Living Language Institute Foundation

A Joyful Way of Learning

	Registration & Facilitators
	About Earth Literacies

About Earth Literacies

VISION

· ignite our sense of connectedness with Earth and nurture a spirituality of Earth care

Through …

· learning circles and hands-on organic, sustainable garden practices.

Programs in Earth Literacies is a new initiative developed within the Living Language Institute Foundation (LLIF) this past year. The vision for Programs in Earth Literacies developed among a number of colleagues who over the past few years have been participating in circle gatherings, retreats and workshops reflecting on Earth spirituality, Eco-theology, care for Earth, and deep ecology in order to deepen their understanding of the place of the human within the cosmos. We envision a breadth of possibilities within Programs in Earth Literacies to explore what it means to be creatures of Earth and to participate in caring for Earth from that perspective.

The earth community is in a critical moment. We witness humans destroying the life-support systems of our planet at an alarming rate. Human activity is altering climate and poisoning the air, water and soil so much so that the health of humans and other species is at risk. In Evening Thoughts Father ThomasBerry speaks poignantly to this[1] Diarmuid O’Murchu reminds us that “…As a planetary, cosmic species, we belong to a reality greater than ourselves. It is our congruence with our planetary identity and our cosmic potential that bestows genuine power upon us… As long as we continue to set ourselves against or above the creation in which we are embedded…, we set our selves at enmity with the creation to which we belong.” (Diarmuid O’Murchu, Evolutionary Faith. Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis, 2002). It is in this context and from our concern for Earth that those carrying out Programs in Earth Literacies engage in the Great Work to which Berry invites us.

Advisory Committee

Gertie Jocksch, SC DMin - Coordinator of program development, programs facilitator, administration, finances and advertising.

Bill Goebel – Volunteer Advisor for programs. Agriculture development

Helen Colbeck - Volunteer advisor for programs. Program registrar and advertising advisor.

Bill Wilson, SJ PhD – Volunteer advisor for programs. Program facilitator.

[1] “Any nation that plunders its own resources for economic gain, to the detriment of the larger context of the geological or geological systems of the Earth, is endangering all the nations including itself.”