5 Year Lift Off P5Y.org

World Peace is possible, it has a Deadline, and here’s why it’s up to You!

Today in 12 cities around the globe groups of people are Giving Peace A Deadline. People who have always wanted peace, but until now haven’t felt it was possible or that they didn’t have the tools. Now myself and thousands of others I have never met before, are committing the next five years of our lives to delegitimizing war on the planet forever.

“The 21st century will be equivalent to 20,000 years of progress at today’s rate of progress” Ray Kurzweil

No matter what, five years from now on Feb 14th, 2014 we will all be in a very different world. We will have given up five years of our lives to do something. I want to wake up in a world where All human life is valued and protected.

You can be a part of this epic adventure.

The team is gathering at P5Y.org

Nice Beliefs Prevent Peace

A friend voiced this frequently found opinion in an email today:

Until basic survival needs are met in these [poor] countries peace isn’t possible.

Actually, we can have world peace before these basic survival needs are met. In fact, I would be astounded if we could meed basic needs globally before we abolish war. War is one of the worst ways that prevents these needs from being met. Desperation, according to Paul Collier, economist and author of “The Bottom Billion”, is not a big driver of war.  Surprised? I was too. The reason is brutal economics–which is probably why they call economics the dismal science. Here is the simple reason desperately poor people rarely or never wage war: it costs a lot of money.

Even “cheap” war requires food, ammunition, transportation, and supplies. War is always very expensive relative to the population–even in the USA. A starving or desperate population simply does not have the resources to wage war. Even though desperation may fuel acts of cruelty, outright war, with political or economic objectives, in a poor country is typically not sustainable without some form of outside economic input.

Imagine you are starving, weak, and desperate–you might fight for a moment of survival, but you don’t have the energy or motivation to fight a war, until maybe you eke out enough food and ammo to get out of your immediate dire situation.

War often happens near scenes of desperation and starvation, because war is a cause of famine. Refugee populations, fleeing death and destruction, or often just the rumor of death and destruction, are cut off from food, water, shelter and health care. But generally the soldiers acting as agents of the mayhem are well enough fed and supplied to continue the violence, often directly against a civilian population.

War in desperately poor areas is usually financed by extractive industries pumping cash into the hands of warlords and corrupt politicians. It’s not the fault of the companies, or of the corrupt politicians, as it is the entire system we ALL participate in, that lets us buy minerals and timber found in our computers and furniture that finances war and corruption without our knowledge or consent. We peacemakers need to look at and change these systems to increase transparency, so that our purchases support peace.

Unlimited Peace Power with Tony Robbins

At eleven I had this sorta empathetic realization when I switched schools and almost got ‘beat up‘ by ten other kids. I got to feel every moment I had harassed other kids and what that felt like. That’s when things changed. I dedicated my life to God and started reading the Bible from front to back, along with listening to my mothers library of personal development tapes from Brian Tracy to Louis Hay. At fourteen my mother gave me Awaken The Giant Within. I remember devouring it in study hall, underlining all the  quotes, filling out the questions of my life behaviors, and sharing all the good parts with my friends after school.

It was a monumental day sitting on the stairs leading up to my bedrooom. I’d been filling out applications and making arrangements for weeks to see if I could go to the ‘U.P.W.’ Unleash The Power Within weekend with Tony Robbins in Dallas. I was fifteen holding my white cordless phone to my ear. The carpet was scratching my legs. I screamed and about jumped off the stairs when the account executive said “You’ve been accepted on student scholarship to UPW!”

That same scream Happened TODAY.  Fifteen years later, opening an email to see Tony Robbins endorsed Give Peace A Deadline.

“Here’s how you can help to move the world toward world peace in five years. Committing to a path of peace transforms every aspect of your life. Buy this book. Read it. Act on it!”

–Anthony Robbins, Best Selling Author of Unlimited Power

Here’s to Unlimited Power to Create Peace In A Deadline: http://bit.ly/Tony

Thank You Tony!

Get Your Slave License

During the movement to abolish institutional slavery, there were those who wanted to improve the institution of slavery, to regulate it, to establish rules for the humane treatment of slaves, to limit the number of slaves, to tax slavery and so on. But what the abolitionists knew is that human slavery is intolerable as an idea, that the very root of slavery is wrong.

Improving slavery was not wrong—improvement in the human condition is good.  But imagine if every slave master had to have a government-issued photo ID Slave License and be regulated and inspected by the State Slave Health Committee to verify that he or she is treating slaves humanely—does that sound like a country you want to live in?

There are those who try to improve war, to conduct war with minimum civilian casualties, to make sure that wounded humans have access to medical care, to prosecute those who break the rules of war with systematic rape and torture. These people are doing needed work in our present system that allows war–but does that sound like a world you want to live in?

We found ways, even much better and more efficient ways, to get the work done that the slaves were doing before they were freed. We already know ways to resolve political conflicts much more cheaply and permanently than war can ever do. With peace safety practices, with a changed world system that takes war off the menu, we can abolish war.

Peace is the safe practice of political conflict. If there is no political conflict, there is no possibility of war. If there is political conflict, where there is a direction taken by a political leader or entity toward violent conflict, then it is the responsibility of the rest of the world to effectively intervene for the safety of the whole world.

Pen Gone Wild with Peace Dates

Hello Friend,

This PDF is what happens when Borders Books and our new LiveScribe Pen Joe Polish recommended ALL come together.

For YOU who are sending emails to Contribute to the Peace In Five Years launch this Feb 14th.  This is a schedule of coming events.  If you want to contribute to this historic occasion send ME an email and tell me if you would:

1) Put up a mini-poster in your neighborhood

2) Send an email announcing the P5Y launch

3) Post a Facebook, Twitter, or Blog

4) Or if you get super duper radically excited like a dozen other partners around the world: host a Peace In Five Years launch party! Yep, email me directly at Amber@P5Y.org

Feb 14th at midnight the countdown begins! Where will you be?

If you can’t read that pen image I’ll just tell YOU!

• Thursday Jan. 29th  Brochures will be ready HERE to download and put all over – print recycled (or extra lux extra forest!)
• Tuesday Jan. 26th Email ready for you to announce the launch to your whole community. Let them know peace is NOT impossible.
• Sunday Feb. 1st Next Email to your crew with more goodies!
• Sunday Feb. 8th. Don’t forget your peace email you can send!
• Tuesday Feb. 10th the Launch Party total do-peace-yourself kit will be ready to download! (VIDEO, CD, Party Formats)

14th of Feb.. You Know the Deal!

p.s. If you want to be invited to the Uber Hollywood party send me an email

p.p.s. Here’s a link to the Facebook group http://bit.ly/lOlC

Oscar-Winning Filmmaker Malcolm Clarke on Peacemakers

Amber and I are in New York, staying at a friend’s apartment on the West Side. Today we welcomed Malcolm Clarke to afternoon tea. Malcolm won an Oscar for Best Documentary Short Subjects for his 1988 film “You Don’t Have to Die“. He’ has won other awards too numerous to mention.

Filmmaker Malcolm Clarke

What’s most amazing to me about Malcolm is his radical courage in telling a truthful story. He’s done stuff that would make most of us wet ourselves–he mentioned an incident in which his assistant received a letter bomb addressed to him… because he followed a suicide bomb squad around for weeks and made a documentary about them for ABC News, called “Terror in The Promised Land”. He also sneaked into a maximum security prison in South Africa disguised as a priest, with a camera hidden under his cassock, and when he was filming another documentary in Beirut a member of his crew was tragically murdered.

We asked Malcolm what movie he would make that would help cause world peace. He said that the moving stories of numerous on-the-ground peacemakers in war-torn areas was the best untold story out there. He praised these people with “dirt under their fingernails” who understood what it takes to work for peace when it gets sweaty and dangerous. He said that in every horrible conflict area he has been to–and he has been to a lot of them–he finds people working under dire conditions, under the constant threat of death, to bring peace to their nations and homes.

These people choose themselves. They are determined, tireless, usually anonymous, and often are harrassed and even killed by those who wish to continue the conflict. He told the story of one Iraqi woman to worked in three-month intense shifts bridging tensions between Shia and Sunni Moslems in her country. She had to travel with a posse of bodyguards just to survive, and the stress was so great she had to take breaks of several weeks to recover–but she succeeded. He mentioned famous UN envoy Sergio Vieira de Mello, killed in Iraq in 2003, and how he had a special genius for diplomacy that was so effective, people were scared of him.

Every war has embedded peacemakers trying end the insanity; putting their lives on the line for peace. Every true warrior has this same impulse–protect and serve, enforce the peace, help the wounded, the women, the children, the sick, the elderly, the young people who are the ones planting mines and firing artillery. Men and women both fight to bring peace back, to get people talking, to build bridges, to increase trust–that all sounds like soft stuff, but it is hard, and it is easy to get killed doing it.

Over the next five years, we at P:5Y are going to build tools for all of to support these radically determined peacemakers, to help them, the learn from them, to tell their stories and implement a Global Peace Treaty to commit the family of nations to the practices of peace safety that keep us ALL safe from war. We all know there’s no “over there” anymore: there is only one human family, and today war comes home sooner rather than later. It’s time to abolish war for good.

You and I will probably not be called to make the sacrifices these anonymous peacemakers do. But we can praise them, support them, give them resources, and give them our time–because if we don’t, one day war  will come to our homes.

Win in Fast Time

This is the ‘new year’ and you may be thinking about making a ‘change’ somewhere in your life.   Sometimes to accomplish a goal it may seem easy to do a new tactic like ‘I’ll only eat 1000 calories a day to lose weight’.  Yet, many times the solution comes out of taking a step back to reflect on your ‘Whole Life System’ and ask ‘What needs to change holistically?’.

You may discover an entirely new approach to your goal that is easier and more effective. For instance, instead of taking an isolated action, you may come up with an approach like ‘Asking yourself the purpose you want in each moment, including while you’re eating food or talking to a friend.’  Out of that approach new actions fall out in multiple areas of life.

These four questions below are modified from Winning in Fast Time a book I highly recommend for creating strategies in business or global system change. The authors are John Warden III and Leland Russell.

What future do you want to create?

What system change is necessary for that future to become reality?

What leverage points in the system will move it in the desired direction?

How will you know when you’ve finished or succeeded?

Some people lay bricks not knowing what they’re working for. Others step back to envision the larger picture and architect the future.

Killing = Old Fashioned, Primitive and Counterproductive

There are people from around the world expressing views  similar to P:5Y , even in some of the least likely places. Though I don’t agree that America or Europe are necessarily better examples of war (killing human beings), I do appreciate that war is being spoken of as ‘primitive, old-fashion and counterproductive’.

“Jan. 5, 2009 | TEL AVIV — If there is one issue separating Israel from its role models in the West, it is the perceived legitimacy of using force. In Europe, and in many parts of American public opinion, military power is seen as an option of last resort; a primitive, old-fashioned and often counterproductive tool of policy. To us, hitting our enemies once in a while feels like a necessary behavior in a tough neighborhood. It may backfire, as it often does, but still, most Israelis believe it’s impossible to survive in the Middle East without resorting to occasional aggression…”

I recommend clicking this link and reading on.

The current conversation about peace and war is killing us

Peace seems boring or wimpy while war is dramatic or macho. War is black and white, do or die, mission failed or mission accomplished. War is “take orders”, peace is “think and talk”. War is hot-headed, action-oriented, while we see peace as “slow down”, about options and talking. War is crisp, fact-filled communication, peace is vague, theory-filled discussion. War and its outcomes are immediate and obvious, whereas peace doesn’t have definite lines. War is urgent, exciting; peace is relaxed, reflective.

Peace seems complicated while war seems simple.

But peace is good, and war is bad. War is not just bad, it is wrong. Even if you think war wasn’t wrong in the past, it is definitely wrong today. It’s not wrong to defend yourself or your country from attack—I’m saying the whole idea of politically organized mass murder, rape and destruction is wrong and outdated like slavery, human sacrifice and stretching people on the rack are outdated.

Are we going to let ourselves just throw up our hands and give up because peace seems overwhelming? NO! “Overwhelming” is a paper tiger—practicing peace safety is far less overwhelming than war—just ask any combat veteran, war widow or rape victim.

What if we did the ju-jitsu and took all the stuff that makes war appealing and use it for peace? That’s what P:5Y does: World peace is now clear: and end to all politically organized violence. It is urgent: we make peace or we all perish. It is measurable: worldwide violent conflicts decrease, then cease.

The NUMBER ONE global mission: push through a Global Peace Treaty among the family of nations. More on the specifics later.

2009 is the year that peace got clear, urgent, doable. This is the year peace organized itself into an army, made clear missions, and started accomplishing them. Peace set priorities, took action, kicked ass. Peace has a deadline.

World peace is giving orders, taking orders, communicating crisply. You can be a foot soldier or a strategist or a quartermaster for peace.

This year, we need recruiters: we need you join the peace army and talk your friends into joining too. On February 14 we launch Peace in Five Years, along with the next version of www.p5y.org which will let you bank your hours for peace—more on that later.

Invite all your friends on Facebook to join the Peace in Five Years cause. Follow @amberlupton or @ottonathan on Twitter. Talk about peace as safety, peace as doable, peace as urgent, interesting., definite.

Oh, and yes, creating world peace is a LOT easier than war. It may seem like a lot of effort, but just think about it for yourself: establishing the worldwide practices of safety from war is less effort, less cost, and WAY more benefit than fighting even one major war. P:5Y is focusing, collaborating and making it EASY for YOU to create world peace.

PS: ending war in the next five years is easier than taking longer. Let’s get this done so we can move on to what’s next for all of us in world where war is systematically prevented.

Create History & Connect in Your City

– Serve everyone on the planet –

If you can imagine connecting to every person on the planet through a pledge for peace and won’t be the last one to sign on… If you want to be in driver’s seat of the destiny of the world.
If you no longer want to feel dominated waiting for government… and failure is not an option for you, or for the world…

Then put a stake in the ground for the highest achievement possible in 5 years!

Host a P:5Y launch Party on February 14th, 2009 to start the countdown clock in your city.

Launch parties in Los Angeles, New York, Middle East, Africa, Australia are in the works. We want at least six global launch parties in cities around the world. You can host anything from a house party to a gala.

You will receive a Peace In Five Years Launch Party Kit, with a DVD, CD and press release.

Email Daniel@P5Y.org to get the juicy details of hosting a party, get connected to weekly launch calls and receive your party kit! Calls start this week and we would love your partnership.

Together we put an end

to politically organized violence on our planet.

“By Feb 14th, 2014 I will have created world peace as measured by The Economist newspaper”  Take The Pledge-to have your life take on the meaning, direction and inspiration you’ve always known was possible.