Sip for Peace 2019
Tea & Activism
Tea & Activism
Activism – Wikipedia
As late as 1969 activism was defined as “the policy or practice of doing things with decision and energy”, without regard to a political signification
When you feel overwhelmed, consider what you can do. By combining a familiar and meaningful action – like drinking tea – with an awareness that you are sharing this with a global community – tea people around the world – you can share the belief that our planet will eventually become a place of peace. Believing in something as critical as world peace is not easy these days. Believing in something that no one alive today has ever known is challenging. Sharing this belief with people around the world might be joyful. It might be something amazing. It could become part of a new language of peace. (“The Language of Peace”, Sip for Peace 2018 )
Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has. – Margaret Mead
Our Sip for Peace Vision of Tea Activism
Connecting a Global Community
Why Tea?
Camellia sinensis, true tea, and blends of tea have long been the second most consumed beverage on the planet. And it is second only to water. But tea is also accepted as one of Earth’s healing plants with scientifically proven health benefits. It is also part of spiritual practices and social ceremonies. Even contemporary language infuses tea as being connected with intuitive understanding as in the phrase, “. . . read the tea leaves.”
Tea & Activism & Health
That feeling of being overpowered and forced to live in an environment that is not aligned with our true belief system becomes detrimental to our health. It is living with a constant level of stress. And we know that stress is the cause of many diseases. We thrive when we live with a sense of peace and safety in our environment. The polyphenols in tea actually give us a sense of calm focus and well-being but activating our global connection to others can inspire hope for a different future.
Successful Activism
How are we measuring success of S4P?
In 2018 we had more than 2000 sippers viewing our 31 daily emails. We introduced them to new tea regions and revisited some of the most familiar. We created the first Global Tea Blend, an iconic blend of 31 different green teas from each of these regions. And we stitched this rich tapestry together with the reflections, meditations, poetry and art of 31 different writers and artists.
Winning one of the awards at World Tea Expo for the campaign was thrilling and satisfying, but the real measure of success was the personal feedback from many participants and their encouragement to continue for another year.
For me, the absolute experience of success was when I spoke face-to-face with our participants about Sip for Peace. At the tea festivals people listened to the plan and frequently responded that it gave them a little shiver up their spine. Even non-tea-people responded. It was a new meaning for tea and a new reason to drink some.
Success in 2019
Our goals are to provide more resources for everyone hosting Sip-Ins, more tools for interacting and sharing Sip for Peace experiences and being able to reach out to many more people who would like to share this belief in and vision of a peaceful planet.
Our goal is for this kind of shared community vision to become a satisfying and powerful form of activism.
Those Who Help Us Define Activism
“Activism is the rent I pay for living on the planet.”
– Alice Walker
“If everyone demanded peace instead of another television set, then there’d be peace.”
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“I’m no longer accepting the things I cannot change. I’m changing the things I cannot accept.”
– Angela Davis
“The activist is not the man who says the river is dirty. The activist is the man who cleans up the river.”
– Ross Perot
“Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world.”
– Harriet Tubman
“The world will not be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who watch them without doing anything.”
– Albert Einstein
“Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.”
– Barack Obama
“Joy doesn’t betray but sustains activism. And when you face a politics that aspires to make you fearful, alienated and isolated, joy is a fine initial act of insurrection.”
– Rebecca Solnit
“There’s a gap somehow between empathy and activism. Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke of soul force, something that emanates from a deep truth inside of us and empowers us to act. Once you identify your inner genius, you will be able to take action, whether it’s writing a check or digging a well.”
– Sue Monk Kidd
“Don’t let complexity stop you. Be activists. Take on the big inequities. It will be one of the great experiences of your lives.”
– Bill Gates
The World Needs A New Definition of Activism
Lea Ann Mallett is a lifelong activist, writer, photographer and a passionate storyteller. The trajectory of Lea Ann’s story has arced through her work as a direct-action wilderness activist for almost two decades as a non-profit executive director. She has engaged media around the world, from the CBC to the BBC, on issues from ancient forest preservation to the protection of monarch butterflies.
I believe that our biggest challenge as humans is our misbegotten idea that there is us and there is “the planet”, “nature”, “The Environment”, that somehow we are separate, living on the Earth when we are actually of the Earth. We, our bodies created from molecules borne of this planet, would not be here if not for this planet.
It’s a bit like your right arm suddenly deciding the rest of your body is superfluous, an other, something to only be paid mind if it isn’t producing what that arm wanted or carrying said arm correctly. That right arm would have a skewed lens on the world, mistaken, not realizing that the rest of the body is ensuring its survival.
Same thing, bigger picture, with us. (Visit Ted Talk Page)