Radical Joy for Hard Times -

Become a Part of the Global Earth Exchange Saturday, June 23

Join The World In Making Beauty for the Earth

When places are damaged, the people who love them hurt, too.

But by daring to take a new look at these places with curiosity, compassion, and a sense of adventure, we honor them as they are right now, express gratitude for all they’ve given us, and offer a vision of wholeness, health, and beauty for the future.

On Saturday, June 23 people all over the world will be going to wounded places to make simple acts of beauty. They’ll share stories of what the place means to them, find beauty in surprising ways, and make the RadJoy bird out of found materials.

Join us for this global event! Find a wounded place that matters to you and made a visit. Go alone or with a friend. Or go with a whole group. Plan your event in advance or just show up. Participation is free.

And you’ll receive a 2012 Global Earth Exchange t-shirt as a thank-you gift from us for taking this bold and beautiful step to reunited people and the places they love.

It’s easy and you can edit your entry at any time.

All we ask is that on June 23 you sent us a photo of your event so we can put it up on our website slide show.

What is a Wounded Place?

A place can be “wounded” in many ways. It’s wounded if it’s undergone a lot of damage, either by natural or human causes. It’s wounded if the eco-system isn’t thriving. It’s wounded if you yourself feel sad or concerned about what’s happened, or about to happen, to it.

For previous Global Earth Exchanges people in seventeen countries on all seven continents have gone to clearcut forests, polluted rivers, the habitats of endangered bees and bats and dolphins, the edges of urban sprawl, the sites of gas drilling, and even a melting glacier. They’ve even gone to the bone marrow transplant wing of a major metropolitan hospital and to a family farm destroyed in a fire.

To see all the places where people made beauty in 2010 and 2011, click here.

10 Ways You Can't Do It Wrong

• All you have to do is show up.
• You don’t need training.
• Anything you do will make a difference.
• It’s okay if it’s just you and a friend—or just you and the Earth.
• Everything you need to have the experience is already there—except a camera.
• Any place is a wounded place if it feels damaged to you.
• If you think you don’t know how to listen to the land, you do. Just don’t talk. Be present and look around.
• Whatever you feel is appropriate, even if you feel nothing.
• Sharing stories? You noticed something in this place. What was it?
• Make an act of beauty: Create the Radical Joy for Hard Times bird out of found materials. And: sing, dance, say a prayer, jump, sit, cry, shout, laugh, make a sculpture out of trash, make a circle, make a mudpie, hug a friend, hug a tree, drum, chant, walk in circle, make a human pyramid, do a cartwheel, make a mandala, write a poem, play, make prayer flags, make music!