Earth Day 2010
Awakening the Dreamer: Changing the Dream Symposium scheduled for April 24

SINSINAWA, WI—To celebrate Earth Day, a symposium focusing on global issues such as climate change, poverty and economic crisis will take place at Sinsinawa Mound from 1 to 5 p.m. Saturday, April 24.

The workshop uses inspiring video, up-to-the-minute facts and figures, and dynamic group interaction. Participants will hear from some of the world’s leading experts on topics as diverse as the current state of the Earth’s biodiversity and the reality of the socio-economic disparity throughout the world.

Facilitators for this symposium are Sisters Colleen Settles, OP, and June Wilkerson, OP. They attended their first symposium after witnessing the excitement of another participant, a colleague of Sister Colleen's. Sister Colleen said, “I came out knowing that this was part of my future ministry as a Dominican sister, as part of my preaching and teaching to participate in building a socially just world.” The two were trained to be presenters and have led the symposium in Los Angeles, Minneapolis and Chicago. They will lead the event at Sinsinawa Mound in April, and later in Spokane and Madison.

Sister Colleen sees her role as a symposium facilitator as her “volunteerism for the world.” Reflecting on the future health of our planet and its people, she said, “This is one of the most important issues that we as a world community are facing, and that is greatly impacted by the way we see the world and how we connect with our own spirituality—this symposium brings that front and center. It helps us to examine our unexamined consumption. Every person has a role to play in the future of a sustainable world. We cannot continue in the dream we are living now.”

The Awakening the Dreamer, Changing the Dream Symposium is an initiative of The Pachamama Alliance, a San Francisco-based nonprofit organization whose mission is to preserve the Earth’s tropical rainforests by empowering the indigenous peoples, who are its natural custodians, and to contribute to the creation of a new global vision of equity and sustainability for all.

The vision of the initiative is to generate widespread awakening at the grassroots level that leads to a transformation of our worldview, such that humanity becomes committed to restoring and protecting the environment and moves towards social justice and spiritual fulfillment.

Tickets are $10 if you register by noon, Friday, April 23. After that time, tickets are $15. This family-friendly event is appropriate for youth grade six and older. For more information, call (608) 748-4411 or visit www.sinsinawa.org. Sinsinawa Mound, the Motherhouse for the Sinsinawa Dominican Sisters, is located in southwest Wisconsin on County Road Z, off Highway 11, about five miles northeast of Dubuque.