People for Mother Earth

by John McCarthy (The Ecozoic Handyman)
When people act out only on their own greed, they emit an energy that serves to destroy the harmony within nature.

-- The Hidden Messages in Water
by Masaru Emoto
Now is the time for all men, women, and children to come to the aid of Mother Earth.

My Story

Everyone has a rock in his/her life. Mine is my sister, Loretta. For fifty years (1958 to 2008), she served as a Sister of the Blessed Sacrament. In 2003, while she was on sabbatical in Oakland, CA, I went to Sophia Center to visit with her. I was invited to attend the classes. I choose two: one taught by Eric Weiss and the other by Jim Conlon. Moved by what I heard I bought the book, Sacred Impulse by Jim Conlon. Reading that book changed my life. My journey toward a deeper appreciation of Earth and the Universe had begun.

I have to offer thanks to Anne Lamott. Her book, Traveling Mercies , got me started reading and appreciating the written word as I never had before in my life. In the fall 2003, I traveled to Green Mountain Monastery to look at a yurt that my sister was interested in my seeing with the hopes of my building one for her in the future. There I met Gail Worcelo and Bernadette Bostwick. Over the years, I continued to visit Green Mountain Monastery, learning more and more each time. There I was introduced to the work of Thomas Berry. There during the Thanksgiving holiday of 2004, I met Jennifer Morgan, author of The Big Bang .

In the spring of 2005 I started to visit a variety of earth-centered places:
  • FrancisEmma (Powhatan, VA), Cedar Hill (Gainesville, GA),
  • Rockhaven (House Springs, MO), and
  • Genesis Farm (Blairstown, NJ).
At Rockhaven I was introduced to EarthLight magazine and had the opportunity to watch tapes of Brian Swimme. These experiences moved me further along on my journey. In the fall of 2005 while I was visiting and working at Green Monastery, I started thinking about tying all the places that are earth friendly together on a web site. Aware of the cost I decided to wait until I hit the lottery.
My spring 2006 trip included:
  • FrancisEmma, Inc. where I did landscaping, plumbing, and odd jobs
  • Springbank Retreat (Kingstree, SC)
  • Maisha House of Prayer (Atlanta, GA) where I planted vegetables and flowers in the raised bed garden I had helped to create in 2005, did plumbing and odd jobs.
  • Xavier Prep Convent (New Orleans, LA) where I helped out with maintenance and also put in kitchen cabinets and bathroom fixtures for one of the victims of hurricane Katrina
  • Rockhaven Ecozoic Center where I put a roof on the hermitage, did plumbing and landscaping and various other tasks
  • Dancing TreePeople (Upper Lake, CA) where I set up an irrigation system for the walnut trees and helped with the building of a straw bale house

Each experience drew me closer to Mother Earth. In March of 2007 while sorting through my papers, I came across what I had written at Green Mountain Monastery in 2005. I decided - given my awareness of how Mother Earth is being destroyed by greed daily - I couldn't wait to hit the lottery to begin tying places together. I had to start now with what I had. I remembered what I heard so many years ago: "Money talks and bullshit walks". I took the quote that was a central part of my original thinking: Mother Earth Against Money and had bumper stickers made. I contacted Denise Rushing at Dancing TreePeople Orchard and Farm for assistance in setting up a website. www.people4motherearth.net was created.

Since the first bumper sticker in 2007, I have created a new one each year. As I travel this year (2009) I hand out Mother Earth business cards and bumper stickers which have on them a picture of Earth from space and the URL for this website. I also give people bumber stickers with another important message: Sun and Wind Power Now!

My truck and I are getting older. It is a 1993 Ford F-150, and I am now a stroke survivor (2007), celebrating 70 years of life in 2009. We continue to take three to four months each year to visit Earth friendly centers where I help out with yard work, plumbing and other tasks, or just stop by to visit and share stories. I have visited most of the sites listed on this website. As more are added, I look forward to adding them to my yearly cross country trip.

Materials that have influenced my journey:
Berry, Thomas Evening Thoughts
Conlon, James Sacred Impulse
Earthlight (magazine)
Emoto, Masaru The Hidden Messages in Water , The Secret of Water: For the Children of the World
Lamott, Anne Traveling Mercies
Morgan, Jennifer The Big Bang
Schenk, Jim (ed.) What Does God Look Like in an Expanding Universe?
EarthLight: Spiritual Wisdom for an Ecological Age
Spring, Cindy and Manousos, Anthony (ed.)
Swimme, Brian The Powers of the Universe (Eleven part DVD series)
What is Enlightenment? (magazine)

See also the places supporting Mother Earth. If you would like to be included on this website, please contact us
Please send a brochure or written information about your earth-centered place.

Dedication

This  is dedicated to the children of the world, especially some of the children in my life. When they reach my age - fifty years from now - I hope Mother Earth will be better off than she is now.
This for you: Ben, Zachary, Brigette, Nicholas, Chris, Trevor, Mike, Maddison, Joe, Ashley, Sarah, Althea, Emily, Mark, Annie, Zachary, Joshua, Elijah, Izaak, Mariah, Chase, Sydney, John, Erin, Robert, Martha, Constantinos, James, Charlie, Connor, Clayton, Tommy, Taylor, Marja, Luke, Isaac, Ariane, Cheyenne, Alyssa, Carolyn, Hannah, Christopher, Katherine, Mary, Jonathan, and Patrick James (John and Loretta's great nephew).
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