Facilitators today, more than ever need to be able to help groups envision a better world. Part of this better world obviously has to be equity changes and protecting those who are most endangered by global warming, biodiversity loss, and severe climate events. As you can tell, I am moving more and more in this direction. But there’s still lessons to be learned in this blog, even if you don’t aspire to become an environmental facilitator.

This blog shares how I set a vision for myself, and decades later allowed it to blossom.  I first started studying environmental sciences in New Zealand back in the early 1980’s and got my Master’s degree in environmental resource management. Since then, I’ve always been looking for facilitation jobs that dealt with environmental justice, sustainability and climate related work. My most memorable events in this field  included working with  Amazon Basin Indigenous peoples t to creatively resist massive fossil fuel development across the South American continent. This development would deeply damage much of the Amazon fragile ecosystem that the entire world depends upon. I don’t know that we or they were as successful as we hoped, but I was so touched by dedication of the tribal nations to protect this land for all of us in the world.

Most recently, I also had the honour of being part of a team to look at permafrost issues in Alaska.  The indigenous trainers and leader participants were brilliant strategists, thinking about how to prevent the severe impacts that their communities were facing as a result of global warming.

Thus this blog is to announce that I am finally bringing to life that long time vision. I found a collaborator by chance in March 2024.  She’s amazing. Alexa Ganous is exactly 40 years younger than me (thus we have 100 years of collective experience) and is a brilliant creative strategist who has worked on so many innovative environmental and cultural projects.  Check out a few cool things she has been up to here:

https://www.alexagantous.com/

What trash can teach us about ourselves

Trash Talk studio – her podcast

Suena-serenades-the-earth-in-mexican-ancient-wetlands (a project Alexa facilitated)

Please watch our video and hear about the project that we’re launching further below. If it moves you in anyway, and you can donate some amount to get us started, we deeply appreciate it. The funds will initially be used to set up the platforms we need to use, and to pay Alexa a small honorarium for her time and investment. I am retired so no need to fund me. Later, we will need funds for paying for the in-person retreat and visioning session. In total, we assume we may need $100,000 USD to pull this off, and monthly donations at first of about $4-5K.

Damiana* is a multi-year global experiment in cultivating cultures of ecological care and reciprocity. We are taking an ecosystem approach. Our plan is to connect multidisciplinary environmental leaders to share wisdom, resources and amplify impact.

*The name “Damiana” comes from a plant Alexa has been cultivating a relationship with for several years. It has been widely used by the Aztecs and Mayans (two indigenous peoples from Mexico). They called this plant Damiana or “Beloved” because she has been used to balance the systems of the body and the relationship between the masculine and the feminine. This plant cleanses the lungs – and thus cleanses our planetary grief and supports us to fall in love with the world again.  

The first in-person visioning Circle of Care will be held at Brave Earth, a center for applied cultural transition based in Costa Rica, on October 5-12, 2025. Alexa (Gen X creative strategist in environmental issues) and Barbara (Baby Boomer professional facilitator) met in Mexico early in 2024, discovered we had the same vision, and have visited and fallen in love with this amazing center. To start, we would like to bring together ~13 female-identifying leaders (as nurturers of Mother Earth) from around the globe. This group will have diverse ecological and planetary healing expertise and be united by a deep commitment to restoring ecological balance. We will meet online for 6-9 months prior to this retreat. We will continue to facilitate reciprocal sharing and support after the event. Our hope is that potentially this initial circle will seed other Circles of Care (in the future, to include all gender identities) to create an exponential and catalytic impact in future years.

Each Circle will begin with a practice of listening to place— tuning into the wisdom of nature as a foundational component to set the stage. The experience will then consist of three pillars:

* Nourishing— to restore internal balance through practices that feed body, mind and spirit.
* Envisioning— facilitated workshops to clarify individual and collective visions.
* Weaving— identifying opportunities for mutual support that uplift & amplify impact.

We believe that creating the necessary paradigm shift begins with fostering new kinds of relationships— to self, to each other, and to nature. It is essential that we evolve from competitive systems into systems based on cooperation and deep collaboration.

We are looking for patrons and donors who share our vision for the world and would like to participate in bringing this seed to life. We are grateful for your support. We cannot offer charitable tax receipts at this time. But we will keep you apprised of our progress through bi-monthly communications. If you wish a wee gift after donating, write to Barbara below and she will send you access to her facilitator product line. If you wish to offer other possible services to us or names of potential donors, please also reach out to Barbara at bmackay@northstarfacilitators.com and Alexa at gantousa@gmail.com

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