Partners / Links
Each Earth Treasure Vase is consecrated and buried with the support of a complex web of relationship and community. We gratefully acknowledge our partners, the individuals and organizations that inspire us, join us in pilgrimage and stand with us in our vision to bring healing, protection and renewal to the Earth.
Arctic Alaska:
The Arctic Alaska ETV was buried in the Arctic Circle in collaboration with Evon Peter, founder of Native Movement and the youngest person to be Chief of the Gwitch’in people. Native Movement supports culturally based leadership development and sustainability programs in Alaska and the Southwest, while inspiring and supporting young Indigenous leaders across North America. The organization also offers sponsorship and technical support for Indigenous led organizations and initiatives. www.nativemovement.org The journey began with the blessing of Grandmother Rita Blumenstein, a Yup’ik elder and healer who is a member of the International Council of 13 Indigenous Grandmothers. International Council of 13 Indigenous Grandmothers: www.grandmotherscouncil.com
Source of the Amazon:
In 2004, Vijali Hamilton shepherded an Earth Treasure Vase to the source of the Amazon River in Peru. Vijali is a sculptor, artist, writer, filmmaker and founder of The World Wheel Project, an artistic forum for global understanding. The project consists of two journeys circling the globe in which Hamilton carved monumental stone sculptures and created and collaborated on ceremonial-based, performance events. Through this process, the World Wheel provides a transformative experience for communities as they address spiritual, social, and ecological issues — activating an awareness of the interrelatedness of all life. World Wheel Project: www.worldwheel.org
Biosphere 2:
An Earth Treasure Vase was buried in a Canyon just below the architectural and ecological wonder that is Biosphere 2, in collaboration with some of the founding members of the Biosphere 2 team. For more information on the vision and history of the original project: www.biospheres.com The Biosphere Foundation continues the visionary work, inspiring intelligent stewardship of our earth’s biosphere through projects that aim to contribute to the existing body of knowledge about the biosphere and to inspire individuals to get involved through hands-on fieldwork or virtual education/outreach programs. www.biospherefoundation.org
Headwaters Forest:
Dharma teacher Wendy Johnson and members of Earth First! shepherded an Earth Treasure Vase deep into the primordial redwood forest of Humboldt County. This is the forest where Julia Butterfly Hill sat high in a tree named Luna to call world attention to the plight of the redwood forests. Wendy Johnson, a Buddhist meditation teacher and organic gardening mentor who is one of the founders of the organic Farm and Garden Program at Green Gulch Farm Zen Center in Marin County, where she lived for many years. She has been teaching gardening and environmental education to the public since the early 1980s, and is the author of Gardening at the Dragon’s Gate. www.gardeningatthedragonsgate.com
Earth First! is an international movement composed of small, bio-regionally-based groups. Earth First!ers take it upon themselves to become intimately familiar with the ecology of their area and the most immediate and serious threats to it. They apply “direct pressure” to stop the bleeding, with a combination of education, litigation, and creative civil disobedience. www.earthfirst.org
For 738 days Julia Butterfly Hill lived in the canopy of an ancient redwood tree, called Luna, to help make the world aware of the plight of ancient forests. Her courageous act of civil disobedience gained international attention for the redwoods as well as other environmental and social justice issues as chronicled in her book The Legacy of Luna. www.juliabutterfly.com
Hiroshima:
Known to many as the “Matisse of Japan,” Mayumi Oda has done extensive work with female goddess imagery. In addition to her work as an artist, Mayumi has spent many years of her life as an activist, participating in anti-nuclear campaigns worldwide. www.mayumioda.net She is the founder of Plutonium Free Future, a network of concerned citizens advocating safe energy and the elimination of nuclear weapons. www.nonukes.org She is also the founder of Ginger Hill Farm & Retreat Center, located on the Big Island of Hawaii, the center offers a variety of workshops on creativity and self-realization, permaculture principles and design methodology, medicinal cooking and cleansing, meditation, yoga and more. www.gingerhillfarm.com
Source of the Ganges, India:
An Earth Treasure Vase was buried at the source of the Ganges in partnership with Buddapath.com and inspired by the work of the Sankat Mochan Foundation www.sankatmochanfoundationonline.org Based in Varanasi, and directed by Dr VP Mishra, they are working to restore the Ganges by alleviating its fast deteriorating environmental conditions; promoting education and health care programs for the less privileged; and maintaining and encouraging the age-old cultural traditions of Varanasi in tune with the current environmental needs. The Foundation’s Swatcha Ganga (Clean Ganges) Campaign was initiated in association with the Friends of the Ganges www.friendsofganges.org. Buddhapath / Eleven Directions offers mindful journeys ‘In the Footsteps of the Buddha’ across India and Nepal guided by Shantum Seth, a Buddhist practitioner and ordained teacher in the Zen tradition of the Vietnamese Master Thich Nhat Hanh, and the foremost teacher and guide to the sites associated with the Buddha in India. www.buddhapath.com or www.elevendirections.com
Liberia:
In December 2009, we journeyed to Africa to bury an Earth Treasure Vase in Voinjama District, Liberia on the winter solstice in collaboration with everyday gandhis, a nonprofit organization with offices in Liberia and California. www.everydaygandhis.org The organization includes ex-combatants and former child soldiers (“future guardians of peace”) now peace-builders and seeks to educate and inspire the public, supporting peace through sharing stories and experiences that illustrate fresh thinking, respect for traditional culture, restoration of nature, innovative media, and the importance of community storytelling.
Oakland:
An Earth Treasure Vase was buried on the shores of the San Francisco Bay in East Oakland in collaboration with Claire Greensfelder, then Executive Director of the Martin Luther King Jr. Freedom Center which promotes the principles of nonviolence and offers an environment where young people can actively seek peaceful, nonviolent solutions to the difficult challenges we all face in our communities. The Freedom Center serves individuals, communities and organizations in the San Francisco Bay Area. www.mlkfreedomcenter.org
Ocean & Reefs:
Dedicated to healing coral reefs and the ocean, an ETV was “buried” in the Pacific Ocean around the Trobriand Islands of Papua, New Guinea in collaboration with scientists and students of the Planetary Coarl Reef Foundation onboard their research sailing ship, Infinity. PCRF’s vision www.pcrf.org is to stop the destruction of the world’s coral reefs by 2020 and restore their beauty, health and abundance within this century. The Foundation recognizes that the future of life on our planet depends on the health of our oceans and the health of our oceans depends on the health of our coral reefs. Since its inception, PCRF has pursued an unprecedented global mission to preserve coral reefs through innovative programs in science, education and technology. Ocean Revolution www.oceanrevolution.org is an international program developed to connect, inspire and empower a new wave of young leaders to find creative solutions to protect our oceans.
Thailand:
Stewarded by renunciate monks, an Earth Treasure Vase was buried in the Dtao Dum Forest near the Burmese border in Thailand in collaboration with Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro of Abhayagiri Monastery, www.abhayagiri.org the first monastery in the United States to be established by followers of Ajahn Chah, a respected Buddhist master of the ancient Thai Forest Tradition of Theravada Buddhism. The sangha lives according to the Vinaya, a code of monastic discipline established by the Buddha. In accordance with this discipline, the monastics are alms-mendicants, living lives of celibacy and frugality. The Forest tradition began in the time of the Buddha and has waxed and waned throughout Buddhist history. The Buddha was born in the forest, enlightened in the forest, taught in the forest, and passed away in the forest.
