Segment 1: Peace, Teamwork and Cultural Understanding. Our guest on this edition of The Doug Noll Show is Lance Trumbull, founder and executive director of the Everest Peace Project. The Everest Peace Project is a peace organization that consists of individuals from a diverse set of cultural backgrounds and faiths who have come together to promote peace, teamwork and cultural understanding. Their climb to the summit of Mount Everest was a global group effort that touched and inspired millions across the globe.
Segment 2: A Vision of a “Peace Climb”. Lance first had the vision of a “peace climb” while on a trek in India. His vision included Muslims, Jews, and Christians coming together to climb the highest summit on earth to promote peace. After his vision in India, he became a man on a mission. He went back to Katmandu and immediately started planning the peace project. Lance began by creating the infrastructure, making connections, creating a website, and planning the general trip. It took a few years to find the right climbers. They had to have climbing experience and they also had to be people of all different faiths and ethnicities and backgrounds. Then he went to work getting the funding, which was difficult. Their main sponsor was Panasonic and the cost was in the hundreds of thousands.
Segment 3: The Mission. Lance’s mission was always quite clear: he wanted to promote peace, friendship, and teamwork while overcoming obstacles in the face of danger and great difficulty. To find out more about the mission and vision of the Everest Peace Project, visit http://www.everestpeaceproject.org/.
Segment 4: Actions of Peace. May 18th, 2006, ten people from the Everest Peace Project successfully summited Everest. One person – the African teammate - collapsed near the summit. The next 36 hours were spent getting him back down the mountain safely. The climb was professionally filmed, but once they were done with the climb Lance still needed to find funding for the film in order to get it released. He was able to land Orlando Bloom as the narrator and have Dalai Lama endorse it. Lance believes that “it’s through actions of peace that peace is spread.” The Everest Peace Project was a large action of peace, but you don’t have to climb a mountain to promote peace. You just need to do something. It can be something small, but you have to do something.
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