Common Vision Rolls Into Town (3/24)

If humankind decides to overcome it's warmongering and earth-battering
tendencies, the future might look a lot like the community the folks with
Common Vision are creating. These mobile sustainability educators have
been touring California schools this Spring, instructing youth on ways to
live lightly on the Earth by planting fruit trees, building water
catchements and learning African-style drumming. Perhaps you've seen
them around town in their rainbow-colored converted school buses that run
entirely on waste vegetable oil!

They are having a benefit show and community art auction this Friday in
Santa Cruz and would love for you to be involved.

*They are looking for ARTISTS and ART LOVERS. If you are interested in
donating your work, please donate your art peice, ready for display,
before 5 p.m. this Friday. A SILENT AUCTION will be held 8 pm- 12 pm,
3-24-06 at the benefit. This year's theme is "Fruit Trees."

*The show includes performers Living Alliance of Love with Johnny Dutro;
West African Drum and Dance Troupe with Don Woulila, featuring Bolokada
Conde from Guinea; Live Hip Hop and Belly and Break Dancing, featuring
Lyricicists Resonant Sun, Smiles A Lot, Cerberus Kalimama, Sup127 & Luke
D. ; Hip Hop set with Amber Mendez.

The event takes place this FRIDAY, March 24th, at 418 Front Street, 8 pm -
1 am.

Admission: $10 or **art donation** (art donations need to be ready for
display and in by 5 pm). For more information, call 831-430-9041 (Smiles
A Lot).

http://www.commonvision.org
All proceeds go to support Common Vision, a 501(c) nonprofit organization,
donations are tax deductible.

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FRUIT TREE TOUR in California public schools
Modern day Johnny Appleseeds turn barren inner-city schoolyards into urban
orchards

Today, world’s largest veggie oil-powered caravan carrying a team of
all-volunteer Earth educators will pull into schools across California with a
one-of-a-kind eco hip-hop performance and tree-planting program. Now in its
third year, Common Vision’s FRUIT TREE TOUR has created urban “food forests”
from San Diego to Sacramento planting over 1,500 trees with students at
inner-city schools. Students plant fruit trees during a day-long hands-on
program that also includes West African-style drumming, global storytelling and
Earth lessons.

WHO
Common Vision: 30 all-volunteer Earth educators

WHAT
Colorful caravan of hand-painted veggie oil-powered busses
African drumming and eco hip-hop program
Inner city students planting urban orchards

WHERE
February 20-March 13: Los Angeles Area
March 13-20: Ojai, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo
March 21-26: Santa Cruz Area
March 27-April 1: Alameda County
April 2-9: Bay Area and Hayward
April 10-15: Mendocino
April 15-20: Upper Lake
April 21-25: Grass Valley

“Fruit Tree Tour is a fusion of arts, culture, and ecology that rekindles
relationships with the earth and empowers proactive change. The planting of
fruit trees with urban youth embodies the vital connection between our health
and the health of the planet. As
school yard landscapes grow and thrive, so do the communities that unite to
plant orchards amidst the asphalt and chain-link fences,” shares Common Vision
founder Blair Philips. “We visit schools to try to get students in touch with
what’s under all this
concrete.”

The FRUIT TREE TOUR Experience

Students of all ages are awed and inspired by three vegetable oil-powered school
busses, hand-painted in landscape murals depicting indigenous communities,
rolling into the schoolyard and breaking the monotony of their regular school
routine. Symbolic storytelling, strong West African Dun-Dun-Bah agricultural
rhythms, and the planting of fruit trees explodes into a celebration of life
and interconnectedness focusing on respect for the earth.

In the spirit of native oral tradition, FRUIT TREE TOUR storytellers bring to
life tales from the past of living in harmony with the earth and the process of
how society
forgot our connection with the earth. Dancers draped in African mud-cloth
fabric and drummers ornately dressed set the stage for the storytelling to
unfold. A bold cast of characters and musicians brightly portray these events
with minimal words from a narrator and an elaborate display of culture and
color.

FRUIT TREE TOUR Earth educators teach ecological concepts by relating ancient
and modern Native American stories and performing ecological hip-hop that makes
caring
for the planet both relevant and personal for the students.

At some schools, FRUIT TREE TOUR volunteers and students will plant indigenous
Mayan corn in school yard gardens. The corn seed is not genetically modified
and has been passed down from generation to generation. Students will grow
corn to save seed and conserve culture in solidarity with indigenous farmers in
Mexico.

In a tree planting celebrations students will drum earth rhythms, while working
in intimate groups with FRUIT TREE TOUR facilitators to dig holes, prepare the
roots, and
plant the trees. Facilitators will engage students in dialogues around key
ecological and cultural concepts such as nutrient cycles, interconnectedness,
diversity, and respect.

Students, teachers, principals, and FRUIT TREE TOUR volunteers gather for a
closing circle. The circle takes a moment to give thanks for the day’s
experience.

Philosophy: A Healthy Harvest

Only 11% of children in California are eating the recommended 5+ servings of
fruits and vegetables a day, according to a study conducted by the California
Department of
Health Services.

FRUIT TREE TOUR provides students with an opportunity to experience
growing their own food in their own schoolyards. Planting fruit trees can open
student to a lifelong appreciation and understanding of our relationship with
nature. FRUIT TREE TOUR orchards provide healthful foods, create
microclimates, beautify local environments, and are living examples of seasonal
cycles.

FRUIT TREE TOUR inspires an awareness of our interconnection with all of nature
and focuses on how we can take steps locally to realize and honor this
connection between
our health and the health of the planet.

The integration of traditional drumming, earth education, hands-in-the-soil
experiential learning, and planting fruit tree creates a healthy, holistic
experience students remember for a lifetime.

FRUIT TREE TOUR cultivates the students appreciation for the earth that can
serve as a foundation for environmental responsibility, a key element of the
next generation.

The participation in creating and maintaining a school yard orchard provides a
space to engage a stewardship ethic as something personal and local, not a
distant abstraction. Students are able to provide their school and extended
community with beauty, health, and abundance.

Common Vision

Founded in 1999, Common Vision is a solution-focused nonprofit organization.
Common Vision’s mission is to cultivate ecological awareness and respect for
the Earth while generating social and environmental changes towards sustainable
lifestyles. We integrate concepts of ecology with the traditions, music, and art
of cultures that live or have lived in harmony with the Earth.

For more information, please visit http://www.CommonVision.org.