On March 19th and 20th, an exciting celebration will take place in Austria and Lithuania, pairing our "Drumming in One World Beat" project with a long-standing bell-ringing activity in Vienna, Austria, to welcome the first day of Spring, and celebrate the original Earth Day. The organizers of this joint project--Andrius Kulikauskas of Minciu Sodas Laboratories in Lithuania and, in Austria, Franz Nahrada of the research institute GIVE (Globally Integrated Village Environment) and the online Globalvillages group--are "inviting all people on Earth to join us, as we stop our usual activities so that we might reflect on our lives and those around us".

"As human beings, we are united by days that remind us of our planet. March 20 is one such day, as Spring begins in the North, Fall begins in the South, and the Sun shines directly over the Equator. Such days invite our solidarity!", adds Andrius, head of a think-tank whose name means "Orchard of Thoughts" in Lithuanian. For more on the original Earth Day (March 20), and about its founder, John McConnell--as well as to check out Earth Day 2005 activities, see www.wowzone.com/wow-ed.htm and www.earthsite.org . For more on Minciu Sodas (www.ms.lt), for GIVE (www.give.at ), and for Global Villages (www.globalvillages.info).

Andrius, Franz, members of the oneVillage Foundation (www.onevillagefoundation.org) --who have also been organizing drumming events ("Unity Drum") in Ghana, Burkina Faso, and the USA--and friends and colleagues (including OWB News Director, Janet Feldman), will undertake an hour of simultaneous drumming on March 19th (22:00 GMT), followed by bell-ringing on March 20th, at the moment of the equinox (12:33 GMT), 13 hours later. The bell-ringers themselves will be coordinating their activities to coincide with the ringing of the UN peace bell in Vienna, Austria. For more on these events, meant to celebrate global unity in diversity and new beginnings, see www.openleader.com/index.php/VirtualFlashMobs/EarthDay.

Minciu Sodas, Globalvillages, oneVillage Foundation, the ActALIVE Arts Coalition (www.actalive.org ), and others will encourage people to listen to the "peace" between the drumbeats, and connect these beats with the beat of their hearts, and other natural life rhythms. Consider, too, the life that we want within and around ourselves. The organizers of this event are asking people to reach out locally and to their groups, to discuss and share feedback and information on the following topics: 1) what are your projects and how might we help? 2) what is your key concept in life? (so that we might understand you better) 3) what is a question that you don't know the answer to, but intend to look for or discover it? (so that we might grow with you!).

The Open Leader Network (composed of the above groups and others) is declaring a "virtual flash mob" to help people meet others locally on the weekend of March 19-20. If you would like to participate, sign up at http://minciusodas.meetup.com. The organizers will then know where you are in the world and can focus their online networks to reach out to you and network members in that area. Encourage other local groups to meet on that weekend, too, and let the organizers know about it, so they can help to spread the word.

After the weekend, participants will hopefully share online what we have learned about ourselves and those among whom we live, and how we might help each other. One goal will be to record all of this on the wiki page already set up for this purpose--www.openleader.com--in particular information pertaining to who and where we are, how we might help one another, and what we have learned by our reflections and actions at this time.

You may email: 1) Franz Nahrada, key concept: "global villages", f.nahrada@reflex.at regarding Earth Day 2) Janet Feldman, "holistic helping", kaippg@earthlink.net , regarding One World Beat 3) Andrius Kulikauskas, "living by truth", ms@ms.lt , regarding our Meet-Ups.