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Dear Kosmos Readers,
Warm greetings to all who are serving the greater good...and there are so many of us now! We hope you will find this newsletter full of ideas on how you may be part of an ignited humanity – one already on the streets of cities worldwide, saying, “No More! We have found a better way.”
Kosmos Gains Consultative Status at UN
Please celebrate with us! Kosmos is honored to announce that it has been recommended for consultative status at the United Nations to be formalized in July 2012. Nancy Roof has been a long-time participant in the growth of international civil society as an NGO to the United Nations since 1989. With our new status we are able to serve as technical experts, advisers and consultants to governments and the UN Secretariat. We can espouse UN themes, implement plans of action, programmes and declarations adopted by the United Nations, participate in ECOSOC and its various subsidiary bodies through attendance at meetings, and also through oral interventions and written statements on agenda items. Only one in four organizations that apply are granted consultative status. Currently there are 3051. This status will help us bring the commons movement to the UN through Commons Action at the UN, (CAUN) led by Lisinka Ulatowska. (See CAUN submission to Rio+20); give substantial input into Rio+20 sustainability conference; give weight to the Global Citizens Treaties at Rio+20 proposed by The Widening Circle; and support our continued participation in the Spiritual Caucus. Our ideas will be given more weight with the UN and our colleagues.
Kosmos Invited to Address OWS Forum on the Commons, Feb.16-18
We can hardly wait to spend 3 days learning from those courageous youths and others who have risen up not only to resist the corporate state, but also to create alternatives. Kosmos has supported the Commons as the alternative to neoliberal politics, by giving power to the people - and now we have an opportunity to share our ideas and to listen carefully to concerns of OWS at the three day teach-in, MakingWorlds an Occupy Wall Street event: Forum on the Commons. James B. Quilligan (Kosmos Board of Directors) and David Bollier (Kosmos Author) will be plenary speakers and Nancy Roof will help facilitate an interactive workshop with Quilligan and others. Please join us if you are in the New York area.
Important Kosmos Website News and Updates
This Summer we will be working on redesigning the Kosmos Website after consultation with our advisor, Amber Chand and after consideration of our involvement in the new action-oriented projects with our global partners: The Widening Circle/Global Citizens Movement, The New Commons Paradigm, Transformative Leadership project with Monica Sharma, Director of United Global Shift (to be launched in the next issue of Kosmos Journal), Integral Approaches and our UN work. Currently we have added two new sections and also places for comments to our articles and essays:
Voices of the People - Here is where you will find essays from our readers on various Kosmos themes. Our first topic is Global Citizenship. We encourage you to write a 500 word essay on this topic (see our January Newsletter for details).
What’s New at Kosmos - In this section we will be placing all things new - new additions to our projects, articles, new themes, conferences – anything that seems newsworthy. Don’t miss a fantastic PowerPoint presentation by Barrett Brown, Advanced Political and Sustainability Leadership Through Integral Theory. Barrett was recently in Brazil meeting with a presidential candidate and the
former head of the Brazilian Green Party, briefing them on an integral approach to sustainability and politics. You will learn a lot about integral theory, a foundational approach of Kosmos Associates, Inc.
We will soon be offering digital back issues on our website, using ISSUU, a beautiful format offering ease of reading. Please view our free sample issue on the website. We will announce our new blog soon. I am hoping to write the first one about our experience at OWS - but it may be a surprise. We look forward to your comments and any feedback that will help us keep our website updated to the minute!
Barrett Brown named Kosmos UN Representative to Rio+20 UN Conference on Sustainable Development
Barrett Brown joins Tara Stuart and Nancy Roof as Kosmos UN Representatives. He will be an active presence at Rio+20, The UN conference on Sustainable Development, fostering the goals of sustainability and participating in The Widening Circle events in Brazil, which will include a Global Citizens Treaty. Barrett is Executive Director of the Integral Sustainability Center where he has built and delivered leadership development programs for change agents from business, government and civil society. He founded a fair trade importing company working with Bolivian and Peruvian indigenous cooperatives. As International Development Director for The Sustainable Village, he helped advance renewable energy and appropriate technology projects. Please welcome Barrett to the Kosmos Community. He has recently returned to the US from the Netherlands where he served as Senior Manager of Learning and Development for the Dutch Sustainable Trade Initiative.
Michel Bauwens and James O’Dea named to Kosmos Advisory Board
We are fortunate to add two outstanding advisors added to our Board, both of whom will help us to access leading edge thinkers and artists of the new civilization.
Michel Bauwens, based in Bangkok, Thailand, is the Founder of the Foundation for Peer-to-Peer Alternatives and a partner in The Commons Strategies Group. The Foundation is a knowledge commons devoted to understanding the emerging peer-to-peer and commons dynamics in a wide variety of social fields. It works with a large global network of researchers interested in peer production, peer governance and peer property in the Internet age. A former entrepreneur and professor, Bauwens is an astute and influential theoretician of the political economy and digital culture. He is an expert in the Commons Paradigm and a heart-felt human being. A warm welcome to Michel!
James O’Dea, a beloved friend of Kosmos, brings to us a deeply spiritual and expansive science background. He has pioneered global social healing programs throughout the world with compassionate courage. His recent book, Creative Stress, was featured in Kosmos as one of the most helpful books of the times in dealing with the stress created by 21st century events. He was formerly President of the Institute of Noetic Sciences and Director of Amnesty International Washington DC. A man of integrity and commitment, we celebrate our partnership.
Warm wishes,
Nancy
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