SEPTEMBER 2003 NEWSLETTER

 

WORLD BEYOND BORDERS
NEWSLETTER


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This is the official newsletter of World
Beyond Borders (www.worldbeyondborders.org).
It reports site news and world events that
affect our quest for a united Earth.
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Volume 1, Issue 1
August 26, 2003
TABLE OF CONTENTS
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1. Quote of the Month
2. World Beyond Borders Launch
3. Deep-Sea Ducks and Nautical Nikes
4. What You Can Do
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1. QUOTE OF THE MONTH
"We wanted to love, freely and without barriers. We had to remake the world
in order to do it." --Starhawk, The Fifth Sacred Thing

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2. WORLD BEYOND BORDERS LAUNCH

With this launch of the inaugural issue of our World Beyond Borders Newsletter, we'd like to start by inviting you all into our on-line community. With your help, we hope to grow as an organization and spread a vision for the future that isn't restricted by arbitrary political boundaries of nations and the brutal conflicts created by sustaining them. Now more than ever we are coming to realize that a world beyond borders is the only solution for building a sustainable human civilization in which a global constitution and bill of rights provides liberty and justice for all.

With our energies no longer consumed by wars and the impossible task of securing one or two continents as impenetrable fortresses of privilege through nuclear superiority, we will be able to build up the kingdom of one humanity and global government to serve us all. In a world of perpetual peace and plenty, imagine our new potential as a transformed civilization, ready to embark on new adventures we can only begin to dream of. We know how idealistic all this sounds but that's what all of us here have in common. We've all caught a vision of the future that takes our breath away and how could we do anything less than pass this gospel on to others?

This brings us to our next point and that is, utopia is something dwelling inside of us and those who've caught this beautiful vision of our true potential. Now we must all seek to make this internal state an external reality. If each of us becomes this new citizen and vehicle of a united Earth, our ultimate allegiance can never belong to distopian superpowers with their corrupt visions of empire and business as usual through ends that justify the means. Citizenship of a united Earth carries with it the great responsibility of using ends that are preexistent in the means. This implies no more preemptive strikes and weapons of mass destruction to drive others to do our will. The just cause of our movement must rely on moral and spiritual force utilized by ordinary people like you and me.

The social evolution of humanity is a never ending job we've all inherited and can never be completed on our own. As Isaac Newton said over three hundred years ago, "If I have seen a bit further than others, it's because I stand on the shoulders of giants." Let us become the giants that future generations stand over, getting ever closer to our goals than before. Because we are all part of this evolving movement of humanity together, we all can take comfort that we are involved in a process of life and evolution bigger than any one of us. The Cosmos has been set into motion and we are not separate from this flow of matter and energy.

Each of us must be challenged to take this energy the cosmos has provided and use it towards joining together in this goal we share. This can be done through many means and this website is only a small instance of one of them. If you are so moved, we ask that you join us at World Beyond Borders in whatever capacity you can to help us spread our message and work towards the ideals we hold dear. Please join our newsletter today and contribute any of your writing and ideas so that this site can grow as an expression of what we all seek together.

Sincerely,

Eli-Williamson-Jones and Jane Shevtsov
Co-founders: World Beyond Borders



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3. DEEP-SEA DUCKS AND NAUTICAL NIKES

Why is there a $100 reward for finding a rubber duck washed up along a beach? Because these aren't just any rubber ducks. They are world travelers.

In 1992, a container carrying rubber frogs, turtles, beavers and, yes, ducks made by the company The First Years fell overboard in a storm. For eleven years, the toys have been floating on the currents and now they should be washing up on north Atlantic shores.

Oceanographer Curt Ebbesmeyer has devised models of ocean currents that show that some of the toys, lost in the north Pacific, should slowly make their way through the Arctic and wash up in New England, Iceland, maybe even north Africa. Tracking currents is a challenge for oceanographers and finding the toys will test Ebbesmeyer's models. To that end, The First Years put up money for beachcomber rewards.

The bath toys aren't the first flotsam tracked down by curious oceanographers. In 1990, 80,000 Nikes were lost at sea. When beachcombers began finding the soggy shoes, Ebbesmeyer realized he could use them to study currents.

Of course, toys and shoes are not the only things that get lost at sea. So does oil and toxic waste. Tracking the toys teaches us these spills may end up far from their point of origin.

For more information:
MSNBC, Miguel Llanos, "Wanted dead or alive: Rubber ducky", July 23, 2003,
http://www.msnbc.com/news/940859.asp?cp1=1

Seattle Times, Eric Sorensen, "Quest for washed-up items is quest to know ocean", March 7, 2003,
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/134647813_flotsam07m.html

Teich's Tech Tidbit of the Week(s), "Floating Sneakers and Ocean Currents", July 23, 30 & August 6, 2001,
http://www.alteich.com/tidbits/t072301.htm

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4. WHAT YOU CAN DO

*Know a beach buff? Show them the article on lost sneakers and rubber ducks. Better yet, go beachcombing together. Try to guess where the things you find came from and talk about how currents connect the world.

*Forward this email to at least two people. Forward it to your friends, your mom, your boss. (Well, skip your boss if this will tell her you've been doing email on company time again.) Just forward it!

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We want your stories! Email Jane Shevtsov at jaia@ucla.edu.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons license. See http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/1.0/

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