Page last updated 1/24/2001
Register Your Non-Profit with WeCareToo
Enter your search words or phrases and press Search.
View by Location: View Alphabetically:
TURTLE ISLAND INSTITUTE/CRANES*
(Citizens Respons-able Action Network for Ecological Sustainability)
*CRANES operates as an Affiliated Chapter of TII
TURTLE ISLAND INSTITUTE (TII) is best described as follows: A virtual university designed to develop interactive computer educational programs in sustainable development directed toward indigenous people in the Americas (Canada, U.S., Mexico, Central and South America, including the Caribbean and Costa Rica.) These programs, developed in cooperation with representatives of indigenous tribes, are made in moving "pictogram" form allowing individuals to quickly absorb information which is vital to their well-being. These programs disseminated through video, satellite broadcast and on the Internet, while focused toward indigenous people, will be available to schools and libraries everywhere.
The name Turtle Island Institute is taken from the Gary Snyder poem and Native American myth about the earth being the back of a swimming turtle--tip it over and we all drown.
The TURTLE or "virtual" educational program is combined with the CRANES program which is directed toward the development of "real live" satellite campuses designed as ecotour destinations on indian reservations and in indigenous communities throughout the Americas. CRANES will operate as a Chapter of the TURTLE ISLAND INSTITUTE. Our focus is on developing a LEADERSHIP PROGRAM in sustainable development directed toward indigenous people throughout the Americas. This program, in turn, is directed toward training personnel to accomplish the Hands Across the Border: Operation Lifesave project which is initially directed toward restoration of the Southern Region of Mexico but will be expanded to include other endangered regions throughout the Americas.
As part of the TURTLE program, moving interactive "pictograms" which play an active role in the LEADERSHIP PROGRAM are planned to "tell the story" of sustainable development projects such as: water reclamation, straw bale construction demonstrations, watershed restoration projects, agriculture projects, use of solar energy, construction of wetlands, hydrogen power, health and nutrition, etc. in a manner that is easily assimilated, entertaining and informative. The list of sustainable educational projects that can be approached and disseminated in this manner is endless.
In addition, documentaries are planned to reveal how relationships between cultures and habitats promote biodiversity in regions and serve to maintain the balance of nature. Intended for dissemination through public broadcasting and other outlets, documentaries such as these aid in bridging cultural gaps and reveal how indigenous cultures contribute in many positive ways to the preservation and restoration of vital natural resources.
Ecotourism programs, are directed toward engaging seniors and actively soliciting them to become volunteers in the CRANES and TURTLE programs where acting as "mentors" teaching management and basic skills, etc., wherever needed, they may participate in ways which serve to facilitate the expansion of the program throughout the Americas.
Note: TURTLE ISLAND INSTITUTE replaces the name Center for Responsible Change.
CRANES is an organization of individuals and groups dedicated to the development of ecologically and economically sustainable systems.*
To achieve these goals we need as many people as possible to join with us, for only through action by many can we make changes in our world. Bring your knowledge and energy so that together we can create a wondrous design for living for all lifeforms for all time to come.
UN World Commission on Environment and Development
*CRANES is an Affiliate/Chapter of the TURTLE ISLAND INSTITUTE
Visit the Turtle Island Institute/CRANES home page.
