JIM RIZOR

What we’re doing out here on the Shire…

The first time I drove out to the property, I immediately thought, “You’ve gotta be kidding me!”  I had already looked at somewhere between 20 & 30 available properties within a 50-mile radius of where we lived.  We had already had a few meetings with prospective eco villagers at our home and folks were sounding like if we had the right property at the right price, we’d be starting up right away.  I remember looking at the heaps of trash that were embedded deep into the soil and thinking, “Jim, if you bring anyone from the group out here to look at this place, they’ll think you’ve completely lost your mind.” 

A few months later, we attended an ecovillage workshop in San Diego where we were given a presentation from Intentional Community Guru Diana Leafe Christian.  In the presentation, she showed us a type of village that she found most inspiring which she called “a land restoration ecovillage.”  She showed how a small group of determined people would come together to transform wastelands into wonderlands.  She showed people bringing water and trees back to barren landscapes, and I immediately thought of the property.  

Upon returning, I quickly went back to the property with new eyes.  I began to look at its potential rather than its reality.  I quickly began to see how this land could turn from a dump into a paradise.  It would take work, a lot of work.  It would take a long-term commitment and sustained determination.  It would take more than I have put into any other project and would probably need more than I could do in a lifetime.  

I thought of how our current culture was trashing the Earth, and how this land and this project were the reality of our world. The trash was not hidden away in some impoverished country or out in the middle of the ocean, the mess was right there in your face.  The land was our planet with all our dirty secrets lay bare and its restoration would require many of the same skill sets, vision, and sheer will that it would take to bring our world back from the brink.  I thought, “What if we could turn this literal dump into a paradise?”  From that moment on, there was no other property for me to find.

Some four years later, after much negotiation, learning, heartache, sacrifice, sweat, and blood we moved to the property that we renamed “The Shire” and now it is our home.  As we go further, our vision gets clearer and we hope will excite new crew to come aboard and join our restorative (and we believe necessary) work.  

PROF. DR. ERVIN LÁSZLÓ

Ervin Laszlo spent his childhood in Budapest, Hungary. He was a celebrated child prodigy on the piano, with public appearances from the age of nine. Receiving a Grand Prize at the international music competition in Geneva, he was allowed to leave Hungary and begin an international concert career, first in Europe and then in America.

Laszlo received the Sorbonne’s highest degree, the Doctorat ès Lettres et Sciences Humaines in 1970. Shifting to the life of a scientist and humanist, he lectured at various U.S. Universities including Yale and Princeton. Following his work on modeling the future evolution of world order at Princeton, he was asked to produce a report for the Club of Rome, of which he was a member. In the late 70s and early 80s, Laszlo ran global projects at the United Nations Institute for Training and Research at the request of the Secretary-General. In the 1990s his research led him to the discovery of the Akashic Field.

The author, co-author or editor of 106 different books that have appeared in a total of 25 languages, Ervin Laszlo has also written several hundred papers and articles in scientific journals and popular magazines. He is a member of numerous scientific bodies, including the International Academy of Science, the World Academy of Arts and Science, the International Academy of Philosophy of Science, and the International Medici Academy. He was elected member of the Hungarian Academy of Science in 2010.

Ervin Laszlo was awarded the state doctorate (the highest Ph.D) from the Sorbonne, the University of Paris in 1970, and received honorary Ph.D’s from the United States, Canada, Finland, and Hungary. He was the recipient of the Peace Prize of Japan, the Goi Award, in 2001, of the International Mandir of Peace Prize of Assisi in 2005, and of the Luxembourg World Peace Prize in 2017. He was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004 and 2005. In 2019, Ervin Laszlo was cited as one of the “100 Most Spiritually Influential Living People in the World” according to Watkins Mind Body Spirit magazine. In 2020 he was cited as 28th of the OOOM Magazine’s Top 100: The World’s Most Inspiring People” list. 



A native of Budapest and a U.S. citizen, he lives with Carita his Finnish-born wife in Tuscany.

Rich Redmond has been the touring and recording drummer with multi-platinum country rocker Jason Aldean for over two decades.

He has recorded 28 #1 radio hits and plays to millions of fans per year in iconic venues across the globe. Rich has also worked with artists such as Kelly Clarkson, Ludacris, Bryan Adams, Bob Seger, Chris Cornell, Miranda Lambert, Eric Church, Keith Urban, Luke Bryan and many more. Rich has been featured on Saturday Night Live, The Voice, American Idol, The Grammy Awards, The Tonight Show (with Leno, O’Brien and Fallon), The Today Show, Conan O’ Brien, Jimmy Kimmel, Good Morning America, Ellen, The CMA, ACM, CMT and People’s Choice Awards. Rich has vast knowledge, immense experience and powerful insights to share with your audience on the journey to success, and how to get there. Rich is also a busy educator, speaker, author and actor.

J. Christian Adams with the Public Interest Legal Foundation

J. Christian Adams serves as President and General Counsel of the Public Interest Legal Foundation. He is also the founder of the Election Law Center, PLLC. He served from 2005 to 2010 in the Voting Section at the United States Department of Justice. He is the author of the New York Times bestseller Injustice: Exposing the Racial Agenda of the Obama Justice Department which examines the Department’s election and voting rights record.  He litigates election law cases throughout the United States and brought the first private party litigation resulting in the cleanup of corrupted voter rolls under the National Voter Registration Act of 1993. He represented multiple presidential campaigns in election litigation. He successfully litigated the landmark case of United States v. Ike Brown in the Southern District of Mississippi, the first case brought under the Voting Rights Act on behalf of a discriminated-against white minority in Noxubee County. He has handled election cases in twenty states and the territory of Guam. He received the Department of Justice award for outstanding service and numerous other Justice Department performance awards. Prior to his time at the Justice Department, he served as General Counsel to the South Carolina Secretary of State. He also serves as legal editor at PJMedia.com, an internet news publication and appears frequently on Fox News and has appeared at National Review, Breitbart, the Washington Examiner, American Spectator, Washington Times and other publications. He has a law degree from the University of South Carolina School of Law. He is a member of the South Carolina and Virginia Bars. 

https://www.facebook.com/PublicInterestLegal/

Sarah Breskman Cosme is the best-selling author of A Hypnotist’s Journey to Atlantis and the author of A Hypnotist’s Journey to the Secrets of the Sphinx. Sarah is a Master Hypnotist, a Level 3 practitioner of Dolores Cannon’s QHHT, and a student of Dr. Brian Weiss. Now featured on Gaia TV, Sarah continues to speak about her work worldwide.

Sarah earned her bachelors in Psychology at Northeastern University in Boston MA. After graduation she worked as a counselor in a half way house for the mentally ill. "I saw first hand how the conventional treatment for the mentally ill with medication and talk therapy was not always effective, and I wished that there was something more that I could offer my clients." As a result Sarah pursed Hypnotherapy, a therapy which uses the subconscious mind to change limiting beliefs and unwanted behavior.

Sarah became a Master Hypnotist in 2009 after which she trained with Dr. Brian Weiss to be a certified Past life Regressionist. From there Sarah went on to train with Dolores Cannon’s daughter, Julia Cannon, learning her specialized method called Quantum Healing Hypnosis Technique. After many years of dedication and receiving the coveted level 3 practitioner status, Sarah now assists in teaching with Dolores Cannon’s daughter Julia all over the world. She has assisted in Egypt, Mt. Shasta, Peru, as well as Miami. Sarah has been practicing hypnosis and the "healing arts" for over 12 years.

"I have always been passionate about helping others develop tools that allow them to overcome their difficulties. We are all connected, and by helping one person, we help all people."

Kelle Sutliff is a Psychic Medium, author, former radio show host and psychic investigator. Her book Listen UP! The Other Side is Talking has won the internationally acclaimed “Mom’s Choice” and “Readers’ Favorite” book awards.  She co-authored with Jack Canfield (Chicken Soup for the Soul Series) in Pearls of Wisdom, 30 Inspirational Ideas to Live Your Best Life Now! Kelle has consulted with law enforcement, private detectives and families to help in finding the missing. She does individual readings and lives in Boston, MA with her family.Psychic Medium, Award-Winning Author, Speaker, Psychic Investigator

As a gifted Psychic Medium, Kelle has worked in her industry for over eighteen years. She uses her work to show people that the psychic world is very real and offers inspiration and comfort to those dealing with grief.

She also works as a Psychic Investigator consulting nationally and internationally with missing person and cold cases. In her career she has worked with Boston University on the Cold Case Collective Group, National Group Find Me 2 and privately with detectives and individual families providing accurate information to find the missing.

Kelle had a weekly radio program for over three years, Psychic Cup of Coffee, on Transformation Talk Radio and The Dr. Pat Show with over 400,000 live radio listeners in North America (and beyond with the Internet), and extending to 300 affiliate radio stations worldwide. Her former radio home CBS Radio—The New Sky Network had over 150,000 radio listeners to their nightly programs. Kelle being a part of that broadcasting team showed her listeners how this whole “psychic gig” really worked and how to keep it real in daily life. (You can listen to archived shows at www.transformationtalkradio.com)

Kelle grew up in Michigan and lives in Andover, MA. Her other life “the never a dull moment household” as she calls it, includes three College kids, a husband and two Pembroke Welsh Corgi’s Mabel and Mojo. She usually works on cases and consults for readings in between loads of laundry and making Crock Pot meals for her family. Being psychic is real life!

Dave Cruikshank competed for the US at four Winter Olympics. He also attended the 2002 US Olympic Trials but failed to make the team. Cruikshank’s first international appearance was at the 1987 World Junior Championships, where he won the 500, which would remain his only international podium appearance during a long career, primarily as a sprinter. He later competed at the World Sprint Championships in 1989, 1992-93, and 1995; the World Winter University Games in 1991; and the World Single Distance Championships in 1997 and 1998. Cruikshank also skated the World Cup circuit from 1987 through 1999. Cruikshank is a graduate of Carroll College with a degree in business management. He later started DC Hybrid Skating, a skating coaching group and personally he has served as a skating coach to several NHL and minor league hockey teams, as well as D1 college programs. Cruikshank has become quite entrepreneurial, also involved with Under Armour TNP Performance Training Council, an online educational resource that focuses on inproving athletic performance; Shwalla and Blue Speed, a performance apparel line; and DASC, a company which makes high-performance ice hockey skates. Cruikshank is the husband of speed skating sprint superstar Bonnie Blair. He was inducted into the US Speed Skating Hall of Fame in 2008.