Natural Systems Solutions

Sustainable Lifestyles, Organizations, and Communities

Film Screening and Community Planning Event

Bookman's
1930 E. Grant Rd., Tucson, AZ
Saturday, January 5th
6:00 - 9:30 pm, doors open 5:45 pm

Suggested donation $5-$25 (no one turned away for financial reasons)

   Part 1: "If a path to the better there be, it begins with a full look at the worst." Thomas Hardy
   Part 2: “To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete." -Bucky Fuller

   Many years ago, a plane was trying to land during a fierce snowstorm in Ithaca, New York. The fate of the passengers and crew seemed very uncertain, and during the descent everyone instinctively reached out to hold hands with those nearby--both family and strangers. They let go only when the pilot miraculously landed the plane safely.

   "And the truth shall set you free."

   What a Way to Go: Life at the End of Empire has been described as "...nothing less than a 123-minute cat scan of the planet and its twenty-first century human and non-human condition." We may instinctively reach out to hold one another´s hands as we watch this film together...but we will need to do more than just let go at the end—for although it is poignant, there is no "happy landing" segment in this documentary. Instead, the filmmaker offers an invitation to start cooperatively designing and building lifeboats.

   After the film and a refreshment break, there will be an opportunity to respond to the filmmaker´s invitation by engaging in an "Open Question Circle." This simple yet powerful small group exercise is designed to connect intellects and hearts while tapping deeply within “the collective unconscious" to facilitate envisioning and co-creating a future reality—a lifeboat, or the "new model" that Buckminster Fuller suggests. Natural Systems Solutions will then gather and organize the ideas that are generated from this process and make them available to the wider community. We will also provide networking (with participants and local organizations) for those who want to remain actively engaged in taking the steps necessary to create a new model for our sustainable future.

   Come prepared to be intellectually and emotionally poked and prodded. Examine our state today from an environmental and social perspective. Connect the dots. Discuss the possibilities for what you want in a new path to our future.

   If you'd like more information on the film "What a Way to Go" you can find it on the movies website. The following five things list is from that site.

Five Things To Do to Help Create Change

   1) Fully acknowledge and internalize that the culture of Empire is destroying the support systems on which the community of life depends, and robbing us of our essential humanity.

   2) Talk about your concerns with everyone you know. Make peak oil, climate change, mass extinction and population overshoot household words.

   3) Find your work in the world to preserve life, change this culture and /or create restorative ways for individuals and communities to live in harmony with each other and the non- human world.

   4) Assess what you actually need during this transition in order to live and do your work. Only buy what you need and buy from local sources in order to support the creation of local economies.

   5) Find or deepen your spiritual connection to that which is greater than you. Ask and then listen for guidance about how to live joyfully and creatively in the face of these unprecedented times.

   If you would like to schedule an introductory consultation session or arrange a presentation or workshop for your group, please contact nature@attractionretreat.org or give Dave or Allison, co-founders of Attraction Retreat, a call at (520) 887-2502.