“If you can put yourself aside-
then you can do things for the whole of the world.
And if you love the world, like this
then you are ready to serve it.”
-Tao Te Ching
Cascadia Matters is a collective effort of writers, artists, educators and media activists. We come together as storytellers unraveling the narratives. Our aim is to highlight the emerging ideas, struggles and times of our bioregion and beyond. In a world surrounded by chaos and an environment on the brink of devastation, we live in onerous times. While we all can acknowledge that a global economy demands infinite resources to continually grow, the dominant culture is unwilling to confront the fact that we live on a finite planet. Here in Cascadia, we feel the need to do things differently. There is an emerging movement to dismiss this pattern and culture destroying place; our intent is to contribute through public awareness and communication.
We feel that we are inseparable from the world around us and that we are all living out a story. All too often media portrays an explanation that is detached from reality and perpetuates division. With the chronicle offered, it is not hard to see why so many are detached and disengaged from participating. The media collective of Cascadia Matters is dedicated to digging deeper into the layers that shape our lives. We strive to find points of solidarity and common ground working towards restoration and resiliency. We aim to offer our perception rooted from a place-based narrative. We feel that the only way forward is to observe the mythologies that have led us to where we are and to recognize the validity of each particular place.
It is more important now than it has ever been for each of us to acknowledge the need to contribute. This participation will look different for everyone because we all have unique gifts. Everybody has a voice and everybody has a story and by bringing the stories of all peoples together we have a window of opportunity to collectively bring about a new way of living on this biosphere. Storytellers have a responsibility to speak from the heart and listen to the world around them. It is our life’s work to sing our own song and enable the stories of the silenced voices to be heard. The compassion to be found in the embrace of other’s journeys gives us inspiration and continual guidance along this path.
“Our illness springs from the very center of civilization, not from too much knowledge, but from too little wisdom…” –Stanley Diamond
Each of us has a story to tell. The lives of ancestors are still alive in us; we live through them just as they live through us. The very places we have come into contact with also deeply shape our reality. We do not view our lives as separate or above life or place. Coming into relationship with place and others offers the freedom of creativity to flourish and to remember that songs can emerge once again.
In this time, we all have the choice to live out the current systems of oppression towards chaos, or to take an honest assessment of the world around us and awake to the interconnected life that is awaiting us. Currently in Cascadia, we live in one of the great remaining places on the planet. While the industrial economy has decimated the land, Cascadia still has a tremendous capacity to provide for life here if we are willing to make the sacrifices to restore nature and enable it to heal. We feel the people of this land have the capacity to solve our biggest problems. We envision an emerging tale that is paving the way autonomously across each and every bioregion. Our hope is to build an ever-deeper relationship with the place we love and to plants seeds that may inspire others to learn more about re-inhabitation upon this living earth.
We ask you to engage in the conversation and let your voice be heard. We are always open to suggestions, contributions and collaborations. Please contact us if you are interested in getting involved.
“If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor.” - Desmond Tutu
