My name is Lisa, and I'm writing on behalf of the Earthbound Gathering. I am glad to have encountered another group that is addressing such crucial issues as those of cultural survival. These issues are central to our gathering. Below is our letter of intent, describing the gathering, its origins and goals.
I wanted to contact you for the following purposes:

1) to announce the gathering in hopes of connecting with interested people;
2) to ask if you would like to be included on our listserv to receive updates;
3) to ask that, if your organization approves and is willing, this letter be disseminated as widely as possible through your website, networks, newsletters and/or publications;
and 4) to seek out presenters for workshops and discussions at the gathering.

I sincerely hope this letter finds welcome with your group and hope for feedback and new connections!

Sincerely,
Lisa Holt

Greetings,

We would like to tell you about a conference we are planning called the Earthbound Gathering. Our intention for this gathering is to bring together Native and non-native people who share concerns about the Earth. This letter is an attempt to get feedback, invite people to be involved in planning, and gather support.

Our group began as homogenous; young and white. We are now becoming more diverse, and the perspective of traditional Indigenous people is now represented in our core planning group. We feel that this greatly strengthens the prospect of a gathering that truly bridges communities. Our group remains small, however, and we continue to invite anyone interested to help plan. Further, we are committed to consistently seeking input, feedback and criticism from all we encounter, and acting on it. Above all, we wish to bring people together in the best way possible.

We have seen and experienced strength in coalitions between Native people defending their homelands and traditions, and non-natives who feel a strong connection to the Earth and a drive to defend her, and we feel there is much to be gained from strengthening these relationships and building new ones. We have also seen similar coalitions fail due to ignorance, lack of cross-cultural understanding, or basic disrespect. We wish to study these situations in hopes of learning from them, and discuss and address cross-cultural dynamics of all kinds. Some possible topics we would like to see included are:
-Racism- cultural appropriation and white guilt
-Cultural genocide attempts- info and experience sharing
-Presentations of strong coalitions created in the past
-Current resistance campaigns
-Life in America- the struggle for cultural identity
-Techniques for reconnecting to each other, the Earth and ourselves
-Youth- in activism and coalition
-Traditional/Earth based skills and crafts

We would much appreciate input on these topics or suggestions of others!

As of now, we are planning Earthbound for northeastern Minnesota, in early fall, 2005. It will be free to all, including food and lodging. We hope to provide travel stipends for elders, youth, or others who need it.

We are aware of some things that have repeatedly prevented coalitions from forming in the past and would like to address them as part of our planning. For one, Earthbound will be firmly drug and alcohol free. Also, we have seen that the dominant culture and its members consistently lack listening skills. We expect everyone present to have a basic respect for each other, and strive to really listen. We would like each person who attends to be interested in healing and seeking mutual understanding across the lines of race and other distinctions. If you feel there are other common barriers we should be mentioning, please let us know.

We hope that an uncommon spirit of honesty and healing will animate this gathering, so that we can discover common ground in our struggles to live in balance with the earth and resist the destructive forces that threaten us all. We believe in our hearts that we can support each other in new ways, not only to make a new world, but also to save the old.

Please contact us if you want to help organize, give input or criticism, present a workshop, donate resources, help fundraise, or stay informed.

Please pass this message along to anyone you think might be interested.

Hope to see you this fall!
Note: -The Earthbound Collective

e-mail: earthboundcollective@hotmail.com
voice mail: 1-866-758-9634