So where do we start?

As my favorite poet, Gary Snyder says, "Our own heads is where we start." READ - listen to Gaian artists. Stretch your worldview - if you're like me, a right brained artsy type, read some life science. If you're one of those left brained engineer types, let yourself get into some poetry, something that lets you loose "the little voice" that's constantly quantifying what you encounter.

More important than any reading, writing, or thinking is finding people who are doing this and bring yourself to the table. Make your own way to celebrate the interconnectedness of life on the Earth.

And after all - what is more fun than being naked in the wild, open to the mystery, celebrating life in the moment, surrounded by like-minded friends and lovers?

The drumming, the music, the bonfires, the ritual - this is the stuff that connects us to each other. Rebuild the beauty of the wild into the cities, change the outlook from where we stand. Talk to people, celebrate openly. Be prepared to duck when the rocks start flying. Smile when you say that...

When groups of people come together to experience each other in this way, we build community. I hope that the music we make as Gaia Consort has a role in helping people make that connection.

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We have much to learn from each other. The information is available and there are great books to explain all this stuff.

If you have further interest in theories of a Living Earth, here is a short and by no means complete reading list of some Gaian / Sustainable thinkers.

Here's a list of some of my favorites:

Gary Snyder: Snyder, Zen poet, speaks holisticlly to the current planetary condition in both his poetry and prose. He's someone who has walked the walk as well.

The Real Work, Interviews and Talks 1964-79 (self explanatory)

Turtle Island (poetry, some prose)

Mountains and Rivers Without End (his poetic magnum opus)

Earth Household (poetry prose)

These are my favorites, but just about anything I've read by Snyder hits home for me.

Some interesting links about Gary Snyder:

http://www.charm.net/~brooklyn/People/GarySnyder.html

http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acropolis/2730/mtns.html

http://www.english.upenn.edu/~afilreis/88/snyder.html

Jonathan Weiner: The Next One Hundred Years, Shaping the Fate of Our Living Earth

An easy to understand explanation of Gaia Theory and many of it's consequences. Brought me to Lovelock, but more so I could judge his understanding against the original. I think Weiner's understanding is pretty complete.

James Lovelock: The Ages of Gaia, A Biography of Our Living Earth

This is the book that explains it all.

Healing Gaia, Practical Medicine for the Planet

This is a great book with lots of pictures, and graphs. It looks like textbook, but reads like a good story.

A good basic overview of Gaia theory

A Speech of Lovelock at the opening of the Gaia Society

A Modest Inheritance at: http://www.gn.apc.org/resurgence/articles/lovelock.htm

Lynn Margulis and Dorian Sagan: Slanted Truths, Essays on Gaia, Symbiosis and Evolution

A good overview on Gaia Theory and the scientific community. A good place to get your Gaian feet wet.

Starhawk: The Spiral Dance, A Rebirth of the Ancient Religion of the Great Goddess

I like Starhawks worldview, one that we would do well to work toward. Great guide for rituals and celebrations. She understands that "magick" is subjective.... I can live with that.

The Fifth Sacred Thing (novel)

The novel is not only a good read, but gets deep into what pagan culture could be if it were the "dominant" culture instead of Christianity. Ecotopia in the San Fransico Bay Area.

The Reclaiming Collective is one of the places Starhawk hangs out. They've got a web page that is pretty cool, especially if you are in the San Fransico, CA (USA) area.

Reclaiming

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Ryam Nearing: The Polyfidelity Primer

Workable models for sustainable polyfidelitous / polyamorous families. Learn the language of the future regarding family.

Ryam and family publishes a magazine called Loving More, helping to keep us up to date. The address is http://www.lovemore.com.

David C. Korten: When Corporations Rule the World.

Superb analysis of the corporate world, how we are dominated by it, and some actions we can take to begin to bring economics back into balance. A lecture by the man with a link to his bio

E.F. Schumacher: Small is Beautiful, Economics as if People Mattered

Alternative economics 101. The book on humane economics.

Lucy R. Lippard: Overlay, Contemporary Art and the Art of Prehistory

Lots of pictures of cool art. These are some of the folks who will make this era's Venus of Willendorf.

Lewis Hyde: The Gift, Imagination and the Erotic Life of Property

A beautiful analysis of the concept of the "gift" and how it works in the context of the sacred.

David Abram: The Spell of the Sensuous

Systems Theory applied to language. Intense thinking about the direct experience. Get out in it! Breath it! Every minute of it!

Here's a review of Spell...

William Anderson & Clive Hicks: Green Man, The Archetype of Our Oneness with the Earth

Exhaustive photographic and written examination of the Green Man in art through the centuries.

A great site that thoroughly explores the Greenman and quotes extensivley from the book

Some Pacfic Northwest (USA) links on Bioregionalism.
Think Globally, Act Locally - Dig In!

Whidbey Institute, Whidbey Island WA:

These folks are doing some really cool stuff, mixing education and the Gaian world view. If you're in the area, check them out!

Cascadia Planet

Cool Portland Oregon based organization. A real world understanding and description of the bioregion of the Pacific Northwest. Viva Cascadia!