Today we are confronting the greatest challenge ever faced by a group of beings in the 4 billion year history of this planet: how to ensure not only the survival of the human race but the preservation of the rest of life on Earth.
Little by little, we have broadened our understanding of humanity’s role in determining the fate of the planet and its species. But this awareness hasn’t clearly translated into collective action. We have yet to bring together into one boundary-crossing book the visionaries of our times, our brightest minds, our most influential leaders, our most passionate voices. And now more than ever we need to hear their counsel on the future of the planet.
Global Chorus: A 365-Person Anthology of Worldwide Concern and Enduring Hope will give us this chance.
How it is being done is simple. 365 people from all over the world are in the process of being contacted with invitations for responses for Global Chorus. The invitation list includes writers, environmentalists, spiritual leaders, politicians, professors, doctors, athletes, businesspeople, farmers, chefs, yogis, painters, architects, musicians, TV personalities, humanitarians, children, concerned students and senior citizens, carpenters, factory workers, activists, CEO’s, scientists, and essentially those who have something passionate and insightful to say about humanity’s place upon Earth. Well known people on the list include environmentalists such as David Suzuki, Paul Hawken and Jane Goodall; scientists such as Stephen Hawking and Edward O. Wilson; celebrities such as Robert Redford, Oprah Winfrey, and Bono; humanitarians such as Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu; political figures such as Mikhail Gorbachev, Prince Charles and Elizabeth May; writers like Dave Eggers and Eric Schlosser; and spiritual leaders like The Dalai Lama, Eckhart Tolle, and Thich Nhat Hanh.
Each contributor will provide a one-page response to the following line of questioning:
“Do you think that humanity can find a way past the current global environmental and social crises? Will we be able to create the conditions necessary for our own survival, as well as that of other species on the planet? What would these conditions look like? In summary, then, and in the plainest of terms, do we have hope, and can we do it?”
Responses will be framed as a set of 365 daily meditations, thereby providing a practical means for readers to ingest this diversity of thoughts and ideas. In this way, Global Chorus is sure to be both shocking in its truths and predictions as well as inspirational in its messages of hope and optimism.
All contributors to this fundraising book will be donating their time and efforts, as Global Chorus proceeds will be distributed to a select group of organizations helping to recover, protect and sustain life on Earth. This group includes World Wildlife Fund, The Jane Goodall Institute, The David Suzuki Foundation and The International Committee of the Red Cross.
This is our most pivotal hour. What we need most is to spark imaginations, to ignite our passions. We need to raise our voices in a global chorus.
| Jeffrey Hollender, co-founder Seventh Generation Inc., Jeffrey Hollender Partners & CommonWise | Frances Moore Lappé, lecturer, activist, author, Diet for a Small Planet and EcoMind: Changing the Way We Think To Create the World We Want | Swami Ambikananda Saraswati, Founder, Traditional Yoga Association and The Mukti Project | Roxanne Quimby, founder, Burt’s Bees |
| Hannah Quimby, director, Quimby Family Foundation | Lucas St. Clair, director, Quimby Family Foundation | Trudie Styler, actress, producer and founder, The Rainforest Foundation | Dr. Heather Eaton, Professor, St. Paul University and Co-Founder, Canadian Forum on Religion and Ecology |
| Van Jones, environmental and civil rights advocate, Founder, Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, Green for All, and Rebuild the Dream www.rebuildthedream.com | Dr. Mary Evelyn Tucker, Founder, Forum on Religion and Ecology at Yale University | Thomas Berry, author, spiritual ecology theologian. (Special honourary posthumous response is drawn from The Great Work, pp. 7-8) | Peter Bevan Baker, Green Party Candidate in Prince Edward Island, Canada |
| Ravi Ravindra, author, spiritual lecturer, Ph.D. www.ravindra.ca | Dr. Paul Ekins, Professor of Energy and Environment Policy, UCL Energy Institute,University College London | William McDonough, designer, architect, and co-author ofCradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things. www.mcdonough.com |
Fred Penner, Family Entertainer for Children of All Ages, and former host, CBC’s “Fred Penner’s Place” |
| Stephen Lewis, Distinguished Visiting Professor at Ryerson University and former Canadian Ambassador to the UN | Craig Kielburger, children’s rights activist and Co-founder, Free the Children and Me to We | Barbara Winfield, artist, Mouth and Foot Painting Artists of Canada | Jim Merkel, simple living educator and author, Radical Simplicity: Small Footprints on a Finite Earth |
| Dr. Jean Kilbourne, Ed.D., author, educator, feminist activist, creator of the “Killing Us Softly: Advertising’s Image of Women” film series | Theresa Helen “Susie” Matthias, mouth painting artist, Mouth and Foot Painting Artists of Canada | Jean Vanier, humanitarian, philosopher, and founder, L’Arche International | Sheila Watt-Cloutier, Environment, Cultural and Human Rights Advocate |
| Des Ritchie, President, Queensland Folk Federation in Australia | Lester R. Brown, President, Earth Policy Institute and author, World on the Edge | Tzeporah Berman, mom, author, This Crazy Time and co-director of Greenpeace International’s Climate and Energy Unit. www.tzeporahberman.com | Maude Barlow, National Chairperson of the Council of Canadians, Chair of Washington-based Food and Water Watch, and author, Blue Covenant: The Global Water Crisis and The Coming Battle for the Right to Water |
| Robert Bateman, Canadian artist, environmentalist, naturalist. www.robertbateman.ca |
Ian Skelly, British writer, filmmaker and broadcaster, and co-author of Harmony with HRH The Prince of Wales. www.ianskelly.co.uk |
Frederick Kirschenmann, author of Cultivating an Ecological Conscience: Essays From a Farmer Philosopher. | Jamie Henn, Co-Founder and Communications Director 350.org |
| Amitabha Sadangi, CEO, International Development Enterprises in India | Stuart Pimm, Doris Duke Chair of Conservation at the Nicholas School, Duke University, and President, SavingSpecies | Professor Stephen Hawking, Emeritus Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at the University of Cambridge, and author, A Brief History of Time |
Gary Snyder, poet, essayist, lecturer and environmental activist |
| Sara Oldfield, Secretary General, Botanic Gardens Conservation International | Tony Juniper, campaigner, writer and sustainability advisor and former Director, Friends of the Earth. | William Ruddiman, Professor Emeritus, Department of Environmental Sciences at University of Virginia. | Arran Stephens, Founder, CEO/Gardenkeeper, Nature’s Path Foods |
| Dr. Peggy Seeger, musician, activist, grandmother | Annette Saliken, author,Cocktail Party Guide to Global Warming and Cocktail Party Guide to Green Energy | Bill Logan, founder, Urban Arborists | Andy Lipkis, founder, TreePeople |
| Tanya Ha, environmentalist, author, television presenter, science journalist and sustainable living advocate www.TanyaHa.com | Patrick Holden, Chief Executive, Sustainable Food Trust | Alan Weisman, author, The World Without Us andGaviotas: A Village to Reinvent the World | Dr. Kennette Benedict, Executive Director, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists |
| John Ralston Saul, author,Voltaire’s Bastards andCollapse of Globalism, and President, PEN International | Joanna Macy, Root Teacher of the Work That Reconnects | Joseph Tainter, Professor, Utah State University and author, The Collapse of Complex Societies | Chuck Leavell, conservationist, longtime keyboard player and musical director for the Rolling Stones, and Director of Environmental Affairs for Mother Nature Network MNN |
| John Seed, director, Rainforest Information Centre and co-creator, the Council of All Beings | Nelson Mandela (Response compiled with words extracted from speeches with guidance from the Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory) | Ann Henderson-Sellers DSc, Emeritus Professor, Macquarie University – North Ryde NSW, Australia | Wen Bo, former editor, China Environment News; China Coordinator of Global Greengrants Fund; founder, Xinjiang Conservation, and Program Director of Air and Water Conservation Fund, National Geographic Society |
| Allana Beltran, Australian artivist | Summer Rayne Oakes, model/activist, co-founder, Source4Style. www.summerrayne.net |
Bob McDonald, host, “Quirks & Quarks,” CBC Radio, science correspondent, CBC Television, author | Gloria Flora, Sustainability Leader Reconnecting People to Their Landscapes |
| Hawksley Workman, singer-songwriter | Jay Ingram, science writer, broadcaster | Marc Garneau, first Canadian astronaut in space, current Canadian Member of Parliament for Westmount–Ville-Marie | Curt Stager, climate scientist and author |
| Helena Norberg-Hodge, director, International Society for Ecology and Culture, and producer, ‘The Economics of Happiness‘ | Wallace J. Nichols, PhD, Research Associate, California Academy of Sciences | Olivier De Schutter, UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food | Terry Tamminen, former secretary, California Environmental Protection Agency; founder, Seventh Generation Advisors; Strategic Advisor, R20 Regions of Climate Action; author Lives Per Gallon: The True Cost of our Oil Addiction and Cracking the Carbon Code |
| Kenny Ausubel, co-CEO and co-founder, Bioneers | Maren and Jan Enkelmann, authors, Happiness – How the World Keeps Smiling http://www.enkelmann.co.uk |
Sylvia Earle, Explorer in Residence, National Geographic and founder, Mission Blue | Wes Jackson, President, The Land Institute |
| Raffi Cavoukian, C.M., O.B.C., singer, author, ecology advocate, and founder, Centre for Child Honouring | Rajendra K. Pachauri, Chairperson, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and Director-General, TERI | Alastair McIntosh, author, Soil and Soul and Hell and High Water: Climate Change, Hope and the Human Condition |
Lisa Bendall, freelance writer and blogger http://www.50gooddeeds.com |
| Bryan Welch, writer, rancher and publisher/editorial director, Ogden Publications, Inc., publishers of Mother Earth News, Utne Reader, Mother Earth Living and more, and author, Beautiful & Abundant: Building the World We Want. |
Professor David Vaughan, British Antarctic Survey | Will Potter, author, Green Is the New Red: An Insider’s Account of a Social Movement Under Siege |
Rick Hansen, C.C., O.B.C., Difference Maker, spinal cord injury advocate, Canadian paralympian |
| Keibo Oiwa, cultural anthropologist, environmental activist, founder, Sloth Club and leader of the Slow Movement in Japan | Farley Mowat, Canadian author and conservationist | Spencer West, Author/Motivational Speaker/World Change Warrior, Me to We. | Mike Holmes, Canada’s Most Trusted Contractor, host, ‘Holmes on Homes’ and new series, ‘Holmes, Makes it Right’ |
| Paolo Soleri, founder, Arcosanti | George Mu’ammar, Spatial Analyst for the Food Security Analysis Service, Vulnerability Analysis and Mapping, World Food Programme of the UN, and beekeeper hobbyist | His Holiness The 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet | David Jewitt, Professor of Astronomy, UCLA |
| Mae Moore, Canadian musician, artist, organic farmer, activist | Carl Honoré, advocate of the Slow Movement and author, In Praise of Slow, Under Pressure and The Slow Fix | Dan Pallotta, author, Uncharitable and Charity Case, founder, Advertising for Humanity and the Charity Defense Council | Nikki Stern, writer, former Executive Director, Families of September 11, non-profit advisor and author, Hope in Small Doses. www.hopeinsmalldoses.com |
| Temple Grandin, Professor of Animal Science, Colorado State University | The Honourable Stéphane Dion, P.C., Member of Parliament for Saint-Laurent – Cartierville, former Canadian Minister of the Environment | Professor Klaus Bosselmann, New Zealand Centre for Environmental Law, University of Auckland | Chris Hedges, co-author with Joe Sacco of Days of Destruction, Days of Revolt |
| Karl-Henrik Robèrt, founder, The Natural Step, and professor, Blekinge Institute of Technology | Beth Doane, author, founder, Rain Tees www.raintees.com and www.bethdoane.com | Mark Plotkin, Ph.D., President and Co-Founder, Amazon Conservation Team | David W. Orr, Paul Sears Distinguished Professor, Oberlin College |
| Amanda Lindhout, Founder Global Enrichment Foundation | Sir Tim Smit, Chief Executive, Development and Co-founder, The Eden Project | Silver Donald Cameron, author, current Host and Executive Producer, TheGreenInterview.com | Mark Z. Jacobson, Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Director of the Atmosphere/Energy Program, Stanford University |
| Mayor Hazel McCallion, C.M., LL.D., City of Mississauga | Pete Hay, social theorist, activist, poet and essayist of Tasmania, Australia | Prof. Dr. Paul J. Crutzen, Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, Mainz, Germany, Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 1995 | Ta’Kaiya Blaney, singer/songwriter, youth environmental activist. (Ta’Kaiya means “Special Water” in the Sliammon First Nation language.) |
| Richard Zurawski BSc, MA (Research), PhD candidate, author, lecturer, radio talk show host, meteorologist and documentary film maker |
Sandra Postel, Director, Global Water Policy Project and Freshwater Fellow, National Geographic Society
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Jen Boulden, Green Business Entrepreneur | Frances Beinecke, President, Natural Resources Defense Council |
| John A. Vlahides, travel writer, TV personality from California |
Michael Reynolds, architect turned biotect, inventor/founder, Earthship
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Dave Toycen, President and CEO, World Vision Canada
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Tony Wheeler, co-founder, Lonely Planet |
| Kristin McGee, celebrity yoga/pilates instructor and trainer |
Moi Enomenga, Huaorani Leader and Quehueri’ono Association President. Huaorani Ecolodge: www.huaorani.com
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Peter F. Sale, Assistant Director, Institute for Water, Environment and Health, United Nations University, and author, Our Dying Planet www.petersalebooks.com
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David V. J. Bell, PhD, Professor Emeritus and Former Dean, Faculty of Environmental Studies, York University www.lsf-lst.ca |
| Richard A. Muller, Professor of Physics, UC Berkeley and Co-founder, Berkeley Earth | Martin Rutte, international speaker, consultant, co-author of the New York Times business bestseller Chicken Soup for the Soul at Work, and founder, Project Heaven on Earth www.projectheavenonearth.com |
Matthew Sleeth, MD, Executive Director, Blessed Earth and author, 24/6.
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Mathis Wackernagel, Ph.D., President, Global Footprint Network |
| Seth Godin, author, The Icarus Deception www.sethgodin.com |
Jill MacCormack, mother of three, writer and bloggist, Prattle and Ponder www.prattleandponder.blogspot.ca
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Alexandra Cousteau, explorer, filmmaker, water advocate, founder, Blue Legacy
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Kate Dillon, Mommy, Fashion Model, and Environmental Advocate |
| LGen (Ret’d) Roméo A. Dallaire, former Force Commander of The United Nations Assistance Mission For Rwanda, Canadian Senator, author, Shake Hands with the Devil, and founder, Roméo Dallaire Child Soldiers Initiative www.childsoldiers.org |
Andrew Blackwell, author, Visit Sunny Chernobyl
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David Quilty, publisher, The Good Human www.thegoodhuman.com
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Sy Safransky, Editor and Publisher, The Sun |
| Terrence J. Collins, Teresa Heinz Professor of Green Chemistry and Director, Institute for Green Science, Carnegie Mellon University |
Guy Dauncey, author and eco-futurist www.earthfuture.com
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Cam Mather, author, Thriving During Challenging Times: The Energy, Food, and Financial Independence Handbook and publisher, Aztext Press. www.cammather.com
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Dr. Kira Salak, writer, journalist, philosopher, National Geographic Emerging Explorer and extreme adventurer, author of The White Mary and The Cruelest Journey: 600 Miles to Timbuktu, www.kirasalak.com |
| Diego Pacheco, Ph.D., Head of Delegation in the CBD, Plurinational State of Bolivia |
Franny Armstrong, Director, The Age of Stupid, McLibel and Drowned Out and Founder, 10:10
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Carolyn Herriot, author, A Year on the Garden Path: A 52-Week Organic Gardening Guide, The Zero Mile Diet, and The Zero-Mile Diet Cookbook, and founder/operator, The Garden Path Centre
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Adam Ravetch, wildlife cinematographer & film maker, National Geographic’s Arctic Tale, Disneynature’s Earth, To The Arctic IMAX, and Ice Bear 3D |
| Manuel Pulgal-Vidal, Minister of the Environment, Perú | Wendell Berry, author, social and economic critic, farmer | Lauren Bush Lauren, CEO and Co-Founder, FEED Projects | Fatima Jibrell, women’s rights and environmental protection advocate, founder and Senior Advisor, Adeso – African Development Solutions (formerly Horn Relief), and founder, Sun Fire Cooking www.adesoafrica.org and www.sunfirecooking.com |
| Roman Dial, Professor, Alaska Pacific University |
Elisabet Sahtouris, PhD, evolution biologist, futurist, and author, EarthDance: Living Systems in Evolution
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Grant Lawrence, Host, CBC Music |
Norie Huddle, author, public speaker, consultant, artist www.gardenofparadise.net and www.butterflyblessings.net
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| Ryan Vandecasteyen, filmmaker, environmental advocate, and co-creator of The Pipedreams Project www.thepipedreamsproject.org |
Gary Hirshberg, Co-founder and Chairman, Stonyfield Farm, and Chair, Just Label It Campaign
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Leila Conners, President and Founder, Tree Media Group, writer and director, We the People 2.0, Into Eden, and The 11th Hour. www.treemedia.com
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Josie Maran, Chief Eco Officer, Josie Maran Cosmetics |
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Velcrow Ripper, speaker and award winning director, Scared Sacred, Fierce Light and Occupy Love www.velcrowripper.com
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