The stay in The Netherlands was a busy one. Andrew Buxton and Heather Odom joined us and they set up the exhibit of Jacque’s work at The International Center for Sustainable Excellence (ICSE), in Eindhoven. The Venus Project Design Team headed by Andrew Buxton and his assistant Julita Wielgat assembled this exhibit. They also developed the animations, and walk through of one of Jacque’s cities; they did a wonderful job.

The Exhibit opened first with a few words from one of the founders of the ICSE, Peter Gloudi, then some words from Jacque. The show was very well received. Peter mentioned it was what was missing in their center in regards to a direction to really achieve sustainability. The Venus Project Design Team is redesigning the original posters to improve them with freestanding 6-foot high displays. We are considering the possibilities of using this presentation elsewhere.

Tom Williams, Julita Wielgat and Jason Gleeson arrived for the opening of the exhibit. Tom and Andrew spoke on Sunday about The Zeitgeist Movement and Andrew Buxton about The Venus Project Design Team, and Jason was there to film the events. It was also good to see Lena and Steve attend, who have been extremely supportive to The Venus Project World Lecture Tour. We thank them and all the others including The Zeitgeist members who helped to make our stop in The Netherland so memorable.

Next was the lecture, which was held outside. It was a huge success and even through the audience needed umbrellas to give them some relief from the hot sun they stayed engaged and had more questions than we had time to answer. This usually happens at all events though.

A couple of days later Jacque addressed another audience at Eindhoven for Inspiration Day, an event put on in conjunction with the festivities around the 10^th anniversary of the Earth Charter which was originated with the help of Mikhail Gorbachev.

The Earth Charter is an international declaration of fundamental values and principles considered useful by its supporters for building a just, sustainable, and peaceful global society in the 21st century. It is endorsed by organizations representing millions of people, the Charter “seeks to inspire in all peoples a sense of global interdependence and shared responsibility for the well-being of the human family, the greater community of life, and future generations.” It calls upon humanity to help create a global partnership at this critical juncture in history. The Earth Charter’s ethical vision proposes that environmental protection, human rights, and equitable human development are interdependent and indivisible. The Charter attempts to provide a new framework for thinking about and addressing these issues.

Because Jacque spoke in Eindhoven for one of their events we were invited to the all- day celebration of The Earth Charter held at the Peace Palace at the Hague, where the Queen made an appearance, and then we attended the dinner they had at the end of the long day.

Well, the emphasis was celebrating The Earth Charter and we were not able to get much information out in regards to what we feel is the way to achieve the results they are so passionately concerned about. They want to make things just and ethical without touching the system that is causing the problems in the first place and they didn’t seem to be aware of the conditions responsible for the problems.

They use the word sustainable while not touching the banking system that keeps countries and people in perpetual debt and think they can solve poverty. They can’t achieve their ends keeping things as they are. One woman even mentioned they wanted to make everything in this system “sustainable” – everything. They are trying to do patchwork on a cancerous system but they know nothing about how this system works so our very short pleas to promote a resource-based economy fell on deaf ears.

We really had just a few minutes to say something. I think if we did have more time in front of the entire gathering we could have made some headway. Only two people came up to me after I was able to get the mic during the main event. One said she loved what I said and that it was much more advanced than what the Earth Charter is doing. The other said they were surprised to see the lack of response my short statements got.

I did mention The Venus Project and a resource-based economy therefore it did go down on record. When they took a group photo on the front steps of the Peace Palace at the end of the evening Jacque and I were right up front in the middle so The Venus Project was represented even if just a little.

It made me understand more of what Jacque means when he says “we talk at people not to them” when coming from a different background, and different experiences (or lack of them, in vital areas).

All in all it was an interesting and a bit of a frighteningly sad experience that these are the people who are suppose to be at the forefront for fighting for justice, ethics and sustainability with such little understanding of where the problems lie. This event just reinforced in me the urgency and need to further introduce the direction of The Venus Project.

Roxanne Meadows
www.thevenusproject.com

Eindhoven, The Netherlands, World Lecture Tour