Backstage at the One Earth Project

Phew! It’s been three weeks since any new entries have appeared here. Travel, illness, and family visitors filled those weeks. Let me take you backstage at the One Earth Project for a moment as I take up some blogging again. 

Judging from this website so far, the One Earth Project is primarily a blog. Hints appear from time to time that a book is somewhere in a publishing process.

But backstage, Michael Johnson and I talk almost weekly about this project which is close to our hearts because, among other reasons, we’re egging each other on in how to get our own lives to fit inside of our one planet. Those conversations have continued as one long manuscript has been recast, with the help of various readers, into a trilogy. Book I of the trilogy benefited from having nearly 50 people, including some readers of this blog, help create our current working title: Blinded by Progress. The subtitle will appear in smaller font and lower on the page: Lenses to See Five Earth Destroyers We Can Change.

Book I has been turned down by both Berrett-Koehler and Beacon Press. Both offered affirmative words about the manuscript and both encouraged us to submit it to other publishers.

Michael and I have decided that our next step is to self-publish 50 copies and invite readers who may be willing to give us endorsements. We’re zeroing in on a copy editor now that we have to do that ourselves instead of relying on a publisher to do it. She’s asked for an outline of Books I, II, and III so she can get the full overview of our concept. I’ve now submitted the outline to her. Book II is coming along well. It focuses on the greater consciousness we need to keep up with where Earth is evolving given her own evolutionary path plus the influences of our dominating human species. The working title is Epoch Change. 

In case you’ve forgotten, Michael is an Emmy award winning filmmaker. He and I are planning a short promotional film for Book I. Long term, Michael would love to produce a documentary as part of the One Earth Project.

All of this takes money, of course, and we began with zero revenue sources. So far we’re grateful beyond words for a memorial gift of $1K and a Mennonite family foundation gift of $3K. Michael and I have also invested some of our personal finances. Perhaps you know of other sources. Donations are all tax deductible through our fiscal sponsor, Jubilee Economics Ministries.

So that’s a peek backstage at the One Earth Project. Hope you enjoyed it.