You asked for it...

…turning the world upside down…

Hello young adult friends. Welcome to the March edition of You asked for it …, NCP's monthly email to folks like you. Wondering who's on our mailing list? You and about 1000 other very cool young adults around the country—so you're in good company!

I finally saw the movie Avatar a couple weeks back—I'm sure a lot of you beat me to it. Things I liked about it: it gave a pretty accurate portrayal of native culture, with the indigenous shown to be multi-dimensional and generally occupying a higher moral and cultural plane than the invaders. Mother Nature had a starring role—for once, more than just a backdrop. The military/industrial complex—true-to-character—was ruthless in its pursuit of the strategic mineral unobtainium .

The part that bothered me—and actually brought me to tears—was the outsider-led and ultimately successful resistance to the invaders mounted by the natives and nature. When I saw them mustering their forces to defend the sacred tree and their way of life (and you knew that, this being the movies, they would succeed), I began to cry. I knew this isn't how it goes in the real world.

It reminds me of another encounter between the dominant culture and native communities. Our mind is on Haiti quite a bit these days, due to the earthquake. Did you remember that this is where Columbus landed in 1492? He promptly claimed the island for Spain , although it was inhabited by half a million Taino people. Writing in his journal, he was effusive in his praise of these people, saying that they shared generously, neither stole nor killed, and “loved their neighbors as themselves.”

On his next voyage, he started demanding tribute: a hawks bell of gold or 25 pounds of spun cotton from each person every three months—or they got a hand chopped off. Within forty years, there were only 600 Taino still alive—and thus began the trans-Atlantic slave trade.

We at NCP have relationships with native and ethnic communities in the Arctic, Amazon , Sudan , Central America , Burma and Nepal . And of course we have pretty good exposure to Mother Nature on some of our Learning Tours. We do what we can to show our respect for indigenous people and the natural world, and support grassroots groups in all those places in their efforts to keep hope alive.

You can join these efforts by going on a Learning Tour (we're offering young adults $100 off the already-discounted student registration fee for our May 11-21 Amazon Learning Tour —let's go!!), supporting our work around the world (a Longwood U. student is planning to organize a soccer tournament next fall to benefit our Special Projects !), or being a Solidarity Worker (spend the summer in Sudan !).

Along these lines, this edition of You asked for it … offers you some other possibilities:

• Fair Indigo—clothes with a conscience
• Summer jobs that aren't bummer jobs
• Don't cell your soul…
• Eco Fact, Justice Fact, Faith Fact

Speak the truth. Share the love. Sow the seeds of change.

David

Fair Indigo

When it comes to Fair Trade products, it's not too hard to find coffee, tea, and various “ethnic” clothing items—but often very difficult to find regular clothes. But check this out! Last week I was at a conference with a rep from Fair Indigo —a company that markets very cool clothing made by workers earning a decent wage.

Summer job?

Hoping to do something this summer that will gain you some skills in the field of your choice while also making a difference? NCP's Sustainable Living Homestead in Harrisonburg , VA is looking for help with their organic gardening and community outreach programs. Contact Tom Benevento if interested. To do a broader job search, check out Orion's extensive listings.

Don't cell your soul…

I had to buy my third cell phone in five years this past fall. The first one was stolen from my backpack at the bike rack at the store I shop at—some kids held it for ransom. The second I lost last fall after taking a call on my bike (I pulled over—but forgot to zip it in my jacket pocket after the call). So I hated the thought of buying phone no. 3, thanks to what I know about the human cost of coltan mining in Congo (coltan is a key component of cell phones); plus we throw away (or lose) 150 million phones in the US every year. Fortunately, I'd just gotten a flyer from CREDO, a phone company that not only gives 1 percent of its profits to groups like ours, but has reconditioned phones for sale! And they'll buy out your existing contract… 

Eco Fact: Switching to a plant-based diet saves 1.5 tons of CO2 per year, according to a University of Chicago study . That's more than is saved by switching to a hybrid car.

Justice Fact : The GAP CEO earned $39.1 million in 2007—or about $19,000 an hour; a worker in a GAP clothing factory in Cambodia earns 12 cents an hour.

Faith Fact : Thirty years ago this week ( March 23, 1980), Archbishop Romero of El Salvador made the following appeal to the men of the armed forces:

"Brothers, you came from our own people. You are killing your own brothers. Any human order to kill must be subordinate to the law of God, which says, 'Thou shalt not kill'. No soldier is obliged to obey an order contrary to the law of God. No one has to obey an immoral law. It is high time you obeyed your consciences rather than sinful orders. The church cannot remain silent before such an abomination. ...In the name of God, in the name of this suffering people whose cry rises to heaven more loudly each day, I implore you, I beg you, I order you: stop the repression!"

The day following this speech, Archbishop Romero was murdered. He lives on in the lives of the Salvador people.