National Water Center, Eureka Springs, Arkansas
         

National Water Center, Eureka Springs, AR

Updated: April 2014 Contact: Contact: NWC

Contents ©1999-2014 by National Water Center. All rights reserved worldwide.

Welcome to “the new” WaterWorks

Michael Flitter and Robert McAfee

5

Bioregionalism: A Positive Solution

Barbara Harmony

6

Heal The Waters

7

Lion Heart for Brotherhood with Earth

8

Thinking Like A Mountain

Click hyperlink to view.

10

David Haenke

From the Publishers

Welcome to the “new” WaterWorks

Continuing the Tradition of Original and Innovative Coverage of Our Water Environment
by Michael Flitter & Robert McAfee

 It is our sincere pleasure to present the premier issue of the new   WaterWorks (WW). We have been greatly encouraged by the very   positive response which we have received in our efforts to return to   hiatus. Instead of a bimonthly “newsletter” we will now become more   of a “journal” and focus on issue covered by the Thinking Like A   Mountain work-shop series (see page 6). 

  Robert McAfee (l) and Mike Flitter
  (r) cofounders of PKI International
  and Thinking Like A Mountain Institute.

WW continues our tradition and commitment to a better understanding and appreciation of all aspects of our water environment. We not only realize the importance of water in it’s  physical nature but the non-physical as well.                                    

It is becoming more apparent to those of us concerned about our environment

To Contents

Page 6

From the Editor

Bioregionalism: A Positive Solution
by Barbara Helen Harmony

 My wish is that this issue will inspire hope for you as the bioregional   movement has done for me. The Bioregional Movement is about   organizing on the basis of natural law instead of constantly reacting   to environmental crises. The movement organizes for life in harmony   with nature. Our environmental crisis was that a wildlife area at Lake   Leatherwood was planned as the site for Eureka Springs sewage   treatment plant. In 1979 a group of Concerned Citizens stopped   construction by showing that this site was in a flood plain. Happy in   our victory which took several months we went on to search for a   real solution to the Eureka Springs sewer problem. We felt that this   city built on healing springs could be an example for the use of   compost toilets. We came to understand that if people were not toilet trained to water, they would not accept using it as a waste vehicle. We were helped in this effort by friends in the WHY FLUSH project in Missouri at New Life Farm. These same friends, Stuart Leiderman, Miriam Ella Alford and David Haenke who had been helping on the water issue were also organizing the first bioregional congress, Ozark Area Community Congress, (OACC). I'm sure they were inspired by the work of Peter Berg and the Planet Drum Foundation. At the original congresses, committees were formed that wrote resolutions for many areas of life. Focusing on the Water Issue at OACC and the North American Bioregional Congress (NABC), now Turtle Island Bioregional Gathering, I met many wonderful bioregionalists doing excellent water work. I’m happy to introduce some of them and their important work and lifestyle in this premier issue of WaterWorks Journal. Tad Montgomery, George Anna Clark, Dalton Shipway, Patricia Michael , Miriam Ella, Coco Gordon, Don Bokledge and Eleanor Rae have all taken part in the Bioregional Congresses. These articles reflect bioregional philosophy and lifestyle. It was difficult for me to make the shift from being an ecodefense, environmental activist to taking a proactive stand. As the years have gone by the importance of putting energy toward developing a sustainable lifestyle has become more and more clear. No longer wanting to be in opposition, I am nurtured and given a venue for caring through the bioregional movement. I feel empowered by the flow and synchronicities of the bioregional movement.  www.ipa.net/~peace.

To Contents

Page 7

Heal the Waters

As the air is the living breath of our planet and the trees are its breathing, the Earth’s Waters are its living blood, coursing through its streams with a flow as vital to us as the blood running in our veins…

Through all our lives, the Waters have sustained, nurtured and healed our bodies and spirits; in return for the gifts of the land, the nutrients in the food, that pass through our bodies to become what we call “waste” to be returned to nourish the land. To use the Waters as a carrier and dump for “waste” nutrients is a deep wrong which impoverishes the land, and brings sickness both to Water and to us as we participate in this injustice.

Since human “waste” must become a nutrient on the land, not a pollutant of the Waters, we must realize that though we continually strive to develop new technologies to deal with our problems, the greatest innovation is conservation. As we conserve precious Water, we can also conserve and enrich our soil through the recovery of human “waste”…

All over the Earth, the rivers, lakes, and oceans have struggled to cleanse themselves of our thankless waste, but can do so no longer by themselves while we still have the measure of grace and health they have given us by their struggle, we must join them to conserve, protect and HEAL THE WATERS…” 

Originally written in 1980 for the National Water Center (Eureka Springs, Arkansas) by David Haenke, this has always been a part of the bioregional resolutions. The proclamation was signed by then Governor of Arkansas, Bill Clinton in 1982.

To Contents

Page 8 & 9

Lion Heart for Brotherhood with Earth: A Tribute to Jim Berry
by David Haenke

When I heard that Jim Berry had died it hit me hard. Jim was a lion heart for the Earth, for brother Thomas' world-shaking vision, for the Christian ecology movement, for integrity itself. Jim was the walking heart of integrity, of soul deep nobility of being. He embodied the best of a generation, made long journeys of the soul, from W.W.II Army Intelligence in a war that was at its essence a vast assault on the Earth itself, to relentless passionate advocacy for the Earth.

JAMES FANT BERRY, 1917 - 1997 and his
wife, MARY. at Camp New Hope, near
Raleigh, North Carolina, where Jim
hosted his annual end of October retreat.

Jim was a true elder in this time when we have so few, and so many of them are leaving. I believe a true elder is one who is both wise in the ways of human beings, while being connected in every dimension of their being to Earth and family - in the knowledge that all of family is of Earth -, in service to Earth, drawing power, wisdom and integrity from Earth, always working for the good of Earth, in the knowledge that

this is the best possible service for humanity. In this, most of the elders who are still left are native tribal people. To me Jim was one of those few non-native elders. I can count them on one hand. Now one precious one less.

In what I have written I am saying Earth over and over. No tribute to Jim can ever speak of Earth too much.

In his relationship to Thomas Berry, Jim carried his brother's flag with all the passion of his lion heart. His relationship to Thomas was as his relationship to Earth, and the finest blood brotherhood I have ever known. Shortly before his death I wrote a letter to Jim and told him this and how deeply I appreciated him, his relationship to Thomas, and the honor of knowing him and working with him over the years. Mary Berry told me after his death that he had gotten my letter and read it. I am thankful that I got a chance to tell him how much all he was and stood for meant to me before just he left.

My work in starting to organize the Christian ecology movement started in 1984, when I asked Thomas Berry and others to work with me in bringing together the North American Conference on Christianity and Ecology - NACCE. Thomas involved Jim with this work. Jim was instrumental in bringing together the first major organizing meeting of NACCE in Syria, Virginia in 1986.

From that time on there were some intense philosophical differences within NACCE. There were those who followed the beliefs of Thomas Berry, and creation spirituality, those who took a traditional scriptural approach, and a third group who appeared to see potential for power, influence, and money in the organization.

Starting with Syria some of the scriptural Christian ecologists leveled some intense criticisms of Thomas' ideas. This deeply offended Jim, who took any attacks on Thomas as not only attacks on himself, but on what he believed was the only hope for the salvation of the Earth. Over the years the debates continued within NACCE and the Christian Ecology movement. Jim always fiercely defended his brother, but he never quit the organization or the movement.

For awhile Jim was aligned with this third group in NACCE, along with the other people in the organization who were affiliated with creation spirituality, against the scripturalists. But over time it became apparent to him that this third group was really just jockeying for power and control, and that theological beliefs were secondary or even irrelevant to them. Their takeover tactics were dishonorable as they tried to unseat the scripturalist who was the director and marginalize those who stood with him.

Jim was able to look beyond his love of Thomas and see that even though the scripturalists disagreed with Jim and Thomas they were honest and true to their beliefs, and were being wrongly subjected to attacks and subterfuges by the third group. It was here that I witnessed, over a period of a couple of years, Jim's profound integrity blaze through. He came to strongly support the director and the scriptural members, not because he came to believe in their ideas, but because they had integrity, and were being wronged. It was all about integrity. It took a titanic effort for Jim to come around to this, but he did. Jim came to greatly respect the scriptural members of NACCE, even though he never stopped championing Thomas. This was amazing and inspiring to watch happen. It was a good day when Jim became President of NACCE, because he stood for the best that this or any other group ever was. This is just one reason, one dimension, one story of why I so honored this man, and I always will.

Jim's spirit continues to amaze and inspire me, now through his grand daughter Acacia Berry and those of his family and extended spiritual family who keep honoring his memory and his life's passion for the Earth and Thomas' work. In July '98 I opened my mail to find, once again, the newsletter Jim put out for so many years, from his Center for the Reflection on the Second Law, this time written and sent out by Acacia. I did a couple of double-takes, because I never thought I would see the circular again, but there it was, Jim's spirit beaming out through Acacia, words and paper numinous with the light that seems to ever flow forth from the Berry family.

If ever there was a generational transmission, it was there shining through that miraculous piece of paper, which announced the continuation of the annual conferences at Camp New Hope, a series that Jim started years ago, in the Chapel Hill area of North Carolina: a celebration of the life and work of Jim Berry.

On October 23 – 25, 1998 the annual meeting at Camp New Hope was held to discuss the life and work of Jim Berry. Tapes of previous fall conferences can be obtained from Lou Niznik, Earth communications, 15726 Ashland Drive,

Laurel, MD 20707, (301 498-2553, earthcom@juno.com

Page 10 - Thinking Like a Mountain - please press link to view this page.

Go to: on the waterfront

Scroll down to see individual titles in this section.

Scroll down to see individual titles in this section.