The Magical Appearance of Earthworms

by N.A. Moncrief

Nigel moncrief is a mysterious fellow…

Nigel Moncrief is a shy, disappearing sort of bloke. Sometimes I wonder if he even exists.

He’s written this very beautiful book about Mickey, a young lad growing up in rural Australia. He has asked that I help him publicise it. It’s a feature at my “Different Way Of Being” Retreats.

About the Book

Mickey, the narrator of this book, looks back at his life growing up in Tilburn, thirty miles out of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. In reflecting on his life, Mickey explores how children let the world in rather than judging it at a safe distance. We inevitably get hurt in the process, and we carry wounds – until we have the courage to revisit them. A theme of the book is that if we revisit our stories with fierce compassion, they can work to free us rather than enslave us. They can become our most trusted companions as we realise we have all we need. In sharing stories from his life from a very early age, Mickey explores wonders and horrors, inviting the mysterious alchemy of wounds becoming gifts. Join Mickey on a journey that seeks to get everyone to a place where they lay down their masks, shed their armor, and put down their swords to let the distant voice of truth speak as they find their true selves.

About the Author

N. A. Moncrief began writing this book intending to highlight the fascinating work he’s done to help companies and conservationists protect forests and safeguard people’s livelihoods and cultures. That led him to look back on his earliest memories to find a deeper connection with himself and those around him.

Beyond Certification was published in May 2015 and reviews the positive aspects of certification. But more important, it argues that we can no longer afford to gloss over its failures.

Certification emerged from the 1992 Rio Earth Summit amidst great hope. Since then, despite a proliferation of certification schemes in twenty-five industry sectors, the destructive and irresponsible exploitation of natural and human resources has grown still worse.

Beyond Certification sets out a new vision for how we might better approach responsible stewardship of the Earth's natural resources.

The book offers an alternative model, VT-TV, based on Values, Transparency, Transformation and Verification, which I've been exploring and implementing with The Forest Trust with over 70 companies and industries around the world.

These companies are transforming the story of the raw materials they use -- wood, palm oil, pulp and paper, stone, charcoal, soy, beef, sugar, dairy, rubber, coffee, cocoa and coconut. Mining companies are also exploring this approach, and making decisions aligned with fundamental values and what they know to be right.

The results? Trust is emerging as former combatants awake to the importance of working together. Guns have been removed from forests, land set aside for protection, worker rights and conditions improved and long-standing conflicts have been resolved as people confront their legacies.

Beyond Certification does not claim that this VT-TV model is the only solution. Rather, it shows how new and seemingly radical thinking can catalyze positive change.

• The limits of roundtable certification illustrated with real, practical examples

• The intricacies of the change process – how companies move from destructive to more responsible practices

• How to implement more holistic, economically effective, durable systems to better protect people and the environment.

The book is sponsored by The Forest Trust. Their kind sponsorship enables the publishers Routledge to provide a free download as well as a much-reduced price for the printed paperback to cover basic production costs. TFT did this because we would like to make the book easily available to all and through that to engage as many people as possible in the discussion the book seeks to stimulate. Certification is a hotly debated issue and Beyond Certification offers a profound, new approach.

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