Susan and William Goldenberg Make Stunning Music

In amongst the books I've been reading simultaneously is this passage about a married couple who go off into another world while playing the piano together:

The millions sank, as Nietzsche describes it, awestruck in the dust; hostile boundaries shattered, the gospel of world harmony reconciled and unified the sundered; they had unlearned walking and talking and were about to fly off, dancing, into the air. Faces flushed, bodies hunched, their heads jerked up and down while splayed claws banged away at the mass of sound rearing up under them. Something unfathomable was going on: a balloon wavering in outline as it filled up with hot emotion, was swelling to the bursting point, and from the excited fingertips, the nervously wrinkling foreheads, the twitching bodies, again and again surges of fresh feeling poured into this awesome private tumult.

Robert Musil's description on page 45 of The Man Without Qualities came to mind last night as I listened to the Goldenberger Duo - a brother and sister - play the violin and piano together. While last night's music was mellower than Musil's couple's, the Goldenbergs too were invisibly connected, their fingers and souls producing magical sounds that is the promise, but rarely the reality, of live music.

The sanctuary at Beth Sholom has great acoustics, and the trees through the window made a soothing backdrop that included, for a while, a bald eagle making lazy circles in the sky.

I did take a bit of video, but if you watch it, remember it was taken with my little Canon Powershot and so the sound is a raspy whisper while their live sound was rich and enthralling.

For people like Phil who know the music, here's what they played:

Antonin Dvorak - Sonatina in G Major, op.100, Allegro risoluto

Astor Piazolla - Oblivion

Manuel de Falla - Suite Populaire Espangnole (six songs)

John Williams - Theme from Schindler's List

Ernest Bloch - Nigun - Improvisation from Ball Shem Suite

Antonin Dvorak - Sonatina in G Major, op. 100, Allegro

Traditional Hebrew and Yiddish Folks Songs


The last because this concert, nominally, was a musical performance for Yom HaZikaron and Yom Haatzmaut.

The two musicians were concluding a busy week, having played in Juneau, Skagway, Haines, Homer, Eagle River, and a morning concert at West High School in Anchorage before last night's concert.

Thank you, William and Susan, for sharing your window to a better world.

Biking in Anchorage

Talk of Alaska is discussing increasing numbers of bike users in Anchorage right now (the show will be available as a pod cast later today or tomorrow). There's a draft bike plan and the commenting period has been extended to May 7 I think they said. (As I post this the website still says April 30 is the deadline, but don't believe it.) Lori Schanche of the Municipality said they've already got 80 comments. I suspect that some people haven't commented because they didn't have the time to read the whole plan. But if you're a cyclist and don't have the time, just say you didn't get time to read it all and tell them you support the general idea of improving biking conditions in Anchorage.

I did ride my bike three days last week to the Indigenous Summit last week, but there was lots of summit stuff to post on and I feel that some people out there get sick of cyclists pushing the idea of riding. However, it really is a viable alternative for many people for many trips. Not everything. The parts of Chester Creek I was on were almost totally clear of snow and ice. The picture shows one of the exceptions on the first day. But just in the three days I rode my bike, things cleared up significantly. And while I was disturbed that all the gravel that had been on the streets was now piled in the bike lane (on A Street) and the bike path next to the streets. But then the next day they were cleaning the A Street bike path - see the picture - and the day after the E Street path was clear of gravel.

Our streets were designed for cars so many people think that riding bikes isn't viable the winter makes it impossible here. But improving the infrastructure summer riding can be much safer and the advent of mountain bikes and LED bike lights has made winter biking much easier. And if people can ski or ride snow machines in the winter, then it isn't too cold to ride a bike. Listen to the show pod cast to hear what they are doing. Here's the Talk of Alaska link again.

IPS - Eriel Tchekwie Deranger, Canada

I've still got a couple more interviews and other video from the Indigenous Peoples Global Summit on Climate Change (click link for all the posts on the summit). I also have more observations after four days at the summit. This video was done Friday. Eriel was one of the youth representatives and had just been interviewed by an AP reporter and was upset because she felt the AP reporter had gotten her to say more than she should have. I'll have more to write about that topic - I saw that same AP reporter again soon after at the press conference, which I reported on here. She's identified in the rough transcripts as Mary. In any case, I mention that because Eriel was a little distracted when we did this quick video. But I think the content is important for Alaskans and others to hear.









[UPDATE Feb 12, 2012: Note today's comment from Maz - He's just finished mixing "Elemental" a movie that will get Eriel's message wider attention.]

Indigenous People's Global Summit - Felipe Iniquez, Mexico

It's late Saturday night already and I have a lot of video and pictures and thoughts about the Summit. Yesterday (Friday) afternoon I went with three of the African delegates on a short Anchorage tour. Their biggest interest was to go to the mountains and see the snow. We picked up my friend Jeremy on the way and went to Glen Alps and walked to Powerline Pass. I'm sorry I don't have any pictures - all my memory cards were full - but they had a great time playing in the snow for the first time. We even had some big fluffy snow flakes come down while they were up there.

On the way up the hill, Jeremy got a call that his Friday night live host couldn't do the show. Jeremy's been pestering me - and I've been pushing him - to do more live shows with interesting people. So I proposed that we had three delegates to the Summit from Africa who would make a great show. We ate dinner when we got back to Jeremy's and he played with wires, the mic, and his computer until he said, "OK, you're on in three minutes." And we talked about the Summit and their issues back home for the next hour plus. Jeremy's wife came home in the middle and I went to explain what was going on and she said, "I know, I've been listening in the car." Add my wife and I know there were at least two people listening to KWMD while we were on. I don't normally see myself as a radio type, but I was really into the topic and mostly what I had to do was ask the three guests questions.

Today I went with five others who had an extra day before heading back from Anchorage. We went to Hope and back with lots of stops on the way. And despite the strong winds along Turnagain Arm, they seemed to all have a good time.

Here's one video from the Summit - of Felipe de Jesus Iniguez Perez of Jalisco, Mexico.





Here's a link to all the Indigenous Peoples Summit posts.

Indigenous People's Global Summit - Friday 4 Press Conference

I've got to check some names but I'll post this now and fix the details later.

The signing hasn't happened yet. There are still disagreements to be worked out. The Youth group has language they want in and like all groups with committed people, they have to work through the differences between what they really want to say and what they think is politically most effective. I got in a couple of more video interviews and I'm spending free time - what there is of it - to delete old video from my Mac.


What's dividing the group?

Patricia Cochran: Like the UN we are a diverse group. We worked until 5am. Five of the seven regions have signed the declaration. We're working out the language for the last two groups.

Andrea Carmen: Still some concern for language added, strengthening. It's a timing issue. We had a time set for signing, but we didn't get it finished in that time. Not a matter of rejecting the declaration, but just need the process of consensus to work out. I fully expect to sign off by the end of the day.

Vicky Tauli-Corpuz: It is not easy to come up with a declaration to sign after 20 years in just four days. We are a diverse people, we still have to understand concerns of people not in our own region. Generally, if you look at the areas where there are full agreement, we all agree we must do something significant to mitigate climate change happening now. And we have a responsibility to do this. Indigenous people are also caught up in the modern world and are not carbon neutral and we too have to figure out how to move from fossil fuel to renewable energy, small scale energy systems. How do you address the socio-economic implications of moving to there. It's really a natural process you have to go through.


Mary ?, AP. I want to ask specifically. I heard one of the two regions not to sign on is the ARctic.

Patricia C.: I am the Arctic Rep and I signed up.

Mary: What is the sticking point and who is holding up

Kimo Carvalho: Pacific, we respect our elders and the steering committee, and we could not move on with out the permission of our elders. We want to represent our voices well in this document. I want to emphasize we are not here to cut off from any document coming from this summit, and we will work with everyone to get it done.

Mary: What's the problem?

Kimo C: Still under discussion. Sorry, I can't share more now. We will be signing it tonight.

Mary: Speaking as part of the youth group?

Kimo C: Youth Group will also meet and add language they want and bring it to the steering committee meeting and articulate their.

Mary: The moratorium on fossil fuels, you signed on, am I confused here?

Patricia: I've signed on for the Arctic. There are issues. We're talking about a two and a half page document. The whole report will be made available to the world - energy, sustainability, traditional values, all will be there. Good, bad, and ugly. What we hope with the declaration was to find consensus points we could all agree on. We're still working on that. The rest will all come out in its entire form.

Mary: When you say Arctic concerns satisfied. It does not include moritorium on fossil fuels?

Patricia: At the end of the day, all that will be clarified.

Kimo C: I hope you can be respectful as the press, to let us follow through on this process. There are only two small points out of the whole document that everyone has agreed to. I hope you won't put the emphasis on the sticking points, and recognize this is democratic.

Reporter: How realistic is it to call for a moratorium on new gas development.

Patricia: Our document will cover that. It's not just an Alaskan issue. We are trying to find a point of view we can all share. Not easy. Trying to get to consensus.

Vicky: On realistic? STrategically, important to call for moritorium. Big oil, oil disappearing. The call is for phasing out oil. Of course not realistic at this point because there are many socio-economic implications. We have countries totlly dependent on oil. They will ask: "Can you imagine the consequences for us?" They have to work out how to shape their economy so they won't starve. We are not the ones deciding how these resources are extracted. In principle we should all agree to that, but we have to be realistic

James Miller, CBC: Interested in process, you talk about hashing it out this afternoon. What happens if you can't come to common language agreement?

Patricia: We aready have five regions that have signed on. No one disagrees with the conference report and all agree that is far more important than the declaration itself.

Miller: Will the declaration go if you don't have unanimity?

Patricia: It will. Along with the full conferenc report. We want people at the UN to know that we considered all the problems and all the solutions we may or may not have. Perhaps the President has some words.

President UN: I think this has been a very successful gathering. Ive been at many gatherings and these are processes that take some time. The final declartion will be strengthened by presenting the whole report, for people in Copenhagen will have access to the richness of the time spent here. This sort of thing happens always. I'm happy and proud to have been here and this task.

Cletus Springer: When I reflect on where this process was and where it is now, I'm in awe at what has been achieved. This is the first major gathering of indigenous people on climate change. This is the first time they have examined the issue. The point of the declaration is only significant, where the language tends to be so specific, the negotiation becomes intense. You almost had to be working on the declaration. The process of getting the feedback... We did the best we could...amazing to get five regions to agree. One or two issues that separated us will

John Strieker, Canada: ABout UN declaration on indigenous people. How important and your work on climate change, and what it might mean that Canada, US, and New Zealand have failed to sign on.

Vicky: The UN declaration will be the main framework we will push for. I have been present at almost all declarations after it has been adopted. Canada, US, and NZ have not signed that this declaration should be the guidelines. That is our main demand, but not easy to get. Australia has just signed. Still have to work on the other three.
Hope our sisters and brothers from these countries will be able to support or not object. I'm hoping the new US administration might change. NZ might consider following the example of Australia. That leaves Canada.

John: Hoping through Copenhagen Declaration it will put pressure on the holdout countries.

Andrea: Important to recognize that the resolution tells all members to uphold and respect the rights of indigenous people. We all agree strongly on that. I know the press likes to focus on the disagreements.


Mary: Can we talk on what you do agree on:

Andrea: 1. IP are facing a crisis in our communities. Each and everyone of our regions is profoundly affected. Our food, homes eaten by oceans. Extreme impact on IP because we are so close and dependent on our natural environment for life.

2. IP have very significant contributions because of our close relations to the natural world and our knowledge.

3. We have not been included fully and we are calling UN and CCC to take our traditional knowledge seriously. We must make contributions to advance the work of international bodies because our life is at stake.

Vicky:
4. Call for full participation of IP. Very specific suggestions to get UN to recognize the IP forum on climate change as an official advisory body. Hire someone to help support and enhance the work of IP. Call on UN to organize technical briefings to countries on knowledge of IP. There should be an IP member to various UN boards making decisions on how to distribute money. We are contributing to mitigation and have to adapt.

Kenya: It was clear at meeting that one of the challenges as IP is security of land and natural resources, prior to implementing any program, stop any forced eviction of people from their land and territories. Article ?? requires prior consent before relocating IP from their land. Particularly in countries like Africa where governments do not understand our customs. Issue of mobility is also a critical issue. Mobility is a tradition system.

John: Because it can't happen in a day like this process. Indication you're being received.

Patricia: This is just the beginning. We are putting together our own roadmap. We are looking to UN and many others for IP to present their views. Next opportunity in two weeks in NY to review where we are and take steps forward. We have in our plans to address those hold out nations. We intend to follow through to ensure that information from IP goes to administration. Also now realizing and recognizing our own abilities to look at our opportunities we have to address solutions before us. Strength in numbers, strenght in dialogue, shared what's happening in these communities. We have relatives we can call on when looking to solve problems.

Cletus: You who have seen the conflicts in the global warming process have seen how nations have had problems agreeing. The negotiating system in UN is very rigid and fixed. You can only speak in certain bounds or forums in the UN. Structural limitiations on IP to speak. We will have to work around this. Sustaining momentum is also important. People asking Patricia when the next forum.

Patricia: We'll put it out on the website. If not completed this afternoon, we'll put up what we have.

Mary: Before six or seven? Deadlines...

Patricia: Full report not ready for several months. We're doing a video, a book, and the report.

Indigenous Peoples Global Summit on Climate Change (click link for all the posts on the summit)

Indigenous People's Global Summit - Friday 3 Signing

The Steering Committe is at the front and the President of the UN General Assembly is with them as well and they are asking him to take the Declaration to the UN General Assembly.

UN General Assembly President (these are disconnected snippets as best as I could keep up, this is not in anyway even a partial sense of what he actually said):

Your work plays an important role in changing the mindset of the world on Global Warming and you make it clear that indigenous people must play a prominent role in discussions on climate change.

Scientists have pointed out that we may be at a poiont where the damage of climate change is irreversible. The question is how to slow this decline, or in the best of scenarios, how to reverse it and return the plan it to good health. We are also at a turning point in our awareness of how human have impacted mother earth. Indigenous people are now being listened to as never before. Still, humans continue to squander our tremendous abundance. The unfolding global economic crisis must not only be seen as economic failings, but that we must change our lifestyle and we must put love and justice at the very center of human undertakings. I've come here to demonstrate that the UN stands in support of indigenous peoples. We are putting people and good treatment of the earth at the center of our attention.

The UN has just declared April 22 Mother Earth Day. President Morales of Bolivia has been a champion of protecting the earth. We have called a summit of world leaders in June to address global climate change. We must address these issues now.

(Again, though this is written continuously, it is fragments of what he said.)

Indigenous Peoples Global Summit on Climate Change (click link for all the posts on the summit)

Indigenous People's Global Summit - Friday 2

It's 11:30, they've just reopened the doors to where the delegates have been discussing final language for the Declaration. There was a lot of people hanging around outside so it was a chance to talk to people. And today I remembered why I have been riding my bike down here the last three days. I had to run over to the credit union to get more quarters for the parking meter. The Denali Credit Union has a branch across the street in City Hall. But their policy is they won't even give change to someone who is not a member! I couldn't believe it. They said they have to run everything through an account, even change. Fortunately I ran into someone in the City Hall lobby I knew and when I told her what happened she took me back into the Credit Union and got the change through her account. Then I went down the street and put quarters into the meter and was back in plenty of time.

The Youth Delegation is announcing that they are meeting next door and that they aren't compromising. Not sure what that means. Patricia Cochran is calling all the steering committee members to come forward for the signing.

Indigenous Peoples Global Summit on Climate Change (click link for all the posts on the summit)

This is that part of the meeting where people are quietly reading and talking in small groups. The media have been allowed back into the hall, but not much is officially happening.

Indigenous People's Global Summit - Friday 1

I just got here at 9:30am. I'm not quite sure what is happening. An Indonesian woman was speaking when I got in. Now and elder from Bangladesh is speaking. Fortunately there is a time lag for the translation so I can get something down.

I would like to thank the organizers for inviting me to be here. I feel honored to be selected as an elder from Asia and to speak. I do not feel knowledgable to speak for the delagates here.

Climate change is a cruel reality of present. I have been seeing climate change. Before I couldn't imagine it and thought the changes I was seeing were related to the hydro electric dam. But now I understand it is global warming.

When I was 14 years old, there was deep forest, wetland. In the past we didn't have to buy anything. Now we produce for profit and have to work in other jobs. We see changes in norms and culture. Due to the hydro electric dam, there are more people moving to the cities. [This is really rough, it was hard to understand every word.]

Indigenous people are not able to keep their land taken by the settlers. Some believe if they change to Christianity they can keep their land. The flora and fauna have changed. People are oppressed and marginalized.

Our planting is destroyed, indigenous people have had to flee to India. Trees were all cut by non-indigenous people. The government doesn't want to bring back the indigenous people. In any disaster, natural or human, the indigenous people are most vulnerable. The countries are developing and changes are affecting indigenous people most.

In conclusion, I would like to say, human needs are part of nature. Destroying nature is destroying human beings. Changes are destroying human kind through floods, etc. We know how to live with mother earth. Modern culture is destroying mother nature. For our survival we have no other option but unity. The UN must include indigenous people in all its programs. Maybe this summit will become a milestone for us in order for us to survive.

In our indigenous crisis we have norms on how to live with nature. We cannot violate the rules. If we cut trees we have to sacrifice life, slaughter pigs etc. or lose our life...Lets all stand up - Here in this beautiful land of Alaska we must promise to all protect Mother Nature.

We just had a Mongolian woman sing a beautiful opening prayer.

They've asked non-delegates to leave the room so that they can have final discussions of the Declaration. The declaration is the key reason people are here. To have a statement giving voice to the needs and concerns of indigenous peoples when the Copenhagen meeting on climate change takes place. Here's a picture of some Russian delegates discussing the declaration in the lobby just now.













Indigenous Peoples Global Summit on Climate Change (click link for all the posts on the summit)

Indigenous People's Global Summit - Thursday - Private Sector

Patricia Cochran, the coordinator of the whole summit went over the schedule. There will be an extra hour for people to work on the Declaration. Dinner tonight, then program at 7:30 with performances from all over the world, a night to have some fun. It's five pm already, so I don't think the program will start at 7:30.

Mead Treadwell - Talking about work his company has done with Native Corporations in Alaska and the importance of indigenous people in a variety of areas. I just have to commend the indigenous community for taking leadership in this area. You have high moral ground.

Mary Jean (MJ) Longley ? - Went from science to education because of the high dropout rate around the country. Bringing youth into science fields. Climate change is not in our education system or how it is impacting indigenous people.

Ian Dutton, CEO of the Alaska Sealife Center, before that with Nature Conservancy. The challenge we all face: climate change. I've worked with mining companies, banks, in Australia, Mongolia. Surprising how similar their conversations are to the ones here.
Changes are synergistic. Now 1 million camels walking around Australian desert. Effecting the ecology of Australia.
Asian Tsunami - we've already diminished the resiliance of the land to recover

Reality 2: Geographic Impacts

Emerging Business Foci - what can we do
Risks Opportunities


Barnaby Briggs, from Shell - humbled to be here, but there's no time. We believe in the importance of indigenous people. Energy demand will double by 2050, but the problems of climate change are now. (I didn't get the first part about indigenous people on video, but I got the rest. I'll try to get this up, but the video is building up on the computer.)

Pat Spears, Council on Utility Policy, Tribes in the Northern Plains, Serve of President of Intertribal Council
Development of wind energy, a huge resource. Pat's been talking a while about wind energy, the Missouri River being dammed and the loss of rain and snow over the years. I'm running out of energy myself here, so I'm not doing a good job of tracking him.

Q: How are we sure that wind power won't affect climate?
Q: Interdisciplinary knowledge and indigenous people.

Answer: Spears: If I understand right, you think wind power might affect climate somehow. I haven't seen evidence of that yet. There is a lot of wind projects in US. We think climate is affecting the wind. We get more winds from the south now. It used to be north winds. Winds becoming stronger, more violent, frequent. But no rain. Wind turbines shut down at 55 miles per hour. We don't do anything without prayer. It's been good, we got permission.


Answer 2: Dutton - I (Steve) just can't concentrate enough to figure what Dutton is saying or even what the question was.
Treadwell: Have seen several examples of Alaska Native traditional knowledge adding to what scientists know.

I thought this panel would be more about how to work with business on this issue. It was more about telling the panelists' experiences.

Indigenous Peoples Global Summit on Climate Change (click link for all the posts on the summit)

Indigenous People's Global Summit - Thursday - Hassab Yousif, Sudan

Hassab is studying at the University of Alaska Fairbanks and was delighted to learn this Summit was being held in Anchorage. He's studying the way Alaska Natives dealt with and were affected by oil and gas development in Alaska so that he can help the people of Sudan to be better prepared for what is happening there. He briefly sums this up in the video.






Indigenous Peoples Global Summit on Climate Change (click link for all the posts on the summit)