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

So far the industry sector that includes clean, renewable and efficient energy has been holding up well under continuing bad news from just about every other segment of the US economy. Green energy stands out as a bright spot in an otherwise cloudy economic picture.

There’s a long list of good reasons for the strength of green:

– As of June last year 29 states had enacted renewable portfolio standards (RPS). With the laws in place, utility companies in those states have been building a continual flow of new renewable projects to meet the mandates or face fines. New projects mean the purchases of green power technologies which lead to busy supplier factories and a busy workforce to design, engineer and build those projects. Typically, the portfolio standards need to be met years in the future, so new renewable projects should continue at a steady pace for some time to come. Steady pace means solid steady business.

– Some states, too, are trying their best to build and attract green industries and research. By whatever means possible - from financially supporting innovation to subsidizing new factories to creating incentives to build new green projects - many states see green as the next wave of technological innovation, subsequent business opportunities and new employment opportunities.

– It may not seem so, listening to political critics but the Bush Administration is keenly interested in renewables and energy efficiency. But it wants to support the development and commercialization of technologies, not mandate emission cuts. Evidence of this came into this editor’s e-mail inbox in the form of a tidal wave of funding opportunity notices. The vast majority of the 39 NEW notices now posted in the Green Energy News website are from federal agencies seeking everything from innovation to outreach programs in some way to support the development of renewables and promote energy efficiency. Of the 65 total notices now posted, more than half are from federal government agencies under the long arm of the White House. Cumulatively there are hundreds of millions of dollars available within dozens of solicitations.

– When it comes to voting for the next occupant for the White House next fall, Americans should look to issues other than securing energy supplies or global warming to make their choice. The three remaining candidates are all on board to do something about the twin climate and energy crises. Whoever gets to sit in the Oval Office will be seeking funding, playing with tax schemes, and perhaps even regulating to bring more green power onto the nation’s power grids, and other measures to cut emissions and build energy security through renewables and energy efficiency.

– Large and well known corporations have placed considerable effort to build a green industry. General Electric in its ecomagination program comes to mind, as does Google now working to contribute to the green effort. But other well known companies which you’d never think would care much about green, other than cash, are jumping onto the wave.

Coca-Cola Bottling Company Consolidated (separate from the Coca Cola Company but using the Coca Cola brand) is working with Duke Energy on three plug-in hybrid conversions for demonstration purposes. The company currently operates more than 400 hybrid vehicles.

Coca Cola itself (Coca Cola Enterprises) understands the importance of fuel efficiency as well and is building a 120-vehicle fleet of hybrid delivery vehicles.

Skeptics may say it’s just good public relations or a marketing gimmick for corporations to go green, but does it matter when the end result is to help build a vibrant green energy industry filled with jobs and opportunity?

– Almost daily it seems that another new company starts up or a previously unknown one starts making some noise about their progress it is making. Some of these companies may be stars in a few years.

Since I’m just back from the west coast of Florida, Sunovia Energy Technologies of Sarasota comes to mind. The company announced that it, and EPIR Technologies, had completed a new advanced solar cell and infrared manufacturing facility in Illinois. But the more interesting news was that EPIR’s expertise in infrared technologies may be combined with Sunovia’s cadmium telluride (CdTe) solar cells to create an advanced, next generation solar cell that harnesses maximum light absorption from the different light intensities and different light spectra. The absorption and conversion of a wider spectrum of light is long a goal of solar companies.

– There’s the relationship of energy efficiency and the effort to build a smart power grid now being promoted by many utility companies. The smart grid initiative is to make more efficient use of existing grids through the interaction between grid users and the utilities. The utilities hope that a smarter grid will reduce the need to build ever more new powerplants. The customers believe that by using energy more efficiently they’ll be able to save money, reduce costs. (They will, of course.) In between the utility and the customer will be technologies that will be purchased and installed, again supporting the continual growth in the green energy sector. Saving energy may be the salvation for many companies in slow times.

Things could turn sour of course. For now for the green sector looks solid, but if the credit crunch gets much worse funding may dry up for all kinds projects including new renewable facilities. Perhaps more damaging, capital needed to create, build and expand new businesses in the green sector may also disappear leaving good ideas, new technologies high and dry.

Links:

Sunovia Energy Technologies
http://www.sunoviaenergy.com

EPIR Technologies
http://www.epir.com

Duke Energy
http://www.duke-energy.com

GE Ecomagination
http://www.ge.com/innovation/eco/index.html

Green Energy News - Requests for Proposals and Funding Opportunities
http://www.green-energy-news.com/content/fundopps.html