SuperForest

I wrote this piece in 2008 and for some reason I never published it. Now seems as good a time as any. Love.

-Jackson

Goooooooooooood Morning SuperForest!

I’d like to tell you all about how SuperForest came to be, how it came to be what it is now, and how and why I SuperForest full time. Sit back, fasten your brain belts.

In 2005 I was working in Kauai building a house. I worked from 8 AM until 5 or 6 and then I had the rest of the day free. Most days I would go surf. But when the waves were down or the weather was junk, I would stay at home and look around online. I have always been interested in technology, and the new branch of technology known as sustainability was particularly interesting to me, as it concerned the future of human growth and our success on this planet. I spent many fine afternoons researching sustainability online.

I thought: “Man, this green movement is really exciting! I really want to play a role in this somehow.”

So my idea was to produce a show about green power, called: Green. This was ‘05, and if I’d done it then I would have had a two year drop on Planet Green and treehugger and all of the beloved sites and channels we’ve got today that are dedicated to the green lifestyle. I guess I needed more time to think. :^)

Cut to a year later… Now I’m living in Los Angeles, and Barry Holiday and I are busy working on the second version of the green show idea. Now the show is called “Creamy Forest” and it’s a sketch and variety show to teach kids about sustainability and sustainable behavior. A lot of work went into Creamy Forest. Many scripts were written, drawings done, puppets built, costume choices explored. But something didn’t feel right.

I knew inside that I was trying to express something big, and to do something that had a ton of meaning, and used technology to help itself spread. I felt that Creamy Forest had to be something bigger and that it and I both needed more time to explore and think. At this time I was working as a cameraman/videographer for the amazing Andrew Zuckerman. Andrew said that if I wanted to, I could come out to New York and that he and his partner, the incredible Alex Vlack, would partner with me on making Creamy Forest a reality.

So I moved to New York, with SuperForester Baloo and my then fiancee, Linda. We drove across America and ended up in a basement apartment in Harlem. I set to work with Andrew and Alex full time in March of 2007. The name Creamy Forest had been an issue (too evocative?) and was changed to SuperForest. The switch from Creamy Forest to SuperForest was a small one, but energetically it was a revelation.

My days consisted of writing, drawing, and creating. Miss Christine Norrie came in to work with me on the drawings, and together we produced a lot of amazing artwork, none of which has ever seen the light of day. (One day…)

SuperForest was going to be an epic kid’s show. The action all took place in a green skyscraper in Manhattan, with a magical forest on its roof, where Jackson SuperForest and his pals would have adventures and learn new and wonderful things. It was an incredible time for me, full of creation and growth.

Since I was spending a lot of time each day researching sustainability and learning about who was doing what, I started compiling big lists of cool things I found that made me happy, and that I thought we should cover on the SuperForest Show. At first, I was sending these lists around to everyone in the office, but since I sent them daily, my officemates were overwhelmed with sustaino-techno-goodness.

So, in October of 2007 I started a blog on blogspot called “SuperForest NYC.” For the blog, the only real rule I set for myself was to make sure that everything I posted made me happy, or inspired me. That was it. The posts had to elevate my mood. Pretty flexible. It was a good way for me to keep track of all the amazing things I was finding online, as well as my growth personally.

Going back and rereading some of the earliest posts are pretty funny. So much has changed, and so little has changed. I believe now just as I believed then that humans are good inside and that if their basic necessities are met, they will behave well towards each other.

I had been blogging for a few weeks when Andrew asked me to sit down and write what would become the Humanifesto.  Writing this little document turned out to be a huge turning point in my life. The Humanifesto became the nucleus around which SuperForest formed. I figured that if people would think of their rooms, houses, towns, and cities as “the environment” that it would make the idea of “saving the environment” much more accessible. If “environmentalism” could be as simple as cleaning your room, painting a neighbors fence, and being polite to each other, then more and more folks would be willing to become environmentalists.

With the Humanifesto written and beginning to spread around, I found myself developing a new way of doing things in response to negativity. I have been to many protests, marches, and demonstrations. I’ve made signs and chanted and walked to show how I felt. But something always felt wrong. Energetically, to come out and say “NO!” to anything felt like a missed opportunity. Instead of saying no to things, I would start saying “YES!” to things. And I would say yes louder than I had ever said no.

I would not attend an Anti-War Rally. I would Party for Peace. I would not criticize companies for dumping chemicals into our lakes and rivers, instead I would highlight the companies that were being environmentally responsible and I would cheer loudly for them. Even massive companies that had unfortunate histories of destructive behavior had parts of themselves that were doing good things. I would work to support and spread the word about any good deed or action undertaken by anybody. No need to hold a grudge. If Clorox buys Burt’s Bees: win for Clorox! Win for Burt’s Bees! Win for me for telling you about the win!

I call this New Environmentalism, and it is distinct from old environmentalism in several ways. New Environmentalists use the internet to join forces, and they use positivity to accomplish their goals. They do not start fights, they do not protest conventionally. New Envionmentalism is about having fun and being smart. Using the tools we have in new ways.

Old environmentalism seemed to be about being outraged at damage to the environment and giving that outrage a voice. New Environmentalism is about realizing that people are people, that behind every atrocious act of environmental destruction there are people making decisions. If you want to reach those people, and help them make better decisions, well, it helps to be friendly.

To move beyond outrage to a point of acceptance, to embrace the power of technology, and to use love and positivity to foment change are the defining characteristics of New Environmentalism.

SuperForesting has brought me to a point where I’m beyond looking to assign blame. People are people, they make mistakes. Let’s help one another learn from those mistakes and grow past them, thought I.

Through the end of 2007 and the beginning of 2008, the SuperForest philosophy began to firm up: Have fun. Be interested. Post interesting and post often. Reach out to people and connect them. Move beyond blame, beyond right and wrong. See the good in everything. Promote that good. Make everything a victory. Set up victories for people. Seek to create win/win/win scenarios. And above all, make it about the people. Who are the people that are creating the most wins? Find them. Promote them. See the world as an interconnected whole. No “us vs. them.” Just different shades of “I”

It is by doing this that SuperForest has grown into the site it is today.

SuperForest began with just me writing, then Superforester Niki joined and began posting. Then SuperForester Taylor. Then SuperForesters Julius and Jaell. One by one, we’ve all joined up and begun the journey of learning how to SuperForest in our daily lives. That is what the site truly is. It is the document of our growth as SuperForesters.

For those of you who have been reading SuperForest since 2007, the growth that we’ve undergone must seem amazing. It’s amazing to me. The site has been visited a quarter million times by people all over the globe, and now there are 17 members of Team SuperForest, all posting the things that they love and that excite them. This is my wildest dream come true.

When I began SuperForest, I never thought about the power of positivity blogging. The term positivity blogging wasn’t even a part of my consciousness. I just knew in my heart that I wanted to help influence positive change, and that I had to do it my own way.

SuperForester Jackie made an excellent point over lunch the other day. He asked me if I felt as much negativity inside as I express positivity outside. The answer is yes, and no.

I had a very difficult time growing up. I always felt alienated and lonely. I felt angry and enjoyed using that anger to hurt others.
For many years I made a careful and calculated study of negativity. I explored destruction and hatred very thoroughly. In the end, I found them to be dead ends. When you are constantly destroying, the end result is that you’re left with nothing.

I wanted desperately to leave something good behind, but I needed time and space to decide what and how.

I am very fortunate to have two loving parents who have supported me my entire life. Their support has allowed me to spend the last three years here in NY working on SuperForest full time. They pay my rent, so that I don’t have to get a job and can focus my energy on creating what you see now.

By having space from the demands of capitalism, I was able to see a lot of things clearly for the first time. The Humanifesto speaks about providing everybody with food, shelter, open-source communication, freedom from fascism, which is exactly the gift my parents gave me. Now, my work is to extend that gift to as many people as I can, and simultaneously work to spread the idea that providing for your fellow man is not only wicked cool, it’s a lot of fun. Perhaps the most fun thing there is. All upside, no downside, and you can put your head on your pillow at night and feel good.

Positivity attracts. Negativity does as well, but is harder to sustain, as it doesn’t feed you. Negativity is like junk food, all rush, no sustain. Positivity on the other hand, is like a long, filling meal. It will feed you and allow you to pursue still greater acts of positivity for as long as you wish. That to me is pretty miraculous. Positivity is sustainable.

In freeing me from the stress of capitalism, my parents gave me the greatest gift: The knowledge that to do what I most loved (SuperForesting) I didn’t need much. I live in a nice apartment in NYC, but I could just as easily live in a mud hut. So long as I have internet access, I can pursue my bliss. My needs are minute. I could very easily be a janitor by night and a SuperForester by day. I could just pick up and recycle cans. As long as I had a roof over my head, some food, and time to check and reply to emails, and post, I’d be content.

That said, I’d like to give you all the recipe for starting a SuperForest of your very own, that you may feel the same thrill I feel every single day. The recipe is also on the top left-hand corner of the blog, free for all, take it and do with it what you will.

How to grow your own SuperForest:

Start a blog. On this blog you will do two things: Only post what you love. And, post every day. This is harder than it seems. In the beginning, no one will be paying attention. Most blogs only last a few months, but then after no one comments, the bloggers give up. Understandable. A blog without comments is just a monologue. It’s getting to the crucial stage where people start commenting that is the hardest part.

But here’s the thing: If you post only love and excitement, and you do it every day without fail, two things will happen. The positivity an excitement in your words will begin to attract readers, and readers comment. If you ask your readers to send in ideas, they will. Some of those readers will send you lots of great stuff!

Ask those readers if they’d like to blog alongside you. The snowballing power of positivity now rears it’s golden head.

The second thing that will happen brings us back to SuperForester Jackie’s question about the negativity I felt inside, and that is: The transformative power of positivity. Since I began SuperForesting, my life has changed completely, and for the better. For me, seeing the silver lining in unfortunate things has gone beyond second nature and has become the norm. I have learned that everything and everyone is here to teach me. I have learned that when I get mad, to forgive myself for my anger and to thank the person (or situation) that angered me for providing me with the opportunity to not react negatively.

Simply by writing down positive things, day by day, post by post, you will begin to feel more positively about life. You will feel more stable and even tempered. Things won’t upset you needlessly. You will be able to think clearer and faster.

You can totally hack and rewire your mind using this technique. I should probably patent it and sell it in a late night infomercial. No, the world should have it. You should know this. This info has value.

There is powerful mojo going on in the world right now, and I am struggling to keep track of it. Everything is changing so fast, and the changes mean so much, that I cannot fully comprehend or anticipate what could possible happen next. This uncertainty is stressing the planet out. No one knows what tomorrow will bring. Salvation in the form of an answer to how we’re all going to keep on living? Destruction and chaos in the form of yet another war? Who knows?

But I do know this: Our shared enthusiasm and joy, coupled with the internet, makes it easy to link together. To form a community based on shared interest.

With enough of us doing it, we will soon find our species totally connected up!

Everyone will be linked together, in a technological, six-degrees-of-Kevin-Bacon, web, that will finally visually illustrate how we are but one organism.

Much love,

Jackson

(image via flickr user Snoshuu)

Good Morning SuperForest!

I’ve often told Team SuperForest that amazing things happen on this site when you simply and politely ask for them.

So, here’s a little experiment!

I’d like to ask, Oh sage SuperForesters, for your help with two things.
The first opportunity to be a hero is this: you see at the bottom of each page on SuperForest?
You see the tiny little button that reads “Older Entries”?

I’d like to make that button three times bigger, and blue. Does anyone know wordpress or html enough to help with this?
Please, someone out there in SuperForestland, teach us how to make “Older Entries” three times bigger, and blue.

The second thing I’d like is if each of you who read this blog today, please read the Humanifesto, and if you like it share it with one person. Can be anyone you like. Perhaps when you read it, you’ll think of someone who would like it. Share it with that person, and I’ll be forever grateful.

So, bigger, bluer button, and share SuperForest with one friend.

Thank you very much for help with both, in advance, from Los Angeles, California.

Much love,

-SuperForester Jackson

Good morning, SuperForest!

About a year ago, SuperForest launched a project called “Let’s Globalize the Humanifesto.” The goal was simple: find a way to get as many people on the planet to read the SuperForest Humanifesto as possible, but what we’d ask from you SuperForesters in order to achieve that goal would be anything but. We asked SuperForest readers who spoke multiple languages to take some time to translate the document and as far as I know, this was one of the biggest things we had ever asked from you guys.

I must admit, I was a little doubtful at first. It takes a lot of time and effort to translate a document, and I thought it was simply asking for too much from you guys. But I figured it was worth a shot and at the very least, I could get my aunt to do Spanish. With my fingers crossed, I published the first post and what happened afterward was truly amazing for my understanding of the awesomeness of our readers and fellow SuperForesters expanded tenfold.

You truly are a loving and generous group whose words and support inspire and fuel us to no end. Since my last update post, we have received two incredible translations: German by SuperForester Michael and Russian by SuperForester Maria. Meaning in the one year of having this project in motion, the humanifesto is now available in…20 languages!

Here they are lined up…

1.) The SuperForest Humanifesto by SuperForester Jackson
2.) Manifesto dell’Umanita’ translated in Italian by SuperForester Silvia
3.) El Humanifesto de SuperForest translated in Spanish by SuperForester Imelda
4.) Humanifesto translated in Bahasa Indonesia by SuperForester Anindya
5.) SuperForest Humanifesto-ja translated in Hungarian by SuperForester Larissa
6.) ヒューマニフェスト translated in Japanese by SuperForester Keiko
7.) SuperForest Humanifest translated in Dutch by SuperForester Erik
8.) Humanifesto translated in French by SuperForester Marie-Paule
9.) Humanifesto translated in Portuguese by SuperForester Anna
10.) Humanifesto translated in Korean by Superforester Soyoung
11.) SuperForest Humanifesto translated in Polish by SuperForester Ewa
12.) SuperForest Humanifesto translated in Danish by SuperForester Emil
13.) The SuperForest Humanifesto translated in Swedish by SuperForester Magdalena
14.) البيان الإنساني لسوبرفورست translated in Arabic by SuperForester Saja
15.) Humanifesto translated in Mandarin by SuperForesters Yangyide Ye, & Winnie
16.) Humanifesto translated in Romanian by SuperForester Ioana
17.) The SuperForest Humanifesto translated in Greek by SuperForester Mary Ann
18.) Die SuperForest Mens Manifes translated in Afrikaans by SuperForester Karien
19.) Das SuperForest Humanifest translated in German by SuperForester Michael
20.) Humanifesto translated in Russian by SuperForester Maria

I am filled with sincere joy and gratitude. Thank you to everyone in the list above for your time, dedication, and support. And thank you to SuperForesters everywhere who’ve helped turn a humble little project into a major SuperForest accomplishment. This is a win beyond measure. It is a milestone we could’ve never reached if it weren’t for you guys. And because of this, all credit (and congratulations) belongs to you. THANK YOU!

If you speak (or know of someone that speaks) a language other than the ones listed above and would like to assist us in helping expand our collection of translations, please shoot us an email.

With so much love and gratitude,
Carla

Co ocali ludzkość?

Słowa:
Dziękuję
Proszę

Dwa słowa, które całkowicie odmienią naszą planetę
Skuteczniej od energii słonecznej, recyklingu czy energii wiatru.

Dlaczego?

Bo gdybyśmy zaczęli traktować ludzi i rzeczy które otaczają nas każdego dnia z należnym im respektem i szacunkiem, każdy aspekt naszego życia zmieniłby się nie do poznania, podobnie jak całe społeczeństwo.

Rodzice uczyli nas zasad i manier których w dorosłym życiu używamy każdego dnia. To dało nam poczucie, że poprzez nabyte lata doświadczeń dziś kroczymy ścieżką wiodącą ku oświeceniu. Nasze wyuczone maniery, zasady dyktują nam w jaki sposób traktować „zewnętrzny” (otaczający nas) świat. Wierzymy, że to dzięki naszym nawykom, wychowaniu osiągamy sukces jako ludzkość.

Wielu z nas mówi o ratowaniu środowiska przywołując wizję krystalicznych, pieniących się wód w strumieniach, zdrowych, gęstych lasów. Przyroda to jednak nie tylko zieleń oraz piękne krajobrazy…

To również nasze zaniedbane dzielnice (slumsy), nasze lotniska, nasze domy czy supermarkety.

Jeśli chcesz to zmienić, musisz zacząć od tego co widzisz wokół siebie.

Wykorzystaj każdy nowy dzień swojego życia najlepiej jak potrafisz.
Zanim z głównego źródła energii jakim jest obecnie węgiel przejdziemy na energię słoneczno-elektryczną ( bo przecież oznacza ona wyższą jakość życia dla nas wszystkich) musimy najpierw zatrzymać się na chwilę aby zadać pytanie: po co? Co warte jest ocalenia?!

To nasza świadomość, świadomość potrzeb Matki Ziemi.

Bo to świadomość jest zarazem największym darem ludzkości jak i jej przekleństwem. Doskonale wiemy jak dobrze moglibyśmy żyć , jak moglibyśmy być uprzejmi wobec siebie nawzajem, jak cudowne mogłoby być życie.

Dlatego czujemy się w obowiązku uświadomić innych w nadziei że stworzymy lepszy świat…

Nie ma żadnego powodu dla którego każdy człowiek na Ziemi nie mógłby mieć dostępu do:
czystej wody
wartościowego, niezmodyfikowanego pożywienia
schronienia
edukacji
publicznej komunikacji
wolności od prześladowań i faszyzmu

Niestety jest to boleśnie oczywiste że większość ludzi pozbawiona jest tych praw.
Większość nie ma nawet dwóch spośród sześciu !
Mogliby, ale nie mają!

Dlaczego?

Niewłaściwe wartości, brak manier, złe wychowanie.

Podstawą niemal każdej religii jest wiara w to, że aby być szczęśliwym należy traktować innych tak jakbyśmy sami chcieli być traktowani.
Gdy firma postanawia wyrzucić swoje odpady do rzeki której woda służy ludziom do picia to przykład niewłaściwego zachowania, braku dobrych manier.

Gdy zamyka się obywateli w więzieniach nie oferując im jakiejkolwiek możliwości zrehabilitowania się to przykład niewłaściwego zachowania, braku dobrych manier.

Gdy ktoś wkracza do szkoły strzelając na oślep do uczniów i nauczycieli to ekstremalny przykład braku jakichkolwiek zasad, manier.

DLATEGO MUSIMY ZACZĄĆ JUŻ TERAZ

Wszystkie nowe i obecne pokolenia powinny być uczone sztuki dobrych manier, dobrego zachowania, jeżeli mamy przetrwać, musimy rozwijać się jako gatunek ludzki.

Daj z siebie tyle ile potrafisz! Traktuj innych tak jak masz nadzieję oni potraktowaliby Ciebie. Zastanów się w jaki sposób mógłbyś aktywnie pomóc innym ludziom wokół Ciebie. Zacznij od najbliższych, a zobaczysz jak pozytywny efekt odniesie Twoje działanie, zostawisz po sobie ślad. Pamiętaj ! Rozprzestrzeniaj i „zarażaj” dobrocią, sztuką dobrych manier!

Dlaczego?

Bo wciąż zbyt niewielu ludzi to robi…

Dzięki Twojemu dobremu przykładowi jesteś niczym paląca się zapałka w spowitym ciemnością pokoju.

Oto trzy podstawowe zasady:

Patrz w oczy osobie z którą rozmawiasz, nawiąż z nią więź. Uśmiech jest również bardzo mile widziany.
Używaj słów : dziękuję i proszę, tak często jak to możliwe.
Poszukuj dróg dzięki którym pomożesz innym w tym aby ich życie stało się lepszym. To może być na przykład pomoc w niesieniu torby po schodach albo otworzenie (przytrzymanie) komuś drzwi.

Zastosuj te zasady a przekonasz się w jak wielkim stopniu pozytywnie zmieni się Twoje życie. W ten sposób wpłyniesz również na życie innych, dając im dobry przykład do naśladowania.

Jesteśmy pełni nadziei i wiary że Ci się uda.

Dziękujemy za przeczytanie.

Członkowie grupy Superforest:

Jackson, Niki, Andrew, Alex, Taylor, Jaell, Julius, April, Jordan, Spoon, Carla, Iman, Chris, Aaron, Jo, Jackie, Drake, Bee, Patricia, Heather, Amy, Silvia, Imelda, Anindya, Larissa, Keiko, Erik, Marie-Paule, Anna, Soyoung, & Ewa

Is man the highest most evolved life-form on earth, as we’ve all been taught to believe… or is he perhaps something else?

At my high school graduation, our class valedictorian delivered a speech entitled “Man above Men”, that would forever live in infamy.  In it he proclaimed with no modest pride how he intended to become an uber rich, powerful successful Man above Men, even if it meant pulling himself up the shoulder of other men, squashing them beneath as he climbed.  I am barely paraphrasing here what this 17 year old student actually said.  It was a speech torn from the pages of an Ayn Rand novel.  A speech to make any true Objectivist or Social Darwinist proud.  A speech that stayed with me but that I never truly, fully appreciated until I read Mark Twain’s 1904 essay “Damned Human Race”.

In the book Ishmael, a 700 pound gorilla challenges an ordinary man to re-evaluate the history of mankind and the idea that man is the most superior and evolved form of life on earth.  An idea that Darwin and every major religion validates, a belief Ishmael says every human being on earth is taught falsely to believe.  Ishmael urges his human friend to wake up from mankind’s mass sense of entitlement before it destroys planet earth.

Mark Twain’s essay “Damned Human Race”. frames a similar idea in a much more satirical and scathing way.  And clocking in at only 4 pages, there’s no reason not to stop, read it now, then let it change your life.

You can read the article here: “Damned Human Race”.  Then let’s discuss how to use the one great thing we’ve got to  r-evolve our species back to the higher plain.

And here is the first button…

Hello, SuperForesters!

It is with extreme excitement that I present to you, our very first Street Team Mission participant! Huzzah! About a week ago, SuperForest launched “Mission One” of our Street Team series (a.k.a. Part II of “Let’s Globalize the Humanifesto”). We asked SuperForesters from all over the world to print out a copy of the newly formatted humanifesto, hang it up in a public place, take a picture of it, and send it to us. Simple, no? And oh-so-fun!

A few nights ago, the lovely SuperForester Daniela sent in an email telling us of her SuperForest escapade at the Chrysler Museum of Art in Virginia. Here is SuperForester Daniela with the story:

Soooo, today I went to the Chrysler museum of Art here in Virginia with my family and I decided that it was my chance to finally paste the humanifesto somewhere. So I went to the bathroom and stuck in up in a stall so people can read it while they do their business! I think it’s a pretty fantastic idea if you ask me… Although I think I looked pretty suspicious walking in the bathroom with a roll of blue duct tape and about 5 copies of the humanifesto. Some middle-aged ladies even looked at me suspiciously. But that’s not the point

Anyway, I even took a picture of myself having SO MUCH FUN with the humanifesto. I think it’s a real good shot of us two : )

Yay! There it is in it’s new home! I hope hundreds of thousands of beautiful ladies come and read it and feel inspired!

Amazing! Much love goes out to Daniela for that wonderful contribution!

And if any of you SuperForesters would like to participate in this Street Team Mission, you can find all of the details here!

Love always,
C

Goooooood Afternoon, SuperForest!

We’ve formatted the SuperForest Humanifesto to fit into one page for use in phase two of the Let’s Globalize the Humanifesto project! The details for the project are coming soon but until then…

Kapow!

The downloadable pdf file! (Click to download)

Do with it what you wish. It is yours to print and share.

Love from San Diego,

SuperForesters Chris, Iman, and Carla

Greetings, SuperForest!

As if there wasn’t enough cause for celebration on this glorious Friday evening, we have a fresh new update on our Let’s Globalize the Humanifesto project!!! I’m pleased to announce that since the last update, we’ve received TWO gorgeous Humanifesto translations! This time, a big thank you goes out to the wonderful SuperForesters Mary Ann and Karien for their hard work! SuperForester Mary Ann was kind enough to send us a Greek translation of the Humanifesto and not long after, SuperForester Karien sent in an Afrikaans translation! This brings us to a grand total of 19 languages!!! 19!!!

Here’s a nice list of all of our translations to date:

1.) The SuperForest Humanifesto by SuperForester Jackson 
2.) Manifesto dell’Umanita’ translated in Italian by SuperForester Silvia 
3.) El Humanifesto de SuperForest translated in Spanish by SuperForester Imelda 
4.) Humanifesto translated in Bahasa Indonesia by SuperForester Anindya 
5.) SuperForest Humanifesto-ja translated in Hungarian by SuperForester Larissa
6.) ヒューマニフェスト translated in Japanese by SuperForester Keiko
7.) SuperForest Humanifest translated in Dutch by SuperForester Erik
8.) Humanifesto translated in French by SuperForester Marie-Paule
9.) The German translation by SuperForester Susanne is still under construction (The scans of Susanne’s handwritten version can be found here! My sincerest apologies for the continued delay.)
10.) Humanifesto translated in Portuguese by SuperForester Anna
11.) Humanifesto translated in Korean by Superforester Soyoung
12.) SuperForest Humanifesto translated in Polish by SuperForester Ewa
13.) SuperForest Humanifesto translated in Danish by SuperForester Emil
14.) The SuperForest Humanifesto translated in Swedish by SuperForester Magdalena
15.) البيان الإنساني لسوبرفورست translated in Arabic by SuperForester Saja
16.) Humanifesto translated in Mandarin by SuperForesters Yangyide Ye, & Winnie
17.) Humanifesto translated in Romanian by SuperForester Ioana
18.) The SuperForest Humanifesto translated in Greek by SuperForester Mary Ann
19.) Die SuperForest Mens Manifes translated in Afrikaans by SuperForester Karien

It’s difficult to grasp the magnitude of the love and energy that went behind the creation of each one of those translations. To see 19 of them lined up one by one is something beyond words! And when I take a look at the globe image along with all of those colorful little flags, I am left in a state of pure awe. With that single image we see a literal example of global collaboration at its finest. We see sparks of inspiration and brilliant energy across the planet all joining together in an effort to spread the simple but profound words of the Humanifesto as far and wide as possible.

If you speak a language other than English and those listed above and would like to help us out by providing a translation, don’t hesitate to contact us! Any language is welcome and would be much appreciated! What do you think? Are 50 translations possible? 100?! There is no limit to where this project can go, let’s keep the ball rolling!

Again, thank you to both Mary Ann and Karien and anybody that has participated in this effort to globalize the Humanifesto. Whether you provided a translation, or shared it with others, please know that your enthusiasm is much appreciated and our gratitude toward you is undying.

Namaste,

Carla and Team SuperForest

Heck yeah! Issue 2 of SuperForest news!

Jackson and Carla here, writing this, the second issue of SuperForest News. We’ll try to rock one a month and keep them as buttons so that new visitors can easily catch up on the various projects we’ve got in the works. And there are certainly a lot of them, so let’s get started!

It was back in March that SuperForest first decided to launch this project. The goal: Working hand in hand with our readers, let’s translate the Humanifesto into as many languages as possible! Now, almost six months later, we are excited to announce that that progress of this humble little project has been tremendous!  We started out with the one original version of the Humanifesto in English, and thanks to you SuperForesters, it is now available in 18 languages!!! Since the last issue of SuperForest News, we have received two more translations thanks to SuperForesters Iona (who submitted a Romanian translation) and Mary Ann (who submitted a Greek translation)!

As always, thank you to everyone who has participated, and if you, or anyone you know, is willing to help us out by expanding our list of translations even further, please contact us! The way the Humanifesto has spread is very exciting. All by word of mouth, friend to friend, person to person.

The Save-A-Seed Coalition! Wow, it’s been too long since last we spoke about the SASC. For those of you just arriving, the Save-A-Seed Coalition is an informal group of bloggers and readers who spread the word about the Millennium Seed Bank. The MSB is a non-profit group that locates, collects, and stores plant seeds. By saving the seeds, the plant species are protected and preserved. And the seeds can last a long, long time in the Seed Bank, some longer than a thousand years! Saving seeds is a very cost-effective way of preserving our planet and its resources.

So, last year I read about the Millennium Seed Bank and learned they were in a bit of a financial pinch. I thought that it would be interesting to try to help them out in two ways: Put a little paypal widget on SuperForest in the hopes of raising $3,000 (how much it approximately costs to preserve the seeds of one plant species,) The dream being to present Dr. Paul Smith of the MSB with a giant check in exchange for the honor of protecting one little group of seeds. Thanks to SuperForesters like you, we’ve so far raised $2,200! We’re only $800 away! And two: Start the Save-A-Seed Coalition: a group where to join, all you have to do is post on your blog about the Millennium Seed Bank, and then tell us that you did it. We’ll link to you, and everyone will link together and share info and excitement, and with enough of us linked together and talking about the Millennium Seed Bank and the incredible service it provides, then little dollar shaped birdies will wing their way to the MSB, and they can continue on their noble quest. A win that we can all play a part in. It’s only by uniting the people that you get anything done, and the MSB is easy to support. They travel around the world, working hard to protect something that’s easy to overlook, but of the most vital importance: the Earth’s plant life. The dollars they receive in funding go directly to preserving plant life, so you can watch their successes like a spreadsheet. More funding, more seeds saved. I’m working on a video that will more clearly explain the Millennium Seed Bank, the Save-A-Seed Coalition, (which you should join,) and why saving seeds is rad, and funny funny good times.

Wanna join in the fun? Post about the MSB, and email SuperForest.

Also! SuperForester Patricia recently scored an interview with Dr. Paul Smith himself! With flip video evidence! Coming Sooooon! Hold on to your potatoes, SuperForesters!

After much anticipation, SuperForest was finally able to share with you all our conversation with the lovely SuperForester Jason Mraz! (Links for each of the 5 parts of the series can be found here.) Major congratulations go out to SuperForester Chris who did a phenomenal job with his first ever formal interview! Yay, Chris! Chris has a couple more exciting interviews lined up for us (!!!) and generally speaking, SuperForest is going to do its very best to bring you more of these exclusive interviews to bring to light even more clever cats around this planet that are making a positive impact.

We have begun posting our series about successful Muslim-SuperForest relations, and things are going really well! Interesting discussions happening. New friends being made. Growing and learning together. In my brief time studying Islam I have learned some very interesting things! Did you know that originally, Muslims prayed facing Jerusalem? Muhammad changed it to Mecca later on. Interesting! And did you know that originally, Allah  had three goddess daughters? Their names were Al-ʻUzzá, Manāt and Al-Lāt. They disappeared as time went on and Muhammad worked to unify both the Islamic faith and his people. Fascinating how religions  grow and evolve. There’s more to come!

As I mentioned last month, SuperForester April and I have teamed up to find a whole bunch of SuperForesty websites out there and ask them if they’d like to partner up with us. Unfortunately, we haven’t had much time to attack this at full force but April and I are approaching this very meticulously and in a step by step manner, and so far, of the few websites we’ve emailed so far, we’ve been receiving wonderful responses! Work on this epic project will resume soon and in the mean time, if any of you know of any sites or organizations that we should add to our list of potential partners, please send them on over! Three sites that we like very much are Strawberry Earth in the Netherlands, Adventures in Compassion in the Screen Trade from here in NYC, and Gravel & Gold from San Francisco. Check these meowmeows out, they excellent!

A little while back, we posted something about the new SuperForest project, “The SuperForest Street Team”, describing it as a means for all you awesome readers to get involved. Being that we have a lovely team of SuperForest bloggers and a fabulous group of readers, what we’re trying to do is get the two together via positive action: fundraisers for charities, peaceful protests, and more. This will all be run through a satellite site (which will be launched soon) devoted entirely to posting about our “missions” and promoting open discussion between SuperForesters worldwide.  Eventually, we hope for the street team to grow and create local branches in order for SuperForesters to come together and contribute to their communities by creating local events.  We’d like to see different Street Teams pop up all over the world, all united by their dedication to peace and positivity. But for now, we’re starting small and as a collective group. We’ll have weekly or monthly “missions”, such as “Random Acts of Kindness Month” which will also, be coming up soon!

It will be like Project Mayhem from Fight Club, but with no violence, more Care Bears, and a bionic dolphin playing Brad Pitt.

Like This, Son.

Lastly, our very first SuperForest Survey designed to “get to know” our readers is alive and kicking! A big hug goes out to each and every one of the individuals that filled out the survey. Every response has been read and is greatly appreciated. Reading your comments has been something incredibly uplifting and fills us all with such excitement, reading your excellent suggestions will be a major help when it comes to making future SuperForest decisions, and lastly, just getting an overall feel for our SuperForester readers has been absolutely fascinating!

If you’ve ever had any sort of suggestion or comment for SuperForest in regards to anything ranging from advertising to organization and appearance and have yet to participate, this quick survey is the perfect way to share your thoughts with us!

There’s even more to discuss, but it will have to wait for Issue 3!

Thank you for reading SuperForest!

Love and gratitude to all!

Jackson, Carla, and Team SuperForest