After a smashing success of reaching our goal of 5,000 WakeUp participants for 2012, we are already off to an amazing start to 2013!!

Just since the New Year, the GenUp network has inspired and engaged over 1,500 young people, with over 43 WakeUps worldwide.

These are some highlights from what WakeUp facilitator across the country and world have made happen:

• Denver University – Denver, CO   Charlotte Vetter organized and hosted a WakeUp facilitated by Joshua Gorman and Cherine Badawi with 50 of her peers.
• Berkeley High – Berkeley, CA   Barbara Jefferson & Valerie Love presented a fast-paced 1-hour GenUp experience to 100 Berkley High Leadership students.
• Auckland Girls Grammar School – Auckland, New Zealand   Sam Dyson & Nalini Singh facilitated a WakeUp for 25 students – they said it went great!
• Students for a Just and Stable Future Conference - Boston, MA   Dan Jubilier led an innovative, interactive WakeUp to strengthen bonds between students and bring a unifying and empowering narrative to this climate justice conference.
• St. Josephine’s Academy – Detroit, MI   Peg Downing, Cathy, and Mary Beth and Pauline led a WakeUp for 21 overwhelmingly enthusiastic high school students, 18 of whom are interested in learning how to facilitate.
• Woolman Semester – Berkeley, CA  David Brostein, Joshua Gorman and Valerie Love led a highly interactive, one-day WakeUp experience delving in deeply with bright, committed young changemakers as part of an alternative high school program.
• Agape Youth Revelation Conference – Los Angeles, CA  David Brostein, Destiny, Luis and Shireen led a powerful, spiritually vibrant WakeUp for Agape youth in Los Angeles. 
• Portland State University – Portland, OR   Sara Ennis, Dan Mahle, Porter Eichenlaub, Jane Carr comprised an all-star team leading a WakeUp with 28 students and community members as the kick-off before a one-day WakeUp facilitator training.

Thank you to all of you who poured your heart and energy into these and many other successful WakeUp events. Please send stories and photos to wakeup@generationwakingup.org so we can feature you in the next WakeUpdate!

If you have been wanting or waiting to host or lead a WakeUp, now is the time to plan a WakeUp for the summer or to kick off next school year! Email valerie@generationwakingup.org and we will support you in making it happen.

With Deep Gratitude and Love,

-Valerie, Joshua, Cherine, and the GenUp Team
 

PS: Listen to the heart-warming response from Jennifer Menesis after participating in the WakeUp Experience at Heart of Los Angeles

We offer a number of effective options to kick off your school year, including:

• GenUp First Year Orientations
• GenUp Kick Off Assemblies
• WakeUp Days

Please see below for more info, fill out this GenUp Program Interest Form, and email programs@generationwakingup.org with any questions.

Generation Waking Up is seeking highly creative, smart, motivated, and skilled Interns and Summer Fellows to join our team!  GenUp is a global campaign empowering a generation of young people that is waking up, standing up, and taking action with allies of every generation, helping to bring forth a thriving, just, and sustainable way of life for all.

In our third year as an organization, we are passionately working to grow our programs, strengthen our operational systems and structures, and expand our overall reach and impact. GenUp Interns and Summer Fellows will be working closely with the GenUp staff team in our program and operational areas including WakeUp Program Support, Communications and Social Media Outreach, Grant Writing and Research, and our GenUp Summer Leadership Academy Support.

We explicitly build into our work new ways to innovate, collaborate, empower, support each other, take care of ourselves, work hard, and have fun all along the way. If this calls to you, we may be a great fit for you!

For more information on how to apply, please visit our website and apply today!

Every summer in North America, Generation Waking Up hosts an intensive seven-day leadership training that brings together a diverse group of young changemakers from campuses and communities across the continent, and from around the world.

This year’s GenUp Summer Leadership Training is taking place from July 28 – August 4 at the EarthRise Retreat Center at IONS located forty-five minutes north of San Francisco, California.

Participants will build community, engage in experiential activities and skill-building, learn the art of story-telling for social change, and develop a broad range of leadership capacities to support their passions and changemaking projects.

Interested in applying? Know a young person who would value this opportunity? Learn more and apply here!

Generation Waking Up is excited to be moving into HUB Oakland in the fall of 2013.

HUB Oakland is a new co-working space, entrepreneurial incubator, and community of socially engaged people that is coming alive in the heart of downtown Oakland. A place for startups and nonprofits that are changing the world, it is part of a growing network of 50 HUB’s around the globe.

With many partner and allied organizations that are based in Oakland and a diverse culture of resilience, creativity, justice, and innovation that is closely aligned with our work, GenUp is looking forward rooting deeper in the Oakland community as our work also continues to spread around the world.

Help HUB Oakland launch into the world by supporting the HUB Oakland Kickstarter Campaign and see design images of the space.

We’ll keep you posted on when our new office doors open!

This three day leadership training brought together a talented group of changemakers, artists, and musicians from L.A., Santa Cruz and the Bay Area. The training provided ways to explore how we can individually and collectively play a role in bringing forth a thriving, just, and sustainable world, while also connecting participant through the heartfelt musical vibrations of the Luv Amp Project and the healing properties of the Esalen hot springs.

The intention of this love-filled collaboration between The Luv Amp Project and Generation Waking Up was to empower a group of young people to take leadership in a new project called, I.AM.LIFE. I.AM.LIFE is “a life-affirming, music, arts, and media project emphasizing and fostering the connection of Western youth with Amazonia and its indigenous people – expressing urgency and possibility of taking personal responsibility for life.” At the leadership training, we spent time beginning to vision and plan a trip to the Amazon in Ecuador where some of these young leaders will interact directly with the indigenous people of the Amazonian rainforest.

In the next few months, these young leaders and their mentors will be collectively creating and organizing the next phase of the I.AM.LIFE project by engaging in research, planning and collaborating with key organizations like Amazon Watch and The Pachamama Alliance.

The next public event of the I.AM.LIFE project is “ART4LIFE“, taking place in Los Angeles on April 27, 2013. Artists will display and auction their original art, and all proceeds will go to I.AM.LIFE to support six young people who will be traveling to the Amazon.

If you would like to support the I.AM.LIFE project or learn more information, please visit here.

Earth Day 2013 is fast approaching!

This global celebration on April 22nd is the perfect opportunity to join Generation Waking Up in taking a stand for our planet, its people, and future generations.

This year we’d like to invite you to honor and expand the message of Earth Day to be a day not only centered around environmental sustainability, but also social justice, human thriving, and all the ways in which the issues of our time are inextricably interrelated.

There are lots of ways for you to connect GenUp with Earth Day celebrations through your local Earth Day festivals and events, school, or club. Here are some great options:

1. Host or Facilitate a WakeUp

The WakeUp is a perfect fit for Earth Day festivals & events!

To facilitate a WakeUp yourself, you can download all the WakeUp resources, including the mutlimedia presentation, a facilitator guide, handouts & other materials. Feel free to contact us for questions or support.

To host a WakeUp at your school, club, or youth group, please fill out this GenUp Program Interest form or email wakeup@generationwakingup.org and be connected to facilitators in your area.

2. Deliver a 1-hr Classroom Presentation

GenUp’s one-hour presentation is designed for the classroom setting, but is also perfect for conferences, events, or living room gatherings. It is short and easy to share with others, and is a great place to start even if you’ve never facilitated before.

Click to download: Keynote presentation | Agenda Template | Script coming soon!

3. Host a Film Night

Host a film screening this Earth Day at your home, on campus, or in your community. Here are 6 great films that show how people and planet are fundamentally interconnected:

Do the Math - Join 350.org for “Earth Night” on April 21st for a premiere showing of “Do the Math.” This 42 min film is an inspiring, beautiful, and fast-paced story that shows the power of a growing climate movement. Find out how you can attend or host a showing at:

www.350.org/math

Island President – a 2011 documentary film about the efforts of the then-Maldives President Mohamed Nasheed to tackle climate change.

theislandpresident.com

Gasland – a 2010 documentary film by Josh Fox focusing on communities in the United States impacted by natural gas drilling and specifically, a method known as slickwater fracking.

www.gaslandthemovie.com

Planet Earth – a 2006 BBB television series that takes a breathtaking and definitive look at the diversity of our planet.

watchdocumentary.org/view-planet-earth-serie-free-1-date.html

The Economics of Happiness – a 2011 documentary film about the economics of happiness, localization, and systemic change.

www.theeconomicsofhappiness.org

Crude: The Real Price of Oil – a 2009 documentary film about an ongoing class-action lawsuit between the Chevron Corporation in 30,000 Ecuadorians living in the Amazonian rainforest.

www.crudethemovie.com

Flow: For Love Of Water – a 2008 documentary film about the privatization of water infrastructure that prioritizes profits over the availability of clean water for people and the environment.

www.flowthefilm.com

Screen one of these films, or any film that you’re inspired to. Combine a film screening with a potluck, discussion, or other community event. Have a documentary recommendation? Send your suggestions to team@generationwakingup.org.

(Interested in offerings specifically for adults? Check out the Earth Day activities of our partnership organization the Pachamama Alliance.

Register your event here or email us (valerie@generationwakingup.org) for planning & design support.

We are excited to be building momentum together this Earth Day igniting awareness and action towards a thriving, just, sustainable world!

As our collective awakening continues to gather momentum for a global transformation, we are beginning to see a surge of innovation and collaboration coming from local communities. Not only are people Waking Up to our current crisis, but also coming together, building relationships and taking action to create real changes.

During the month of May, join thousands of people across the country taking action to rise to the challenge of food, water, and energy independence through the Transition Challenge. Organized by our friends at Transition US, the Transition Challenge is an opportunity to get your hands dirty, create something beautiful, and be counted as part of a bigger movement toward community resilience in the face of climate change and peak oil.

Last year Transition US registered over 4,000 actions in communities across the country. Folks picked up their shovels and tools, helped construct rainwater-harvesting systems, and installed solar panels. Abandoned lots were converted into green oases and school children pulled weeds and planted tomato starts. When these individual actions occur on a large scale, we energize and engage our communities and show the world what is possible.

To participate in this year’s challenge, you can create your own project or volunteer on a community project in one of four areas: food, water, energy, and community. Transition US has plenty of ideas and how-to guides listed on their website, but the sky is the limit. Whether your “something beautiful” takes the form of a community garden, a compost pile, or even a graywater system, it brings us one step closer to the world we want to live in.

Make sure to register your project to be counted, and feel free to send updates and photos to the TUS team to share and inspire others with your ideas!

The best way to make our community more food and energy independent is to do it ourselves. It’s our community and WE make a difference …especially when we work together. Tell your friends — invite them to the Transition Challenge.

I still remember the butterflies I had in my stomach almost two years ago as I sat in Hyderabad, India waiting for my Skype interview with Joshua. I had heard about Generation Waking Up and Pachamama on an online teleseries and I knew I had to be a part of it. Hearing the mission ‘to ignite a generation  of young people to bring forth a thriving, just, sustainable world’  felt deeply aligned with who I was and it was the kind of stand I wanted to contribute to with all my heart and soul.

And so it was! A few short months later I was flying to San Francisco, California to start a whole new life and an exciting new job as part of the Core Team of Generation Waking Up. I was so ready to learn and grow and help lay the foundation for this amazing organization to ‘lift off’ and expand to its full potential.

Throughout my time at GenUp, I have had the incredible privilege of witnessing first hand the magic that occurs when  young people come together to vision a new world. I am so grateful for the opportunities I’ve had to play and work with a team behind-the-scenes to make GenUp’s work in the world possible. From fundraising to communications to operations, I’ve had the extraordinary chance to be a part of a founding team that’s continually learning and surrendering boldly to the Great Unfolding of our mighty mission.

And now, after almost two full years, I have made the bittersweet decision to move on to the next adventure. Before I jump into the next  opportunity, I plan to take some time to reflect and listen to what my next calling might be — what my next steps may be to bringing forth a thriving, just, sustainable world.

GenUp, in my eyes, is a Wise Force on its own. One that brings the exact right people to the right task at the right time. And also knows when to let them go so they may take their gifts and skills to shine on in the next place when the time is right. I have complete faith in GenUp’s ability to grow and thrive in this next chapter.

I feel deeply connected to the GenUp and Pachamama family and will carry my relationships, the mission and this work with me wherever I go. Deep gratitude to all of you who have touched my life in infinite ways. Thank you for being my teachers, my friends, and my inspiration.

I am ecstatic and truly blessed to be joining the GenUp Team as the Administrator Extraordinaire to help bring about light and love to a planet deeply in need of a transformation. After a wild year of exploring the unknown and deepening my connection to this world, I have returned to the Bay Area to share this energy with my friends, family, and local community. Unknowingly, Generation Waking Up has been doing this work for the last two years and I am incredibly grateful to be working alongside them with this timely mission.

During my yearlong hiatus, I’ve come to learn that the meanings of living vs. being alive are two very different concepts. Being alive is courageously living your truth while balancing the illusions of the matrix. While living, as I’ve done in my past 24 years prior to my adventure, was more or less a charade of social conditioning and conforming to social norms.

As an Asian American growing up in the city of San Francisco, I was introduced to privilege and wealth disparity at a young age when my parents found success as small business owners. As immigrants from Vietnam and Laos during the reign of Communism, they were grateful to make it in America, blessing Capitalism for their success. This context along with my cultural identity greatly shaped my life as I was conditioned to be an obedient, respectful, and success-driven, productive member of society.

When growing up in the heart of downtown San Francisco with its cold, gray, concrete sidewalks and shadows, I seriously lacked the connection with an organic, vibrant, natural world. It wasn’t until my first introduction to science camp at CYO Caritas Creek that I really felt something magical as I listened and pulsated with the natural world for the first time. This stirring sense of wonder and curiosity sparked my environmental interest and led me to long for a deeper understanding and connection to the world. There was something much BIGGER and BETTER to this life that someone wasn’t telling me!

Energized and alive!

As life continued to ebb and flow into my adult years, the echoes and hints of a truthful and conscious reality were continually ignored, dismissed, and buried by my social conditioning and privilege. It wasn’t until May 2009 that the biggest Wake Up call snapped me back to what was real and most important when my mom suddenly passed away from a stroke. Following a time of painful grieving, stress, and fears of the future, I lost my dad a year and a half later to liver cancer. Life changing events, such as these, are lessons learned that tomorrow isn’t guaranteed and a reminder that each day is a blessing.

After graduating college, I worked at three part time jobs that I thought were meaningful opportunities to continue my mission in social change and sustainability advocacy. I interned at a marketing and research company for anti-tobacco, provided business development opportunities to inventors of energy efficient and renewable energy efforts, and assisted in creating a faculty development program for Vietnamese faculty members.

In the illusion of being successful and making my parents proud, I put all of my energy into seemingly meaningful projects and organizations. What I found after a year of working, building my career, and having financial stability was that I was not happy. I was living a successfully mundane and obedient existence, but I was not alive.

My belongings packed tightly into my car!

This understanding led me to finally listen to my soul’s whispers. I quit my three jobs, packed up my life into my Hyundai Sante Fe and took off into the unknown. The shedding of material things was truly liberating. It was amazing to see the accumulation of stuff and junk needed to make one feel safe, at home, valuable and stable.

Donating my furniture...There's no turning back now!

Getting rid of the material baggage allowed me to see that I needed first to find comfort in my own abilities and find peace within myself.

My goals for this abrupt, life changing event were exploration, adventure, and self discovery – to relearn all the social conditioning that took place in my 24 years on earth. I traveled up the coast of California and visited national parks and Occupy encampments in various cities. I found myself in the magical forests of the Pacific Northwest and the rural village of Bondo, Kenya, listening (for the first time in so long) to the sounds of nature. Along the way to self (re)discovering, I dabbled in various styles of yoga and meditation, reawakened my love for art making, rock climbing, shadow dancing and opened myself to participate in a mystic meditation women’s circle. Most importantly, I rekindled a deep seeded connection to myself, my local and global community, and to Pachamama herself.

A honey mural another intern and I painted in Kenya for a new NGO, Grow Strong.

As I begin my journey with Generation Waking Up, I invite my new friends to follow your soul’s whisper – to wake up to your heart’s desires – to broaden your perspectives – to invite lightness into our lives. Shake yourself from the roles of who you think you are and finally realize who you truly are. We are co-creators of this tiny planet in this gargantuan universe.

We create our own reality.

Perspective is reality

So the question is, do you want to live or be ALIVE?