By Tim Saunders on
Singer Jason Mraz has blogged about his support for a non-profit group of elderly people who want to use their collective knowledge to save the world.
“Recently I was turned onto the work of the 13 Indigenous Grandmothers; an action team of women from the four corners of the globe who have formed an alliance to bring balance to Mother Earth and all her inhabitants for the next seven generations to come,” he wrote in his latest blog. “To do work intended for seven generations is a remarkably selfless act indeed. Imagine making something that you know is meant for someone 200 years from now. It’s like planting a tree. In your lifetime you may not be able to swing from it’s branches, but long after you’re gone, many families will.”
The alliance of 13 Indigenous Grandmothers was formed in 2004, when a group of concerned women from all over the world—the Arctic Circle, North, South and Central America, Africa, and Asia—arrived at Tibet House’s Menla Mountain Retreat in upstate New York. Within a few days of convening, the grandmothers agreed to form a global alliance to work together to serve both their common goals and their specific local concerns.
According to their mission statement, the 13 Indigenous Grandmothers “represent a global alliance of prayer, education and healing for our Mother Earth, all Her inhabitants, all the children, and for the next seven generations to come. We are deeply concerned with the unprecedented destruction of our Mother Earth and the destruction of indigenous ways of life. We believe the teachings of our ancestors will light our way through an uncertain future. We look to further our vision through the realization of projects that protect our diverse cultures: lands, medicines, language and ceremonial ways of prayer and through projects that educate and nurture our children.”
The long term aims of the group have captured Jason Mraz’s attention and support.
“Are you choosing to think it’s too late to save the planet because you’re not seeing immediate results?” he wrote. "Are you personally choosing not to change your diet and bad habits because you think it will make this week suck? Well, think of that distant you in the future who will look back and hug you for the powerful shift in consciousness you decided to make right now.
“There are many people around the world who are still connected to the Earth, who see that we DO rely on her gifts, that we live on her body, that we, ourselves sprouted from Nature. Modern society, city life, and TV technology fool us too often and we forget our roots. Protect the air and water, all that which gives us life and learn from what the plants are trying hard to teach us.”
To learn more about the 13 Indigenous Grandmothers and their work to make the world a better place, visit their website.
Copyright © 2009 Look to the Stars
