Hanne Strong
Manitou Foundation – Crestone, CO
Since 1972, Hanne Marstrand Strong has traveled to over 100 countries and has coordinated numerous civil society events parallel to High Level United Nations conferences. She has been invited to numerous universities, seminars and conferences as a guest speaker to address global issues covering topics such as inter-religious communities, sustainable living and spiritually based environmental education. She has also founded numerous nonprofit organizations for Native Americans and in the 1970’s, co-founded the first non-profit private foundation in Kenya with Sir Richard Leakey and Nobel Peace Prize recipient, Wangari Maathai, for the disabled and street children.
Over the past 40 years, Mrs. Strong has worked with Native Americans throughout the Americas and indigenous peoples worldwide to assist in their efforts to preserve their spirituality, cultural values, and native lands. For over 40 years, she received extensive spiritual training from indigenous shamans, and masters from the Buddhist, Hindu and Sufi lineages.
Strong is the founder of the Earth Restoration Corps, a global environmental- educational training program she founded, designed to train young adults in ecosystem restoration and green livelihoods. She is also the founder of the Manitou Institute & Conservancy (1972) and placed over 1,900 acres of the Foundation’s land holdings under Conservation Easements. The Manitou Habitat Conservation Program (MHCP) protects and preserves the pristine mountain range, wildlife habitats, and fragile ecosystems above the Baca Grande development zone.
The Manitou Foundation makes land and financial grants to spiritual and environmental projects in the small Colorado mountain wilderness town of Crestone/Baca. The Institute supports a number of spiritual and environmental projects. has been an advocate for environmental conservation and restoration for many decades. The Crestone community currently houses many of the world’s wisdom traditions and is referred to as the “Refuge for World Truths” and accommodates thousands of visiting retreatants per year who seek to develop inner peace and balance within oneself and with nature. It is the largest intentional, inter-religious and sustainable living community in North America.
In 1976, Mrs. Strong organized a parallel conference to the HABITAT UN Conference on Human Settlements in Vancouver, British Columbia and created a platform for children and youth to address pressing global issues at the official plenary session. At Mrs. Strong’s invitation, Mother Teresa joined her as co-convenor of the event. She served as a Senior Advisor, organizer and lead fundraiser for the Millennium World Peace Summit of Religious and Spiritual Leaders held at the United Nations in New York in 2000. It was the first conference of its kind ever held at the United Nations.
In 1992, Mrs. Strong organized and chaired two parallel conferences to the Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) (also known as the Earth Summit), entitled “the Sacred Earth Gathering” and “the Wisdom Keepers Convocation” in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Participants of the Sacred Earth Gathering formulated the “Declaration of the Sacred Earth Gathering” which was presented to the Heads of State on the opening day of the official conference.
“The wisdom keepers from around the world — Aborigines, Tibetans, Hopi, Iroquois, Anishnabe — all share such prophecies and remind us of what universal natural law instructs. It teaches, for instance, that no one owns the land: we must take only what is truly needed from the earth, and give something back. Today people transgress it, neglecting to express gratitude, and failing to comprehend that for every action there is an effect. We violate these ancient wisdoms, disrespecting those who inherently embody them, rather than learning from them how we must live in order to survive. We have chosen an approach of subduing and dominating Nature, considering the planet as a commodity, greedily plundering the organs of our Mother, the Earth. Sustainable global development is achievable only through a fundamental shift in the way we think about and treat both the Earth and each other.
“The human race has gone through many stages, from hunter-gatherer to the agricultural revolution, the industrial revolution, and the science and technology revolution. Our technological industrial focus developed momentum over years of greater and greater separation from the laws of nature — and isolation from the nurturing and centring influence of time spent in nature. Our perception that science and technology are the answer to everything is an illusion, perpetuating this imbalance. The real answer lies in an ecological and spiritual revolution. Business and industry must devote their brilliance, and some of their profits, towards restoring the Earth. Government and non-governmental organizations must redirect efforts and funds from projects that do not work to restoring and protecting our planet.“
Website: 1) World of Crestone
2) https://www.manitou.org/
Video 1: The Strong Earth
Video 2: America’s Spirituality in Crestone
