Back to August 2007
Books & Listening – August 2007
Resisto Dancing: Songs of a Compassionate Revolution
Raffi Cavoukian / Troubador Music / $14.95
“We find these joys to be self-evident, that all children are created whole, endowed with an innate intelligence. With dignity and wonder, worthy of respect. The embodiment of life, liberty and happiness, children are original blessings, here to learn their own song. Every girl and boy is entitled to love, to dream and to belong to a loving village and to pursue a life of purpose. We affirm our duty to nourish and nurture the young, to honour their caring ideals as the heart of being human. To recognize the early years as the foundation of life and to cherish the contribution of young children to human evolution. We commit ourselves to peaceful ways and vow to keep from harm or neglect these, our most vulnerable citizens. As guardians of their prosperity, we honor the bountiful earth whose diversity sustains us. Thus, we pledge our love for generations to come.” —“A Covenant for Honouring Children,” track 2 of Resisto Dancing by Raffi Cavoukian. When a CD begins with words like these, and especially when they are spoken by the likes of the Dalai Lama, Jane Goodall, Mrs. Jetsun Pema and Tibetian youth, as well as Raffi, the “Children's Troubadour” himself, not only is it something special. It is something revolutionary. And so it is with Resisto Dancing: Songs of the Compassionate Revolution, the latest by Canadian children's musician Raffi Cavoukian. Raffi has been entertaining kids for three decades with classics like Baby Beluga, Bananaphone and Shake My Sillies Out. But this is Raffi like you've never heard him before. The new CD is designed for BG's (Beluga Grads), which includes “parents, educators, decision makers, grandparents” and anyone who has an influence on the lives of today's children all over the world. In a diversity of tracks that range from folksy ballads (Human Child, Blessed Be, Tomorrow's Child) to funky world beats (Resisto Dancing, It Takes a Village, Salaam Shalom), in Resisto Dancing, Raffi presents the philosophy that he calls “Child Honouring” (he has written a book by the same name). Bottom line- if you are someone who wants to make a better world for children and likes music that comes from the heart, pick up a copy of Resisto Dancing. It's sing-along tunes will inspire you to help bring “a new paradigm into being: a peaceful culture, a child-friendly world, a world that honors its young.” www.raffinews.com.
–NLP
f i l m
The 11th Hour
Review by Mary Ann Reyes
Leonardo DiCaprio's The 11th Hour, a feature length documentary, explores human's impact on our planets' life systems and calls to action every human being to take a step towards ensuring the survivability of our species.
The initial montage was of rough-cut stock footage and newscasts of Hurricane Katrina and the Persian Gulf War mixed with images of slaughterhouses and other signifiers of humanity's greed and over-consumption. It was a shocking beginning to a film that was, overall, a powerful and thought-provoking call to action.
Over 50 scientists, reformers, economists, and theorists, including Stephen Hawking and Mikhail Gorbachev among others, brought to light topics ranging from governmental cover-ups and the suppression of environmental findings to amazing advances in renewable energy and technology.
“We've turned our backs on nature's warning signs,” says DiCaprio, “and because our political and corporate leaders have consistently ignored the overwhelming scientific evidence, the challenges we face are that much more difficult.”
The film successfully reframes our human story and urges us to change our way of thinking, living and consuming by changing to a way of life that is in harmony with nature. Third world countries and low-income neighborhoods of color in the United States serve as sites for industry and dumping grounds, as evidenced in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Pollution has affected many in unseen ways as well. Teachers have noticed an increase in asthma rates. The condition afflicts up to 30% of students in some of these areas.
Perhaps our focus is on all the wrong things. Take into consideration, for example, the amount of work nature produces for free, posits David Suzuki, a geneticist and broadcaster.
“What would it cost us to take carbon dioxide out of the air and put oxygen back in, which all the green things do for us for nothing?” asks Suzuki. According to one researcher, it would cost $35 trillion. The annual economies of all the countries of the world sum up to a mere $18 trillion.
It is the human ability to imagine and re-imagine our future which will be key to our survival. The hour is near. How will you respond?
The 11th Hour opens August 17th in New York and Los Angeles and on August 24th in Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Orange County, San Diego, Minneapolis, Philadelphia, Portland, Seattle and San Francisco. http://www.11thhouraction.com