Newsletter October 5 2023

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We have exciting opportunities for your active participation again this month beginning with the China Town Hall October 11th and the Youth Dialogues Sharing from the Heart on October 13th. Plus our October monthly meeting will be the first opportunity for you to participate in our Understanding China programs. We will discuss papers on the topics you select as being of greatest interest to you personally. Please read on for more details.

Living Earth Movement is Partnering Again with the National Committee on U.S. China Relations China Town Hall

The Living Earth Movement is partnering again this year with the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations (NCUSCR) on their annual China Town Hall on October 11th, 7-9 pm EDT 6-8 CDT 4-6 PDT.

The NCUSCR has a similar mission to the Living Earth Movement (LEM) based in Kankakee County, IL of Fostering US China Cooperation and Climate Solutions . The National Committee on U.S.-China Relations promotes understanding and cooperation between the United States and Greater China in the belief that sound and productive Sino-American relations serve vital American and world interest.

Current U.S. Ambassador to China Nicholas Burns will be the featured speaker for CHINA Town Hall 2023, a national conversation on how the U.S.-China relationship affects our communities. From trade, tech competition, and fentanyl to climate cooperation, national security, and anti-Asian racism, the future of both countries will be determined by their relations with one another and the global community.

The nationwide virtual conversation, including live Q&A, will take place on Wednesday, October 11, at 7:00 p.m. ET. As America’s top diplomat in China and one of the U.S.’ most articulate foreign policy experts, Ambassador Burns is uniquely suited to unpack the challenges and opportunities for both countries as they confront the most critical issues of the 21st century.

Examples of Questions for Ambassador Burns Submitted by Living Earth Movement Participants:

Many of us agree with Senator Bernie Sanders that there is little hope for any of us unless the two most powerful countries and largest economies join in giving leadership in response to our global crises. Based on your decades of service and experience in China, what recommendations and resources could you share with us to help achieve the goals we share with the NCUSCR for cooperation between the U.S. and China?

John B. Cobb, Jr.

There are many Americans doing business in China and many of us regular citizens deeply concerned about the dangerous direction of American policy toward China with talk of war. A war with China would be catastrophic beyond our imagining. As a grandmother and Christian minister, I stand ready to do something creative and bold to work for peace and to begin citizen diplomacy of some kind. What do you recommend?

Bonnie Tarwater

What is the rationale for (level 3) warning US citizen traveling for China when the only example of problems listed by the State Department are rare and mostly in the past? Don’t we want to encourage positive relations with China? My experience is very positive with personal relationships as a USA citizen with Chinese citizens.

Bruce Hanson

What question would YOU like to ask of Ambassador Burns? Please share any question you have with us at livingearthmovement@gmail.com

October 11th, 7-9 pm EDT 6-8 CDT 4-6 PDT

Zoom Link: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/86819756431

Zoom Meeting ID: 868 1975 6431

Webpage with details https://bit.ly/LEMChinaTownHall2023

Climate Change and Youth Action in China

Living Earth Movement Sharing from the Heart Youth Dialogues
U.S. Friday October 13th, 6 to 7 pm PDT China October 14th, 9:00-10:30 am

In this dialogue, Zhang Yu will give an overview of the youth environmental action in China and her own experience moderating youth climate dialogues and community activities such as the “Climate Economy and the Future of Mankind” reading group, and GreenGeek, a youth-led environmental organization.

Through her active involvement in promoting youth action in China, Yu will also discuss the challenges faced by young people regarding climate change and sustainable development and the opportunities that follow when implementing global concepts into local reality.

Zhang Yu, a fourth-year student in advertising at the Communication University of China, is the founder of GreenGeek, a youth-led environmental organization that aims to engage and nurture China’s next generation of young environmentalists. Since starting in 2022, GreenGeek has organized events and gathered over 1,000 members in the community.

Yu is a certified SDG Mover facilitator, who activates learnings on SDG and Climate Change issues. 2023 Yu initiated the”Climate Economy and the Future of Mankind” reading camp, a two-month online learning program that attracted more than hundreds of young applicants.

United States: Friday, October 13, 2023 6:00-7:30 pm PDT
China Saturday, October 14, 2023 9:00-10:30 am

To register please visit Heart Sharing - Living Earth Movement

Understanding China Program Papers & Dialogues

What Topics Are YOU Most Interested in Discussing?

For several months we have been meeting almost every Thursday developing a series of papers designed to help Americans better understand Chinese people, culture, and government. For an overview of our Understanding China Program please Click Here.

We now have about a dozen mostly one-page papers ready to begin sharing in publications, on our website and social media accounts, and to use them as focal points for conversations among interested individuals. We decided to use our October 26th monthly meeting to experiment.

We are inviting you to help us identify which papers are of the greatest interest to our participants. And then we invite you to join us on October 26 as John Cobb introduces the purpose of our Understanding China program. Then we will discuss 2 or 3 papers on the topics you select as being of greatest interest to you personally.

Please take a few minutes to review the list of topics and share your priority interest and please feel free to contact us with any questions. If there are other topics you feel would be appropriate for future papers, please share your ideas with us and even volunteer to participate in the drafting and review process if you’re interested.

John Cobb

Initial List of Understanding China Papers

Chinese vs American Ways of Thinking
China’s Ecological Civilization
Economic Hitmen American and Chinese
The Two Mountain Theory
Taiwan
One-Child Policy
Hong Kong
Propaganda (American)
Propaganda (Chinese)
South and North Korea
COVID Epidemic in the PR
On the Nature of Governance in China
U.S. China Cooperation on Energy Grid
Tibet
Role of Korea in American Relations with China

Please send an email with your top few topics in order of priority to livingearthmovement@gmail.com. If you have any questions, please contact Charles Betterton at that email address or at 760-212-9931. Thank you!

Comments on the Understanding China Papers by John Cobb

Once the controllers of American foreign policy decided that China was our Number 1 enemy, the information we received about China was unlikely to be completely fair and neutral. Since the enmity is military as well as economic and cultural, our government wants us to support it in acting against China on all those ways. Hence the information we receive is presented in such a way as to encourage us to think badly about China. Many Americans have no ready access to any other information about China.

We have wanted to offer an alternative. What are the facts? How does China look if we do not read about it as our enemy? Can we understand Chinese actions? To understand may or may or may not be to approve, but it is to locate actions in a common world and not demonize the actors. They act out of a different culture and historical experience. If we understand them, then when we need to do so, we can work with them. Our goal is to encourage cooperation on global issues for our own sake and for the sake of life on Earth.

We hope you will find our papers generally accurate and fair. Most of all, we hope that you will share our opposition to war with China and not allow American propaganda to make us psychologically acceptant of war. The Chinese see matters differently from Americans. They seek to advance the wellbeing and power of China and thereby they threaten the unilateral control of the world by the United States.

They make their share of mistakes, but they are human beings, like us, who will work with us to solve the planet’s problems if approached as such. Of course, our little group also makes mistakes and formulates facts in unfair ways. Sometimes, no doubt, in seeking to be fair to China we may be unfair to the United States. We apologize and ask your help to distort less.

On some topics, our group knows that it is not currently able to judge the facts reliably. In such instances, a different approach is possible. American propaganda may be confronted by Chinese propaganda. We will make no claim to adjudicate. But it is good for Americans to know how the Chinese understand what has happened as well as American propaganda on these topics.

In our own efforts to understand, we have encountered interpretations that are quite new to us. We have no way of judging them, but we think we have a better chance of acting responsibly when we know how the Chinese understand what has happened. Accordingly, to the papers above that represent our opinions, we add this one explicitly presented as what we have elsewhere explained to be Chinese propaganda. We think we are accurately presenting Chinese propaganda to supplement the American propaganda that dominates the American medial.

We think Americans will find helpful and interesting the Chinese under-standing of China’s takeover of Tibet, what happened at Tiananmen square, the tensions between Hong Kong and China, and Chinese policy about the Uyghurs interesting. We think that the Chinese understanding of these matters is accurate. We make no pretense to have the information needed to judge the correctness of the understanding.

John Cobb

Living Earth Movement founding members John B. Cobb, Jr. and Charles Betterton shared a presentation on why the LEM’s priority mission is encouraging cooperation between the U.S. and China. They described how the organization came into existence, shared the LEM goals and strategies, and discussed how those relate to Peace Week. Here is a link to the recording of the presentation Why Cooperation Between the US and China Is Essential for World Peace and Climate Solutions https://bit.ly/uschinacooperation

Our Peace Week program also included beautiful presentations from key members of our Understanding China Program Robert Detrano and Bruce Hanson on their recent visits to China. Their presentations will be featured in our next newsletter and on our website and we also want to acknowledge their valuable contributions here.

Robert’s presentation on his 20 years in China and recent stay at his home there runs from 37.20 to 55:05 minutes in the video https://bit.ly/uschinacooperation. Bruce’s presentation on his recent visit to three eco-villages in China runs from 55.25 to 1:00 minutes in the video https://bit.ly/uschinacooperation

The next Peace on Earth by 2030 Information Meeting will be held on October 11th.

Join David Gershon, architect of The Game and movement, who will share the vision and practices for achieving Peace on Earth by 2030, and how you can participate. Learn more and Register at https://peace2030.earth/event/peace-on-earth-information-meeting/

The mission of the Living Earth Movement is twofold. The first priority is to get the U.S. and China to cooperate for the sake of all life on this planet. Without their full and joint participation, the necessary changes will not be made in time. However, with their joint leadership, virtually all nations will follow. The second and equally important priority is to promote the foundations for a new kind of civilization in which humans would learn to value and cooperate with the rest of the ecosphere. We need a world in which humans understand themselves as part of a living earth community. We call this an ecological civilization.

Recent developments include monthly Youth Dialogues with American and Chinese Sharing from the Heart and weekly meetings of the Understanding China program that is developing a series of papers to help Americans better understand Chinese people, culture, and government.

Thank you for your interest in the Living Earth Movement! We invite you to Become Involved and participate at the highest possible level in whatever area or areas are of greatest interest to you. Please also help support our 501 (C)(3) organization with your time, energy, and donations by credit or debit card via Donor Box, mail us a check, or donate stock via Stock Donator. Feel free to contact me anytime I may be of any possible assistance at 760-212-9931 or at charlesbetterton@gmail.com.