Starting Date: 05-28-2010
Ending Date: 05-31-2010
Camp Ondessonk
Illinois
United StatesDear Friends,
Heartwood will be celebrating twenty years of collective action for our forests and communities when we gather for the 20th annual Heartwood Forest Council, to be held Memorial Day weekend, May 28-31, 2010, at Camp Ondessonk in southern Illinois, site of the very first Heartwood Forest Council in 1991. This will be only the second time this event has taken place in Illinois and we are glad to be back where it all began. The theme of this year's Forest Council is Trust Nature.
The Forest Council will begin the afternoon of Friday, May 28, with a screening of the powerful new documentary Coal Country, which Heartwood helped produce. Coal Country tells the heart-rending story of mountaintop removal coal mining which is destroying the land and culture of Appalachia. The event will conclude mid-day, Monday, May 31 (Memorial Day) with a look ahead to the next twenty years of Heartwood and a celebratory closing circle. The program in between will consist of three days of workshops, discussions, keynote speakers, and field trips -- interspersed with ample social time, leisure, lively local music, dancing and great food.
Among the featured presenters will be southern Illinois native Jeff Biggers, author most recently of Reckoning at Eagle Creek, The Secret Legacy of Coal in the Heartland who will present his travelling multimedia production “Welcome to the Saudi Arabia of Coal” on coal, mountaintop removal, climate change and clean energy options. We also have a very special guest Saturday night as former Member of Congress and Green Party presidential candidate Cynthia McKinney will offer a keynote address. Keynote presentations on the theme Trust Nature by Scott Silver of Wild Wilderness, based in Bend, Oregon, and Jim Glover, Southern Illinois University and the Wilderness Education Association, will explore the complex subject of human interaction with forests and other natural systems. Long time Heartwood activist and organizer Andy Mahler who has helped organize all twenty Heartwood Forest Councils will reflect on lessons learned over the past two decades. The program is still taking shape, so we welcome your suggestions. Please check the Heartwood website periodically for announcements and updates as well as ride share information, registration and directions.
This year’s Forest Council will also feature the first national meeting of the growing network of groups and individuals coming together to oppose the proliferation of forest-consuming industrial biomass incinerators and to promote truly sustainable and renewable energy alternatives to coal, biomass incineration, and nuclear power. There will also be presentations on the history and ecology of the region’s forests and threats to the surrounding Shawnee National Forest as well as a variety of informative and restorative field trip options to explore the area’s wild and rugged beauty and unique ecological features.
The Forest Council will be family friendly - kids of all ages are encouraged to attend. This year's Forest Council will also include planning for how we can coordinate our efforts even more successfully in the years ahead in an atmosphere of celebration and mutual support. And, as always, this year's Forest Council will feature great food, lovingly prepared by chef Shane McElwee and her kitchen magicians, using the best possible fresh, local and organic ingredients; live local music and dancing featuring Carter & Connelley, the Ivas John Band, and more; the always entertaining Heartwood benefit auction with Auctioneer Extraordinaire, Col Clyde Canaveral Kennedy and the death-defying Heartwood Talent Show. Rumor has it there will also be an appearance around the campfire by visionary activist John Muir.
It is the personal and organizational connections we make and renew at the Heartwood Forest Council each year that are the heart of the Heartwood network.
We hope to see you there.
What is the Heartwood Forest Council?
The Heartwood Forest Council is the largest annual gathering of citizens from across the Eastern, Midwestern, and Southern United States who care about the health and well-being of our nation's forests. The Forest Council is held each year in a beautiful forest setting in a different Heartwood forest state over the Memorial Day weekend. The Forest Council program offers information about threats to our region and to human and community health. But it also focuses on the lasting solutions and proven action steps that will move us as a community toward a shared vision of a healthy, just, and sustainable society.
What is Heartwood?
Heartwood is people helping people protect the places they love—a cooperative network of grassroots groups, individuals, and local businesses working to protect and sustain healthy forests and vital human communities in the nation's heartland, from the foothills of the Appalachians to the river valleys of the Great Plains, and from the Great Lakes to the Deep South. Heartwood has a twenty year track record of bringing people together to share information, coordinate efforts and devise a common approach—not just to the challenges we face but perhaps more importantly to the positive future that inspires the work we do.
Cosponsor the Forest Council!
We invite you to become a cosponsor of the 2010 Heartwood Forest Council. Funds raised will be used to underwrite the event and make it affordable for those who might otherwise be unable to attend.
As a cosponsor, you or your organization or business will be listed in all applicable promotional materials and have the option of setting up a display table with merchandise and information at the event. Cosponsorship also entitles you to a one-year organizational membership in Heartwood with full member benefits. Individuals may also cosponsor and choose to remain anonymous.
For groups and organizations, we offer the following general guidelines based on annual budget: Suggested donation Annual budget
$25 under $25K
$50 $25K - $50K
$100 $50K - $100K
$250 $100K - $250K
$500 $250K - $500K
$1000 $500K and over
To cosponsor, make checks payable to Heartwood, and send to: Heartwood Forest Council, P.O. Box 332565, Murfreesboro, TN 37133-2565.
Please make sure to include your name and contact information, and mention that your donation is intended for the Forest Council.
For more information, please contact:
Andy Mahler
Heartwood
812.723.2430 (h/w)
andy@blueriver.net
Amanda Moore
Heartwood
615.358.8898
info@heartwood.org
Mark Donham
RACE
618.564.3367
markkris@earthlink.netGeographical Scope: National Other |
|
