restoration projects, agriculture projects, use of solar energy, construction of wetlands, hydrogen power, health and nutrition, sustainable community, etc. in a manner that is easily assimilated, entertaining and informative.

In addition, documentaries are planned to reveal how relationships between cultures and habitats promote biodiversity in regions and serve to maintain the balance of nature. Intended for dissemination through public broadcasting and other outlets, documentaries such as these aid in bridging cultural gaps and reveal how indigenous cultures contribute in many positive ways to the preservation and restoration of vital natural resources.

Working Groups include:

* Curriculum Development
* Grant-writing
* Multimedia Education
* Educational Ecotours
* TII Signal (newsletter) Publishing
* Products and Services
* Art and Literature
* Satellite Campus Development

We need your help to keep these groups active and productive!

Labels: art, crossing, empathy, spiritual, turtle

Posted by: slÖ / 3:41 p.m.