Jeb is a zookeeper.  He loves his job!

RAMA: AMBASSADOR FOR THE ENDANGERED ONES
Speaking Passionately on Behalf of Those who Cannot Speak
A Groundbreaking Collaboration of Innovative Artists and Thinkers
featuring RAMA the Elephant  ~  Created and Directed by Calley O'Neill
AN EPIC JOURNEY OF ART AND SOUL FOR THE EARTH
THE CIRCLE OF LIFE ACTION ROOM and THE  ANIMAL WHEEL
Take it out to the world!
Visitors can enjoy and take home concise resource guides from 36 leading edge organizations working toward a vibrant future:
  • 12 that address global awareness, conservation and the biodiversity hotspots
  • 12 that take action to protect wildlife in the field
  • 12 that promote bioregionalism and local conservation for healthy neighborhoods, watersheds and wildlife corridors

Representatives from one or more of these partner organizations will be present to answer questions and initiate brainstorms during peak visitor times.  Local youth and adult guides may be costumed and on stilts to stimulate young minds.  Local youth musicians will be invited to perform.

Each visitor will have a chance to pause, and find his/her place on THE ANIMAL WHEEL, by taking a test to reveal the animal most closely connected to his/her personality.  Phillip Jones discerned the system through the wisdom of indigenous medicine-wheel teachings and the insights of psychologist Carl Jung.  Finding one’s kindred animal provides a clear reflection of one’s personality traits, relationship patterns, life path and purpose.  Irresistible to children and adults, this is an effective empathic tool for heart awakening, understanding, and happiness.

Visitors will have the opportunity to sign and take home beautiful action pledges, including The Rama Tree pledge, committing to restore balance and health in nature.  Hand woven bracelets will be available as a reminder of new commitments made.


Start by doing what is necessary, then do what’s possible, and suddenly you are doing the impossible.

--Saint Francis of Assisi, patron saint of animals and the environment,
whose annual Feast Day, October 4th is commemorated with ceremonies to bless the animals
The greater danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it,
but that it is too low and we reach it.--Michelangelo
Leaving The Valley of the Endangered Ones, visitors enter The Circle of Life Action Room, where they will be greeted by celebratory world music, such as the mesmerizing Polynesian world-fusion of New Zealand’s Te Vaka. 
The lyrics will energize the Rama experience into action. 
  • What is your unique role in taking care of the natural world where you live? 
  • What is your creative contribution to a healthy future for all life on Earth? 
  • We need everyone to dream a big, brave, bright dream of the future and bring it into being.
Ours is a lofty goal ~ to spark awareness and action to preserve the health of life on Earth.  There is time for nothing less.  It is our intention that every person leaves The Circle of Life Action Room with a heightened sense of the inherent value and interconnection of all species, a conviction of the heart to create a future that is better than we can imagine and a plan to move forward.

THE RAMA EXHIBITION’S ACTION STRATEGY

Now we all must be konohiki.
--Iokepa Naole, who describes a konohiki  as the one who monitors
and takes care of all the living resources from mountain to ocean.

1.  NATURE:  Choose your favorite endangered animal or place in the world and pledge to do whatever you can to help that species or ecosystem thrive.

2.  BIOREGION:  Study and participate in your watershed and bioregion, restoring the native plant and animal communities.  Rewilding and reconstructing local streams and wetland enhance biodiversity, water quality, ecological balance, health and beauty.  Being active in positive collective endeavors in the natural world increases health and well-being, as well as fun in connecting with those leading the way.

3. YARD:  Create a sustainable, verdant backyard based on native plants and trees, edible landscaping, water conservation, gray water reuse and small ponds.  Tear down the fences and connect your yard to your neighbors.  Turn your neighborhood or urban rooftop into a community grove of fruit and nut trees, berry bushes and wild flowers.  When flat rooftops, patios and balconies are reclaimed as gardens, and living walls become the rage, we will reclaim almost all the land in the built environment.  Imagine.  Substitute compost, mulching, indigenous microorganisms, and proper plant selection for chemical pesticide, herbicide, and fertilizer use.  It’s your oasis.

4.  HOME: At least 2/3 of all cancers in the United States are due to environmental factors.  The 2010 President’s Cancer panel strongly warns of grievous harm from the 80,000 largely unregulated chemicals on the market.  Only a few hundred of them have been tested for safety.  Make your home a healthy sanctuary and your roof a power plant, being mindful to purchase only non-toxic products and cleaning agents that contribute to your family’s health and the greater good.  Make zero waste, optimum home health, safety and natural beauty your goal.  It’s your safe haven.

5. BODY:  Nourish your body and your family with organic foods from farmers within a 50-mile radius of home.  Grow a garden or join a Community Supported Agriculture farm (CSA) or a community garden.  Eat healthy vegetarian meals several days a week.  Thirty percent of carbon emissions and thirty percent of cancer come from the food we eat!  Turn your thoughts into a positive force within your body, your family, community, and this world.  Everything you think, say and do matters.  Everything.  Healing yourself is one with healing the world.  That’s good news.