Notes from Deniz - Day 8

Hello All,

All morning was the council meeting again. Then we hoped to catch Vandana Shiva's talk in the Climate Bottom Meeting but unfortunately could not really make it! Again!

Today is the day of big demonstration so I went to the demonstration to walk with a big crowd of people.
I do not know how many we were to the Bella Center where the "top" meeting is happening. It was a very peaceful walk and also joyful.

I have really not a lot of words but I must tell you that I am really impressed by the peacefulness of this walk. We walked together from many different backgrounds, and countries and it was beautiful to see the power in this.

So very very tired but in a way fulfilled!

Love
Deniz

Notes from Deniz - Day 7

Hello All,

Today is the day of surprise (for me)!

All morning was the council meeting!

And the suprise was waiting for me in the tent!

I went to the tent after the council meeting and guess what I saw? Pınar and Tuna were in the tent with their group from Sweden, all visiting! Such a nice suprise. I felt so supported and lightened in a way!

Today's subject in the Climate Bottom Meeting is "Live and Learn- Education and Experimentation". Whole afternoon was allocated to talk about the EDE (Ecovillage Design Education, www.gaiaeducation.org) from all over the world and I was also in the program to make a presentation about Turkish EDEs. So, it was just perfect to see Pınar and Tuna who have been the part of EDE journey in Turkey and actively involved in different projects afterwards (Pınar and Tuna are studying in Sweden about Sustainability). It was really a great support for me to find them there.

It was also very inspiring to be on the stage with all these EDE running countries like Brazil, India, Germany, Africa, Thailand and, of course Turkey. Very rich and great to be part of this family!

So, for me, today was the day of friendship and support! When I was doing EDE in Thailand in last winter, facilitators invited a very famous buddhist spiritually engaged activist called Sulak Sivaraksa. He is also part of the Parliament of the World's Religious. He gave us a talk and then there were a question and answer session. One of the participants asked him "What is the most important thing in life?" Since he is Buddhist, I was expecting him to say "Living in the present moment" or "to be enlightened" or so. But his answer was none of these.

He said "The most important thing in life is good friends" He was talking from his heart and he really means it.

I was surprised! Never really expecting to hear this. But his words hit me. As time passes, part of me started to get convinced that really the most important thing in life may be good friends! Ecovillagers may call "good friends" as community, buddhist people would call "sangha" and similar words for many other groups.

So, in community
Deniz

PS: By the way, today's funeral was the funeral of "The Linear Thinking"

Notes from Deniz - Day 6

Hello All,

Little bit more energy today.

First of all, I would like to share with you the reason why - actually - I am in Copenhagen.

I came to Copenhagen to participate in the council meeting of GEN-Europe. When we met in Finland in July, we have decided to have our second regular meeting in December in Copenhagen so that we can also be present in the Climate meeting. The dates of the council meeting is 10-13 of December. But our council member and the organizator of Climate Bottom Meeting Troels, he asked if any of us can come early to support him. Since I do not have a regular full-time job, I kind of volunteered so how I found myself in this whole thing! Since today is 10th of December, our council meeting started this afternoon. But this does not mean that I did not follow what happened in the morning in the tent in Christiania.

So, today's topic is "Caring and Social Ecology". Many good presentations in the morning. I get to meet with Albert Bates from the Farm ecovillage from USA. Very impressive job they are doing there. Then we have had the session called "The Divine Feminine" with Sr. Joan Chittister, Benedictine Nun, Renowned Author, Prominent Voice in Interfaith Affairs & Swamini Pramananda Saraswati, Educator & Leader in pollution reduction of the Ganges River, India.

Really a touching talk from Swamini Pramananda Saraswati (you can see her in the picture). I just want to share in summary what she has shared with us. Of course it will not be the same since you really need to experience her energy as she talked. But simply what she said that, the divine feminine is inside each of us whether we have a male body or female body. And what the divine feminine represents is basically to tune in to the cosmic intelligence, cosmic oneness and act from there and nourish this intelligence inside of us. It is the very intuition which knows and does not need to think or learn. It simply knows. Divine feminine is an attitude with which we can look upon the external world. She said the divine masculine is there to protect justice, and the divine feminine is there to sustain life. She also added that "People these days so much talk about making women equal to men. If I were to be equal with men I would lose so much thanks but I am not gonna take it"

It may be a strong statement and debatable of course but I found it inspiring and interesting that a woman from India thinks that she would lose so much if she would be seen as equal to man.

Another interesting point from a different speaker, she gave a brief summary about the situation of the feminine energy in the world today and how it has been by media, cosmetic industry and so.

Then we had wonderful Buddhist monks for the "Buddhist Voices respond to Climate Change" but unfortunately I needed to leave for our council meeting.

And whole afternoon was the council meeting!

Greetings
Deniz

Notes from Deniz - Day 5

Hello All,

I feel tired and dry today but meeting is in its full speed.

So, for me, the morning started in Christiania in the Climate Bottom Meeting. Today's subject is "Democracy and Conflict Resolution" There were really very good presentations. By the way the web page of the Climate Bottom Meeting is www.climatebottom.dk . First presentation was from Wongsanit Ashram from Thailand, where I have done the 5 week EDE training in the beginning of this year. Then, the different conflict resolution tools from Damanhur Ecovillage in Italy. I have missed the big part of the Wongsanit Ashram presentation so difficult to talk about but the Damanhur presentation was fantastic.

I particularly liked the metaphor they have used to show what it is like to be in a community and the function of conflict. They have shown the picture of the stones in the river and asked "Were these stones rounded like this forever?" The answer was of course "No". So how they have end up rounded? Their answer was; by being in a community!!!:) So they drew an analogy between the stones bumping each other in the water and the conflict experienced in the community. They said; Conflicts are there to help us to round our sharp corners. I liked the analogy they used. By living in Findhorn for two years, I know that conflicts may arise in community more often than the mainstream lifestyle. Though this may not be true for everybody.

Another piece they have shared and I really enjoyed was their perception of diversity. Conflicts, of course arise because we are different. Their perception of diversity as a community is "Diversity is our richness" but in a way not something we need to tolerate, or it is good to have, or that we need to learn to be with. It is because diversity is the richness and joy of the life and so conflict is natural and an opportunity for growth if it is well managed and resolved.

I know that diversity can be challenging and can be seen something to be tolerated because we want to be inclusive. But our attitude towards diversity is very important.

One last piece about conflict which I have learn when I was in Findhorn is "Conflict is an invitation for intimacy (intimacy=into me you see)"

Then our friends from ZEGG ecovillage from Germany arrived and made their presentation and sang songs, in the picture. They also mentioned a specific tool they have invented to resolve conflict called The Forum. One of the important parts of the Forum is feedback. There is a web page about Forum if you want to learn more. The web address is: www.zegg-forum.org

I was planning to stay whole day in the Christiania but realized that Vandana Shiva will give a talk in Klimaforum so put myself together and run to Klimaforum in the city. But guess what? Her plane from Bhutan was canceled and she could not come! And she will not be in Copenhagen till tomorrow evening. Here we go! An opportunity to practice "the impermanence and change" again! Oh well I am not very good at it. And I missed the talks of the spiritual leaders in the tent!:( Anyway, it is the way it is! Hope to listen Vandana Shiva in the coming days of the meeting.

Back to tent, I found myself in the middle of a talk about "Civil Disobedience" The woman who was giving the talk shared that the 80% of all CO2 emissions are produced by 122 corporations worldwide! Only 122! And invited us all to the Big Marching on 12th of December and a big protest on 16th of December.

Last piece, the funeral of the day was "The Military Industiral Complex"

Be well
Deniz

Notes from Deniz - Day 4

Thank you for all your e-mails really! Very supportive.

Oh well, today, I do not know where to start and how to put things together. There has been so many inspiring events, this may require two e-mails!!!! But may be I just start with the opening ceremony of the Klima Forum yesterday.

Yesterday I mentioned the KlimaForum's openning in an hour. It was a very impressive opening. After the opening talks there was a concert with ice! So some musicians by using the big blocks of ice were making music. At the beginning it seemed like an interesting idea to me but nothing really too special. However, as time goes I got the message behind! As the time went on and the concert continued, of course, the ice started to melt! First we started to hear and sea the little drops... then small pieces of ice fell apart.... then big blocks started to break apart and it was all happening on the stage and the music was going on and the all thing was so "mean" Very wise composition!!! Unfortunately no nice photos from this it was too dark!

So this was yesterday's bit. If we come to today, I was in the ClimateBottom Meeting in Christiania in the morning and back to big hall, the KlimaForum in the afternoon.

What was happening in our tent in Climate Bottom Meeting in the morning? Today's topic was "Men and Money -Towards a Local Exchange" I have got to listen very good speakers and the inspiring talks. One of the very impressive one was the Ross Jackson's (PhD) talk from Gaia Trust in Denmark. You can see him in the picture. Ross is an economist, the co-founder of the Global Ecovilage Network, founder of the Gaia Trust and the trainer and the supporter of the EDE-Gaia Education and also in the board of the Gaia Education. You can google him if you want to learn more, it would be too long to write here what he has said even in summary but he basically talked about why structures like UN, EU, WTO, IMF will never work for the climate or more healthier planet, because simply, what needs to be done for a better planet is not politically-feasible! He also had some suggestions how to move forward. But also he is writing a book and it will be out in the first half of the coming year.

For me, the most striking statement of today was from Ove Jakobsen, Professor at Center for Ecological Economics and Ethics. In some part of his talk, he mentioned that "The fish caught in Norway, sent to China to be processed and then back to Norway to be consumed, just because it makes profit!"

Here we go....what to do ...overwhelming!!! When I heard this, I felt so overwhelmed and I had pain!"

And today's funeral was "The Economic Growth"


Love
Deniz

Notes from Deniz

Already the second day of the climate bottom meeting is over. The theme of the day was "Worldview, Culture and Spirituality".

Many different exciting talks all over the world..... The one which really impressed me was a project from Sri Lanka. The name of the project is Sarvodaya Movement. They worked with 15,000 traditional villages in Sri lanka and this project has been going on for about 51 years! It was a very inspiring talk by Dr. Vinya S. Ariyaratne. They have nearly a recipe how to work with villages and this may be a very useful thing for Turkey since we have also many many traditional villages. The most inspiring part was the multi-dimensions of the project and how they have put the core values of personal development in the hearth of the whole project. In their project he values and the human development is the starting point and then the social and economical dimensions. May be this the key what make them so successful!

I would also like to mention little bit about the funny parts of the last two days. Everyday, there is a symbolic funeral, "Funeral of the day" which is creative, fun and reflective event.
Yesterday, it was the "Funeral of egoism" and today it was the "Funeral of the American Dream" .

Third day

Today is a day of movement and change! I spent the morning in Christiania in the Climate Bottom meeting. Today's focus was; "The local, the regional and the global". I also had the chance briefly to speak about what is going on in Turkey, the new forming Turkish National Network of Eco-settlements and the EDE trainings we have organized.

By the way, today's funeral was "the funeral of the Global Free Trade" :)))

Then I have moved from village to the town, from cold to warm, from self-organizing structures to very-well organized structure, from circles to lines: the NGO Forum. It is also called KlimaForum in Danish. It is a big place with many stands from different NGOs. It is basically arranged for the different NGOs to present themselves and to reach people. The diversity is striking here too. So many different organizations doing great work to raise awareness about the Climate Change and the social and ecological issues. We have been working to put the GEN's stand up here and now just a break after a hard work. You can see in the picture. The NGO Forum will open at 6 pm with local time, so only an hour to go. The following days the NGO Forum will be open from 10 am to midnight.

There is such a contrast between where I have been before and where I am now!

Love to all and please send out your good wishes

Deniz

Big day in Copenhagen

There will be a big demonstration in Copenhagen to support politicians and delegates to agree on an ambitious and strong agreement that will really take the world forward with new vision. We, the GEN-Europe council, will go there soon after we´ve finished our meeting in Christiania.

And - we´ve decided to start a blog - and we´ve implemented the decision :)