NewWays for Environmental and Social Change

Lucy Garrick had been looking for a way to use her skills in leadership development to give back around the concept of peace. She was floating in the pool at her apartment complex last July with no consulting work in sight. She’d been reading Elizabeth Gilbert’s book, “Eat, Pray, Love,” She had just finished the part where Gilbert petitions the universe to finalize her divorce, so, Garrick decided to try a petition of her own. She petitioned the universe for consulting projects in exchange for a life devoted to world peace. Ten minutes later, my phone rang and when I answered, I heard someone say, ‘Hello Lucy, this is Riane Eisler.’ I was absolutely stunned”

An anonymous email to a website focused on raising awareness about violence toward women and children (www.saiv.org) yielded a phone call from a complete stranger who happened to be a renown peace activist, scholar and best-selling, author. After some stammering conversation, Garrick offered to create a peace workshop based on Dr. Riane Eisler’s groundbreaking work on domination and partnership social systems. Eisler immediately responded, “Great, I’ll come!” As she hung up, Eisler commented, “I’m glad I followed my intuition and called you personally.” Both parties had never met and yet knew somehow they should commit to work together.

Thus was born, Million Ideas for Peace. From a simple email and a desire to help, Million Ideas for Peace became an organization devoted to educating and inspiring everyday people to do one more thing for peace. A month later, Garrick got her consulting projects, and on April 12, 2008, the peace workshop, Cultivating the Art of Active Peace, was held at the Seattle Art Museum. Dr. Eisler came as promised and donated her services. Garrick’s son, David, a teacher and artist built a mobile especially for the event. “David taught me about mobiles and why they make a good metaphor for peace.” said Garrick. “Fundamentally, they depend on balance and flexibility in to function. Without it, they fall apart.” Participants used the museum’s collection to contemplate their own acts of peace and then designed sails for the mobile to commemorate their own ideas for active peace in work of communal art.

Garrick found that underlying social, political, economic and environmental issues that lead to violence and war is also a sense of emotional overwhelm that keeps a lot of people from becoming more involved. “Some traditional activists don’t get us because we are not trying to convince people to support a specific cause,” comments Garrick. “In fact, we’re doing the opposite. We’re trying to help folks find their own causes based on what matters to them and what they already love doing. We’ve found that when people have to opportunity to reflect on what matters to them in the light of what they love to do, inspiration and creative solutions emerge naturally.”

Everyone is invited to post their ideas for peace on the Million Ideas for Peace blog. “At first I was the only one posting, and more and more people from all over are posting their ideas. There seems to be power in the multiplicity of voices and of people talking about what they are doing,” says Garrick. “Million Ideas for Peace dedicates itself to helping those of us who want to do more find a way to take their own leap of faith. We’re about creating a new definition for social activism that is positive, inclusive and generative and then helping people connect with the resources they need. We start by exploring all the ways people define peace, and it’s never just about ending war and violence. It goes much deeper. It’s anything from being more patient with a family member in need, to working on the environment, to helping victims of domestic violence, to the most global of issues you can imagine. We call it “active peace,” a play on the words, acts of peace.”

Additional information.
Please visit our website www.millionideas4peace.com
Dr. Riane Eisler is an eminent social scientist, attorney, author, and social activist. She is best known for her international bestseller The Chalice and The Blade: Our History, Our Future, now in 23 languages. Her newest book, The Real Wealth of Nations: Creating a Caring Economics
– hailed by Archbishop Desmond Tutu as “a template for the better world we have been so urgently seeking,” by Peter Senge as “desperately needed,” by Gloria Steinem as “revolutionary,” and by Jane Goodall as “a call to action. ” www.rianeeisler.com
Lucy Garrick an organizational consultant specializing in leadership and systemic change in organizations. She is the creator of the Learning Practice of Leadership, and founder of NorthShore Group and Million Ideas for Peace. www.northshoregroup.net