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| This page last updated 11 May 2009 |
See below for Manitoulin Uprising and Earth Community links.
You can reach gnusystems by e-mail: gnusystems -at- xplornet (dot) com.
Sudbury office: 202 Pine St., P3C 1X5.
Manitoulin: 368-0515. Toll free: 888-368-0515.
Pam Jackson has been providing bookkeeping services to a broad range of clients in the Sudbury-Manitoulin area since 2000. In addition, Pam is a Simply Accounting™ Certified Consultant, and offers training workshops which help people use the Simply Accounting software more effectively. By the end of 2009, Harmony Beauchamp will be taking over the Sudbury clients from our Pine St. office and Pam will be working only on Manitoulin, where we hope to help out with the transition to a post-bubble ‘deep economy’ – see the Manitoulin Uprisingblog. Gary Fuhrman, Pam's husband, maintains the blog, this website, and the Manitoulin office of gnusystems while Pam is away.
XLGL is a third-party software tool we use to quickly and easily transfer data from Simply Accounting™ into Excel spreadsheets, which greatly simplifies financial reporting. Now you can buy XLGL online, directly from the source, by clicking on this link: Purchase XLGL
You can learn more about XLGL through this link: Simply Accounting Reporting.
gnusystems was launched by Pam and Gary in 2000. That same year that Gary retired from teaching, and they moved to Manitoulin Island (north side of Lake Huron, central Ontario, Canada), with their hybrid car – and gnusystems became a ‘hybrid’ enterprise combining business, research, writing and networking. This page represents our focus on economic and ecological systems within our local, regional and global communities. We have a separate page for the more philosophical side of it, which Gary calls gnoxic studies or gnoxplorations. Below are some links and words that we find inspiring:
We stand at a critical moment in Earth's history, a time when humanity must choose its future. As the world becomes increasingly interdependent and fragile, the future at once holds great peril and great promise. To move forward we must recognize that in the midst of a magnificent diversity of cultures and life forms we are one human family and one Earth community with a common destiny. We must join together to bring forth a sustainable global society founded on respect for nature, universal human rights, economic justice, and a culture of peace. Towards this end, it is imperative that we, the peoples of Earth, declare our responsibility to one another, to the greater community of life, and to future generations.
The fundamental problem of our society and our species today is to discover a way to flourish that will not be at the expense of some other community or of the biosphere, to replace competition with creative interdependence. At present, we are steadily depleting the planet of resources and biological diversity; the developed world thrives on the poverty of the south. We are in need of an understanding of global relationships that will be not only sustainable but also enriching: it must come to us as a positive challenge, a vision worth fulfilling, not a demand for retrenchment and austerity. This is of course what we do day by day when we refuse to accept the idea that we must reject one part of life to enhance another. Projecting a new vision is artistic; it's a task each of us pursues in composing our lives.
— Mary Catherine Bateson, Composing a Life (1990, 239)
toward the health of the Earth community:
- Manitoulin Uprising blog — and resource library. You can bookmark the blog, or subscribe to the RSS feed from it, to keep track of upcoming events on the Island (along with other matters of interest).
- Manitoulin Community Food Network has a website with a listing of local food producers.
- There's also a Community Food Security Directory downloadable from The FoodShed in Sudbury – it lists the Farmers' Markets and other food sources on Manitoulin as well as in the Sudbury area.
- Movies that Matter on Manitoulin: Some films just entertain you and pass the time. Other films matter because they open a window on the world. Since the fall of 2004, some of us on Manitoulin Island take turns hosting a movie night where we gather in small groups to enjoy a potluck dinner, view that kind of film and talk about it afterwards. We often get unusual or hard-to-find films for our movie nights. Movie nights are announced in advance by a weekly e-mail message to everyone in the group. If you're interested in taking part in this (you don't have to host), e-mail gnox -at- xplornet (dot) com.
For a list of DVDs that you can borrow from us or our friends, see below.
- Green on the Rock: a blog about green living on Manitoulin Island.
- Spirit Soundings: We get together (usually on a Sunday at 7 pm.) to create a ‘sacred space’ for communing with all our fellow earthlings, using sound, music and words meant to be heard in that communal spirit. People of all persuasions (or none) are invited to join us. If you like, you're welcome to bring along some words or music to share; or you can just come to listen, sink in, slow down and stop making sense. We often include scriptures from various religious traditions. And we always have some vegan refreshments ready.
Dates for Spirit Soundings will be posted on the Manitoulin Uprising blog.
Also, musician and new Islander boo Watson and the Blue Jay Creek All Nations Art Farm in Tehkummah are working toward hosting a Spirit Sounding kind of get together with a room full of musical sound makers … shakers, drums, singing bowls, gongs, chimes, bells etc. As soon as we have more specifics we'll share them here.
- For links to other Island resources, try www.manitoulin.ca.
Not exactly Manitoulin, but close enough!
Resources for global thinking and local practice
which you can borrow from gnusystems and friends are listed below (books and DVDs).
- Websites for the global picture on ecology, economy, resources:
- Focus on food systems and Fair Trade:
- Dialogue and community-building:
- Transition Culture website
- WISER Earth is the website of the Natural Capital Institute, founded by Paul Hawken, ‘a team of researchers, teachers, students, activists, scholars, writers, social entrepreneurs, artists, and volunteers committed to the restoration of the earth and the healing of human culture. We do two things: we describe pathways of change in books and research reports, and we create tools for connecting the individuals, information, and organizations that create change.’ (See also Hawken's book Blessed Unrest.)
- The Healing Century – a series of talks by Robert Theobald, broadcast on Australian public radio in 1998.
- Focusing Institute (based on Eugene Gendlin's therapeutic and philosophical work)
- Bohm Dialogue – based on a process (developed by physicist/philosopher David Bohm and associates) for liberating ourselves from the need to defend our own assumptions and attack those of others. Recognizing and ‘suspending’ our assumptions transforms them from barriers into signposts on the road to understanding.
- Resilient Communities Network
- Pam and Gary of gnusystems are Bahá'ís – that is, we belong to a religious community focused on encouraging the human race to get its act together. Contact us – gnox (at) xplornet (dot) com – if you want to hear more about it; or visit these sites:
– Islanders can contact us to borrow these: gnox -at- xplornet (dot) com.
- DVD
- On global challenges and local solutions:
- Chris Martenson's Crash Course is available on DVD – not a film, more like a Powerpoint presentation with voice and graphics, divided into 22 lessons totalling about 3 hours. Explains why the globalized, debt-based financial system is unsustainable, and offers some ideas on how to prepare for its continuing decline or possible collapse.
- The Corporation – Special Edition with over 8 hours of extras – essential viewing.
- The 11th Hour – assembles testimony from some leading innovators on dealing with emerging threats to the planetary life support system.
- Garbage Warrior – the title is a bit misleading: this very lively 2007 film is about ‘radical Earthship eco architect Michael Reynolds, and his fight to build off-the-grid self-sufficient communities’.
- Focus on Food:
- King Corn – a revealing (and entertaining) look at the corporate/industrial food system and how it undermines our health, ecosystems and economy.
- Good Food – about the local food movement in the northwestern U.S. It shows what can be accomplished when organic farmers, food retailers and restaurants work together with local consumers. (DVD can be borrowed from Chuc and Linda Willson.)
- Birdsong and Coffee – how fair trade in coffee benefits communities and ecosystems.
- The Future of Food – about the threat to North American farmers and consumers from corporate control of agribusiness and GM technology, and resistance to it.
- For spiritual and artistic inspiration:
- Touch the Sound – remarkable film about the amazing percussionist Evelyn Glennie and her unique feel for the vibrations of the universe.
- One (the movie) – first-time filmmaker goes in quest of the meaning of life, posing a set of questions to some famous spiritual leaders and some not-so-famous. [Heather and Paul at Loonsong have it on DVD.]
- Beyond Our Differences is a documentary film by Peter Bisanz that explores the positive role of faith in the world today and the fundamental unity of the worlds religions. We don't actually have a copy, yet, but Heather and Paul of Loonsong Garden have a similar film called ‘One’ which will soon be the subject of a movie night.
- The Dhamma Brothers – how Vipassana meditation transformed the lives of inmates in a maximum-security prison in Alabama. [John Hawke's DVD]
- Born into Brothels chronicles the work of photographer Zana Briski, who met the children of prostitutes in Calcutta and knew she had to do something to help them. Taking her cue from their interest in her camera, she gave them all cameras and taught them the basics of photography. The results are amazing and incredibly moving. This film won the Oscar for best documentary of 2004, and the DVD we have is loaded with extras following up what happened to the kids later.
- Visions of planet earth and its inhabitants:
- Books
- Bill McKibben, Deep Economy (2007) – Is there life after ‘growth’? This book is a good summary of how ordinary people are making (or could make) the transition to a more sustainable and enjoyable life while the bubbles of oil and debt deflate.
- Sally and Sara Kate Kneidel: Veggie Revolution – Smart choices for a healthy body and a healthy planet. (note: Pam has all sorts of vegan cookbooks that she's willing to share.)
- Life, Money & Illusion: Living on Earth as if we want to stay (2006) – Mike Nickerson's book on sustainability; look also at the rest of his site.
- Paul Hawken: Blessed Unrest – about the decentralized network of movements working all over the planet towards social justice and ecological sanity.
- David Korten: The Great Turning: From Empire to Earth Community (2006). This site provides supporting resources.
- also by David Korten: Agenda for a New Economy (2009) – there is an excerpt on the Yes Magazine website. This book explains what's behind the current financial crisis (‘phantom wealth’ dominating the real economy) and what we could do about it. (Great as a follow-up to The Crash Course.)
- Naomi Klein: The Shock Doctrine – explains how the ‘disaster capitalism’ aggressively promoted by the U.S. government has undermined economic and social systems all over the world.
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