2023 Gift  Nature Invitation

Imagine yourself an astronaut on Spaceship Earth watching the moon go past AND eclipsing the sun! 

We are happy and comfy because Mother Nature provides us with everything we need to live–the 4 Elements: Earth-Air-Water-Fire.  Now, imagine jumping ahead in time to 2030!  How old are you? How do YOU look? How's Mother Nature doing?  Here’s a chance to do something NOW that’ll help make 2030 bright & beautiful for all of us!

Project Purpose

Because we, Uncle Jon and Auntie Yosh, are flying allllll the way from Aotearoa NZ to see you, it’s important we consider the massive cost of CO2 emissions going to being emitted. Not only are we burning fossil fuels, but consider the CO2 cost of the EMBODIED ENERGY used to build everything needed for the trip e.g. planes and airports. So! The purpose of this project is to share important lessons about Nature, and about how we, together, can keep her and us healthy enough to enjoy our future.

Uncle Jon and Auntie Yosh’s Values

Values are what we believe to be important. We want these values to be reflected in how we behave.

• Reciprocity If we ‘take away’ from Nature, we must also ‘give back’ to keep her healthy.
• Interdependence We believe that, My success DEPENDS on your success; Nature’s success DEPENDS on our success.
• Synergy If we trust each other to be the best we can be, we expect extraordinary, positive things to happen for ALL of life.
• Love When we love ourselves, each other and Nature… everyone wins!

Throughout this project, you'll discover and clarify your values ...how you choose to be and what to do.

 4 Important Concepts to Understand

1. EMBODIED ENERGY is a calculation of all the energy that is used to produce a material or product. Regarding Uncle J and Auntie Y’s air travel… it is the energy used to make the plane, airports, food we eat on the plane, the uniforms the pilot and cabin crew wear, the tech used so that we can watch movies! Most of that energy will have been generated from fossil fuels, putting massive amounts of CO2 into the atmosphere.
2. TRUE COSTS Rather than think of this in just $$ or CO2 terms, let’s think about the wider costs – our footprints on Nature. E.g., mining fossil fuels from the Earth; polluting the Air; diverting Water to build, drink, cool; creating & burning energy (Fire) for human and technical uses.
3. RECIPROCITY To reciprocate: to give back equivalent to the value of what was received. For this project, the aim is to restore and give back to Nature in reciprocity for the fossil fuel energy that enabled our journey.
4. $FOOTPRINT = $HANDPRINT Footprint is our negative impact on the planet; Handprint is our positive impact on the planet. We know that flying creates a huge CO2 footprint, so we balance that by spending the same $ amount on Mother Nature…through YOU.

4 Important Relationships For You to Develop

1. Your relationship with yourself! As Yodimi said, Love your limitations. Wisely choose them. (Yodimi was Yoda’s very wise Grandmother)  You will be challenged. To what degree depends on how much you value Nature, and if you are prepared to think differently about the choices you make that directly or indirectly impact her.
2. Your relationship with who you choose to collaborate with on this “Gift 4 Nature” project
   Through your relationships with your collaborators (organisations, projects, classmates, etc), you’ll help to design the future you grow into.
3. Your relationship with others on this project, like your family, friends and TED, CHARLES, JAMES, EMI, JULIE. When we all work interdependently… we all win, including of course Nature!
4. Your relationship with Nature. Uncle Jon and Auntie Yosh’s life work has been to help people understand that
   I am Nature. When I am healthy, Nature is healthy. When Nature is healthy, I am healthy.

Your Challenge

You will receive USD$1000 to donate to a cause, organisation, school or community project that serves, supports and restores NATURE. Consider this YOUR HANDPRINT – your contribution to a project that you trust to use the money to restore and revitalise Mother Nature.

Meet Your Fellow Spaceship Earth Travellers!

Charles	Emi, Ted, James	Julie

Gift Nature Project Presentation

U. Jon and A. Yosh look forward to learning about your project – in person! - in April/May this year.

Your “presentation” can be whatever you like! How you incorporate the points below into your presentation can be as creative, weird, fascinating, beautiful as you wish. (Music – Art - Theatre – Journal – Report – PowerPoint – Video –whatever!)  There is no deadline…the presentation may be a milestone – the donation will be made in your name when you’re ready.

Here are some points we’d like you to cover:

1. Title of your project.
2. Purpose of your project.
3. Values What was important for you to remember throughout this learning journey? What values kept you on track? (Remember Auntie Y & Unc J's values are "Reciprocity-Interdependence-Synergy-Love")
4. Chosen Organisation Who have you chosen to make best use of your donation? What are their values? What’s their purpose? How will you keep in touch with them to see how they’re doing?
5. Current Context: What's the current reality of the topic?   eg, if your project is about ‘reducing food waste’, what are some of the carbon footprints food waste creates? (food to landfills creating toxic gasses into the air; food being thrown out while many people are hungry or starving; plastic food packaging that breaks down to micro plastics in the air and sea...) What local groups/projects are focused on reducing waste like urban gardens, school waste reduction or garden programmes, etc.
6. Potential Context in 2030 How old will you be? How much better will things be thanks to everyone understanding the power of RECIPROCITY and  HANDPRINTING?
7. New Habits What new habits have or will you develop to keep us and Mother Nature healthy and happy?
8. Reflection What was surprising/amazing?

What Next?

1. Have a think about our Gift Nature project. Let us know in the next 2 weeks by 8 March via email-text-What's App what you think and if you have any questions.  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. +64220522408   This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.  +64220754800  Happy to meet-up anytime too!
2. If you’re wondering about your project topic, have a look at the Appendix below where we’ve listed topics that might be of interest…or make you think of other project topics. The ones listed are BIG PICTURE, global topics that affect millions and millions of people. To make it relevant to YOU, find a project that’s LOCAL and meaningful to you and that you can watch progress over time.
3. Write to us, the others, whoever if you want to connect with. The more we share, the more we learn.

Appendix

Information, links and other stuff that'll get you and your parents thinking! ASK them, each other, Aunties, Uncles - whoever might help you make sense of whatever.

There's a TON of scientific evidence that demonstrate that we have solutions to mitigate the damage of climate change and restore Nature. Part of that ton of evidence includes “Project Drawdown”, a very comprehensive treasure chest of climate solutions. 

Project Drawdown
Founded in 2014, Project Drawdown® is a nonprofit organization that seeks to help the world reach “drawdown”.

The Project’s Vision: to stop global warming with solutions that exist today.

The Purpose: to help the world reach “drawdown”... the point in the future when levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere stop climbing and start to steadily decline, thereby halting catastrophic climate change—as quickly, safely, and equitably as possible.

Climate actions from Project Drawdown  (Here’s a summary of just a few solutions and how many gigatons of CO2 equivalent would be reduced or sequestered by 2050 if the solutions worked)

• Reduce Food Waste
• Seafloor Protection
• Forest Protection
• Plant-rich Diets
• Educating Girls

Information fromhttps://drawdown.org/solutions. Photos by Yoshimi & Jon.

	Reduce Food Waste https://drawdown.org/solutions/reduced-food-waste Roughly one-third of the world’s food is never eaten. By reducing loss and waste, we can reduce the need for land and resources used to produce food as well as the greenhouse gases released in the process. Impact After taking into account the adoption of the Plant-Rich Diet solution, Reduced Food Waste can avoid 88.50–102.20 gigatons of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions by 2050.
Seafloor Protection https://drawdown.org/solutions/seafloor-protection Vast amounts of carbon stored in seafloor sediments risk release by bottom-trawling fishing. Bottom-trawling bans and establishment of Marine Protected Areas can protect this important carbon sink. Impact Bottom trawling contributes little to the global food supply, but when it disturbs carbon-rich sediments it can contribute significantly to the greenhouse gases. Protecting 283.38–383.65 million hectares of seafloor from bottom trawling could reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 3.80–5.14 gigatons between 2020 and 2050.
	Forest Protection https://drawdown.org/solutions/forest-protection In their biomass and soil, forests are powerful carbon storehouses. Protection prevents emissions from deforestation, shields stored carbon, and enables ongoing carbon sequestration. Impact By protecting an additional 335–466 million hectares of forest, we could avoid 5.55–8.83 gigatons of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions by 2050. Perhaps more importantly, this would secure an estimated protected stock of 179–203 gigatons of carbon, roughly equivalent to more than 655–743 gigatons of carbon dioxide if released into the atmosphere.
Educating Girls Today, more than 130 million girls are denied the fundamental right to attend school and lay a foundation for their lives. The situation is most dire in secondary classrooms. Economic barriers include lack of family funds for school fees and uniforms, as well as prioritizing the more immediate benefits of having girls fetch water or firewood, or work a market stall or a plot of land. Impact Increasing women’s involvement in the energy sector also leads to “more effective clean-energy initiatives, greater returns on investment in clean energy, and expanded emissions-reduction opportunities, according to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. https://www.kosmosjournal.org/news/drawdown-top-10-solutions-to-reverse-climate-change/ (#6) GHG reduction (Drawdown Scenario — requires helping more girls attend school): 59.6 GT of reduced CO2 by 2050.

Here are a few videos from our Tanglewood Project on Handprints, Reducing Waste, Climate Action   We had several Open Homes before we moved in to share how we worked to create huge HANDPRINTS from our energy systems...including solar panels and changing habits to reduce energy waste.  Tanglewood runs on the sun's energy and we are ZERO carbon emissions!  (Induction stove; EV; E-BBQ; E-candles; E-bikes; E-mower, etc.)  

See Uncle Jon's attempt at asking people to reciprocate Nature with HUGE handprints! https://zenet100.com/

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