Becoming a Sanctuary of Love and Healing

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We, that’s you and me - are all connected - all of us are connected to everything on our planet. We are surrounded by the air molecules encompassing\n        us, (that we breath into our being) that in turn envelopes all of humanity and all biota, including every mountain range across all landmass’s\n        down to the shores of all seas and oceans - then as water molecules down to the ocean floor of mineral molecules - right to the very molten atomic\n        core of our planet itself. 
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Our Planet is a ball composed of atoms - from the top of our atmospheric envelope - to the very centre of its core.
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Basic science shows us that within the bubble of our biosphere we are one energy field of untold mega trillions of molecules rubbing up against each\n        other. These invisible atmospheric atoms are all touching as one continuous relationship with each other. 
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Even between our eyes and this screen, though invisible the atoms of nitrogen, oxygen carbon, methane are between our retina and these words. It is\n        not a vacuum. When we look about us the whole atmosphere is made of transparent air molecules - all rubbing up against each other.
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Everything is in contact with something else in one seamless connection. Atoms rubbing up against other atoms. Each atom having a nucleus - like a\n        mini sun or star. 
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Our world at an atomic level Put another way, a planetary sized ball filled with subatomic particles - orbiting the sun our local star.
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As we are one continuous stream of atoms in connection - from the ground under our feet to the air and clouds above our head - plus in all the directions\n        of the four winds. We are one contiguous interconnected ’energy field, of atoms.’
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One unified solid energy field.
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The fact that everything is connected - let us realise that when we send thoughts and feelings of goodwill - of healing love, light and connection\n        to surround an ambulance ‘in a bubble’ - is an act of ‘compassion and empathy.’ That we are doing our best even at a tiny level - to send healing\n        intention to those people in need who are in the ambulance, but also who may use an ambulance in the future, - that at heart - we care.
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It may be a small act, however as thoughts have wings it is one way of showing ‘conscious’ support and care.
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We know that ambulances these days are all too often found ‘at the bottom of the cliff’ due to the lack of preventative health measure being taken\n        in advance, yet they are revered life savers. 
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Imagine finding yourself being injured or unwell and being carried to an ambulance and as you enter the doors - you are instantly bathed in a warm\n        glow of what feels like love and soothing, healing warmth. This could be very real and have such an effect to make the needy person ‘feel’ that\n        they are in a sacred place of healing. So that their journey to hospital takes them there bathed in well wishing - safely, and that they can recover\n        far more quickly. 
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This being a conscious choice to community participation
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    "Sub-Paragraph": "The premise for visualising a ‘bubble of healing white light and love’ around every ambulance that we see.",
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“We travel together, passengers on a little space ship, dependent  on its vulnerable reserves of air and soil; all committed for our  safety to its security and peace; preserved from annihilation only by  the care, the work, and I will say, the love we give our fragile craft.    
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We cannot maintain it half fortunate, half miserable, half  confident, half despairing, half slave to the ancient enemies of man  half free in a liberation of resources undreamed of until this day. No  craft, no crew can travel with such vast contradictions.    
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On their resolution depends the survival of us all.” 
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Adlai E. Stevenson II - was President John F Kennedy’s United Nations Representative.     He gave this Speech to the Economic and Social Council, Geneva, Switzerland, July 9,1965 and died 5 days later on July 14, 1965.\n
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As we continue our revolutions around our sun, we on our planet 'Spaceship Earth' have never felt so concerned as to what is happening to our craft and     crew in these very tumultuous times.
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Not so long ago we entered the 21st century thinking that a new millennium will favour a peaceful future - yet - days, weeks, months and years seemingly\n    whip past us, as we, the 7.5 billion human inhabitants of Spaceship Earth continue our journey, silently and effortlessly among the constellations\n    to a galactic destination we have yet to determine.
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In looking at this marvel of life and magnificence - we on our planet - spaceship earth see that our ship is a miracle of profound proportions. That over\n    eons has created and evolved a diverse array of living phenomenon - of biota of flora and fauna of - animals and vegetation.
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Set in scenic grandeur of such picturesque beauty - it makes one’s heart melt …
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Yet our planet spaceship earth actually lends us bodies - all of us and includes a free air supply of pure oxygen, free water that is pristine, and food\n    of fruit and vegetables that are exquisitely varied - nourishing and tasty. And it is only recently that the crew have had to pay for these last two.
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For ‘today’ - closing in on the second decade of the 21st Century a so called calendar of time that has emerged from the most predominant crew mindset\n    - things are changing exceptionally fast.\n    
 
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For in truth, there are no passengers on Spaceship Earth, for in fact we are all crew - all participants. Yet, we have come into being with no idea or\n    reason for being. Having no manual or ships charter for us to learn of our true inheritance and even know why we have been born on board ship!
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For untold millennia we have been born, to live, reproduce and die. Not even knowing if there is life after death. Though historically there are stories,\n    legends, myths and folklore - that say Yes we do live after death!
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Meantime we have been endeavouring to divine where we have come from, why we are here and where we are going to. Yet it appears that a large percentage\n    of crew inherently believe in something greater - for instance a soul, but very few understand what it means. 
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So where we spring from, we just don’t know but there are certain cosmologies that over the millennia segments of crew have argued and fought and warred\n    among each other as to who was right and who was wrong. Such has been the emotive power of such a subject - that crew could lose themselves, resulting\n    in huge losses of life, causing much pain, sorrow and trauma affecting them over generations.\n    
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For some unknown reason we as a species have emerged from our mother to take our first breath, - and that every single one of us have all been born\n    of a mother. We also don’t know how our family tree or bloodline has come about other than this lineage connects us across the ages via an umbilical\n    cord that entwined within it - is a spiralling DNA, a codex of the makeup of our physical body. Yet, we have all emerged and coming from the past recognise\n    that we are intimately connected to the very fabric of our ship - endearingly named Mother Earth - Spaceship Earth.
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However no one is sure. The majority of the crew actually believe:     \n    
1) That there is a greater being that created them and their ship, though they do not really know how?\n    
whilst another viewpoint is:\n    
2) That a greater being - ‘set up the situation’ prior to - a single expanding point that allowed the universe and eventually them to evolve into being.\n    And yet another viewpoint:\n    
3) That we are ‘all here by fluke’ or chance and that we are as a result of the big bang - the universe rapidly expanding like 2 above but everything\n    is instead by happenstance and just emerged.\n    
4) Some crew think that other Extra Terrestrials from other ‘unknown’ spaceships and star systems - have secretly intruded and come on board and either\n    seeded the ship with certain DNA or somehow manipulated the situation. 
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And intertwined within all these other cosmologies, others saying that ‘we are spiritual beings having an Earth experience and that we may be living in\n    a steady state universe.
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In sorting through all these situations, there is a common denominator that possibly 85-90% of the crew believe in, that they all have within them an essence\n    or soul and this connects them over time and space to a greater being, many call God, Allah, Brahma, great Spirit.
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This also brings in yet another viewpoint which is saying that when we awaken to the realisation that we are spiritual beings having an earth experience,\n    it somehow triggers an arousal of something deep inside our being that is both cosmic and personal and we realise we are part of ‘all that is’ often\n    resulting in a rapid awakening into the now … however to perceive and recognise the truth in what is happening - is the challenge of the moment.\n    However this leads to us into the awakening and recognising of our ‘Captain’ within. 
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Nevertheless, back on board our interstellar spaceship there is a gathering momentum of crew who are dissatisfied with so much that’s going on board, yet\n    they still remain unknowing of who the Captain is!\n    
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In so doing, they are not feeling empowered and being insightful enough to realise that we are our own ‘Captain’ and so they continue to give away\n    their power to ‘outside entities.’ These being clever people with connections, purporting to be Captains, who by smart crew manipulations have funded\n    crew cliques called ‘political parties’ as fronts to enable them to do (in their estimation) their best to ‘run the ship.’ 
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But, to be very frank, the majority of the crew possibly 95% have been caught up in ‘a matrix’ and become spell bound - even hypnotised as to what's real\n    and what is not. This is the overarching quandary.
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For down on the surface of our planetary spaceship, on nearly every deck - and station, across many zones called countries there is a subtle, yet invasive\n    ‘onboard mutiny’ by ‘other’ crew members. They are in many cases unelected, and have conspired together by working behind the scenes and ‘have taken\n    over many key controls of the ship.’
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These are extremely deceptive pirates, who surreptitiously even have the Jolly Roger as their global flag …… you know - the white skull and\n    crossbones on a background of black. They are cunningly manipulating many things that are affecting vast numbers of crew, making it more difficult\n    to live.
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For on Our Planet Spaceship Earth’s living quarters - compartments - and complexes, reality is becoming starker by the year, because the crew the so called\n    99% have major challenges remembering that they are crew. So mesmerised and captivated by the matrix - an illusionary yet debilitating reality - that\n    they continue to become unknowing of their station in life.
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They have also been caught up in the mantra - money makes the world go round - the default setting for success … of ego - prestige and celebrity.\n    
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Yet, some are realising ‘the game’ has been rigged against the many.
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For a good number of years they have inherently known that the diamond markets have been rigged, and now they learn gold and silver markets are manipulated.\n    Same for oil, including the LIBOR scandal    and interests rates, that the stock exchange aligned with bankers has been engineered, and that a private cartel on board - the unaccountable Federal\n    Reserve in America has been printing a trillion dollars a year, setting off a spaceship-wide printing frenzy from other divisions throughout the ship.
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Recently, ‘certain’ crew from China, the EU, Britain, Switzerland, Japan, and Brazil have involved themselves too, with ‘quantitative easing’ a sneaky\n    description, of ‘printing more money’ - by hiding its true meaning. And the supreme onboard duplicitous controller is the US who over the last years\n    has printed $80 billion per month, this being fraught with danger, and alarm bells are now ringing throughout most sections of the ship!
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Jim Bolger the ex New Zealand Prime Minister and US ambassador who may have an inkling about the machinations on board ship, when asked about America’s\n    quantitative easing, stated mystifyingly - “that's led us to printing, printing and printing money, in the hope that something will turn up. I'd love\n    to tell you we knew exactly where it was going to end, but that would be misleading you”.
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The printing of this ship wide currency has not led to the improvement of ordinary lives, but instead continued supporting an immoral elite of ‘officers’\n    whilst causing a greater division towards causing crew to become homeless and starving to become refugees.
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They have been fleeing inter crew fighting that has given cause for spaceship ‘pin up’ girl, Angelina Jolie - Special Envoy and former Goodwill Ambassador\n    in furthering despondency, exclaiming recently …. “We're lacking in leadership in the world in general, I don't think there is an example of\n    extraordinary leadership that will breakthrough the stalemate of what is happening in the world.” 
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Her forthright statement that there is a huge lack of leadership globally, is correct - across the board. We have in so many situations, ‘unconscious crew’\n    in leadership roles, who are perceived as cardboard cut outs, mostly hollow to the core - a shadow of their imagination.
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Today’s operating crew in leadership positions in nearly every instance are not ‘conscious’ and are lacking ‘mana’ - presence, and vision or even the ability\n    to talk truth to power, (or just speak the truth). They appear deficient as well - of any semblance of compassion and connection. 
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This can be clearly seen in the English speaking five main global players in the inter-deck security and intelligence spying network … the Five\n    Eyes Echelon Surveillance System …. most are run by conservative administrations - with Republicans controlling the US Senate and Congress thinking\n    they are ‘the ship’s control tower.’ 
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These crew turned pirates and money men - an old boy network, with compromised female mouth pieces are still grimly extending control over critical sectors\n    of the ship like energy, banking and communications - on behalf of a corrupted agenda.\n    
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Meanwhile, within the teaming biosphere of our planet Spaceship Earth most of the biota are under stress, as all the natural life support systems critical\n    to producing air, water and food are under increasing pressure - being pushed to the limit, due to overuse, over extraction of raw fuel and rapidly\n    increasing pollution. This is due to burgeoning numbers of multiplying crew - most of them still being unconscious that they are aboard ship and who\n    are now just doing their best to survive - many trapped and struggling in a mode of persevering - unknowingly under the rubric of ‘winner takes all'\n    - the pirates - ‘corporate agenda.’
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Whilst the air conditioning continues to behave more erratically, the refrigeration is running hot and cold, drinking water is at a premium with the covert\n    pirates infiltrating so many areas of the ship, controlling many areas of crew quarters that house and billet the crew. Especially corrupting the inflight\n    media, particularly most news services - by broadcasting negative daily news - and with propaganda from vested financial interests many crew have become\n    fragmented and dysfunctional - whilst the pirates increasingly listen-in and record crews conversations and intercom communications with other crew.\n    This has resulted in unconscious crew reacting and now become so enraged and even dysfunctional - that they have turned to terrorism thinking that\n    this is the only way to fight back!
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Worse still - the pirates who are causing these problems are so disconnected from their own heart as well as to the crew, they are increasingly selling\n    armaments to warring factions of dysfunctional crew, whilst drug and alcohol addictions pervade a large sector of the ship and the threat of weapons\n    of mass destruction increases, be it chemical, biological or nuclear - are now a constant danger.
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There is even nuclear radiation leaking out on the ship itself from one of the ships contentious energy systems in the Japanese quarters, with unforeseen\n    consequences of what this continuous discharge is causing to the ship’s air conditioning and waterways.
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This now is being aggravated by violent agitation and insurgencies in Middle Eastern crew quarters with traumatised crew vacating their posts and seeking\n    refuge anywhere they can - over running and bursting in on especially ‘well off’ sections of our ship. Whilst elsewhere, tensions keep building up\n    by belligerent NATO military forces - ‘in breaking an agreement’ (Hyper link See Malcolm Fraser) pushing up against the bulkhead of the Russian crew\n    quarters - which has the largest crew area on the ship.
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There is a stupendous need for super conscious crew (who are becoming aware that they are Captains) to make themselves known by bringing about peace through\n    conflict resolution and reconciling this strained and escalating relationship. Particularly as there are now threats that nuclear projectiles are going\n    to be lobbed into each others sections of the ship, and that tens of millions, if not hundreds of millions of crew could instantly be incinerated and\n    lose their lives, in a vast, inter-deck wide holocaust and conflagration - with needless suffering of innocents.
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As a result of so much conflict - some crew have basically given up, as they think that it’s written in an ancient text that a coming super war is prophesied\n    thus they do nothing to creatively stop it. Thinking that when it is over their saviour a super gifted ‘admiral of all fleets’ will mysteriously reappear\n    and save them and them only - for all of eternity.
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Such is the thought and thinking process of the various crew that reside on the ship.
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And even overlaying this, the toxic waste of unconscious crew’s actions and indulgences are starting to build up in the water supplies and holding tanks,\n    whilst in certain sections and complexes of the Chinese and the Indian quarters air ventilation is deteriorating causing major breathing problems.\n    However air is steadily becoming worse throughout the whole of the ship’s ventilation systems. And even more critically - many of the provisions are\n    being perverted by raiders, manipulating the DNA of the food supplies or spraying the food with chemicals - before selling it to crew to be eaten.\n    Whilst not advising crew what they have done!
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There is a moral malaise that is infecting the whole crew throughout the ship.
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Yet, unknown to most of the crew on board, is the profound notion that not only is our life support a spaceship, in reality it is a mother ship, from ‘her’\n    all things have issued. 
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Our Planet Spaceship Earth is a Mothership!
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Fortunately, more and more crew are awakening to this realisation, that our planet is a living, self sustaining super organism, and embedded in her ‘web\n    of life’ - are all the mechanisms , tightly coupled, and majestically supported - ecological systems - from which all life grows.
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They are realising that our planet spaceship earth has actually lent us bodies …. and the call is going out to all crew … to awaken from\n    a dream-spell of self forgetfulness.
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And fortunately, more crew have come to a realisation that they have been Absent Without Leave.
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Are you one of them?
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They are realising that they are becoming their own Captain.
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These so-called awakening crew are returning to their posts and communicating with all those who choose to listen.
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Are you listening?
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They realise that: 
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1% of the crew Control our Planetary Spaceship. 
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4% Are sell out puppets 
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90% Of the crew are asleep! 
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5% Know and are striving to wake up the 90% 
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The 1% don’t want the 5% waking up the 90%
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These enlightened personnel are engaging in benevolent change by calling for co-operation and a halt in violent conflict- feeding, healing and housing\n    their many starving crew members, and eliminating toxic waste and poisons from the waterways - the atmosphere and food supply.
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Are you assisting?
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This is only the beginning.
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They are announcing over the airwaves, satellite, intercom systems, and the recently deployed super connectivity of the World Wide Web:
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\"The wellbeing of Spaceship Earth has to be improved!\"
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Things have to change for the better and it is critical for us all to begin now!
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So why not? We have the capabilities, the knowledge and the initiative to solve all problems.
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Team spirit being paramount!
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We the crew have to commit, then organise and come together in cells and clusters of cells like small bubbles across the all quarters to then keep increasing\n    our commitment to join with other clusters of bubbles until we conjoin in an ever greater connectivity.\n    
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By coming together- locally, collectively, in our neighbourhoods and countrywide compartments by - interacting and coordinating our loving and learning,\n    we, the crew, can maintain our Spaceship correctly.
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So why don't we?
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\"Let's start with ourselves\" is the directive!
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Continue this change in our rooms and compartments, our complexes and relationships.
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Finally, let’s integrate our Spaceship's regions and northern and southern hemispheres, its prosperous and underdeveloped sectors.
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We must create harmonious social order by learning conflict resolution, focusing on values at all levels and by developing benevolent self-governing systems.
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This will allow us to retain the virtues of our own richness of local cultural creativity, plus our own distinctive heritage and our inherent diversity\n    of self expression and uniqueness...
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At the same time some very awakened crew who are becoming even more aware of their Captaincy - have found that by stilling themselves for a time, with\n    quiet periods of contemplation and meditation, they're able to tap into deeper states of knowingness and insight. They're finding that encoded in their\n    own being are answers to not only our Spaceship's current dilemma, but - why we are here, where we have come from and where we are going.
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They're expressing the virtues of intuition, imagination, inspiration and nurturing - illuminating their understanding of how our Spaceship is truly a\n    Mothership and a super organism the ancient Greeks- for a moment in time-understood, and from her, all life has sprung forth. They are very excited\n    with the possibilities and potentialities for our common future.
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A transcendent quality capable of unfolding and flowering into being, for all crew! A conscious incandescence shifting our frequency to a possible omega\n    point, and what we at heart know as the noosphere, where global group mind reconnects into a holistic knowingness that we are all one crew in unity\n    consciousness.
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The ramifications being:
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That awakening to one's Self, as a Captain and one of the crew of Spaceship Earth, is synonymous with awakening to our mission in this life.
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Taking action helps to maintain our voyage through time and space and establishes the harmonious energy required during this time of great challenge, change\n    and transition. As a result future generations of conscious crew members will all become Captains and that due to today’s continuing conscious actions\n    all will inherit an atmosphere of both inner and outer beauty in which to unfold, to grow, and to Love - fulfilling a deeper quest to understand the\n    universe and our mutual destination.
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You are being called, what is your assignment?\n    
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In Ecuador and Bolivia, this recognition of their connection to the planet that sustains them has seen the passing of legislation that recognises Nature     as a subject rather than an object -- in Bolivia in a legal sense, and in Ecuador as a constitutional statement.\n
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This is very profound and especially heart-warming. When we connect the dots, we realise it is our planet - Mother Earth, *Papatuanuku -- Gaia -- that\n    generously loans us bodies, free air, free water and, until recently, a free food chain.\n    
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Our intimate connection to our great sustainer deserves this kind of recognition in law. After decades of judicial, legal, and ethical debates about whether\n    rights should be extended beyond human beings, today it is, at last, a reality.\n    
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Though there has been much dialogue about the legal and moral status of Nature --animals, plants,insects and biota in general, plus inanimate aspects of\n    nature, the debate continues. However this new legal description acknowledges that Nature -- known as Pachamama in the Quichua (the Ecuadorian indigenous language) and Aimara (the Bolivian indigenous language), has rights.\n    
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In Aotearoa New Zealand another, and similar, set of circumstances has been requested by indigenous Māori. This has been a very long process.\n    
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Based on the Waitangi Tribunal, which was set up in 1975 to air grievances and violations since the 1840 signing of a Treaty between the British Crown\n    and Māori chiefs, the opportunity has finally been offered to Māori - iwi, (tribes) hapu, (sub tribes) to redress historical claims, and recognise\n    the journey of our awa (rivers). Waikato iwi lodged their claim to the tribunal in 1987; Whanganui lodged their claim in 1990. Tūwharetoa got the Crown\n    to vest Lake Taupo to them in 1992, and then we had a claims process. It is all interconnected.
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Yet in another region of Te Ika O Maui - (The Fish of Maui -- the North Island of New Zealand) another equally profound land action took place in 2014.\n    
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The area known as Te Urewera, covering an area of approximately 2,127 km², that had been confiscated from the Tuhoe iwi (tribe), was returned to them in\n    the Te Urewera Act on July 27, 2014. This granting of legal identity to Te Urewera vests the Te Urewera land as a legal entity that has all the rights,\n    powers, duties, and liabilities of a legal person. 
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Due to its geographical isolation, Te Urewera was one of the last regions to be claimed by the British during colonisation in the 19th century.\n    
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This recent ‘returning’ was as a result of a long past action when the colonial British ‘unlawfully’ took possession of this large well watered and forested\n    area and, realising that it was not legal, the NZ government have returned it in the form of a park, but with legal standing and being administered\n    by the Tuhoe tribe or iwi. 
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Yet many people in NZ only learnt about this event via the alternative press overseas stating:\n    
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“New Zealand Grants Human Rights to a Former National Park.” This was news to most New Zealanders!
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In an equally stunning event the NZ Government has now set in motion of giving legal status to a river system, that would by law describe it as “a living\n    entity.” This vast river or awa, having a catchment area of 7,308 km2.
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Both these two claims by Māori are unprecedented, for they both bring into focus, Māori understanding that we live on a being and that Mother Earth or\n    Papatuanku is what Māori call - her.\n    
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In conclusion, this landmark New Zealand legislation brings about sovereignty to a river and its tributaries. It is recognised as an interconnected entity,\n    actually an extension of Papatuanuku, Mother Earth. It is a metaphysical acknowledgement that we are part of a greater whole that nurtures and nourishes\n    everyone. The elements of this system are one continuous everlasting flow that we humans can draw sustenance from, and at the same time, venerate and\n    be thankful.\n    
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This idea is not new. Ancient Greece had an understanding some 2,500 years ago when they in their cosmologies introduced the notion of 'Mother Earth' and\n    named her Gaia. From her all things issued. Delphi, for example, was known as the navel of the great mother.\n    
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In the 1970s when James Lovelock presented his hypothesis that our planet is a colossal living super-organism, it shook the foundations of Western science.\n    At the time, science considered our planet basically a volcanic rock, with life forms somehow clinging to it. Lovelock's Gaia Hypothesis became a theory\n    in the mid-Nineties as research progressed and more geophysical data was collected. By extension, as we become more conscious of our connection to\n    the living planet, we may realise that our galaxy is quite possibly one vast living organism.\n    
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The most recent understanding of a whole living system was brought to the global community by way of James Cameron’s 2010 blockbuster movie Avatar.\n    
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In the film, the moon Pandora had a mystical presence -- Ewa -- to which the indigenous inhabitants, the Na’vi, could attune. All the vegetation was connected\n    by a neural network of tree roots that interwove under the surface of the ground. The Na’vi could attach part of their hair to this and tap into a\n    greater knowing -- with the essence of both animals or trees. They were all linked into one indivisible unified field.\n    
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This is what Māori instinctively know - that they are connected to both the wairua (spirit) and the mauri (life principle, vital essence, special nature\n    - essential quality and vitality of a being or entity)and the hidden presence of Papatuanku -- Mother Earth.\n    
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*Aotearoa the original name Maori gave to New Zealand.\n    
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There are 2 versions:\n    
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• Land of the long white cloud
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• Land of the lingering light. 
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Please find below the recent moves in the NZ Parliament where politicians from all parties spoke to this new legislation about the Whanganui river in glowing\n    terms of connection and fulfillment.\n    
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Acknowledgment by Law of a New Zealand River being classed as an Entity.\n    
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Here is the current situation taken from NZ Government Parliamentary Records. Authorised te reo (the language) text by the Hansard Office. (Hansard is\n    the official report of debate in the NZ Parliamentary House of Representatives.)\n    
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In this abridged official narrative below there are numerous expressions of excitement and fulfillment from Māori Members of Parliament speaking to this\n    legislation, from across many political parties.\n    
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Their expectations of what this legislation would do, praises all involved for recognising that this river, was/is the life-blood of both the tribes and\n    the localised area and their near on poetic oratory conveys the message of their inheritance - that they are deeply embedded in their connection to\n    the land and mother earth - Papatuanku.
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On the 24 May 2016 heralded the passing through NZ’s Parliament of the First Reading by Hon CHRISTOPHER FINLAYSON (Government Minister for Treaty of Waitangi     Negotiations): where he moved; That the Te Awa Tupua (Whanganui River Claims Settlement) Bill be now read a first time. 
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He nominated the Māori Affairs Committee to consider the bill. Stating this is a truly historic day, after all these years, this House will debate Te Awa\n    Tupua (Whanganui River Claims Settlement) Bill for the first time. He warmly welcomed to Parliament all representatives of Whanganui iwi. (tribes).\n    Who were in Parliament 2 years previously to initial the deed of settlement, and now their common goal of bringing recognition to the great Whanganui\n    River has brought them back to Parliament again.\n    
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He addressed the bill as having both novel and exciting aspects. The river being recognised in law as Te Awa Tupua, (The river be strange, supernatural,\n    abnormal) - an indivisible and living whole, from the mountains to the sea, incorporating its tributaries and all its physical and metaphysical elements.\n    The Crown (NZ Government) no longer owning the riverbed but the Crown still having a role to play, and having developed this concept of the role of\n    Te Pou Tupua, (establish, appoint, anoint - support a cause or a territorial symbol, such as a mountain or landmark) where both the Crown and iwi appointed\n    two guardians, and that they will be the face of Te Awa Tupua and will symbolise the partnership through the Treaty.\n    
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Here are Māori MPs speaking to this and sharing their unique perspective.     
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ADRIAN RURAWHE (Labour—Te Tai Hauāuru):
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I acknowledge every single one of the negotiators for their tenacity in transferring the understanding, the knowledge, and the mauri (the life force or\n    essence of the emotions) of the awa into a bill that fairly reflects the way that we feel about the awa. It could not have been an easy journey. I\n    can only imagine from my experience the battles that went on behind the closed doors to bring this to fruition so that it can come here to this House—this\n    House that decides laws and brings new laws and settlement bills like this into law.\n    
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Not that we ever needed a law for the Te Awa Tupua. Te Awa Tupua is ingrained in our hearts and in our minds. I think that this piece of legislation, with\n    its framework that has a human face for our awa, is charged with the responsibility of ensuring that the health and well-being of Te Awa o Whanganui—Te\n    Awa Tupua—is able to be maintained, not so much for us here today but for future generations.
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MARAMA FOX (Co-Leader—Māori Party):
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Today I want us to remember and to reflect and to refresh our thoughts with those who have the care, the protection, the management, and the use of the\n    Whanganui River in accordance with the kawa (customs and procedures) and tikanga (the Māori way of doing things) maintained by the descendants of Ruatipua,\n    Paerangi, and Haunui-ā-Pāpārangi. Te Kuia Peeti was one of the many who recalled the river of their childhood at Kaiwhaiki. She said she could swim\n    before she could walk: “From morning to night we would swim and learn about ourselves and surrounding environment. As youngsters, our bodies were developed\n    in the water. Limbs were stretched and pulled. We learnt fleetness of body and mind. … The river was our playground.” The people of the river\n    told the tribunal that the teardrops of Ranginui (Sky Father) are the source of their being, the artery of their one heart: “The awa is a healer, a\n    kāpata kai, (food cupboard) a highway, and a protector. It is the rope that binds all the whānau (family) together from the mountain to the sea:\n    
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The plaited rope of their tipuna (ancestor) - Hinengakau. The kōrero (talk) was consistent: the river is the beginning; it ties the people together like\n    the umbilical cord of the unborn child.\n    
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Matiu Mareikura explained to the tribunal: “The river is ultimately our mana, (prestige, authority, control, power, influence, status, spiritual power,\n    charisma - mana is a supernatural force in a person, place or object.) our tapu, (sacred) our ihi, (personal magnetism - psychic force) our wehi, (something\n    awesome) all these things make up what the river means to us. It is our life cord, not just because it is water—but because it is sacred water\n    to us.”\n    
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“Our people go to the river to cleanse themselves, they go to the river to pray, and they go to the river to wash. They go to the river for everything\n    [for everything] leads back to the river. And the river, in return, suffices all our needs.” \n    
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I have taken this time to traverse the power of the tupuna awa Whanganui because it is at the heart of this bill. In doing so we honour the generations\n    of inequities, of enquiries, of petitions, and of court cases dating back to 1873; those who brought their awa tupua into this Parliamentary House.
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After the hearings at the marae (courtyard - the open area in front of the wharenui, (meeting house, where formal greetings and discussions take place)\n    up and down the river in 1998, the tribunal declared, on page 385 of their report—you can look it up—“Contrary to some popular opinions\n    New Zealand was not colonised on the basis that rivers were publicly owned. The right of ownership was based on universal principles of law, principles\n    guaranteed in the Treaty of Waitangi.”\n    
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I know my time is running short, so I am going to cut straight to the words of Te Kuia Peeti: “To my sorrow my own children and mokopuna (grand children)\n    have not grown up in this environment, but what we had as children is no longer there. What we thought was unchangeable and immutable, the river, has\n    undergone changes which we never dreamt of. Our beautiful safe swimming places have all gone. Because so much of the water was taken away, and therefore\n    it made it inhospitable for the fish life to live, it was not uncommon for us to see dead fish floating down the river. Where once stood strong trees\n    all along the river, we now have very serious erosions on our bank.”\n    
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“Where once the birds were plentiful and we could recognise their cries, or squawks, we hardly see them at all now. Where once we had crystal clear water\n    flowing up and down our marae, this is now a very rare occurrence.”\n    
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And I finish with this, her words. “In fact, the river is filthy dirty most all of the time, that is our friend, tupuna,(ancestors) our whanau, (family)has\n    been desecrated by bad farming practices. Where once we had a healthy waterway, we now have a sick river …”. What you have returned to you is\n    not what was taken, but I acknowledge the strength of your people to restore it in its own entity.
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KELVIN DAVIS (Labour—Te Tai Tokerau): Tēnā koe, Mr Assistant Speaker.
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This bill declares that Te Awa Tupua “is an indivisible and living whole [and comprises] the Whanganui River from the mountains to the sea, incorporating\n    all its physical and metaphysical elements.”, and is a legal person with “all the rights, powers, duties, and liabilities of a legal person.” Two things\n    sprang to mind when I read that. First of all, what on earth does metaphysical mean?\n    
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The second issue that sprang to mind was that it is about time—I think this is the third time, but it is about time and it needs to happen more—that\n    the Māori world view is basically legitimised in legislation. To say that we are talking about a person, incorporating all their physical and metaphysical\n    elements, when talking about a river, just as we have spoken in this House about Te Urewera having similar mana—Te Awa o Waikato has similar\n    mana. It is about time that this House started recognising and legitimising the Māori world view.\n    
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We will all remember the time when they were building a road somewhere up north and the local hapū (tribe) said “Oh, there’s a taniwha ( mythical being\n    water spirit, monster, dangerous water creature, powerful creature) there. Be careful.” Māoridom was ridiculed. So we have come a long way since that\n    time when we were ridiculed for actually putting our point of view forward, to the extent now that we are legitimising Māori concepts in law. I can\n    imagine how outside of these walls the country will be going off: “Oh, my gosh! These Māoris—what are they on about now?” Well, if in our Pākehā\n    culture and in our Christian culture we believe someone can walk on water, then we can believe that Te Awa o Whanganui is a person. So it is a beautiful\n    thing. I acknowledge the Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations and everyone who put all the effort into getting to this stage.\n    
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I just want to read out two paragraphs that struck me from the acknowledgments of the bill. “The Crown acknowledges that through this settlement Whanganui\n    Iwi have sought to bring all the iwi, hapū, and other communities of the Whanganui River together for the common purpose of upholding and protecting\n    the mana of the Whanganui River and its health and well-being for the benefit of future generations and, ultimately, all of New Zealand.” The two words\n    that hit me there were “other communities”—“Whanganui Iwi have sought to bring all the iwi, hapū, and other communities …”. This is not\n    about Māori just wanting again to do stuff for ourselves. This is about New Zealand as a country, including all of our communities.\n    
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How can we possibly protect the mana of the river, and its health and well-being, for the benefit of future generations if Māori have got to do it all\n    on our own? This is about bringing businesses into the fold—about farmers, forestry, the Department of Conservation, Forest and Bird, and all\n    the commercial interests and recreational interests. Everybody has a role to play in ensuring the mana, the mauri, and the hauora (health, vigour)\n    of the river. And just on recreational interests, it reminds me of my great-grandfather Uru Davis, who happened to live in Wanganui over a century\n    ago now. I think he even played rugby for Wanganui. He was certainly a rower, and he was part of the Wanganui rowing club. So that is just another\n    little link from myself to the Whanganui River.\n    
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Again, I would like to congratulate everybody who was involved in the development of this bill, in particular the recognition of the Māori world view and\n    legislating for it. This is the start. We are looking forward in the Māori Affairs Committee to hearing submissions on this bill, but I do commend\n    it to the House. Nō reira, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā tātou katoa.\n    
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METIRIA TUREI (Co-Leader—Green): Te Māngai o te Whare, tēnā koe.
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As a survivor of the people of Te Awa Tupua, it really is an honour to have this opportunity to rise on behalf of the Green Party to support the first\n    reading of Te Awa Tupua (Whanganui River Claims Settlement) Bill.\n    
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The great river flows from the mountains to the sea. I am the river and the river is me. This whakataukī (proverb, significant) speaks of Te Awa Tupua\n    as an indivisible and living whole, comprising the river from the mountains to the sea, to its tributaries, and all its physical and metaphysical elements.\n    Our identity as mana whenua (people) of this rohe (boundary, district, region, territory, area) is intrinsically and inextricably connected to our\n    awa, and so in these lines of the whakataukī also lie the history and the spirit of our people. It is because of this rich history of whakapapa (genealogies)\n    and connection to the land and to the water that the significance of this occasion is certainly not lost on me.\n    
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This bill gives effect to the deed of settlement, Ruruku Whakatupua, which is the culmination of well over a century of efforts by our people to protect\n    the awa and our kaitiakitanga (guardianship, stewardship, trusteeship, trustee) relationship to it. The challenges for iwi and hapū (sub tribe) to\n    uphold this relationship have been ongoing and massive. In the 1870s and the 1880s they faced regulations that threatened fishing grounds and the economic\n    base, the destruction of pā tuna (eel weir, weir for catching eels) by colonists to make way for gold and coal prospectors, the removal of gravel from\n    the awa to build roads, the clearing of rapids, and the draining of swamps. The removal of gravel has continued over many decades.\n    
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But throughout this history of pain, and despite the confiscation and the violence that has been inflicted on the awa, our people have been there at every\n    step of the way doing everything we could to uphold the kaitiaki relationship and to protect the tupuna awa.
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As far back as 1888 iwi members were petitioning the Crown (Government) to stop the destruction of the pā tuna (eel weir, weir for catching eels.) In 1895\n    iwi took a claim to the Supreme Court over customary fishing rights. In response the Government established the Whanganui River Māori Trust Board,\n    a Crown agency that took control of the awa. From the 1930s to the 1980s iwi would continually fight for the recognition of ownership, tikanga ownership,\n    of the river. And often those small victories that were won would lead to larger setbacks. After long and hard work during the 1980s and 1990s to get\n    to a place of negotiation with the Crown, even then the struggle has had to continue. Two proposals for hydroelectric dams, which would have been massively\n    destructive to the mauri of the awa, were stopped because of mana whenua claims and campaigns—Pākaitore ( 79-day Māori occupation of Moutoa Gardens\n    in Whanganui of the 1990s.\n    
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In 2001, the same year the terms of negotiation with the Crown was signed, the Environment Court approved a 35-year extension to the resource consent for\n    the diversion of the Whanganui awa headwaters, which had happened 40 years earlier and was to be continued for another 35 years. It has been a continuous\n    battle for our iwi, our people, to protect the river against all of the incursions against it. Through it, of course, our people have endured and so\n    has the river—not in the state that we want it, but it is still there, still thriving, and now under this settlement, hopefully, with a great\n    deal more control for our people over our place. That is something. That really is something.\n    
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So I just want to, before I finish—I do not want to speak for too long—acknowledge the importance of the legal status that is afforded the\n    awa in this legislation. Yes, I agree that it is absolutely about time the law caught up with our tikanga. (correct procedure, custom, habit, lore,\n    method, manner, rule, way, code, meaning, plan, practice, convention, protocol)It has been our tikanga for ever that our environment is entitled to\n    its own integrity, is entitled to be protected and restored from damage and injury for its own sake, and that our environment, however we want to describe\n    it, is our ancestor and from where we come, and, therefore, we owe our environment everything—our life, our existence, our future. The law slowly\n    is starting to find ways—clumsy and not perfect by any means, but it is slowly trying to find ways—to understand that core concept.\n    
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I guess that for those Pākehā who might find it difficult to understand how we could give legal status to an ecology, to an environment, I ask them to\n    just consider why it is that we have in our law the right for corporations to have legal status as a person. We actually do have, in Pākehā law, something\n    quite similar. A corporation is not a thing. It does not have a separate identity, but it does actually have legal rights like a legal person. A corporation\n    has rights under the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act, for goodness’ sake. It is just a construction in our own minds about how the law responds to an\n    entity. It is so much more important—so much more important—that we give status for its own sake to the very thing that gives us life,\n    and in Whanganui that is our river. It is a small step forward but a step none the less.\n    
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I wish us all the very best for the future of this settlement and for our awa. Kia ora koutou katoa.
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PITA PARAONE (NZ First):
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Those who carried this kaupapa (topic, policy, matter for discussion, plan, purpose, scheme, proposal, agenda)from last century through to the present\n    time.\n    
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Listening to the previous speaker, Metiria Turei, I think she made some telling points when we talk about the river as a living being. She made mention\n    of legislation or the law actually catching up with tikanga. When she said that, I thought of the fisheries settlement—particularly that part\n    surrounding the Kermadecs Island North of NZ. It passed through this House. Everyone was happy because the protection of our fishing rights was ensconced\n    in legislation, and then, over recent weeks, things about the legislation seem to have been forgotten. I think it is incumbent on all of us, those\n    of us who sit in this House, and those of you who have come, sitting in the gallery, to ensure that we never ever see the river lost to us again.
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The good thing about this—and I think she was acknowledged—is that the Mayor of Whanganui is in attendance. Given the history between the council\n    and local iwi over recent years, I think it augurs well to know that we have the support of the local body in terms of the future of the river. I just\n    want to acknowledge that and have that placed on the record of Hansard.\n    
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When I think about the Whanganui River I recall first hearing the saying “The river is me and I am the river”. I thought that we in Ngāti Hine were the\n    only iwi who subscribed to that notion when we talked about our traditional river, Taumārere-herehere-i-te-riri. I think it was Mr Davis who talked\n    about swimming in the local river and learning more about one another—oh, I think it was the member for the Māori Party. Having been brought\n    up in a place called Mōtatau, I can remember doing the same thing, and when she said about knowing about others, I thought: “Hey, they must have been\n    just like us. We go for a swim, no clothes, and we know what everybody is about.” And those are some of the histories surrounding our rivers—learning\n    about one another in more ways than one, I might add, but also realising how important the river has been to our tūpuna.\n    
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As a young person going to Bay of Islands College and learning about Māori history, I can recall seeing photos of tāua (Māori) holding tuna, (eels) and\n    the caption saying that these were on the Whanganui River. Again, I liken the Whanganui River to our traditional river of the hau kāinga, (home people)\n    of Taumārere-herehere-i-te-riri. I welcome this opportunity of contributing to this debate. Kia ora.
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NUK KORAKO (National):  Representing the Government in power.
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To all of you, I know the feeling of coming here, as a son of Kāi Tahu, and to actually be listening to the first reading of your bill. But the really\n    significant thing about this particular one reminds me of when Kāi Tahu were actually doing not the same thing but a little bit of the same process\n    around Aoraki Mauka. (Dual names accepted in for Aoraki-Mt Cook) So what I see here today is the fact that just like us, it was not about us; it was\n    actually about all of New Zealand. I acknowledge you, here, for that.\n    
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We have heard so much so far around the bill itself. I would like to concentrate on just one part of it that actually reflects the uniqueness of this actual\n    settlement. The uniqueness of this settlement is in the legal framework for the river, because this is what makes this particular settlement groundbreaking.\n    This recognises Te Awa Tupua, comprising the entire Whanganui River, its tributaries as well, and all its physical and metaphysical elements, as a\n    legal person—as a legal person—and with all of the corresponding rights, duties, and liabilities. The establishment of the river as a legal\n    entity, then it provides the framework for the recognition of the unbreakable connection between the Whanganui iwi and Te Awa Tupua.\n    
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The other part of this is to provide human representation for Te Awa Tupua and the position of Te Pou Tupua, which will be established and filled by two\n    people nominated by the Whanganui iwi and also the Crown, which is a really important part of this kotahitaka within this settlement. The Crown-owned\n    bed, of course—the Whanganui River—will be vested in Te Awa Tupua, and a $30 million contested fund will be established to support the\n    health and well-being of Te Awa Tupua. This new legal framework is an innovative use of the Western judicial system to manage the river in a way that\n    is distinctly Māori. That is one of the most unique things of any settlement that has ever come before this House. This settlement allows the Whanganui\n    iwi to take back their responsibility for the river, which should never have left them following the Treaty of Waitangi.\n    
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I also want to acknowledge the members of Whanganui iwi who have worked on this settlement but also all of those who have gone before, as we have just\n    heard, and we acknowledge them. As before, for over a century, the people here are uri (offspring, descendant, relative, kin, progeny, blood connection)\n    of those who protected and preserved the river itself and the iwi interest in it.\n    
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I want to acknowledge, also, one particular person—we have done a lot of acknowledgments here today and, sure, we have to and we must do. I want\n    to acknowledge the Hon Christopher Finlayson, whose personal involvement in this particular settlement reflects the importance of it. That is not to\n    take away the importance of any other settlement, but particularly this settlement, because this is groundbreaking legislation, is an achievement that\n    I think speaks volumes about the value of having such a distinguished and respected legal mind as our Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations.\n    
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To everyone here, your time has come. This is the final beginning of your long journey, and on that note, as the chair of the Māori Affairs Committee,\n    we indeed look forward to this bill coming to the select committee so that we may continue its journey, or shepherd its journey, through to the third\n    reading and the finality of the journey itself, which will happen here and it will be enacted in law. So kia ora to you all.\n    
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Hon NANAIA MAHUTA (Labour—Hauraki-Waikato):
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It was in that recollection that I want to, perhaps, share—there has been some talk in the House today about the metaphysical identity and tikanga\n    merging with law and things like that. Actually, to know one’s awa, like you can smell its different fragrances; to know one’s awa when you can witness\n    a change, albeit so subtle; to know one’s awa to the point where you understand something else is happening in our world, but it has been read through\n    the awa—that is what we were able to experience in coming down the Whanganui River.\n    
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I think it is a great day today because it has been a long journey for the people of Whanganui to get to this point. It is not without context if we think\n    about the Waitangi Tribunal and the opportunity that has been offered to people to look to redress historical claims, and just the journey of our rivers.\n    Waikato lodged their claim to the tribunal in 1987, Whanganui lodged their claim in 1990, Tūwharetoa got the Crown to vest the lake Taupo to Tūwharetoa\n    in 1992, and then we had a claims process. It is all interconnected.\n    
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It is the journey of our waters, I think, that leads us to some very important conversations today. For me, this is quite historic today, because it is\n    happening within the context of very important conversations that this nation is having around the health and well-being of our waterways and the issues\n    of freshwater. I want to acknowledge that because when we talk about the role that Parliament plays, yes, to give effect to the intent of the deed\n    of settlement for the Whanganui River, it is within a context and some broader conversations. I think the Māori Affairs Committee is quite cognisant\n    of that. We will use the opportunity of the submission process to ask questions within context—for example, the resource management legislation\n    going through that is talking about collaborative planning, that is proposing models for collaborative planning, and that does not address issues of\n    fresh water but that impacts potentially on any river settlement that has already been reached. We will ask the types of questions about what is the\n    anticipated connection between what you are seeking to achieve for the awa of Whanganui and what is being proposed. That is to ensure that the intent\n    and the integrity of your settlement can be preserved.\n    
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Many people before us have always said that Governments come and go, but, funnily enough, the institutional memory of the iwi stays very determined over\n    a long period of time, and it is a very long institutional memory that keeps any Government accountable. We are mindful of that, too. It is with that\n    view in mind that I think we will be considering very carefully the submissions coming to the select committee. I am hopeful, actually, that we might\n    have a sitting at Tieke (a tiny village on the river). We would actually have to get on a waka (canoe) and then get to Tieke, and then appreciate the\n    fullness of the experience of what is being talked about—\n    
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Coming back to Piripi now, on another occasion, after the opportunity with Te Arikinui, I did have the opportunity to join a few tira hoe (canoe journey).\n    My very first tira hoe that that I joined, little did I know—after karakia (prayers) I was assigned my crew mate. It was Piripi. Then one of\n    the whanaunga (relative, relation, kin, blood relation) said to me “Don’t worry, Piripi is the best in the river. You’ll never fall out.”, because\n    I was kind of in a bit of trepidation. Well, I can guarantee you, every ripo, (whirlpool, eddy, curl, deep pool) every curve of that river we fell\n    in. I think I may as well have just swum the Whanganui River. But my gratitude goes to Piripi, because in the great joy of experiencing, you know.\n    
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It was nourishing. The fact that we could laugh about it all the way down—and I remained his crew member—was, I think, a testament in itself.\n    But all the people who have gone who lived the river, who enjoyed sharing the river with the next generation, who told stories from their own place\n    of reference, I think are a richness that this settlement will never convey, but we know it is there. I have certainly witnessed that and I want to\n    acknowledge it.\n    
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The other thing—eating piharau.( lamprey, eel-like fish) Was that legal then? We ate piharau. I had never tasted piharau before, and I am from people\n    where we have lots of eels, but I have never tasted such a beautiful delicacy ever in my life. That taste has remained with me, right to this day.\n    Every time I hear that word “piharau”, oh boy, everything starts coming back.\n    
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The other thing—when you are going along the river and you see how the canoes got through and you see the dents in the sides of the river, you know,\n    those are stories that cannot be captured in settlement legislation, but they tell us that long before the British came to New Zealand there was a\n    history well before their time that was long established. I hope that the settlement, in some small way, will contribute to what you have always lived,\n    always believed. You have not lost anything; the legislation just had an impact on you. Even going to a marae where they talked about the health legislation\n    during Māui Pōmare’s time, the Māori Councils Act, “Pire Kiore”, I think they called it, and learning that history, how relevant it was in the physical\n    presence along the river and how you told the story of its context and impact on yourselves—those are the treasures that have stayed with me\n    for life.
\n
With that, I am not going to take up too much time. Can I just leave you with one lasting memory that I will never ever forget. I think I was in my early\n    teens then, coming down the river, but I was always inspired by Nanny Nui, Te Manawanui Pauro. At her age—and I think she was well over 80 at\n    that time; could have been 90—she was still paddling down the Whanganui River. Her love for the river gave her a level of, I think, kind of like\n    a supernatural effervescence about her. Never did she waver, never did she tire. That is the type of sustenance that the next generation can draw on\n    as those types of exemplars, all of them. Nō reira,(accordingly) ki a koutou katoa, tēnā koutou.
\n
- Kia kaha & Aroha
\n
 
\n
This below is the South Americans who are understanding our living planet.\n    
* Source: wikipedia.org
\n
Law of the Rights of Mother Earth.
\n
Law of the Rights of Mother Earth (Spanish: Ley de Derechos\n    de la Madre Tierra) is a Bolivian law (Law 071 of the Plurinational\n    State), that was passed by Bolivia's Plurinational Legislative Assembly in December 2010. This 10 article law is derived from the first part of a longer\n    draft bill, drafted and released by the Pact of Unity    by November 2010.\n    
\n
\n
The law defines Mother Earth as \"a collective subject of public interest,\" and declares\n    both Mother Earth and life-systems (which combine human communities and ecosystems) as titleholders of inherent rights specified in the law. The short\n    law proclaims the creation of the Defensoría de la Madre Tierra a counterpart to the human rights ombudsman office known as the Defensoría del Pueblo,\n    but leaves its structuring and creation to future legislation.
\n
Investing Nature with Rights.
\n
The law defines Mother Earth as \"...the dynamic living system formed by the indivisible community of all life systems and living beings whom are interrelated,\n    interdependent, and complementary, which share a common destiny; adding that \"Mother Earth is considered sacred in the worldview of Indigenous peoples\n    and nations.
\n
In this approach human beings and their communities are considered a part of mother earth, by being integrated in \"Life systems\"\n    defined as \"...complex and dynamic communities of plants, animals, micro-organisms and other beings in their environment, in which human communities\n    and the rest of nature interact as a functional unit, under the influence of climatic, physiographic and geologic factors, as well as the productive\n    practices and cultural diversity of Bolivians of both genders, and the world views of Indigenous nations and peoples, intercultural communities and\n    the Afro-Bolivians. This definition can be seen as a more inclusive definition of ecosystems    because it explicitly includes the social, cultural and economic dimensions of human communities.
\n
The law also establishes the juridical character of Mother Earth as \"collective subject of public interest\",\n    to ensure the exercise and protection of her rights. By giving Mother Earth a legal personality, it can, through its representatives (humans), bring\n    an action to defend its rights. Additionally, to say that Mother Earth is of public interest represents a major shift from an anthropocentric perspective\n    to a more Earth community based perspective.
\n
So here we are today, with Aotearoa New Zealand Māori leading the way, in tandem with their South American cousins as we acknowledge our great sustainer\n    by legislating to take care of both land and rivers within the biosphere of our planet, mother earth. 
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Children of Piha and Karekare talk about the threat of seabed mining off their beach.
\n    
The Government has issued exploration licences for seabed mining just off the majority of the North Island's west coast. Companies are about to apply\n        for licences to mine. If this goes ahead, millions of tonnes of black sand will be dug up, destroying the seabed ecology, threatening the endangered\n        maui's dolphin, surf breaks and causing coastal erosion. All for no maximum 5% revenue for NZ, and foreign-owned companies. It's not too late to\n        stop this.
\n    
Say No.
\n
\n
\n    \n
\n
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Every day in the New Zealand media there are stories about fracking.
\n
But have you noticed how little real informed debate there is? How little solid information?
\n
We looked at each other and said - someone has to make a documentary about this: a comprehensive, scientifically sound look at fracking in New Zealand\n    - a film that answers all the questions.
\n
So here we are: FRACKING WHATATUTU, economic boom or environmental bust?
\n
\n    \n
\n
With just five streets and 300 residents, Whatatutu is an East Coast town you can miss in a blink. It's a tight-knit community surrounded by forestry and\n    traditional family farms -- and reserves so vast the area is \"literally leaking oil and gas\", according to Canadian mining company Tag Oil.
\n
Armed with exploration licenses issued by the NZ government, Tag Oil and its partner Apache intend to extract oil and gas from the earth around Whatatutu\n    using hydraulic fracturing, or \"fracking\".
\n
Mining advocates claim the practice is safe; others insist it leaves a toxic legacy.
\n
Feature film documentary Fracking Whatatutu will cross-examine environmentalists and oil companies alike. Centering on Whatatutu, the film will delve into\n    fracking throughout New Zealand. It will cut through the spin as it drills for the truth about land ownership and mineral rights, water use and waste\n    disposal, economic benefits and environmental impacts.\n
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    "description": "
  But “Do not give up - we can never give up!”

Forty years of calling out climate\n    change and what we are doing to our planet - he's now very emotionally charged, because we the public have been lied to by the fossil fuel industry,\n    just like the cigarette industry before that, when both industries knew that there huge problems relating to their product, especially with global\n    warming - and as far back as the early 1990’s.
\n
The Death Zone
\n
He states now that we have entered the Death Zone - that there are multiple tipping points that we have passed over - that we must not give up in despair\n    - not become disheartened - no matter what!
\n
50 thousand species are becoming extinct a year. But, where is the media? They don’t mention this, but if the NZ dollar goes up a few percentage points\n    or down a few percentage points it’s splashed over the front page and on TV.
\n
He states that we have to disentangle from the global economy, produce our own food and clothing and localise more.
\n
So as a 74 years old (then) - now 80 years old - he has nothing to lose - all he wants to say to his children and grandchildren when they gather around\n    his death bed is … I did my best. 
\n
A no holds barred interview 5 minutes!\n
\n
\n    \n    
\n
\n
David Suzuki on Close Up from Our Planet on Vimeo.
\n
 
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Bill Watson: Soul is where the inner & outer worlds meet: How do choices determine our souls path?

by Tim Lynch

Welcome back, Bill! It’s been a whole two weeks. We knew that soul - ‘even though we can...

Bill Watson: What is the Soul and do we have one? Why have we forgotten the ancient word, soul?

by Tim Lynch

This was a breakaway interview - beyond politics and world affairs, instead of looking at the metaphysical reality and the...

Bruce Lipton: Has humanity created their/its next evolutionary driver by causing a vast planetary crisis?

by Tim Lynch

As many of you know Bruce Lipton is a world renowned author and a quantum - cellular biologist that takes...