The Collage Foundation: About Us

Welcome friends.
I'm Angela Lindvall. I want to thank everyone for coming today to celebrate the launch of the Collage Foundation's online magazine.

It's wonderful to see so many types of people together from so many different walks of life.

Which is exactly what Collage is—a montage, a quilt, a collage of people, ideas, talents, creativity, and passions—coming together to focus on solutions to restore our planet.

Collage is a media vessel for the sustainability movement.

Here in the these beautiful surroundings of sky, water, earth, and sun, at this great party, sometimes it's hard to believe that there are any problems in the world. Which is a beautiful thing, too, and we are all lucky to be in that situation.

But it's important to recognize our surroundings and acknowledge that we are a part of them and they are a part of us—it's all connected. We get so caught up in our busy 9 to 5 lives and have become so conditioned in our ways of living that sometimes we don't think about our actions or who we are or where we are heading as a human race.

It's hard to see the big picture when we are surrounded by so much information overload, taking us further and further from our truth.

The result of our conditioning and what we were taught doesn't make us bad people—it's a lack of awareness. But being aware and doing nothing does.

Believe me, I'm not standing here, holier-than-thou, like I have all the answers or have it all figured out or am perfect. I'm just on this journey, trying to be more aware of what's going on, and thinking about actions I can take in my life to affect the larger whole. I'm so inspired by all these amazing people out there who are finding solutions and creating a harmonious balance, a way to grow economically and be more ecologically sustainable. It's what I call ECO-nomical. It's pretty logical, too.

I mean, tell me if I'm crazy, but it seems funny that our whole economic systems grows based on the depletion of our natural resources, the basic necessities of survival for future generations.

Today's youth knows more about their favorite celebrities than they do about their world.

That's why we started Collage, and the Collage online magazine. It's an interactive tool to provide information and resources to youth, linking them to all the great thinkers and activists and organizers out there already at work making a difference by speaking their language and inspiring them through creativity and shared art and music, and engaging them through pop culture and the media to turn into a major movement what is already happening on a grassroots level.

And it's a lot of fun, too—a celebration of life, I hope. A festival of possibilities.

But it's got to be a collective effort. We all have to come together to participate in this movement, awaken our consciousnesses, and recondition our selves.

Collage is just a seed now, with a little sprout and a bud about to spring forth. Soon there will be a flower blossoming and growing.

This is an invitation to all of you to be a part of Collage. We need your support in order to move forward with Collage projects. In addition to the online magazine, which you can view on the computers in the tent or later at collagefoundation.org, we are planning a series of initiatives in the next few months:

• X the Box, which will take place in New York in July, is a project with the Guerilla News Network and Active Element to promote youth involvement in electoral politics.

• an eco-fashion event where we are introducing sustainable fibers to the fashion world, with the help of top designers and top models.

All these projects and others in the works will reinforce Collage's mission as a media vessel for the sustainability movement.

I want to thank you all again for coming today. And I want to thank Harrison Shriftman and Tanqueray Gin for their organizing help and sponsorship, Gaiam for the solar power generator through which I am speaking, Alterna products for their generous support, NatureWorks for the biodegradable cups, plates and cutlery, Xtracycles for assisting us with saving resources, Interupcion for the beautiful candles, and Hobo magazine for their coverage of Collage.

I also want to thank our host committee for their help, and the hard-working Collage staff who made all this happen.

And speaking of thanks, I want to thank one very special guest who has been such an inspiration to me. Activist, writer, organizer, incredible woman and all-around inspiring spirit, she came from San Francisco today to be with us, and I'd like her to say a few words of the kind that have given me so much hope about our future, will you welcome Julia Butterfly Hill.

Donate