Ecologically Sustainable, Spiritually Fulfilling..AND Socially Just?

When:	Tuesday, February 5, 2008 7pm - 9:30pm Social time and tea at 6:30pm - 7pm
Where:	WECU Educational Center (next to Kinko's on Holly) - 511 E. Holly (Map)
Contact:	Lynnette Allen (360) 714-9305 This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

About the event:

Van Jones Speaks to Pachamama Alliance on Social Justice and Civil Rights

This may be the most important invitation you receive this year!

• "Van Jones' message reminds us of the priority concern: How can you have a sustainable community without having a sustainable social structure?" - Lynnette A
• "It highlights the racial injustice and ineffectiveness of many progressives. It challenges us to move on as progressives." - Dan M.
• "Thought-provoking.. it challenged me to listen and engage more effectively." - Karen H.

Our video presenter is Van Jones, social activist and President of the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights in Oakland CA. He holds a B.A. from the University of Tennessee at Martin (1990) and a J.D. from Yale Law School (1993). He is a Fellow of The Institute of Noetic sciences. The Ella Baker Center is a strategy and action center working for justice, opportunity and peace in urban America.

From the New York Times article: "Van Jones: The Green Collar Solution"

"Mr. Jones, who heads the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights in Oakland, which helps kids avoid jail and secure jobs, has an idea how to change that — a “green-collar” jobs program that focuses on underprivileged youth. I would not underestimate him. Mr. Jones, age 39 and a Yale Law School grad, exudes enough energy to light a few buildings on his own."

--We are inviting local leaders of organizations working for social justice and their guests, and engaged citizens working for social justice.

Here in Bellingham, we will view the DVD of Van Jones' June 2007 presentation on Environmental Sustainability and Social Justice given to Awakening the Dreamer, Changing the Dream Symposium facilitators. The purpose of the Symposium is that participants leave "committed and empowered to bring forth an environmentally sustainable, spiritually fulfilling and socially just human presence on the planet."

Support Van Jones' Work and Pachamama Alliance

Van Jones and Pachamama Alliance have requested that every time this video is shown, it be directed discretely to a select audience with a request to support the following:

Ella Baker Center for Human Rights
344 40th Street
Oakland, CA 94609
www.ellabakercenter.org

The Pachamama Alliance/Awakening the Dreamer, Changing the
Dream
PO Box 29191
San Francisco, CA 94129
www.pachamama.org
www.awakeningthedreamer.org

Suggested Recommendations for More in Depth Information on This Important Topic

Following are four recommendations to begin our education that Van Jones made to the Pachamama staff. We have found them to be exceptionally useful and pass them along to you.

Read Bearing the Cross by David Garrow (Biography of MLK, Jr.). Available in paperback.

Watch Eyes on the Prize

Read James Baldwin's writings - any and all

Read the poetry of Audre Lorde

A video from Van Jones' Website: