image by Roberto Garcia-S

Inspiring news from across the fronts…

Medicine first…
The United States is just beginning to move ahead on stem-cell research while other countries, like India, are far ahead. A couple of winters ago I met Amanda, in Aspen, CO,  a passionate skier who had been a paraplegic for 15 years due to an accident on the mountain. She refused to be victimized by her disability and founded a charity that helps others with disabilities enjoy mountain-sports. For the past year and a half, she has been traveling to India to receive stem-cell treatments. The results are extraordinary – she is able to feel her legs again, can control her bladder and she began to walk assisted by braces and a walker. Here is a video of her tackling the streets of New Delhi.

While there are still a lot of open questions about stem-cell research and its safety, especially in the long term, it is hard not to marvel at the miracle of this technology…and Amanda’s guts to be a pioneer.

And politics….
If you have grown increasingly exasperated about the seemingly never ending conflict between Israel and the Palestinians, you might be glad to hear that there are new and creative approaches being worked on. One of them is based on the developmental map of Spiral Dynamics, something Megan has written about here on the Sunny Way before.

Dr. Elza Maalouf, CEO of the Center for Human Emergence in the Middle East, is pioneering a new way out of the gridlock by working with the actual level of cultural development and the real needs of the people of the West Bank (as opposed to the ones we might imagine they have), in order to support them in moving themselves forward. Here is the Palestine progress blog that describes what is happening there.

Spirituality/Consciousness
Every Thursday night, at 9pm EST about 120 people convene via phone lines and live webstream to listen to an on-the-edge exploration of spirituality for the 21st century. Jeff Carreira, director of education at EnlightenNext, and Dr. Elizabeth Debold, a developmental psychologist (both students of EnlightenNext founder Andrew Cohen) explore the next frontier in the evolution of consciousness and invite questions and comments from their listeners. The calls rarely fail to stretch your mind and heart beyond the familiar and comfortable, and introduce both through the host’s interactions and the topics they discuss a whole new way of looking at our species’ perennial quest for truth and meaning. For the dial-in and web information go to the EnlightenNext webcast page.

All things ‘green’
“Boy, what a time to be a part of auto industry. If you ever want to make a difference, it’s a fantastic industry and fantastic time to be a part.” Who could have possibly said that right now? It’s Nancy Gioia, an electrical engineer, now in charge of making Ford Motor Company the nation’s leader in energy efficient cars. Ford is the only automaker who has not asked for support from the federal government these past months and if Ms Gioia’s spirit is anything to go by, there will be more good news soon.

Maybe Ford is now going to take its exemplary promise and commitment all the way: In 1999, the company contracted Cradle to Cradle Architect and Industrial Designer William McDonough and partners for 2 billion dollars to completely transform their Rouge truck plant into a model of green design. I have always wondered why a company that would do such a fantastic thing still insisted on building energy wasting cars. Now it seems Ford is actually catching up to itself.

Activism
Since Barack Obama’s inauguration, Climate Activism has gotten feverishly busy—finally there is a chance for serious action! Still, most people agree—in order to have politics do what is necessary, it will take continued and strong grassroots efforts. To keep pushing the point several initiatives are looking for support this coming weekend. On March 2nd, you can join the crowds in a multi-generational act of civil disobedience eventat the Capitol Power Plant — the plant that powers Congress with coal energy. One of the most famous voices at this event is Dr. James Hansen, one of the top climate scientists and head of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies. The organizers ask to make sure to dress in your Sunday best! (This isn’t the 70s anymore!)

Just preceding this event on February 27th will be PowerShift 09 – according to the organizers, the biggest climate conference and lobby day this country has ever seen. The smaller version of this I went to last year in Boston was more than worth the trip.

The Sunny Way’s own Sarah Moon will be there for both events—look for her first hand report in the coming weeks.