Important figures in Jain studies provided their own unique perspectives on the intersection of Jainism, nonviolence, and the environment. Speakers invited deliberate discussions on how society can incorporate these ideals into daily life. Suggestions ranged from embracing a vegan diet whenever possible, to reflecting on how one’s actions impact others, to considering how personal daily choices impact the environment. However, each suggestion had one thing in common: being deliberate. The main idea that I took away from this conference is that the first step toward a more sustainable and equitable future for all is to intentionally become more conscious of our own individual impact on the world and the lives around us.

Alongside the delicious, vegan meals served at the conference, the three days provided a rich opportunity for understanding the Dharma traditions, what they stand for, and how Jain Dharma in particular supports environmental ethics that can act as a foundation for transformative environmental activism. The conference kicked off at the Jain Center of Southern California, where we took a tour of a Jain temple, met with local Jain community members, and hosted the keynote address. The next two days were held at CSU, Long Beach, and were coordinated by Dr. Shivani Bothra. Here, I attended four discussions focusing on the link between ahimsa—also known as nonviolence—and the relationship that we have with the environment and each other. There were also three panel discussions that covered topics including animal rights, gender relations, environmental anxiety, and karmic cycles.

As EcoCiv is a remote organization, our team doesn’t always have the opportunity to see the impacts of our work in person, and actively participating and engaging with community members and scholars in the field was exciting for all staff members who attended. Witnessing a conference like this come to life, we became that much more motivated to continue actively engaging with the Jain community, and addressing how much Jain Dharma intrinsically ties to promoting the wellbeing of people and the planet.

 

Two personal highlights of my experience include the presentation of nonviolence that was led by Pathshala youth, and the final panel discussion. In the presentation on nonviolence, a handful of students, ages ranging 6-15, shared how they incorporate ahimsa into their daily lives. I found myself moved to tears by their passion, pure intentions, courage, and grace, and could not have been more honored to hear how they make the world a better place every day. 

 

Some memorable quotes are included below:

 

“I listen to others, rather than yelling or making others feel bad.  I have to think about how I would want to be treated, too.”

 

“As an internal practice, I give myself compassion. I am a child, so I do not know some rules, and I still have much to learn.”

 

“When I see a bug, instead of getting annoyed, I remind myself that it is also a living being like myself. It does not deserve to be hurt or killed.”

At the final discussion panel, students of religious studies from across California shared their research on a wide array of subjects, from cross-cultural comparisons of nonviolence to Western relationships with death. It was encouraging to learn that the next generation of scholars, even those who do not have a cultural connection to the Dharma traditions, find inspiration in the teachings of Jainism. Overall, this was a fitting end to the conference that left participants feeling particularly reflective and inspired.

 

So, what happens next? The Institute for Ecological Civilization is heartened by the success of the conference and eager to lean into the partnerships that were created there, including those with well-known scholars from the Dharma traditions. The potential for future podcast episodes—two of which have already been released—excites us as we move forward in this project. Meeting with the funders of our grant, experts in the field, and inspired students was overall a thrilling experience. We have the momentum. Now, we apply it to fuel our programs in the pursuit of an Ecological Civilization.

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At this critical juncture in history, our economies must change with our changing climate to ensure a sustainable future for all. What could it look like to  design an economy that simultaneously serves people and planet? This was the question addressed recently at the inaugural California Just Economy Summit that EcoCiv co-hosted with the California Wellbeing Economies Coalition in Sacramento, California.

What were the Goals of the Summit?

Dozens of organizations and activists working to transform California’s economy came together to discuss how an economy can support the shared wellbeing of people, rather than focusing on metrics such as gross domestic product (GDP). This was the first in-person event on this topic held in California, the state with the largest GDP in the United States. The primary goal was to look beyond the concept of GDP to find ways to support an economic system that considers every aspect of life, from social justice to education, housing, and personal livelihoods. 

A defining factor of the summit was the effort to ensure that the participating groups came from a vast array of backgrounds to collaborate on the development of a state-level network. Yet, since  everyone who attended the event already plays an active role in this movement, the next challenge for participants and organizers is to contemplate how to breakthrough to broader audiences, engaging and educating new stakeholders and activists to amplify the vision . 

What Happened at the Summit?

The summit offered two tracks: one focusing on advocating for policy proposals and the other on creating connections and addressing relevant questions that participants may have struggled to answer independently. Through facilitated discussions, both tracks recognized that they must work together in order to support sustainable economic development initiatives. By sharing what each organization aims to accomplish, participants established clearer paths toward collaboration on economic solutions. Participating organizations emerged from the summit with an enhanced ability to explore potential partnerships with others previously unknown in the field. The trust gained between influential organizations supporting a just economy at the summit cannot be understated. 

One of the projects highlighted was the TAC farm, which aims to accelerate the economy of depressed regions through the use of interconnected agricultural ventures. Another important project that was emphasized at the summit included the creation of an Indigenous-led bioregional hemp economy, which can uplift Indigenous communities to reduce textile waste and benefit from compostable food services. Although these projects are already underway, joining forces with like-minded organizations from the summit can provide greater opportunities for these ventures.

What were our Staff’s Takeaways?

Three of our team members joined the conference, including Philip Clayton, our president, Megan Anderson, our Wellbeing Economies project manager, and Sam Moon, our Managing Director. Anderson believes that the summit was an incredible success, sharing that “many people said they came in with feelings of exhaustion but left with renewed energy and hope. These kinds of events are crucial for helping prevent burnout, but they don’t take place often enough.” 

Not only was this event an inspiring success, but it also served as an important starting point toward an economic revolution in California, which has an economy so large that its impacts may be felt nationally and throughout the world. We cannot wait to see how these partnerships evolve and which vital action points progress to bring about long-term sustainable change for the wellbeing of people and the planet.

 

Written by Juliana Arnold, EcoCiv’s Communications and Writing Assistant

 

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In March 2023, the UN hosted its first water conference in nearly 50 years and the Institute for Ecological Civilization was invited to attend! The conference focused on the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal 6: ensure access to water and sanitation for all. Water security & management is a topic often neglected in global spheres, but setting water as the central theme of this intergovernmental conference shows a growing interest in fulfilling the human right to clean and accessible water for all. The hope for this conference was to get clear commitments, pledges and actions for a water-secure future across all sectors, uniting nations, stakeholders, and professionals.

An important takeaway from the conference was the Water Action Agenda, which includes 700+ voluntary commitments from UN member states, governments, and stakeholders to accelerate progress towards water security – our W12+ Blueprint was one of the registered commitments! The UN will use the political attention and public awareness gained by the conference to mobilize concrete, transformative and unified actions based on these commitments to meet the global water and sanitation related goals and targets. Another important outcome was the creation of a new Special Envoy for Water for the UN, who will facilitate pressing water actions  and oversee the success of future projects.

EcoCiv’s Role:

The Institute for Ecological Civilization is honored to have been invited to the 2023 Water Conference! Our water team managing W12+ Programs, which EcoCiv co-jointly manages with the South African non-profit Save Our Schools, attended the 3-day conference in New York City. Ellie Leaning, EcoCiv’s Program Director, and Dacotah-Victoria Splichalova, the Project Manager for the Water Programs, went with the aim to garner connections with other potential partners and witness international convenings on water in person. What made this occasion especially exciting  for EcoCiv is that the W12+ Blueprint was registered as one of the commitments on the Water Action Agenda! Our Blueprint is an online knowledge-sharing platform home to case studies and city profiles. Water professionals use the Blueprint to learn about successful, solutions-oriented projects from around the world. The platform includes case studies  on innovative finance, stakeholder management, and more.

Ellie was invited to participate as a panelist on C40’s “Water Safe Cities: A Blueprint for Climate Action.” C40 is a global network of nearly 100 mayors of the world’s leading cities that are united in action to confront the climate crisis. The panel focused on the Water Safe Cities Project, which explores the climate hazards cities face due to the impacts of climate change and water sanitation issues, such as lack of safe and accessible drinking water, decreased water quality, and water conflict. Ellie states, “many great ideas were discussed and there was strong alignment on the need to stop reinventing the wheel, look for co-benefits between water and climate solutions, and prompt replication between cities.”

Our Takeaways:

Ellie wrote a reflection on her time at the UN Water Conference. She notes that the conference was what you would expect from a UN meeting – lots of promises and high-level commitments. However, she also reports that “it felt different.” People seemed energized and ready to implement things they learned or ideas they generated once they returned home. According to her, it felt reaffirming that she didn’t have to convince anyone of the importance of water to the wellbeing of people and the planet.

As an organization aiming to ensure a water-secure future, we feel inspired that people came together to discuss this life source. We hope that there will be definitive changes coming out of this conference, rather than forgotten commitments and promises. Only time will tell the success of the conference, but we can only remain hopeful and motivated to continue our work across the globe.

Many of the conference participants and organizers are happy that an intergovernmental panel came together to speak about the neglected topic of water security and management. However, most feel that definitive changes in the future are required. We agree. Do you feel that this conference is that first step towards a water-secure future?

Written by:
Juliana Arnold
EcoCiv’s Communications and Writing Assistant

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Across the U.S., collaborative partnerships are being built on the belief that long-term land tenure is key to food security and climate justice. As new land tenure strategies based on this belief are emerging, there is a need for collaborative networks of new entry farmers, service providers, researchers, nonprofits, and government agencies to support these experiments with science-based evidence that these new land tenure models are effective in meeting new entry farmers’ socio-economic goals and the communities’ climate resilience goals. 

EcoCiv is motivated to support our local partners in Pomona, CA—Lopez Urban Farm, Community Partners 4 Innovation, Latino/Latina Roundtable, Wellbeing Economies Alliance of California—as they work towards realizing their vision of long-term land tenure for regenerative urban agriculture while we work on prompt scaling and replication of these important and progressive solutions. This is currently a priority project EcoCiv is seeking funding for.

This past November, Dr. Kate Munden-Dixon, Program Manager of EcoCiv’s Agrifood Systems (AFS) Program, was invited to present at the 7th Annual California Climate & Agriculture (CalCAN) Summit in Davis, CA. Dr. Munden-Dixon presented on an emerging AFS project focused on the importance of long-term land security as a climate change strategy and key for the scaling of regenerative agriculture. This is a global issue facing many countries that calls for notable solutions that are both replicable and scalable. 

CalCAN is a coalition of sustainable and organic farming organizations that advocate state and federal policies to ensure the resilience of California farms and ranches in the face of climate change. The 7th CalCAN Summit was a two-day event featuring farm tours and presentations from over 50 speakers in 15 workshop sessions.

Land tenure as a climate strategy

Supporting new entry farmers using regenerative agriculture practices is key to ensuring the future of climate resilient agriculture. A multitude of government programs and policies exist to support these farmers through grower education, increased capital and land access, and farmer networks. However, a critical component for the retention and success of new farmers practicing regenerative agriculture is not solely land access, but long-term land tenure that gives farmers a return on their investment of time, capital, and physical energy. 

Effective regenerative agriculture practices, which are necessary to enrich soils, build biodiversity, and sequester carbon, require long-term investments, so these practices are incompatible with short-term land tenure options available to new farmers. In California, available land has become highly capitalized, fragmented, and degraded as it is highly valued for a multiplicity of uses beyond regenerative agriculture. The prohibitively high cost of land eliminates the ability of  individual new entry farmers from purchasing suitable land. Innovative models centered on long-term land tenure are needed to support a realistic pathway for the expansion of regenerative agriculture.

Land tenure solutions

New entry farmers, nonprofits, and government agencies are developing creative strategies to secure long-term land access for regenerative agriculture. From networks of urban farms in Atlanta, GA and Pomona, CA to Hawaii’s Agricultural Parks Program, there is an expanding movement to rethink land tenure around models adapted to supporting regenerative agriculture, new entry farmers, and climate resilience. 

Nonprofits and grower collectives

One model practiced across the U.S. involves nonprofits acting as umbrella organizations so that independent farmers as well as grower collectives can come together to farm and market their food collectively. Land is acquired through conservation land trusts, donations, fundraising, and institutions who agree to long-term leases. As one may imagine, the land acquisitions and access to these types of arrangements are heavily dependent on strong community partners and connections. However, these arrangements often provide heavily subsidized land to farmers, so, unlike traditional incubator farms, they foster a transition towards the model of farmers staying on this land in perpetuity.

One such example is Global Growers Network, a nonprofit in Atlanta, GA focused on “building and supporting networks of growers, land, resources, and markets in order to create a more equitable food system that is driven by cultural diversity, inclusive economies, and regenerative agriculture practices.”  Global Growers Network recently partnered  with the Conservation Fund’s Working Farms Fund to enter into a 3-year lease-to-own agreement that will allow their new entry, resettled refugee farmers to cooperatively farm and steward the land in perpetuity. 

 To learn more about our work, please contact Programs Director, Ellie Leaning at eleaning@ecociv.org.

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EcoCiv has recently launched a new initiative, Learning for Impact (LFI). This initiative represents an intentional effort on EcoCiv’s part to become a “learning organization”. Sitting within the IDEAS Hub, it is linked closely with the organization’s Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) team, but it aims to approach the MEL process in a holistic sense. LFI can be visualized as an infinity symbol, as it seeks to establish an iterative process where theories, knowledge, hypotheses, and processes are evaluated to inform and improve EcoCiv’s programs. This process functions as a feedback loop where projects and programs improve our understanding of theories, external knowledge, and hypotheses and vice-versa. 

Our working definition of Learning for Impact (LFI) is “the process and culture through which we continually assess our work, learn from others, and modify our work to reflect new knowledge, ultimately striving to make the most positive impact possible”. 

This initiative allows for continuous growth, exchange and improvement of learning internally across our staff and externally with our partners. It allows us to focus clearly on the impact of our work as we strive for efficiency, effectiveness, and equity across all of our program areas.

Learning:
Learning is far from being a new concept. In for-profits organizations, learning is incorporated into business models that seek innovation and improvement. For nonprofits, however, learning is typically placed at the end of monitoring and evaluation. 

At EcoCiv, we consider learning as a more nuanced and holistic approach to knowledge management and application. We recognize that learning is more than being knowledgeable, as it also involves the effective application and distribution of that knowledge to the individuals and communities who will most benefit from it. Learning acts as the framework through which all of our programs generate impactful results.

EcoCiv’s Work:
LFI uses organizational learning as a way to capture, evaluate, and improve our programs from both theoretical and practical perspectives. Learning should be prioritized from the beginning of a program and throughout its lifecycle. It allows us to critically assess our program methodology to examine if our programs meet our mission and to generate ideas for improvement. It also allows us to evaluate whether we are truly living up to the ideal of applying interventions that prioritize organizational values and priorities, like localization. 

This initiative is in the midst of establishing our own answer to the following question: How can we apply our learnings and insights throughout the organization and across its programs? We aim to prioritize assessing and improving common threads (strategies or tactics) across our programs.

As of the publishing date of this blog post, the LFI team is in the process of launching a cross organizational assessment of EcoCiv’s unique “Visioning Backcasting Roadmapping” (VBR) methodology. We are also launching more opportunities for internal knowledge sharing and reflection to enhance the structures for organizational memory, as we aim to conduct more comprehensive and holistic evaluations of project works that go beyond grant requirements. 

If our LFI work is something that you are interested in, please reach out to Grace Okafor at gokafor@ecociv.org or Ellie Leaning at eleaning@ecociv.org. 

Written by: Juliana Arnold
EcoCiv’s Communications and Writing Assistant

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In 2021, the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) granted the Institute for Ecological Civilization special consultative status. What does this mean for our organization?

We can now have a special seat at important, international discussions that relate directly to our organization and the future of an ecological civilization. Consultative status means that EcoCiv can engage with ECOSOC and its subsidiary bodies such as the Human Rights Council and, under special circumstances, some meetings of the General Assembly. This is a huge step and opportunity for our message to be heard across the world. 

How can EcoCiv use this privilege to support our mission and spread the hope for an ecological civilization? Primarily, our voice can be heard at a greater scale than ever before. We can seek information and collaborate with organizations that we may not have had access to before. Our special consultative status helps our programs spread their message, through increasing the number of events we can potentially attend. We can improve our access to knowledge and share our organization’s findings with an international, intergovernmental audience. Our team members are designated as official representatives to go to UN Headquarters across the world where we can register for and participate in UN sessions, events, conferences and activities. We can even submit written statements or produce oral presentations to be circulated by the UN Secretary General to the members of the Council. Our access to the world expands through this special consultative status. 

EcoCiv has already used these privileges to attend conferences across the world: COP26 and Stockholm+50. These two events, held and promoted by the United Nations, support our mission to advance the wellbeing of people and the planet.  

In reaction to the increasingly dire climate predictions reflected in the recent IPCC report, COP26 was marked by a sense of urgency to address and move beyond existing climate goals. Here, EcoCiv’s Conversations for a Life Economy, partnering with the non-profit Reboot the Future, joined the global stage to host four panel discussions on transformative action in response to the climate crisis through compassion for each other and the planet. These discussions featured a range of individuals at the nexus of business and climate action, who explored ideas for fostering collective and individual responsibility for tangible systems change. 

At Stockholm+50, EcoCiv participated in discussions on the roles that different sectors can play or are already playing to facilitate the transition toward a climate positive world that includes wellbeing for all. The conference included sessions on wellbeing economies, financing for the protection of nature and biodiversity, and the role of peace building in environmental and economic development work. Here, the UN recognized that wellbeing should be at the center of the transition toward a healthy planet and prosperity for all, meeting the mission that we promote at EcoCiv. Due to our special consultative status, we could hear first-hand how our own mission aligns with the current strategies in place within the UN and their partners. 

We would not have been granted the opportunity to host these events and participate in the discussions held at both of these conferences if it were not for our special consultative status. EcoCiv takes this status very seriously, and we are looking forward to utilizing the special privileges granted by this status in ways that turn the dream of an ecological civilization into reality. 

 

Written by: Juliana Arnold
EcoCiv’s Communication and Writing Assistant

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African countries such as South Sudan contribute the least amount of global greenhouse gas emissions but disproportionately feel the effects of climate change. Last year, floods in the country affected and displaced more than 630,000 people. Nhial Tiitmamer, from The Sudd Institute in Juba, writes that “the main climate shocks have been droughts and floods, which have been wreaking havoc to livelihoods and food security; peace and security; and sustainable development.” As the effects of climate change worsen, the South Sudanese people need water infrastructure and services to work for them.

To discuss the challenges and potential solutions facing the water sector in South Sudan, more than 20 professionals from the government, INGOs, academia, and the private sector came together in 2021 for a virtual roundtable workshop as part of the W12+ South Sudan Hub. Through facilitated conversations, stakeholders designated a national training facility as a major priority. Water management is “especially dependent on strong capacity,” according to researchers from the UNESCO-IHE Institute of Water Education, and “since the mid-1990s, it is no longer funding that is the main hindrance to progress, but poor capacity.” However, according to researchers, the vast majority of overseas development aid does not go towards education and training.

There is a clear need to address the gap in training for strengthening the water sector in South Sudan. Manon David Awan, Project Manager for Water for South Sudan, explains that “water yards and handpumps are frequently prone to breakage” and equipment is unable to be rehabilitated due to a shortage of pump mechanics and those trained in electromechanical skills. In fact, a 2019 research study analyzed an online dataset of nearly 5,000 handpumps in South Sudan and found that 20% were recorded as non-functional. According to Simon Riek, Program Manager for Water for South Sudan, “The water sector in South Sudan has inadequate qualified trained professionals in the water sector who are able to solve water related issues.”

In response to this need and to the roundtable workshop, the W12+ South Sudan Hub is pleased to announce the creation of the Water Institute, the nation’s first training program to develop technical skills for monitoring drinking water quality. With the support and assistance of the Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation, the Water Institute will offer a 4-week pilot module on “Water Quality for Climate Adaptation’’ at the beginning of 2023. Water for South Sudan will oversee the Water Institute, with David Awan as Project Manager, and with assistance from W12+ Programs via the Institute for Ecological Civilization and SOS NPO.

Ahead of the launch of the Water Institute, we invite you to be a part of this effort to strengthen water management in South Sudan. We are actively seeking both technical and financial inquiries and contributions. If you are able to offer your time or resources, please contact Dacotah-Victoria Splichalova at dsplichalova@ecociv.org. We also invite you to learn about the history of South Sudan through this brief historical summary of colonization and conflict in the country.

Blog article originally published on W12+ Programs’ Medium page, where you can learn more about the work to promote and sustain water security.

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The United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that humans have integral rights that must be protected. However, where does nature stand? Does it have a legal basis to protect itself? Or is that duty placed onto humans, who may not always have nature’s best interests at heart? Environmental protection is a newer concept, introduced due to the recognition of the harmful impacts of an anthropogenic society on ecosystems. This is where nature rights play an important role. As stated in the “Rights of Nature” doctrine, nature rights ensure that the environment is entitled to legal personhood status, and as such has the right to defend itself in a court of law against environmental degradation. How is this concept of protecting nature for nature’s sake implemented into society?

Even though nature rights are becoming more widely discussed, they are not new in theory. Indigenous communities have long aligned their worldview with nature rights ideology, which stresses that ecosystems and species must be taken care of and protected. While a disconnect between nature and humans, exacerbated by our over-exploitative use of nature’s resources, dominates the legal world today, natural rights ideology is re-emerging across the world. This is due to greater inclusion of Indigenous communities in decision-making processes and a paradigm shift away from systems focusing on capital gain over environmental stewardship. The “Rights of Nature” doctrine now acts as a blend between Western ideas of rights and Indigenous traditional ecological knowledge. 

Ecuador is the first country to include nature rights in its constitution, stating that “nature has the right to exist, persist, maintain and regenerate.” When there are actions threatening the natural world, Ecuador’s Highest Court can decide to enforce the constitutional Rights of Nature to safeguard the environment. In 2021, the Highest Court applied the constitutional provision on the Rights of Nature to conserve the Los Cedros Forest against mining and other types of extractive activities.  Other countries, such as Panama, New Zealand, India and Bangladesh, have also taken steps to introduce nature rights into their court systems. These countries also granted personhood status to certain elements of the natural environment; for example, Panama granted this status to animals important to Indigenous cosmologies, India to the sacred River Ganges, and New Zealand to the Maori’s Whanganui River. These important cultural and environmental landscapes now have legal protections to ensure their longevity. 

At EcoCiv, we hosted a Rights of Nature in a Wellbeing Economy panel where we raised the question of who should protect the rights of nature. All that an ecosystem can do is to exist; it cannot speak for itself. Humans must be the ones to ensure that nature can be granted the rights that it deserves. In our panel discussion, Mona Polacca, an Indigenous spiritual leader and rights activist, described the role that Indigenous communities have in safeguarding nature rights. Indigenous communities will continue to act as stewards to nature, making sure that these rights are heard and being implemented locally as well as globally. However, asking these communities to bear the sole responsibility for this task places unfair expectations on them and those living close to nature. We must also ensure that nonprofit organizations, governments, businesses and the global community can recognize the importance of including nature into law-making decisions. It is a joint effort between non-Western and Western ideologies as well as between nature and humans. Nature rights teach us reciprocity across the human and non-human levels. 

Nature rights display the current distance between humans and the natural world inherent in Western thought that often undermines the role of nature in society. A shift in mindset is necessary to incorporate nature rights into the international law sphere. We have an opportunity to respond to the environment’s call for help and, in doing so, we can create a healthier, more sustainable world for ourselves. Change is necessary. The first step is to have local- and eventually federal-level discussions about nature rights. Once consensus is achieved about who should steward nature rights, the law can shift to incorporate nature rights on a grand scale. As Andrew Schwartz, EcoCiv’s Vice President, states, perhaps the rights of nature are just the rights of life. We have seen the world already starting to legislate nature rights. Where will be next? 

 

Written by: Juliana Arnold
EcoCiv’s Communication and Writing Assistant

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In today’s society, the term ‘economy’ refers to people thinking individually to pursue capital gain. This removes a sense of community and partnership from current economic models, reducing the power and capacity of the community when making decisions concerning their local economy. At the Institute for Ecological Civilization, we attempt to maximize the sense of community supported by the economy through the creation of a wellbeing economy. What is this? A wellbeing economy supports the long-term wellbeing of both people and the planet by prioritizing people and planet above profit, engaging in participatory democracy, and equity and dignity for all. Its success is measured through indicators of community wellbeing such as community engagement, a sense of security, a focus towards local-level investments and overall feelings of emotional wellbeing. This reduces the importance of measures that focus on development and growth, such as GDP, and brings the focus back to the community and their overall care. Most importantly, we attempt to bring humanity back to economic models and put people first.

How do we measure a wellbeing economy? We attempt to quantify measures that lead to an improvement of one’s life, which include loneliness, community ownership, food insecurity, and wealth inequality. When looking at these metrics, we can determine the health of the economy as not just GDP or other impersonal quantitative measures, but as qualitative and quantitative measures that ensure the longevity and security of the community. For EcoCiv, the most important theme to measure a wellbeing economy is a feeling of connection and belonging, providing a sense of community within the economic model. This is an alternative to current economic models, which is the radical concentration of wealth, exploitation of workers, and degradation of the planet . Thus, we wish to see changes within economic models towards an economy that works for all people and supports long-term sustainability of the planet.

Our Wellbeing Economies work is based in Pomona, California where we are creating keystone projects to promote a wellbeing economy on the local level. In Pomona, our major goal is to create a worker-owned cooperative that allows workers to benefit directly from their workplace as well as to help provide jobs to individuals facing barriers to employment. The cooperative invests its profits locally to support the local community, rather than large multinationals. Lina Mira, the Executive Director of our partner organization, Latino Latina Roundtable, expresses that our work in Pomona provides the community with a “dignified life” so as not to live “paycheck to paycheck” and to  pursue things in life that “add joy.” Our work ensures that the community’s livelihoods can be upheld and improved in the long term.  It provides a prime example of the successes of a wellbeing economy in action. 

At EcoCiv, we recognize the importance of ensuring the care of the community, thus we take their emotional as well as their economic needs at the forefront of our wellbeing economies strategy. Thus, our work is done through the lenses of compassion, kindness, justice, inclusivity, equity and empathy. We connect individuals, other organizations, the environment, and the government to determine what steps are the best to ensure the wellbeing of both people and the planet. We see our work in Pomona acting as a model for other places around the world to achieve a wellbeing and greener economy. This implementation elsewhere is an important step in returning a sense of humanity to current economic models. 

 

Written by: Juliana Arnold
EcoCiv’s Communications and Writing Assistant

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In a constantly changing climate, people must transform – whether that be by adapting to their new environment or finding another place that is better suited to their needs. Movement and migrations are a common theme in the world’s history.  However, the primary cause of movement has rarely been due to a changing climate, as it is today. Since climate change effects are becoming more visible and recognized by the global community, so are the people who are displaced due to these effects: climate refugees.  Who are they? According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), climate refugees are people who have been forced to leave their traditional habitat, temporarily or permanently, because of marked environmental disruption. The UN predicts that more than 150 million people may have to leave their homes due to the impacts of climate change by 2050. What is causing this and how can it be mediated, if at all?

This mass migration of refugees is caused by the increased direct effects of climate change. Climate change increases the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events, forcing migrations and increasing rates of displacement for people worldwide. The highest population of these refugees exist in places where climate change’s effects are most evident. For example, gradual sea-level rise, a major effect of climate change, has become an ever-increasing threat to low-lying coasts and island nations globally. Additionally, increased periods of drought and water scarcity have devastated regions bordering deserts, resulting in desertification and reduced agricultural production. This brings great threat to the water and food security of populations worldwide, resulting in greater numbers of climate refugees.

The difficulty in assisting climate refugees is that they have limited – if any – legal protection measures implemented for them while in transit or once they reach their new destination. This is because the concept of a climate refugee is still considerably new and has not reached a sustained, international legal status due to the controversies surrounding the extent of climate change and its effects. Given the predictions for how the effects of climate change are likely to intensify further and at a faster pace than it has up until now, the necessity of filling this legal gap is urgent. The time for action is now, and at EcoCiv, we attempt to enhance the wellbeing of climate refugees through our programs that support water and food security. 

Leaving to achieve water security is a main goal for climate refugees. At EcoCiv, we implement water security measures to ensure that everyone – including climate refugees – has access to safe and clean drinking water. Our W12+ program has hubs on the ground in places hit directly by climate change impacts such as South Sudan, Egypt, and South Africa. We work with our partners on the ground to assist water security measures, such as Water for South Sudan and Life From Water, which focus on drinking water quality monitoring, reforestation, and groundwater monitoring. 

Most climate refugees leave their agricultural lives behind as they escape to places less impacted by immediate climatic disasters. However, immigrating to a new context may mean that they can no longer sustain themselves as agricultural workers and must reimagine their livelihoods. Those communities who remain in place, either by choice or an inability to leave, are faced with emerging agriculture and livestock challenges as conditions may become too hot and dry for previous forms of food production. At EcoCiv, our new Agrifood Systems Program supports innovative, localized approaches to food security by promoting the use of climate resilient agriculture. By focusing on adaptation mechanisms for a rapidly changing agrifood system, the goal is to identify scalable solutions to food security challenges faced by climate change refugees.

Climate refugees’ populations will continue to soar until there is worldwide recognition of their struggle. There must be an acknowledgement of the difficulties they face, especially since these are regions that already face extensive socioeconomic challenges. At EcoCiv, we will continue to provide a helping hand in mediating the problems brought about by climate change and reduce the need to migrate to a new location. We hope to see a world where the wellbeing of these climate refugees is realized and protected for the future.

 

Written by: Juliana Arnold
EcoCiv’s Communications and Writing Assistant

The post Refugees in the Climate Crisis appeared first on Institute for Ecological Civilization.

The map above illustrates that while agrifood systems are composed of particular nodes for say, agriculture production and food supply, each of these nodes is contained within economic, social, and environmental systems.  One can see how integral and interconnected the agrifood system is to the way land and water resources are utilized and managed, the health and wellbeing of people and communities, and what types of foods and agriculture production systems our political and economic systems incentivize. 

Targeting interventions within agrifood systems present enormous possibilities for transitioning to an ecological civilization. There are inspiring examples across the world such as Vandana Shiva’s working at the intersection of seed sovereignty and gender rights in India and Michael Hoffman’s approach to shifting the climate resiliency of agrifood systems through dietary changes.

How EcoCiv catalyzes agrifood system transformation

EcoCiv firmly believes that larger agrifood systems transformation begins with localized efforts that can scale and replicate to other locations. As such, the AFS program focuses on three areas:

• Incubating food system solutions that integrate both social equity and ecological principles that are presumed to be high-risk, to prove that investments in similar food and agriculture projects are effective and can have a return on investment,
• Combining localized priorities and knowledge with global expertise and resources to yield long-term, sustainable, and resilient food system initiatives,
• Targeting agrifood systems initiatives at specific leverage points that can lead to global systems change.

As the EcoCiv team, we are excited to be part of the emerging effort to shift agrifood systems for the wellbeing of people and the planet and we invite you to join us. Future AFS projects will continue to integrate ecological principles and social justice goals with significant potential for scaling and replication. 

Learn more about the Agrifood Systems program here.

Written by: Kate Munden-Dixon
EcoCiv Project Manager and Researcher 

The post Agrifood Systems: Moving Beyond Binaries appeared first on Institute for Ecological Civilization.

Caption: Participants at the 2020 “Cities Facing Escalating Water Shortages” conference in Cape Town, hosted at the University of the Western Cape. The conference facilitated six teams to prioritize intervention areas related to water in the city. Teams covered natural sciences, the social sciences, politics and governance, economics, the technical sciences, and civil society. The outcomes of the conference shaped and continues to shape W12+ programs to this day.

The COVID-19 pandemic forced a transition to localization, or locally-led development, in the sustainable development community. COVID-19 upended traditional ways of doing business internationally – i.e. flying in foreign, often white westerners as ‘experts’ to solve contextually specific problems; it forced a very necessary, albeit at times slow-moving, shift to recognize, depend-on, and adhere-to local expertise and local knowledge. 

In a recent webinar on “Localization and locally led development: An opportunity for thinking and working politically”, Anna Mosley, the learning lead for Oxfam’s Aotearoa’s Kōtui Programme talked about the reality of a decentralization and localization process – the key takeaways we heard were: (1) it takes time and (2) you will lose supporters, but gain much more in the long term. 

In the same webinar, Joanne Choe, the Head of Program Quality and Gender at Cardno International Development, aptly talked about a ‘spectrum of localization’ and how we can’t get stuck thinking about systemic issues – we need to get something done. The recent ODI “Are we there yet” report on localization provides six key messages: 

1. Power shapes the journey towards localization;
2. Power also shapes the destination (locally led practice);
3. Resource transfers to Global South actors remain extremely low;
4. Agency and ways of being are neglected;
5. Good models for localization already exist, including those originating from the Global South;
6. There is a dearth of data and evidence especially in measuring localization progress.

With one part of us strongly endorsing this transition to locally-led development – a process that EcoCiv works on every day through its programmatic work in water security, agrifood systems, conservation economies, and wellbeing economies –  the other part of us stays awake at night thinking about the pressing issues of climate change – primarily on the adaptation side – as we know the near-term effects will be felt (and already are being felt) primarily in the Global South. How can we reconcile this transition to localization with the one resource we don’t have – time? 

The science is clear from AR6, the sixth Assessment Report from the IPCC: 

• Approximately 3.3-3.6 billion people live in contexts that are highly vulnerable to climate change
• Roughly half of the world’s population currently experience severe water scarcity for at least some part of the year due to climatic and non-climatic drivers
• Flood and drought related acute food insecurity and malnutrition have increased in Africa and Central and South America
• There is widespread deterioration of ecosystem structure and function, resilience and natural adaptive capacity
• Climate change has adversely affected both the mental and physical health of people globally
• In all regions, extreme heat events have resulted in human mortality and morbidity
• Food-borne and water-borne disease has increased

The list goes on. 

This blog series will explore the intersection between localization and climate resilient development – the core question being: how can we reconcile adhering to a localization process that takes time with the knowledge that adaptation efforts must be made now to save lives, build resilient futures, and limit the worst effects of climate change?

Is there a process for localization that incorporates the expediency needed to manage this ticking time bomb of climate change? Or is expediency of action and localization an inherent juxtaposition? 

COVID-19 has forced new processes and practices centering localization, presenting both challenges and opportunities. Evidence shows that community-led (as opposed to community-based) development is highly effective. In this series, we explore the successes and creative innovations as well as the persistent problems and challenges of localization of climate resilient development practice. 

We don’t have all of the answers. Please engage with this blog series and send us questions to consider and case studies of examples (procedural, technical, etc.) that can be of use to the audience. Email information to eleaning@ecociv.org. This blog series will be updated monthly. 

 

Written by Ellie Leaning and Larry Swatuk 

The post Localization and Climate Adaptation: Different and Urgent Processes appeared first on Institute for Ecological Civilization.

The dominant conservation narrative for centuries was fortress conservation, an approach that protects natural spaces by excluding human populations who are blamed for ecological degradation. This approach resulted in the displacement of local communities that have long had  a deep, cultural, economic and ecological connection to this land. These millennia-old connections with the land have fostered healthy stewardship of ecosystems. Restricting access to land that these communities depend on for their livelihoods and wellbeing is also harmful to ecosystem health. 

This exclusionary perspective is reflected in the land rights of many countries where protected areas that exclude people dominate the conservation landscape.  The dominant land rights system is statutory land rights, which is where the state determines who owns how much land. Instead of granting Indigenous and local communities the autonomy to decide how to interact with the land, national laws restrict this either by prioritizing protected areas or through the exploitation of land for economic gain. There must be a shift to promote the inclusion of local communities in determining how to conserve nature. Rather than just looking at protected areas as a place to conserve nature in its most pristine form, we must shift the perspective to recognize that local communities can also benefit through the creation of effective and inclusive conservation strategies.

This shift is realized as a conservation economy. What is this?  A Conservation Economy focuses equally on local community leadership, ecological wellbeing, and economic functionality. These “economies” — or systems — operate by linking the intrinsic value of nature to the understanding that sustainable management of resources can provide economic opportunity for Indigenous and rural communities through restorative, conservation-based revenue streams for stakeholders. At EcoCiv, we believe that a shift toward this conservation economy is one way to efficiently promote the wellbeing of both people and the planet. This perspective promotes an effective conservation strategy while ensuring that these communities continue to use their land as a vehicle for economic sustainability. The goal is to ensure that local communities are the leaders in the decision-making processes of their land, resources, and economic system, instead of an external entity. Thus, a conservation economy relies on these voices and their knowledge to provide the best ecological and economic outcomes in their local context. 

Local communities cannot lose their relationship with their land. Not only does it impact their way of life, but it reduces their ability to continue their cultural practices. This connection to nature held by these communities will forcibly decline over time if the conservation narrative does not change. Indigenous communities hold traditional ecological knowledge that is vital to conservation. These communities also recognize how human-nature relationships are integral to society. Reducing their ability to continue these relationships reduces the ability for future generations to continue these healthy, sustainable human-nature relationships. Granting these communities a voice to determine what conservation methods are the most effective is the only way to ensure that land is protected for the right reasons in the right way. This is what we try to accomplish at EcoCiv: to grant local communities the voice to feel heard on issues impacting their own land to ensure the long-term viability of their cultural, economic, and ecological relationships with nature. 

There is much to do and the work here at EcoCiv is only beginning. There must be a shift away from the paradigm of fortress conservation that has dominated the conservation ideology for centuries. The Conservation Economies project is an emerging project, created through the recognition that the current models in place will not result in long-term, sustainable growth for these local communities. Future projects  that ensure the inclusion and empowerment of these communities for the prosperity of both people and planet are projects that reflect the values of an ecological civilization.

Written by: Juliana Arnold
EcoCiv’s Communications and Writing Assistant

The post Changing the Conservation Narrative appeared first on Institute for Ecological Civilization.

What is systems change? 

It is the idea that true, definitive change can only be realized through solutions that address the root cause of an issue. Those in charge of establishing solutions must look at revolutionizing current perspectives that typically only address the symptoms of systemic issues by incorporating a holistic view when looking at solution-building. The issues we face today are interconnected, presenting themselves due to a multitude of overlapping factors that must be analyzed to determine the root of the issue, not just the tip of the iceberg.  

Thus, solutions to these issues that only address symptoms are, at best, ineffective. This is why individual change alone will not result in long-term solutions for the future. Actions such as recycling, boycotting single-use plastics and shifting to renewable sources of energy are important, but they do not get to the reason why these issues must be addressed. Instead, the Institute for Ecological Civilization desires to look deeper than the surface and recognize why these individual changes must occur. Identifying root causes of issues is the first step towards a sustainable future; acting on them will ensure that solutions will be long-lasting. EcoCiv exists on the basis that systems change is the best lens to which today’s problems can be properly addressed and acted upon for the wellbeing of both people and the planet.

This systemic perspective underpins EcoCiv’s goals and priorities as an organization committed to taking a critical and holistic approach to navigating the world’s problems and their many solutions. All programs within EcoCiv use this approach to guide their methodology and project planning. 

• The Conservation Economies program recognizes that environmental degradation is a direct result of exploitative economic systems and the lack of a community structure that supports both people and planet. It focuses on working with experts in conservation and rural development – bringing them together to identify shared principles and actions for Conservation Economies globally.
• Conversations for a Life Economy is a project that grants these issues a stage where influential voices can openly speak on how they are attempting to bring about long-term, sustainable change in their respective spheres of influence. It aims to inspire policymakers, business leaders, and activists to implement a system solutions-approach to complex social, environmental, and economic challenges in their work. 
• EcoCiv’s water program, W12+, brings forward innovative solutions to ensure water security for all. They do not work to only bring more people more water; instead, they take the systems approach to address the issues that make people water insecure in the first place. With partners at Water for South Sudan, we are designing a workforce development program to address a root cause of poor drinking water quality — a lack of trained and qualified people to monitor the drinking water supply.

At EcoCiv, we do not only look at the problem and act from there. We ask ourselves, “Why is this happening? Why is it that individuals are not receiving the same resources as others? Why is it that ecosystems are destroyed? Why is it that the climate has changed so drastically so quickly?” Questions like these provide the basis to the worldview that EcoCiv promotes: a systems change approach. We are not advocating for individuals to stop changing their behavior. Continue to be the change the future needs! Instead, we are asking individuals to reflect on why it is that we must reduce the use of plastic, why it is that renewable energy is not the norm, why it is that we consume as much as we do? What is your why? 

Written by: Juliana Arnold
EcoCiv’s Communications and Writing Assistant

The post Systems Change vs Individual Change appeared first on Institute for Ecological Civilization.

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We celebrate the progress made at COP26, which extended the Paris Agreement Accord in significant ways. We now urge partners in the public, private, and nonprofit sectors to build boldly and rapidly on this foundation, joining us in constructing realistic roadmaps toward a sustainable future. Short-sighted thinking is a recipe for disaster. The climate crisis calls for changes of unprecedented speed and scale, and yet the transition to an ecological civilization is fully within our grasp. The coming 12-24 months will demonstrate whether or not COP26 was the turning point that the planet needs.

Philip Clayton, President
On behalf of the Institute for Ecological Civilization

Commentary on COP26

Here is a link to a particularly helpful short summary of this year’s climate summer summit and what it achieved. 

Joseph Manko, former general counsel for the EPA Region III, spoke to the ‘Hot Topics’ series of the Cosmopolitan Club about what COP26 did and did not achieve. A founding partner of Manko, Gold, Katcher & Fox in Philadelphia, Joe advises EcoCiv on matters of environmental law. 

The post A Statement on COP26 from the Institute for Ecological Civilization appeared first on Institute for Ecological Civilization.

네 명의 훌륭한 패널들이 둘째날 세션에 참석했습니다. 줄리아 김(Julia Kim)은 연구원이자 세계 보건 및 지속가능 개발 전문가로서 NGO, 학계, UN 기구(UNDP, UNICEF)와 함께 아프리카와 아시아에서 광범위하게 활동해왔습니다. 그녀는 현재 부탄의 GNH(Gross National Happiness) 센터에서 선임 프로그램 고문으로 재직 중이며, 그 센터는 국제 파트너들과 협력하여 부탄의 독특한 개발 철학의 원칙과 실천을 기업, 교육, 정부 및 시민 사회의 영역에서 실행하는 것을 목표로 하고 있습니다.

마크 아닐스키 (Mark Anielski)는 국가, 지역사회, 기업의 안녕과 행복을 측정하는 것을 전문으로 하는 경제 전략가입니다. 마크 (Mark)는 앨버타 대학(University of Alberta)에서 경제학(1981), 산림 과학(1984), 그리고 산림 경제학 석사(1991)로 세 개의 학위를 받았습니다. 10년 동안 그는 앨버타 대학 경영대학에서 기업의 사회적 책임과 사회적 기업가 정신을 가르치는 교수로 재직했습니다. (2003-2012) 그는 캐나다, 미국, 중국, 타히티, 네덜란드, 오스트리아에서 국제적으로 행복과 안녕의 경제학을 강의했습니다.

나탈리 포스터 (Natalie Foster)는 기본소득에 대한 탐구와 실험을 지원하는 네트워크인 Economic Security Project의 공동 의장 겸 공동 설립자이며, The Aspen Institute Future of Work Initiative의 선임 연구원입니다. 2013년, 나탈리는 긱 이코노미(gig economy)에서 일하는 사람들을 지원하는 Peers.org의 설립 대표를 맡았습니다. 그 이전에 그녀는 Van Jones와 함께 사람 중심의 경제 변화를 위한 플랫폼인 Rebuild the Dream의 대표이자 공동 설립자를 역임했습니다. 나탈리 (Natalie)는 또한 오바마 대통령의 Organizing for America (OFA)와 민주당 전국위원회의 디지털 감독으로도 활동했습니다. 나탈리는 Sierra Club에 최초의 디지털 부서를 설립했고 MoveOn.org의 부조직국장을 역임했습니다. 그녀는 다양한 연구장학금을 수상했으며, 캘리포니아 예산정책센터, Change.org 글로벌 재단, 그리고 인종적 빈부 격차를 해소하기 위한 프로젝트인 Liberation in a Generation의 이사로 활동하고 있습니다.

윈 테준(Wen Tiejun) 은 중국인민대학 (베이징)의  지속가능성 고등 연구기관 (The Institute of Advanced Studies of Sustainability), 서남대학 (충칭)의 중국 농촌 재건연구소 (The Institute of Rural Reconstruction of China), 푸젠농림대학 (푸저우)의 해협 농촌 재건연구소 (The Institute of Rural Reconstruction of the Straits)의 실행위원장입니다. 그는 지속가능성, 농업문제, 정책연구, 거시경제, 남남협력, 포용적 성장에 대한 전문가입니다.

전체 회의는 현재 우리 경제체제의 문제점을 평가하고 그 문제들을 해결하기 위해서 우리가 긴급히 취할 수 있는 조치가 무엇인지 파악하는 데 초점이 맞춰졌습니다. Julia는 많은 나라들이 경제성장과 국부의 지표로 널리 사용해 온 GDP(국내총생산)가 많은 문제를 일으켰다고 지적했습니다. 국내총생산(GDP) 규모의 이면에 깔린 사고방식은 자연으로부터 천연 자원을 착취하였고 인간 삶의 존엄성을 훼손하는 심각한 경쟁을 야기했습니다. Julia는 부탄을 예로 듭니다. 부탄은 그들의 경제적 성공뿐만 아니라 국민의 전체적인 삶의 질 또한 측정하기 위해서 GDP를 대신하는 대체 지표를 사용해왔습니다. 그 지표는 국민총행복 (GNH, Gross National Happiness)이라고 불립니다. 그것은 국민의 집단적인 행복과 안녕을 측정하기 위해 고안된 지수입니다. GNH는 부탄의 4대 왕 Jigme Singye Wangchuck에 의해서 1972년에 처음 만들어졌습니다. 줄리아는 행복의 9가지 영역과 4가지 기둥을 통해서 GNH의 상세한 가치를 소개했습니다. 4가지 기둥은 ‘지속가능하고 공평한 사회경제적 발전’, ‘환경보전’, ‘문화의 보존과 증진’, ‘좋은 통치(거버넌스)’ 입니다. GNH의 9가지 영역은 ‘심리적 행복, 건강, 시간 이용, 교육, 문화적 다양성과 복원력, 좋은 통치(거버넌스), 공동체 활성화, 생태적 다양성과 복원력, 그리고 생활수준입니다. 그녀는 한 가지 예를 드는데, 어떤 사람이 직장생활에서 삶을 소모하느라 가족과 친구와는 상대적으로 적은 시간을 보내고 있다면 그 사람의 GNH는 열악한 노동조건일지라도 가족 및 친구와 함께 더 많은 시간을 소모하는 사람에 비해서 크지 않습니다. 줄리아는 한 나라의 리더십이 세상을 다른 시각으로 바라보고, 다른 기준으로 국가적 목표를 설정하고, 전망 있는 현실을 고수함으로써 이와 같은 변화를 만들 수 있다고 강조했습니다. 그녀는 GDP 또는 그것과 같은 사고방식으로 만들어진 정책들을 사용하는 다른 나라들과 비교했을 때, 부탄이 국가의 우선순위를 다른 관점에서 정했기 때문에 COVID19의 위협으로부터 나라를 성공적으로 지켜냈다고 언급했습니다. 부탄은 모든 사람들을 위한 무상 의료 서비스와 및 교육 시스템을 구축하는 데 우선순위를 두고 있습니다. 게다가 부탄은 물질적 풍요와 정신적 행복 사이의 균형을 중시합니다. 지역사회의 영적인 리더들은 COVID19에 대항하는데 중요한 역할을 했습니다. 줄리아는 젊은 세대에 대한 개방성이 창의력으로부터 생겨나는 새로운 변화를 가져올 것이라고 주장했습니다.

마크 (Mark)는 2007년에 ‘행복의 경제학: 진정한 부를 쌓기’를 저술했습니다. 그는 행복의 경제학의 개념들을 설명했습니다. 행복의 경제학은 그것의 긍정적이고 부정적인 영향, 복지, 삶의 만족도, 그리고 그와 관련된 개념들을 포함하여 행복과 삶의 질에 대하여 연구하는데, 이는 일반적으로 경제학을 육체적 건강뿐만 아니라 사회학과 심리학 같은 다른 사회과학분야와 더 밀접하게 결합시킵니다. 그것은 일반적으로 부, 소득, 혹은 이윤보다 더 객관적인 삶의 질 지수를 다룰 뿐만 아니라 주관적인 행복과 관련된 지수들이 극대화되는데 관심을 둡니다. (Wikipedia, ‘행복 경제학’) 그는 그의 연구팀이 코로나19 전염병이 유행하는 동안 행복에 대한 두 개의 큰 조사를 끝냈다고 말했습니다. 이 설문조사는 행복의 경제학 개념에 기초하여 완전히 새로운 질문들을 포함시켰습니다. 그 질문들은 다음과 같습니다. ‘당신은 가족과 친구에게 얼마나 사랑받고 있나요?’, ‘당신은 밤에 얼마나 오래, 그리고 잘 자고 있나요?’, ‘당신은 다른 사람들과의 관계에 얼마나 만족하나요?’, ‘당신은 정부를 얼마나 신뢰하나요?’, ‘당신은 당신의 지역 상인들을 얼마나 신뢰하나요?’ 이 질문들은 사람들의 행복감을 측정하기 위해 신중하게 고안된 것으로서 경제적 성공을 측정하는 전통적인 방법과는 전혀 다릅니다. 마크는 코비드19이 우리 경제체제의 약점을 제고하고 그것을 다른 방향으로 보게 하는 좋은 기회를 제공했다고 생각합니다. 

그는 또한 캐나다 비상대응 지원금(Canadian Emergency Response Benefit, CERB)를 연방정부의 COVID19 대응의 한 축으로 소개했으며, 이는 캐나다에서 영구적인 기본소득 지원 프로그램에 대한 요청으로 이어지고 있습니다.(Globalnews Canada) 오타와가 CERB를 출범시켰고, 이는 전염병으로 인해 실직한 거의 900만 명의 캐나다인에게 매달 2,000 달러를 제공했습니다. 이 프로그램을 통해 사람들의 삶의 질이 매우 향상되었습니다. 기본소득 실험은 사람들이 자신의 삶을 지속할 수 있도록 도울 뿐만 아니라 그들이 오래도록 무시되어온 삶의 진정한 행복을 찾도록 돕는다는 것을 보여줍니다. 마크는 정부의 재정적 부담은 잘 설계된 정책에 의해 조절될 수 있다고 언급했습니다. 정부는 국민에게 국채를 팔고, 중앙은행은 화폐의 전반적인 흐름을 통제할 수 있고, 정부도 조세정책을 통해 돈의 유동성을 조정할 수 있습니다. 그는 기본소득은 경제정책의 문제일 뿐만 아니라 인간의 존엄성을 보호하고 증진시킬 수 있는 인권의 문제라고 주장했습니다. 

마크는 젊은 세대가 사회의 한계를 뛰어넘는 기술과 지식을 그들 스스로 갖출 수 있다고 말했습니다. 마크는 제2차 세계 대전 이후의 세계 경제 체제는 우리가 현재 겪고 있는 모든 위기를 야기시켰다고 믿습니다. 그렇기 때문에 우리가 처음 겪는 기후 위기의 문제를 해결하기 위해서는 기존 체제의 틀 밖에서 생각하는 것이 중요하다고 이야기 했습니다. 새로운 세대는 지금 우리가 현재 가지고 있는 체제와는 사뭇 다른 새로운 시대를 열 수 있습니다. 예를 들어, 암호화폐는 비록 약간의 문제가 있긴 하지만, 세계 경제 시스템에 새로운 개념을 가지고 있다고 생각하고 기존의 독점적 체제를 뛰어 넘을 수 있는 가능성을 내포하고 있다고 했습니다.

나탈리(Natalie)는 미국이 큰 변화를 겪고 있다고 말했습니다. 자유 시장 체제에 대한 믿음은 끝날 것입니다. 코로나 팬데믹 위기는 유색 인종 공동체를 강타했습니다. 특히 작년과 올해 내내 인종 정의에 대한 요구와 활동이 높습니다. 기후 위기는 또한 캘리포니아를 강타했고, 주정부는 기후 위기로 인해 발생한 물 문제와 격렬한 산불 문제를 경험하고 있습니다. 이 다면적인 위기에서 경제 안보부는 모든 미국인을위한 경제력을 구축하는 아이디어를 촉진하려고 노력하고 있습니다. 보편적 기본 소득은 이 위기에 대한 해결책 중 하나입니다. 그녀는 수년간의 연구에 따르면 무제한 지급이 주어지면 수혜자가 빈곤에서 벗어나 자신과 가족을 위한 경제적 안정을 창출 할 수 있다는 것을 보여줍니다. 이것이 바로 우리가 경제적 지원이 가장 필요로하는 미국인에게 더 많은 현금을 투입하려 현장과 정책 노력에 모두 투자하는 이유입니다.

그녀는 캘리포니아 스톡턴(Stockton)의 사례를 소개했습니다. Stockton Economic Empowerment Demonstration (SEED)은 미국 최초의 시장으로, 보장 소득 시위를 주도하고 있습니다. 전 시장 Michael D. Tubbs에 의해 2019 년 2 월에 시작된 SEED는 무작위로 선택된 125 명의 주민들에게 24 개월 동안 월 $ 500를 지급했습니다. 현금을 지급하는 것에는 조건이 없고 완전히 무조건적이었습니다.  빈곤과 불평등에 대한 간단하면서도 혁신적인 해결책을 시험하기 위해 SEED의 예비 조사 결과는 한 달에 500 달러만으로 모든 사람이 누릴 수있는 존엄성을 제공 할 수 있음을 보여줍니다. 이 실험을 통해 그들은 몇 가지 인상적인 결과를 발견했습니다. 보장 소득은 소득 변동성을 감소시켰으며,  가구가 직면하는 월별 소득 변동을 줄였으며 수혜자는 풀 타임 고용을 찾을 수 있었고 보장 소득 수혜자는 더 건강했으며 우울증과 불안이 적고 웰빙이 향상되었으며 재정적 희소성을 완화했습니다. 자기 결정, 선택, 목표 설정 및 위험 감수 등의 새로운 기회를 창출합니다. 그 결과는 사람과 지역 사회의 복지가 증가했음을 나타냅니다. 한 명의 수혜자는 가족을 위해 세 가지 다른 일을 했어야했지만 이제는 주말 동안 딸을 수영장에 데려 갈 수 있습니다. 그는 또한 수영하는 법을 배울 기회가 없다는 것을 깨달았습니다. 나탈리는 보장 된 소득이 사람들의 개인 생활, 지역 사회, 교육에 시간을 투자하는 방식을 바꿀 것이라고 주장했습니다.

그녀는 우리의 선택이 산업 중심 정책에 반하는 것이라고 언급했지만 가장 중요한 것은 돌봄-경제 시스템을 구축하는 것입니다. ‘돌봄’은 시스템에 기반을 두어야합니다. 사회의 우선 순위는 국민을 위한 상호 보장, 삶을 유지하기 위해 고통받는 소외된 저임금 노동자를 보살 피는 관점에서 정리되어야만 합니다. 우리는 모든 사람을위한 사회 안전망을 만들어야합니다.

윈 테준(Wen Tiejun)은 중국의 농촌 지역사회의 회복탄력성을 통해 어떻게 COVID19를 극복하는지를  소개했습니다. 농촌 지역의 많은 사람들이 COVID19 감염으로부터 자신을 보호하기 위해 전통 한의학을 사용했습니다. 한의학을 사용한 사람의 50 % 이상이 COVID 19에 감염되지 않은 것으로 보고되었습니다.

경제에서 국가 정책의 우선 순위를 정하는 질문에는 자본의 큰 잉여가 있고 그것을 사용하는 방법이 모든 국민의 웰빙에 중요하다고 대답했습니다. 농업은 특히 자본화된 농업 산업으로 바뀌었습니다. 산업화된 농업은 구조적인 잉여를 창출하고 이것이 현재 중국에서 일어나고 있는 일입니다. 세심하게 분배되지 않으면 잉여금이 쉽게 낭비됩니다. 요컨대 잉여 제품을 효율적으로 동원하는 방법입니다. 지방 정부와 지역화 된 시스템이 중요합니다. 동시에 더 나은 시스템에 대한 소비자의 선택도 중요합니다. 농부들은 또한 더 지속가능한 농업문화를 바꾸기 위해 노력해야 합니다. 유해한 것에서 유기적인 생산으로의 의미있는 변화가 필요합니다. 새로운 소비 스타일을 결합하고 새로운 생활방식을 이끌어 내는 것이 중요합니다.

그는 중국의 젊은 세대가 요즘 새로운 생활방식을 시도한다고 지적했습니다. 그들은 시골로 가서 새로운 기회를 만들었습니다. 그것은 노동을 동원하는 예입니다. 도시 지역의 노동자들도 시골로 돌아오게 하였습니다. 그들은 교외 지역에서 새로운 소규모 사업을 시작했습니다. 젊은 세대는 지역 사람들에게서 지속 가능한 생활 방식을 만드는 방법을 배울 수 있습니다. 그리고 농촌 지역에서 보다 창의적이 되기 위한 노력을 하였고 그 결과 지역에서 새로운 경제를 창출하였습니다. 대유행기간 동안 대도시는 COVID19에 의해 엄청난 타격을 받았지만 농촌 지역을 비교적 쉽게 위기를 극복했습니다. 그는 자금을 조직하고 자본을 가장 필요한 영역에 동원하는데 있어 신중하게 설계된 정부의 경제 계획이 중요하다고 지적하였습니다. 정부가 자원을 현명하게 배분하면 일석이조를 넘어 일석삼조 이상의 효과를 만들 수 있습니다.

전체 진행을 맡은 포럼 두번째 날 참살이와 전지구적 번영을 위한 경제 세션의 좌장인 정건화 교수는 적절한 질문을 통해 주요한 사안들을 끄집어 내어 패널들간의 활발한 토론을 이끌었습니다. 이번 포럼을 통해 우리 모두는 자연을 계속해서 파괴하고 돌이킬 수 없는 기후의 변화를 초래한 잘못된 세계적 경제 시스템의 한계를 공감했습니다. 특히 지난 1년 간 우리 모두는 코비드 19으로 인해 이러한 위기를 초래한 시스템의 문제를 깨닫고 그 한계 또한 명확히 보았습니다. 그 경험은 우리가 그 동안 등한시하거나 보지 못하고 있던 부분들을 볼 수 있는 기회를 우리에게 주었고, 가장 실제적이고 현실적인 경제적 측면에서 우리는 새로운 방향을 함께 가늠해 보았습니다. 세계적인 석학들과 활동가들과의 대화를 통해 우리 모두가 새로운 시각을 가지고 위기를 극복할 뿐만 아니라 인간다움을 유지하면서도 환경과 공존할 뿐 아니라 전지구적 번영을 추구하는 경제를 세워나갈 수 있기를 기대합니다. 

Written by the Rev. Dongwoo Lee, PhD Candidate, Director of Ecological Civilization Korea 

The post 참살이와 전지구적 번영을 위한 경제 appeared first on Institute for Ecological Civilization.

We had four brilliant panelists for the session. Julia Kim is a researcher and global health and sustainable development specialist who has worked extensively in Africa, and Asia with NGOs, academia and UN agencies (UNDP and UNICEF). She is currently a Senior Program Advisor at the Gross National Happiness (GNH) Centre in Bhutan which, in collaboration with international partners aims to bring the principles and practices of Bhutan’s unique development philosophy into action in the spheres of business, education, government, and civil society. 

Mark Anielski is an economic strategist specializing in measuring the well-being and happiness of nations, communities and businesses. Mark holds three degrees from the University of Alberta: Economics (1981), Forest Science (1984), and Masters of Science in Forest Economics (1991). For ten years (2003-2012) he was professor of corporate social responsibility and social entrepreneurship at the University of Alberta’s School of Business. He has lectured internationally on the economics of happiness and well-being in Canada, the US, China, Tahiti, The Netherlands and Austria. 

Natalie Foster is the co-chair and co-founder of the Economic Security Project, a network to support exploration and experimentation of a guaranteed income, and a senior fellow at The Aspen Institute Future of Work Initiative. In 2013, Natalie was founding CEO of Peers.org to support people who work in the gig economy. Prior, she was the CEO and co-founder of Rebuild the Dream, a platform for people–driven economic change, with Van Jones. Natalie also served as digital director for President Obama’s Organizing for America (OFA) and the Democratic National Committee. Natalie built the first digital department at the Sierra Club and served as the deputy organizing director for MoveOn.org. She’s been awarded various fellowships and is a board member of the California Budget and Policy Center, the Change.org global foundation, and Liberation in a Generation, a project to close the racial wealth gap. 

Wen Tiejun is Executive Dean of the Institute of Advanced Studies of Sustainability of Renmin University of China, Beijing; the Institute of Rural Reconstruction of China, Southwest University, Chongqing; and the Institute of Rural Reconstruction of the Straits, Fujiang Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou. He is an expert on sustainability, agrarian issues, policy studies, macro-economics, south-south cooperation, and inclusive growth.

The whole session was oriented to assessing the current problems in our economic system and figuring out what kind of action that we can take urgently to solve them. Julia pointed out that GDP (Gross domestic product) which has been widely used by many countries as a marker of economic growth and national wealth caused a lot of problems. The mind-set that is behind the GDP scale has exploited the natural resources from nature and made severe competitions in human life which lost its dignity. She made an example. Bhutan has used an alternative index to measure not only their economic success but also the holistic quality of life of its people instead of GDP, which is called GNH, Gross National Happiness. It is an index which is designed to measure the collective happiness and well-being of the people. GNH was first coined by the 4th King of Bhutan, King Jigme Singye Wangchuck, in 1972. Julia introduced the detailed values of GNH which were expressed in the nine domains of happiness and four pillars. The four pillars are ‘sustainable and equitable socio-economic development’, ‘environmental conservation’, ‘preservation and promotion of culture’, ‘good governance’. The nine domains of GNH are psychological well-being, health, time use, education, cultural diversity and resilience, good governance, community vitality, ecological diversity and resilience, and living standards. She made an example, if there is a person whose life is consumed with working, spending relatively short time with friends and family, then the person’s GNH is not large, compared to a person who spends more time with friends and family but has lower quality work conditions. She emphasized that the leadership of a nation can make these changes by seeing things in different ways, setting a national goal with different standards, and seizing a visionary reality. She mentioned that since Bhutan set the nation’s priority in different perspectives compared to other countries that are using GDP and policies which were made in the same mindset, Bhutan successfully defended the country against the threats of COVID19. Bhutan put their priority to build a free health care and education system for all people. Additionary, Bhutan values a balance between material abundance and spiritual welfare. The spiritual leaders in the community played an important role in fighting against COVID19. Seh claimed that open mindedness to the younger generation would bring new changes which are emerging from creativity.  

Mark wrote a book, ‘The Economics of Happiness: Building Genuine Wealth’ in 2007. He explained the concepts in the study of the economics of happiness. Economics of happiness the study of happiness and quality of life, including positive and negative effects, well-being, life satisfaction and related concepts – typically tying economics more closely than usual with other social sciences, like sociology and psychology, as well as physical health. It typically treats subjective happiness-related measures, as well as more objective quality of life indices, rather than wealth, income or profit, as something to be maximized.(Wikipedia, ‘Happiness economics’) He indicated that his team just finished two huge wellbeing surveys during the COVID19 pandemics. The survey included a whole new set of questions which are based on the concept of Economics of Happiness. It asked questions about, ‘How much are you loved by your friends and family?’, ‘How long and well do you sleep at night?’, ‘How satisfied are you with your relationship with other people?’, ‘How much do you trust your government?’, ‘How much do you trust local merchants in your area?’. These questions were carefully designed to measure people’s feeling of happiness which is quite different from the traditional way of measuring economic success. He mentioned that the pandemic gave a great opportunity to rethink the weakness of our economic system and begin to see in different directions. 

He also introduced the Canadian Emergency Response Benefit, or CERB as one of the pillars of the federal government’s COVID19 response which is leading to calls for a permanent basic income support program in Canada. (Globalnews Canada) Ottawa launched the CERB, which provided $2,000 a month to nearly nine million Canadians left jobless by the pandemic. And through this program the quality of people’s life has been highly enhanced. The basic income experiment shows that it helps not only people to sustain their life but also people to find the true happiness in their life which has been ignored for a long time. He pointed out that the financial burdensome on the Government can be regulated by the well designed policies. Government can sell the national bonds to people and the central bank can control the overall flow of money and government can also mediate the fluid of money through tax policy. He claimed that basic income is not only a matter of economic policy but also human rights which can protect and enhance the dignity of humans. 

Mark indicated that the young generation can equip themselves with skills and knowledge that go beyond the limitations of society. The post World War II global economic system caused all the crisis that we are struggling with now. Thinking outside of the box is critical to solve the problem of the climate crisis. The new generation can open a new era which will be quite different from the system that we have now. For example, crypto currency, even though there are some problems, it brought new concepts to the global economic system. 

Natalie said that US is undergoing a great shift. The belief in the free market system is going to end. The pandemic crisis hit the communities of color hard. Especially last year and throughout this year too, the demands and activities for racial justice are high. The climate crisis also hit California, the state is experiencing water problem and furious wildfire problem which are coined by the climate crisis. Up in this multifaceted crisis, the Economic Security is trying to catalyze ideas that build economic power for all Americans. The universal basic income is one of the solutions for this crisis. She pointed out that years of research show that when given unrestricted payments, recipients are able to pull themselves out of poverty and create economic stability for themselves and their families. That’s why we have invested in both on-the-ground and policy efforts to put more cash in the pockets of Americans who need it most. (www.economicsecurityproject.org) 

She introduced an example of Stockton, California. The Stockton Economic Empowerment Demonstration (SEED) is the nation’s first mayor led guaranteed income demonstration. Launched in February 2019 by former Mayor Michael D. Tubbs, SEED gave 125 randomly selected residents $500/month for 24 months. The cash was completely unconditional, with no strings attached and no work requirements. Aiming to test a simple yet innovative solution to poverty and inequality, SEED’s preliminary findings show how just $500 a month can provide the dignity and agency that everyone deserves. Through this experiments they found a couple of impressive results. The guaranteed income reduced income volatility, or the month-to-month income fluctuations that households face, it enabled recipients to find full-time employment, recipients of guaranteed income were healthier, showing less depression and anxiety and enhanced wellbeing, it alleviated financial scarcity creating new opportunities for self-determination, choice, goal-setting and risk-taking. The result indicates an increase in the well-being of people and communities. One recipient should have worked three different jobs to meet the ends of his family but now he is able to take his daughter to the swimming pool during the weekend. He also came to realize that he never had a chance to learn how to swim. Natalie claimed the guaranteed income will change how people invest time in personal life, community, education. 

She mentioned that our choice would be against the industrial oriented policy but the most important thing is to build a care-economy system. ‘Care’ should be infrastructured in the system. The priority of the society should be arranged in the perspective of mutual care for people, care for the marginalized, low wage workers who are suffering for sustaining their life. We need to make a social safety net for all people. 

Wen Tiejun introduced how rural areas in China overcome COVID19 through the resilience of the community. Many people in the rural area used traditional Chinese medicine to protect themselves from COVID19 infection. It was reported that over 50% of people who used traditional Chinese medicine were not infected by COVID 19. 

To a question of setting the priority in national policy in the economy, he answered that there is a big surplus of capital and how to use it is important to all people’s well-being. Agriculture has especially changed to become a capitalized agricultural industry. Industrialized agriculture creates a structural surplus, and this is what is happening in China now. If it is not carefully distributed, the surplus easily becomes waste. The bottom line is how to mobilize surplus products efficiently. Local Government and localized systems are important. At the same time, consumer’s choice for a better system is important, as well. Farmers also need to make an effort to change the culture of agriculture which would be more sustainable. A meaningful change from harmful to organic production is needed. Bridging new consumption styles and stimulating a new lifestyle is critical. 

He pointed out that younger generation in China tried a new lifestyle in these days. They went to the countryside and made new opportunities. It is an example of mobilizing labor. Workers in urban areas came back to the countryside as well. They made new small business in suburban areas. Young generation can learn from local people how to make a sustainable lifestyle. And they made efforts to become more creative in the rural areas and as a result it makes new economy in local areas. During the pandemic mega cities got harshly hit by COVID19 but the rural areas relatively easily overcame the crisis. He indicated that a carefully designed government’s economic planning in organizing money and mobilizing the capital to the most necessary areas is crucial. If the government allocates the resources wisely, it can make “one stone for not only two birds but four or more. 

Written by the Rev. Dongwoo Lee, PhD Candidate, Director of Ecological Civilization Korea 

The post Economies for Wellbeing and Planetary Flourishing appeared first on Institute for Ecological Civilization.

(Superintendent, Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education)

1. The Meaning of Education and Korean Education Reform

We can start with the question, “What is education?” Education is a learning process that affects human perception and behavior. It affects how we perceive the world, and how we change the world in light of that perception. In this sense, education can be defined as the learning process by which we learn to see the world and conduct ourselves in order to live with others. Through education, each student becomes a social being with particular perceptions and behavior.

If education is understood this way, it can be said to occupy an important place in the mind of those who want to change the world. For such people, education has a transformative role. In his book Pedagogy of the Oppressed, Paulo Freire wrote that the purpose of reflection and human action is to transform the world. He referred to this as praxis. This transformative role of education can be found in the Learning Compass⎯the new education paradigm of the OECD. This new paradigm emphasizes social responsibility as an important characteristic of education.

*The Education Reform Movement and Democracy

At this point, let us take a look back at the recent history of Korean education reform. Since the late 1980s, democracy has been a core principle of the Korean education reform movement, and Korean education has developed in the direction of realizing, expanding, and deepening democracy. Korean education is democracy-oriented education, and I think the next step in the process of strengthening democracy brings us to ecological transition education⎯education for the realization of an ecological civilization.

The modern history of Korea is divided into a period of dictatorship and a period of democratization by the June 1987 Democratic Uprising. Prior to 1987, the dictatorship in Korea was a “modernization dictatorship”⎯a dictatorship which aimed to see Korea grow into a modern, industrial society like those in the West. Accordingly, its education was not only based on authoritarianism, Cold War anti-communism, and right-wing conservatism, but also instilled in students the ideas of modern Western civilization⎯industrialism, nationalism, grothism or productivism, and marketism. (I think current neoliberalism is an extreme form of growthism or productivism and marketism on a global scale.)

Since 1987, as Korean society has stood against authoritarianism and struggled to strengthen democracy, so too has there been a struggle to overcome the authoritarian education of the past and realize democratic education. The Korean education reform movement has been striving to change the existing education system and the perceptions and pedagogy on which it is based. There has been an effort to reform the authoritarian education bureaucracy⎯the top-down hierarchy which characterized the relationship between the central government and schools⎯and also to transform education based on democratic principles. Through this movement, democratic citizenship education came into the curriculum. We called this hyukshin education.

During the authoritarian era, the state’s main goal was to, as a developing country, catch up to advanced Western nations. Indeed, authoritarian states which are oriented towards modernization generally have this kind of character. The state demanded that education produce highly competent people in order to compete with Western companies and increase exports. I call this kind of authoritarian and market-competition-centered education “No. 1 education.” Hyukshin education, which is based on democratic principles, aims to transcend this No. 1 education.

*From No. 1 Education to Only-One Education 

In view of this, I use the phrase “from No. 1 education to only-one education” to express the values on which Korea’s hyukshin education movement is based. In an economy dominated by industrialism and growthism, education in Korea has been a competition to outdo others, to get outstanding grades and a high score on the K-SAT, and to enter a top-ranked university. But education which transcends competition, helps all students to develop to their full potential, and equally respects all students⎯of different nationalities, ethnicities, and genders, whether they have excellent grades or not, and whether they have outstanding abilities or not⎯is “only-one education.”

Through the effort to expand hyukshin education, feminism and pro-labor sentiments have been accepted, and recently, amid the climate crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic, the need for transition to an ecological civilization has also been understood and recognized.

2. The Climate Crisis, the Ecological Crisis, and a New “Beyond-Modern” Education

I think solving the current climate crisis and ecological crisis is not a matter of addressing a particular isolated problem, but of reflecting on and overcoming the “modern” system which we have developed, and lived in, for several hundred years.

For the sake of human survival, it is necessary to consider how to turn a system which has been called “modern” and has been seen as civilized compared to what was “pre-modern” into a system that is “beyond modern.” 

* The Need to Imagine a Fundamental Transformation of “Modern” Economic and Social Systems and Ways of Life

Faced with the conditions of the climate and ecological crises, I think it is necessary to imagine a fundamental transformation of “modern” economic and social systems and ways of life, and to boldly implement such a transition. The modernity of which I speak here is based on the principles of more production, transport and distribution for cheaper production, more consumption, and more conquest and control of nature without regard for the destruction of ecosystems. This modern system has reached a crisis point because, against the backdrop of neoliberal globalization, production, distribution, and consumption is occurring at a global scale. The crisis was not so grave when products were produced and consumed at local levels, or even when production and consumption was national. However, with the emergence of global production and distibution systems, production and consumption now encompass and assimilate the world, disregarding regional and national self-sufficiency. This has led to greater consumption of resources and energy, and more destruction of ecosystems. Naturally, this crisis has worsened as the wave of industrialization has spread around the world. Now it threatens human existence, and we must imagine and implement a new alternative⎯one which, I think, should be based on a more self-sufficient local cyclical economy.

Here I would like to mention a few things about alternative economic and social systems and ways of life. 

On October 1, 2018, the 48th Session of the IPCC, which was held in Incheon, approved a special report entitled Global Warming of 1.5 Degrees. In short, to limit the global temperature increase to 1.5 degrees, carbon emissions should reach net zero by 2050. In order to do this, by 2030 we have to cut our emissions by 45% from 2010 levels. This consensus on climate change presupposes that the carbon-based industrial era is, and should be, over.

*The Need for Ecological Transition Away From the Current Global Industrial System

First, I would like to emphasize the need to concern ourselves with how to transform the global industrial food production and distribution system into an ecological system that is appropriate for the climate change era. For example, considering the link between the structures of reproduction of existing industries and the green economy, we should create a circular economy and a low carbon economic system. Using a variety of new technologies, including active and passive technologies, we need to begin an era of zero-carbon architecture and build zero-carbon schools. Of course, our challenge is to reduce energy use. As more and more countries become industrialized, the excessive-energy-consumption lifestyle of humans is becoming more convenient. However, nature cannot tolerate this. Moreover, until the present, if cheap production has been possible anywhere on the planet it has been best to produce goods there and deliver them to consumers through global distribution networks. But now we also need a transition away from the current global transportation-distribution system. We should also consider creating a new technology system which minimizes transportation using the Internet of Things (IoT) and mobile technology. Naturally, we need to regulate fossil energy emissions, introduce autonomous vehicles, and minimize unnecessary use of transportation through vehicle sharing.

We should make efforts to realize the maximum possible self-sufficiency and circular economic potential of the local area⎯which has been regarded as antiquated⎯by actively promoting the local circular economy. Of course, we need to reduce energy consumption due to the movement of materials. Green agriculture has already spread under the name of organic farming. As a European Union report has said, a shift in strategy from “Farm to Fork” should be undertaken in order to produce more sustainable agricultural products. This could be applied to so-called precision agriculture, organic farming, agricultural ecology, forest ecology, and strict animal welfare standards.

A new approach to financial investment is also needed. The same standards as in the aggressive investment in the green economy and alternative energy should be applied to the movement of capital, social standards that limit investment in carbon-emitting companies should be established, and financing for the above-mentioned circular economy should be secured.

In fact, it is the case that certain efforts are being made in individual policy areas⎯global standards on carbon emissions are compelling them. From an ecological (civilization) transition perspective, it is just a matter of how to create an interconnected system.

*The Need for a New Conception of the Economy

If we are to conceive of the economy in a new way, the most important epistemological challenge is changing our conception of how the economy circulates.

In the current conception of neoliberal globalization, the basic spatial unit of economic circulation is the globe⎯a self-sufficient circular economy on a global scale is presumed. However, from the perspective of ecological civilization, it should be emphasized that maximum self-sufficiency of the local circular economy should be the basic starting point. I think this is the heart of sustainable development and a sustainable economy. The European Union’s Green Deal project is thought to be a step in this direction. For example, “Farm to Fork” is a comprehensive circular economy process which encompasses production, agriculture, distribution, consumption, food culture, waste, and recycling.

The economy is cyclical, and the neoliberal world economy based on the global value chain is, of course, a global-scale economic cycle. But its scale and anonymity are a problem, as is its “placelessness.” Production has no knowledge of, and no responsibility for, the subsequent consumption process and unacceptable waste problems. Worsening global pollution and inequality can be likened to living on a round Earth but thinking that it is flat. If the fact that companies are not bearing the true economic and social costs is considered, at a fundamental level the flow of the global economic system is not economical. It is in this context in which Helena Norberg-Hodge makes clear her criticisms of international trade and argues that the alternative is local.

The global profit economy⎯the market⎯has stopped functioning during the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, in our era in which the climate crisis makes itself felt in everyday life, in order to cope with the looming ecological and social risks it is important to increase self-sufficiency, reduce transport distances, and have a regional base for basic needs such as food, energy, health, childcare, and housing. In addition, existing conceptions of food, clothing, and shelter could be replaced with various aspects of the sociocultural commons, which would facilitate more communication and connection between people.

Here, I think we can make use of the smart digital technology of the so-called Fourth Industrial Revolution⎯for instance, IoT and artificial intelligence⎯to devise an alternative global economic system based on energy transition and a Green New Deal, and on the local circular economy. This should be discussed as a positive socio-structural alternative and should become an important social agenda.

3. COVID-19 and New Ecological Sensibilities

Our experience of the COVID-19 pandemic compels us to reflect on our current economic and social systems and ways of life. I think new reflective sensibilities can lead to an alternative reconstruction⎯based on the self-sufficient local circular economy⎯of global economic and social systems and our current ways of life

For example, humans have been confronted with an entirely new experience by the COVID-19 crisis. Many people think we will be able to return to our pre-pandemic lives. But tens of millions of people have been infected and more than a million have died, and we have, remarkably, witnessed the world’s economy coming to a stop. And we are experiencing the paradox of the pandemic: Nature is beginning to recover. The coronavirus must serve as a corrective to the civilization we have mistakenly built. As interconnected beings, we are called to reflect on humanity and nature, reflect on our civilization, and bring about a “new normal” for human civilization

We cannot outsource responsibility for the Earth. The COVID-19 pandemic has once again confirmed a very old lesson: “You reap what you sow.” Nobody can relieve us of the pollution we produce. In the past, we have “outsourced” it to developing countries, but we cannot do this any longer. We have reached a critical point. We each are realizing that the Earth’s problems are our problems⎯our individual problems and the problems of our communities.

*A New Understanding of Interconnectedness

From an ecological civilization perspective, through the pandemic we have been brought face to face with the old, long forgotten wisdom that humans, animals, and nature are all interconnected. The coronavirus also reminds us that we are interconnected through existential risks from disasters⎯a virus which has lost its natural habitat is now destroying human and natural ecosystems by using us as its new host. A single person infected with the virus can transmit it to hundreds of others, and through social distancing we are barely managing to survive. This pandemic clearly shows that the lives of humans and animals are interconnected, and that a person’s health and safety is inseparable from the health and safety of the entire community.

On this point, the Buddhist conception of causality and the relationship theory of the Korean intellectual Shin Young-bok have implications for us. Most religions and philosophies look back and try to identify causes, trying to grasp the essential entity. However, Buddha believed that all phenomena are based on interdependence, and valued processes more than results and relationships more than individual entities. From the Buddhist perspective, “I” cannot be separated from “what is not I.” It is true that for those who are used to I-am-good-and-you-are-evil dichotomous thinking, this is difficult to accept without a Copernican turn, but in this view, determining fortune or misfortune is not a goal but a process, and fortune or misfortune is something that is not in me alone, but is in the relationship between you and me. In the Buddhist conception of causality, and in the relationship theory of Shin Young-bok, it goes without saying that a relationship of happiness implies not one-way domination but mutual respect. Our model of education should reflect this.

Also, the relationship between our current modern industrial civilization and the coming era of artificial intelligence is becoming a pressing issue. We all have concerns about when the rapid evolution of artificial intelligence will bring us to technological singularity and what kind of impact that will have on human civilization. Would the emergence of super-intelligence mean that humans would no longer be useful? I am not sure about that, but I am sure that it is time to reflect on what it means to be human.

The age of artificial intelligence is commonly referred to as the Fourth Industrial Era. On one hand, this could mean the arrival of a new industrial era symbolized by big data and AI but, on the other hand, it could mean a new kind of era which transcends industrial civilization and addresses the needs of the climate crisis. The arrival of the new AI era should not exacerbate our current ecological problems but should be taken advantage of in a way such that it contributes to overcoming the climate crisis.

4. The Urgent Need for Ecological Transition Education

As mentioned above, based on the need for an alternative to our current economic and social systems and ways of life, and on the wisdom we have gained through the COVID-19 pandemic, we cannot but discuss the need for a new educational paradigm. This is what I am promoting at schools in Seoul through a new policy called ecological transition education.

The climate crisis and the pandemic, particulate matter, species loss, and the other environmental catastrophes that we are experiencing are structural disasters caused by the systemic limitations and errors inherent in today’s industrial civilization. This complex crisis has been brought about by mistaken societal behavior which has led to disharmony in nature. As the world pursues Western-style economic development, it uses resources without limits and produces massive amounts of waste. In the process, we have used far too much fossil fuel and caused global temperatures to rise.

Therefore, the current problem is not something that can be solved by a narrow set of policies or changes to individual practices, no matter how few disposable products individuals use or how much they recycle. To overcome structural disasters, fundamental worldwide changes to “modern” systems are necessary, including in our own society. For this to happen, an education transition that promotes wholesale new thinking is essential.

Beyond teaching ecological content in schools, the ecology of education itself should be transformed. We must move away from education which seeks the skills and qualifications needed to ensure more consumption and more ownership, and we must move towards education which aims at sustainability⎯achieving a better quality of life while producing and consuming within the limits of the Earth’s capacity. This we call education for the transition to an ecological civilization.

*A New Education Which Transcends the Modern System

This new ecological transition education implies an effort not to improve modern education but to go beyond it.

Modern education aimed to “manufacture” human beings to meet the needs of the modern industrial society and its principles of conquest of nature, unlimited use of fossil fuels, production for exchange rather than use, and blind pursuit of profit.

Industrial civilization, as represented by industrialization, nationalism, growthism, and marketism created the modern school as a tool for the reproduction of labor so that profit can be pursued by companies and markets. In the modern school, we have called ourselves human resources. However, as the crisis of modern civilization sets in, people are breaking away from such a view and the modern conception of education.

We call our new alternative education ecological transition education⎯education for the transition to a new ecological civilization. We need to transform our present system of education and its content and pedagogy into a new model in order that humans can live justly and happily within the bounds of the natural world. We have to reimagine existing education for the wellbeing of people and the planet.

I think that, despite the many difficulties at the school level due to the COVID-19 pandemic, ecological transition education⎯which is fundamentally different from existing environmental and ecological education⎯has already begun in our schools and in many others around the world.

The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education is in the process of implementing a mid- and long-term development plan for ecological transition education. With the aim of “zero carbon schools” the school environment will be transformed, and in order that members of the education community can grow into “ecological citizens,” I am proposing the ecological transition of the curriculum and a number of transitional tasks.

As the transition to an ecological civilization requires global efforts, policies have been made in accordance with the international standards of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and UNESCO’s Education for Sustainable Development 2030 (ESD for 2030).

Also, through innovative education which seeks autonomy and collaboration, and through creative education that prepares for the era of big data and AI, we will make continuous and integrated efforts with the goal of fostering students who actively participate in ecological transition. We take seriously Greta Thunberg’s warning that “the eyes of all future generations are upon us” and we will strive to fundamentally transform our way of life.

*The Primary Areas of Focus of Ecological Transition Education

The primary areas of focus will be as follows:

1. As an aspect of “lesson innovation” there will be changes to educational content which contribute to the development of ecological awareness and sensibility in future generations.

2. Schools will have significance as small “ecological civilization transition cities (towns)” and they will be spaces where ecological transition awareness and sensibility are experienced, experimented with, and self-directed.

3. It is important to ensure that education is central to renewal of local communities. Accordingly, the self-sufficient community and the local economy will be combined to create the character of a “village education community” (of which the hyukshin education district is an example).

The next important task would probably be to revise textbooks themselves. There is an urgent need for reform of textbooks and the content of education, for instance in economics education. With respect to sustainable development education, the content of Korean economics education covers the social economy and cooperatives, but growthism, market fundamentalism, pro-business-ism, and other such values are given priority. From the perspective of the circular economy, the local circular economy, and a sustainable economy, new technologies will also be required. This new content should be included in the next national curriculum. Furthermore, I am proposing education related to the circular economy and the local circular economy, and career-, employment-, and start-up-related education. I intend to include this in the mid- to long-term plan of ecological transformation education. 

Furthermore, in order to bolster localities and regions, I think it is necessary to “ecologically synthesize” many of the policies, programs, and achievements of the Seoul Metropolitan Government and the education office. The key concepts are integration and synthesis⎯ecological synthesis and an integrated and holistic approach. I think the core values will be connection and integration between regions, generations, humans and nature, schools and villages, cities and rural areas, knowledge and behavior, and reason and emotion. Integration and diversity should also be important values in the curriculum. In terms of research, comprehensive, multi-disciplinary, or trans-disciplinary research is needed (religion and science, humanities and quantum mechanics and biology, cosmology and economics, policy studies, etc.).

Ecological transformation education is an education that seeks fundamental changes in thought and behavior for the coexistence and sustainability of humans and nature. So the key is to evoke an ecologically awakened subject. Modern people cannot escape their digital devices for even a moment. But we are living and breathing in nature. If you cannot communicate with nature, you will fall ill.

It is time for a great transition. The transition should begin with energy conversion. We need to change our fossil fuel-addicted lifestyle. Through this process, we will realize that we are living and breathing in the natural world. And we will be able to meet the 1.5°C target promised by the international community in the Paris Agreement.

Ecological transition schools will be brimming with education which brings humans to the realization of their coexistence with the ecosystem and fosters awakened subjects who act to overcome our addiction to fossil fuels. I have seen the promise of ecological transition education in Seoul at Guksabong Middle School. At Guksabong Middle School, together with the Seongdaegol Energy Transition Village, social cooperatives are being created, solar panels are being installed, and ecological-energy education courses are being operated through convergence classes and voluntary student activities. This is a very good example of energy conservation and ecological transition education.

In concluding, I would like to raise the question, “Where can we find hope in the midst of this dire climate crisis?” In these desperate times, anyone who pushes for alternatives or anyone who engages in dialogue about ecological transition gives me hope. Worthy of mention are the young people from Youth for Climate Action whom I met with twice last year. I felt hope as I watched them confidently demanding a sustainable future.

In my view, the education reform movement in Korea and abroad does not move towards a fixed goal, but changes and develops through dialogue with the young generation as they attend school while, at the same time, suffering and struggling under the weight of our many problems.

When I became superintendent of education in 2014, inspired by “dialogue” with the children of the Sewol Ferry disaster, I dreamed of changing our education system with innovative education policies that embody the values of “the only-one education for all” and “collaborative community education living together.”

Through the 2016-2017 Candlelight Revolution and “dialogue” with countless citizens and students, democratic citizenship education, global citizenship education, and gender education, which promote everyday democracy and embody values of diversity and equality, have been included in the curriculum.

And in the midst of this acute climate crisis, through “dialogue” with Greta Thunberg and our young people from Youth for Climate Action who have said to us, “You must safeguard our future⎯we are an endangered species!” I have announced ecological transition education, which I conceive of as praxis.

So, changes in our education system are being made through dialogue with children and young people who have been oppressed by the current reality.

I see hope in everyone who is already practicing ecological transition education, students and teachers who will practice it in the future, and in the schools to which they belong.

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Water is one of, if not the most essential resource to life on earth. It enables everything else we want to do in life. As Henk Ovink says, “if we take care of the water, the water takes care of us.”

We are one of the two primary organizers of W12+ Programs, a movement that catalyzes, connects, and incubates urban water solutions globally. W12+ focuses on cross-sector approaches to water issues to drive in solutions for a waterwise future for all.

2020 has been a busy year for EcoCiv’s water team. 

Through our W12+ partnership, we:

• Held the “Cities Facing Escalating Water Shortages” conference at the University of the Western Cape, in Cape Town South Africa in January 2020. We welcome over 150 delegates from over 13 countries for a multi-day facilitated program. 
• Released the W12+ Framework that guided our initial approach to the pervasive issue of urban water security. This report set the tone for our preliminary approach to water solutions.
• Held W12+ Online: Urban Water Security in Uncertain Times in May 2020
• Worked to complete 30+ case studies of innovative, replicable water solutions representing 20+ countries for the W12+ Blueprint.
• Secured exciting partnerships for the W12+ Blueprint (stay tuned for more information coming soon!)
• Held the W12+ Drive-In in Cape Town, South Africa and virtually around the world! The W12+ Drive-In was the first hybrid water conference, “Driving in a Waterwise Future for all.”

W12+ fills a unique gap in the water space. 

• We work primarily in urban settings, as the nexus of climate change and rapid urbanization is creating particularly challenging realities. 
• We focus on solutions, capacity building, empowerment, and peer-to-peer engagement. 
• We work to empower leaders in the water industry to be more effective by providing a platform to share solutions, connect about shared challenges, and learn from experiences of similar cities and leaders. 
• Our approach is multifaceted, dynamic, and adaptable — ever-changing as the water crisis and available solutions need us to be. 

We are proud to work on these “wicked” challenges of urban water insecurity. We believe that providing clean water to all people and for the environment is a keystone piece of creating an ecological civilization. 

The post A year about water appeared first on Institute for Ecological Civilization.

World Toilet Day is coming up on November 19 and with it, a unique invitation to imagine life without something so fundamental as a toilet. Most of you reading this piece probably have indoor plumbing with hot and cold water and underground septic systems. But, the reality is that worldwide, 1 in 3 people lack toilet facilities. Over half of the world’s population — 4.2 billion people — lack safe sanitation. Most horrifying of all, a child under 5 dies every 90 seconds because of a lack of access to clean water and sanitation.

There are many different types of toilets in the world — from porcelain European-style indoor toilets to “VIP,” or Ventilated Improved Pit Latrines, to squat toilets — the cultural variants to toilets abound. But the need for toilets is the same, and the opportunity toilets provide is elemental to human flourishing. 

So, ahead of World Toilet Day, we invite you to imagine life without a toilet. Imagine being a young girl walking to a shared bathroom at night, having to use a communal toilet amid a pandemic, having to pay exorbitant fees to use sanitation facilities, not being able to remain hygienic during a menstrual period, having to use a bucket indoors at night because it’s too dangerous to walk outside. Lacking a toilet is much more than lacking convenience; it’s lacking safety, health, and comfort. 

Around the world, 80% of wastewater flows back into the natural environment without being treated or reused. Improved site sanitation provides innumerable benefits; it can enable girls to stay in school, improve children’s and families’ health, reduce risks of violence at shared toilets, improve ecosystem functions, and provide greywater through wastewater treatment plants. 

Water is an enabler for life, but it can also be a destroyer of life. Water is wellbeing. 

At EcoCiv and through our W12+ Programs, we seek to catalyze sustainable solutions to pervasive issues of water scarcity, particularly in urban areas around the world. 

W12+ is a multifaceted movement for global water solutions. W12+ Programs include events, research, facilitation, and capacity building. W12+ aims to bridge existing gaps between high-visibility business events, rigorous research, and on-the-ground experience; W12+ rejects traditional silos and breaks down barriers to water solutions.

W12+’s distinct focus is on catalyzing partnerships to adapt and replicate existing solutions to pervasive water issues. It maintains that solutions exist and hope is paramount.

The future of water is clear; the time for action is now!

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Water is the key that unlocks human opportunity and ecological wellbeing. It is what our existence here on the “blue planet” depends on.  

At EcoCiv, much of our work focuses on looking at systems and structures that either promote or prevent the wellbeing of people and the planet. Water is one of the few “resources” that we focus on specifically in our project areas (our other focal areas are Reimagining Human Communities, Wellbeing Economies, and Dialogues for Systems Change). This blog provides a brief overview of why we, as EcoCiv, are focusing so much on water and why we believe that water itself is, in effect, wellbeing itself. As we strive to promote the wellbeing of people and the planet, water is a clear focal point for that. 

We believe that water security and resilience is a core part of the “wellbeing of people and planet;” in some ways, this connection is obvious. We live on the “blue planet.” We are 70% water. In other ways, the connection is elusive. What does wastewater treatment or borehole registration have to do with an ecological civilization? Or perhaps more aptly, what is EcoCiv’s role in the complex world of global water security, of which there is no shortage of technology, expertise, funding, and need?

The short answer is that EcoCiv, mainly through its work as a co-organizer of the W12+ Programs, plays a connecting, catalyzing, and incubating role. The challenges of global water security are many. But so are the solutions. EcoCiv and its partners, SOS NPO, work to bring about catalytic change towards a water-secure future for all through new partnerships, shared solutions, and sustainable financing – a new movement for water security.

So, why water? For an ecological civilization defined by wellbeing, water is…

• Human dignity
• A child’s future
• Freedom from disease
• Crop irrigation
• Economic opportunities
• Cooking
• Healthy ecosystems
• Girls’ education
• Ecological health
• Hygiene and Sanitation
• Clean energy sources
• Sources of food
• Space to think and reflect
• Religious or cultural practices
• Adventure and exploration
• Recreation and time with family

We know that a dollar invested in water yields $4-7+ in benefits in the areas listed above. Water is catalytic and vital for wellbeing. As the EcoCiv team, we’re excited to work on these important issues for wellbeing of people and planet and we invite you to join us.

So, what does water mean to you?

Throughout our #WaterIsWellbeing campaign, we invite you to reimagine your relationship with water. What does water mean to you? Leave a comment, write us an email, or tweet at us!

The post Why water? appeared first on Institute for Ecological Civilization.

What would be the future of education look like in post COVID-19 era? Why the systemic transition in education from mechanical/industrial mindset to ecological mindset? Two researching scholars at EcoCiv Korea, Dr. Keunhwa Jung and Dr. Yunjeong Han had a talk on this critical issue. EcoCiv Korea has been working closely together with Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education in developing mid/long term plan and curriculums in ecological transition in education. The followings are the conversation of two scholars on these issues by categories.

The unprecedented crisis, even changing the school environment.

Yunjeong Han: There was an unprecedented happen in which children could not go to school. This social pause causes students, teachers, and parents to have new experiences and thoughts, and at this opportunity, the informatization of education is likely to progress. I think that the key to informatization is to expand the interaction between teachers and students. It was difficult for the teachers to contact the child one by one and check the announcements to be conveyed, but it felt desirable in terms of communication.

Gunna Jung: Professors also voluntarily hold workshops and share tips on driving students to participate in online. I also think that it is ‘’the formation of community trust’ through common interest and common problem-solving. On the other hand, if online classes replace face-to-face lectures at universities, the question is likely to come to mind whether it is necessary to maintain the current university space and system. 

Han: Of course, it is clear that remote classes cannot replace face-to-face classes. However, I hope that it would be good if online ‘access’ would become common even after school reopens.  

Jung: ‘The experience of stopping the whole world’s daily life at the same time’ is a truly special experience. No one would have predicted this experience in advance. This is a sort of ‘Black Swan’ case. According to Nassim N. Taleb, who is a mathematical statistician, scholar, and the author of Black Swan, Black swan is an event that is unlikely to happen but that if it does, it will cost a lot of shock and cost. The message is that we need a whole new understanding and prospect of the future. Because if we don’t radically change our perspectives and attitudes, we will behave in the same way as we were, so we’re likely to repeat similar situations in different forms. 

Han: If it is an opportunity to think about what humans are, is it tremendous? The duality of human beings is also revealed when a huge crisis hits impressive. On the one hand, exclusion and hatred of others raise; on the other hand, there would be hope that people could find altruism and cooperation, such as the commitment of people who care for patients. “COVID-19 epidemic triggered a global trend of kindness,” said professor Jamil Zaki of psychology at Stanford University. He stated, “We need to create a new normal from ruthless individualism to more value for empathy and fellowship, not going back to the past when the pandemic would be over.” It means that it is the opportunity to recover the distorted humanity in the neoliberal infinite competition. 

The cause of the global crisis and the problem of economic growth firstism

Han: As a solution to the new epidemic, WHO (World Health Organization) has argued the concept of ‘One Health’ since 2010. There is a premise that only when animals are healthy can humans be healthy, and that the environment should be healthy. The environmental destruction has been related to the problem of climate change and exposed to the Pandemic. I think that the climate crisis will also have an impact on our lives in a similar way as COVID-19. I think that the solution is to regain the position of humans on earth. We need to create a ‘sustainable civilization’ that produces and consumes within the capacity of the Earth.

Jung: Taleb emphasized the uncertainty of climate change and urged thorough preparation, while experts argued that it is important to understand the underlying causes. Developing forests incorrectly is like opening Pandora’s box. It is said that as biodiversity is eroded when conditions that protect humans from viruses tend to be eliminated when forests are removed from the ecosystem or agricultural land is replaced by residential areas. In short, I think that it is necessary to reflect on the anti-ecological nature of modern industrial civilization and to transform the social system in which modern industrial civilization works.

Han: The prediction that there will be more victims from economic collapse than victims of COVID-19. The economic crisis has to be overcome quickly and efficiently in that it is most difficult for the poor. The damage to COVID-19 in the United States was shocking. While the U.S. accounts for 25% of the global GNP, there are no masks, no beds, and the most victims. This phenomenon can be seen as the evil of capitalism, which has divided production into labor in order to generate maximum profits. After World War II, economism, which replaced nationalism, dominated the world, which revealed its limitations through the Pandemic and the climate crisis. The solution is a new ideology of globalism. As acknowledging the fact that “we have only one Earth,” I think that the economy that prioritizes the value of life should become a mainstream economy, not an alternative economy.

Jung: I agree with you. While Naomi Klein argues, “climate change is a battle between capitalism and the planet,” what really matters is the economy, that is our thoughts on the economy. In this sense, the content of economic education needs to be changed, and we need to image an alternative economic model. Above all, production, transportation, and consumption on a global scale today raise serious questions about sustainability. What I want to emphasize is that the change has already begun. Economic policies focused solely on economic growth, are wrong, and the perception that GDP statistics, which hold the throne of national policy, are a false compass is gaining consensus. 

In what ways will the world go now?

Han: One would say that the meaning of B.C. has changed from “Before Christ” to “Before COVID-19.” The rise of the ‘Untact economy’ is expected to be the biggest change, as it is highly contagious and distance-based. However, one thing that digitalization is excessively emphasized. Of course, I do not deny the merits and openness of digital beyond physically blocked space. Digitalization has the ecological value that reduces the waste of resources due to unnecessary movement. While we have to reflect on the problems of mass production, mass consumption, and globalization, which are the root causes of COVID-19, it is necessary to point out alternatives.

Jung: It is time to seriously consider circular economy as a new economic model instead of linear economy that runs out of resources that are depleted and unaffordable. In order for production, distribution, and consumption to circulate, the production system should be newly designed from the point of view of resource circulation so that waste, which is the result of consumption, can be re-injected into production biologically and technically. Through this, the ecosystem in which waste becomes food and the wisdom of economic activities of all living things must be carried out in human economic activities. It is also necessary to reduce the size of the economic circulation in order to increase the resilience and self-sufficiency of the local economy. In particular, we have experienced the first stop in the trade of health care supplies and food in the midst of Pandemic. In this way, food, energy, and healthcare should not be left to international trade, which is highly unstable and uncertain, and should be as self-sufficient as possible at the local level. In other words, we must move toward local circular economy where the social economy and the shared economy based on the local community can become the main agents.

The direction of our education after COVID-19

Han: After the Sewol ferry disaster, many parents have changed: they realized that clinging to grades and entrance college exams presupposes that children live in good health. The same goes for COVID-19. It seems that there will be some cracks in the traditional education system centered on grades and entrance exams. If universities that used to pay high tuition fees for finding better employments are reorganized into practical ways of acquiring expertise rather than accumulating academic capital, it is expected that public education will be normalized.  

Jung: That’s right. The ‘stopping situation’ brought about by the virus raised a fundamental question about education. No one denies that current education should change forward, but one of the great barriers to the changes in the inertia, institution, and system itself for education that is currently maintained. 

Han: Online classes are not devoted compared to face-to-face classes; they should be focused on the value of equity rather than discrimination in evaluation or grades. The values of progressive education should be promoted, such as cooperation rather than competition, ways to acquire knowledge instead of knowledge itself, and education that fosters creativity and ecological literacy.

Jung: The person who goes down the way can only stop and see far away whether the road that is going is the target point. Online education was actually not a technical problem, but because it was inertial, uncomfortable and unfamiliar, we kept away. As offline (face-to-face) education stopped due to COVID-19, online education quickly entered the education field. As you stated, it is really important to realize the ordinary truth; the premise of the goals is to ‘make children live healthy and alive instead of the grades and college entrance, and that the goal of education is ‘to make children live healthy and happy.’

Introduction of ecological transformation education, why now?

Han: Last year, ‘Youth for Climate action’ asked Cho Heeyeon, who is an education governor of Seoul, for education on climate crisis. With this opportunity, Seoul Mayor Park Wonsoon and an education governor of Seoul Jo Heeyeon announced the joint declaration of Ecological Civilization transition City Seoul (09/26/2019), and the governor of education also created a mid- to long-term plan for ecological transition education to be implemented between 2020 and 2024. The key to ecological transition education is to learn and teach about the structure of the ecological crisis represented by climate change, what system changes are needed, how social structure and economy, how daily life should be reorganized, what fields and jobs will be created.

Jung: This COVID-19 Pandemic calls for reflection on ‘wide and big changes’ and ‘deep changes’ in our society. This ‘wide and deep change’ is called ‘transition’, and I think ecological transition education is an education that changes one’s perspective and attitude beyond simply being interested in environmental issues. UNESCO’s sustainable education 2030′ which prepares for the climate crisis, emphasizes cooperation and integration efforts with the aim of cultivating subjects who practice life and behavior transitions that transform beyond the curriculum into classrooms, beyond classrooms to schools, beyond schools to communities. Personally, I think that the key is the integrated effort and holistic approach to ensure that ecological reason and ecological sensibility that is integrated into the cooperation of curriculum, classrooms, schools, and communities. The common umbrella will be ‘a learning place for sustainable life and the world for the transition and solidarity.’

The future of school and education, the answer of students as subjects 

Jung: Our future will be marked by ‘black swan.’ The future of school education should be the education that fosters the wisdom and ability to live in that future. The education government of Seoul should play a role in organizing time and space for experiments and achievements in classrooms, schools, and local areas to lead to a big flow, rather than instructing schools top-down. In this sense, time is ‘waiting,’ and space is ‘together’. No one can do this alone, but we have to wait and stay together to meet each other. Finally, I want to say that students should be subjects. In order to take the lead, students need time and public space to participate. You should help students think, discuss, and find solutions to the problem of COVID-19.

Han: I totally agree with you. The key to our ability to live in a changing world is to be a competent learner on your own. One of the sources reviewed when preparing mid-to-long-term plans for the ecological transition education was ‘learning compass 2030′ announced by OECD. Learning compasses emphasize that students need to learn not to simply accept teachers’ guidance or instructions, but rather to find their own meaning in new situations. When the wave hit, the critical thing is to see the big picture and steer. We need to find diverse ways to get the compass in the hands of children.

This article is translated by Heeyoung Jung, staff of EcoCiv Korea and edited by Dongwoo Lee, Director of EcoCiv Korea from the article, https://now.sen.go.kr/?p=6220 (글 유현경 사진 장은주)

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On Mandela Day, we are called on to celebrate the life and legacy of the anti-apartheid leader Nelson Mandela. As we continue to design solutions for global wellbeing, how can we enliven Mandela’s legacy of promoting peace, reconciliation, and social justice into our own work?

Next week we are hosting the panel “A World Without Racism? Building an Ecological Civilization” as part of the Dialogues on Global Systems Change series. In this panel we will convene world leaders, among them anti-apartheid activist Mamphela Ramphele, to discuss how principles of racial equity can lead to a more sustainable society. What lessons can we take from history to build a better world — a world without racism — for tomorrow?

Racism goes hand-in-hand with the current exploitative systems of the world. The economic interests of European colonialism also came tainted with Western superiority that cast non-Western populations as inferior and “primitive.” In 20th-century South Africa, colonialism molded itself into apartheid, a system of institutionalized racial segregation that reigned the country for five decades. Apartheid, which means “apartness” in Dutch-influenced Afrikaans, was organized through a legal social stratification that placed white South Africans at the top and Black Africans at the bottom. Other racialized groups, with labels such as “Coloured” or “Indian” were ranked in the middle. This stratification dictated  people’s rights and privileges in nearly every aspect of life, from public gatherings, to housing placements, to employment opportunities. 

Nelson Mandela was a key figure in the struggle and negotiations to end apartheid, but ending apartheid would not have been possible without the solidarity of organizations and activists from around the world. In many countries, citizens and residents connected anti-apartheid movements their own struggles against local racial and social oppression. It was the concept “think globally, act locally” that helped incite the global rally to free Mandela from prison and end the legal system of apartheid. In 1990, Mandela was released from prison and in 1994, he was elected as the first Black president in a post-apartheid South Africa. 

Today, South Africa is known as the “Rainbow Nation,” a term referring to the diversity of people, languages, and cultures represented through South Africa’s flag. However, the residue of apartheid and socio-economic stratification still plagues the country to this very day. As we continue to work with our partner on urban water projects, SOS NPO in South Africa, we at EcoCiv recognize the racial and power disparities that inhibit water security for many non-white communities. 

As degraded infrastructure continues to be a key long-term factor driving the water crisis in cities such as Cape Town, we know that the majority Black populations living in “informal” settlements are bearing the brunt of these deteriorated infrastructures and, therefore, lack of water access. 

Cape Town’s townships and informal settlements comprise predominantly Black and Coloured communities that are historically underserved and underrepresented. With what some say is the most inclusive constitution in the world, all residents in South Africa arel legally  entitled to adequate housing and water, among many other rights. In reality, this constitutional right doesn’t translate into lived experiences. The complexity of providing healthy, safe, affordable, and reliable water to all of Cape Town’s residents isn’t a new problem, but due to climate change and infrastructure issues, is a particularly acute challenge today. 

Providing sustainable water solutions is impossible without critically rethinking power and racial dynamics in countries like South Africa and elsewhere in the world. While apartheid may have legally ended 26 years ago, its inequities are still pervasive today. So, as we work toward solutions to some of these critical issues like water security, the question we must ask ourselves is, “How do we solve these issues without perpetuating racialized power dynamics, and what does a just transition look like?”

Race, climate, and water access are issues that link together within a larger system. 

Part of imagining a world without racism is recognizing that everything is connected — recognizing that sustainable systems such as circular economies and bioregions can enormously benefit communities of color who have been disproportionately impacted by our system of exploitative economic practices. In working toward a world without racism, when we promote wellbeing for Black and Brown communities, we are promoting wellbeing for all. 

This year we commemorate Nelson Mandela Day with a heightened sense of importance and reflection on our own work as an organization and as individuals. As people across the global continue to join in anti-racist uprisings, we must think about how we can channel Mandela’s legacy into making a difference in our own communities. Please join our panel on July 22, 2020, and become part of the larger conversation on anti-racism everywhere. 

Register here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/113383408828

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By Reverend Dongwoo Lee, EcoCiv Korea

On Friday, March 27, 2020, the Institute for Ecological Civilization held a seminar in webinar format entitled “The Most Important Lessons from COVID-19.″ The panel conversation was conducted through Zoom and broadcast live on Facebook. Participants who connected via Facebook Live continued the discussion with a lively commentary about the panel in a chat window.

Panelists who attended the seminar discussed the topic, “A Conversation About Global Systems Change,” sharing opinions about the global prospects of a world post-COVID-19. Mamphela Ramphele is a South African politician and anti-apartheid activist who served as co-chair of the Club of Rome. She was also a director of the World Bank. Jeremy Lent is a writer and founder of the Liology Institute, and is based in Berkeley, California. Elliott Harris is Chief Economist of the UN Dept. of Economic and Social Affairs and is an expert in the international economy and development. Vandana Shiva is an environmental activist and scholar in India, an expert in anti-globalization and an eco-feminist. Professor Gunna Jung is a teacher and researcher at Hanshin University’s Department of Economics and works with the city of Seoul on a number of developmental projects. He also co-directs EcoCiv Korea. Wm. Andrew Schwartz moderated the seminar.

The panelists all agreed that COVID-19 is an experience shared by the entire human race, and that we do not live independently of each other, rather we all live in a connected, organic relationship. The panelists contended that for this tragic experience to imprint not merely as a trauma for humanity, it needs to be used as an opportunity to restructure our mindset. In particular, the main issues they discussed were how to transform the massively exploitative economic system structured by a neoclassical economic system and globalization.

As we are experiencing coronavirus, something unimaginable is going on. The world’s economy, which never seemed to stop, is now revolving slowly. This is very worrisome, but humanity must take a new perspective to transform it into an alternative system. We need to prevent climate change and the unsustainable way that humans live and turn to sustainable and ecological systems. We need to accelerate these changes by focusing on self-sufficient systems centered on the local, understanding the connectivity between the local and the global, and establishing those relationships. We also need to redefine the concept of wellbeing. We must reorganize as a highly connected organic structure that guarantees a social safety net, rather than defining wellbeing as growing bigger and faster, unconditionally. The AI ​​revolution and basic income are examples. After the virus, the world must create a new normal. Health issues should be expanded to include not only humans, but the whole ecosystem. We must rethink how humanity is liberated with the creative imagination that God has given us. We must strive to discover and achieve a higher value system that transcends a traditional value system of the lower type — based on eating well and writing well.

What should “post-corona” look like? This pandemic increased our capacity for change beyond imagining. Things that previously seemed impossible can now be discussed. Now, we need to pursue a collaboration between local and global in a democratic way, not an authoritative way, and an ecologically alternative system. The deeper the difficulty, the higher the hopes. And the more we do, the more meaningful our actions are.

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Dismantling institutional racism is not peripheral; it’s an integral part of building ecological civilizations. EcoCiv spent two years organizing justice events and the Plenary on Justice for the World Parliament of Religion. Supporting the transition to a just society is at the heart of our work as an organization. We recognize the ways in which Black communities and other communities of color are disproportionately affected by climate change and exploitative economic practices. We also recognize the ongoing systemic racism present both in the US and around the world.

We also acknowledge how frequently climate movements in the Western world have excluded communities of color across history. Early efforts of the conservation movement to “preserve nature” involved displacing Indigenous Peoples from their lands to create conservation areas. Environmental movements have centered on white voices and white priorities for decades, and many still continue to do so. It is essential to listen to leaders of color in order to hear their priorities and to better understand how climate change manifests in their communities. To work toward an ecological civilization is to work to overcome all forms of environmental injustice. It is absolutely clear to us that racial injustice constitutes one of the greatest injustices of our age.

We are all connected. Action toward global systems change requires seeing through an intersectional lens and recognizing how deeply intertwined human societies and cultures are. We invite you to join us in standing in solidarity with Black and Brown lives everywhere.

In pursuit of the wellbeing of people and the planet,

Philip Clayton
President, Institute for Ecological Civilization

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Earth Day is different this year. 

For 50 years Earth Day has brought hope. In previous years, now would be the time that one billion people in more than 190 countries around the world walk outside―in nature, in parks, and in capital cities―to call decision-makers to protect and heal our planet. 

This April we have to walk a bit farther to discern where the hope lies. But come with me; it’s worth the journey.

The crisis phase of COVID-19 is a giant mountain that we have to climb first. Carried along by the rapidly rising portion of the infection curve, or coping with the overwhelming challenges near its peak, governments and societies rightly focus all resources on care for the sick and dying, and economic assistance for those without food or shelter.

But things will change as we begin to find ourselves on the long, slow, descending portion of the curve. As we catch our breath and begin to look around again, we’ll find ourselves having climbed up onto a high plateau, with the mountain range of the crisis immediately behind us. From an Earth Day perspective, some good things have just happened that would have been unimaginable a few years ago:

• We have seen that walls can come down in response to crisis. Governments can redirect or close businesses, universities can collaborate internationally to find a vaccine, and hundreds of thousands of people volunteer to help.
• People not only take science seriously; they demand that leaders use the best available science to guide their policies.
• As global supply chains break down, people source their needs locally. When the South African grapes and the South American strawberries are absent, local fruits and vegetables start appearing in local grocery stores. We realize that much that we thought was essential wasn’t. 
• As the federal government fails to protect citizens, we realize it’s up to us―friends and neighbors in our community, city, or state―to be more self-reliant in order to get ourselves through. 
• We are out of our cars and airplanes. The skies are bluer above us than they’ve been for years, and we hear birds again. Families on bikes are on the streets. There is a heightened consciousness of how we, our communities, and our environment are all interconnected.

These are the Earth Day gifts for this year; let’s use them! 

As we progress through the month and think about how we can take care of the Earth, let it sink in: when there’s a crisis, human communities can do the impossible. “Unchangeable” global practices and policies can be suspended overnight. Maybe the motto going forward should not be the trauma-induced “Never forget,” but the hope-inspired “Yes we can!”

For this year’s Earth Day, join with me in making three resolutions:

• Keep in mind the ways we can take care of ourselves and each other. 
• Your carbon footprint has become a tiny fraction of what it was. Can you keep it from bouncing all the way back up?
• The global community has just shown what all can be mobilized in response to a crisis. Watch what happens when we take that “can do” attitude and turn it next to Mother Earth and the illness we’ve brought upon her.

Let’s make Earth Day 2020 one that we’ll never forget.
―― Philip

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Will cities around the world have enough water by 2050? What steps should be put in place for cities to ensure a secure and equitable water future?

EcoCiv is working to convene leaders and experts from around the world to propose a framework aimed at long-term water solutions across the globe. Last week, we partnered with universities and local NGOs in South Africa to host the W12 Framework Conference. More than 130 participants from 15 countries came together to participate in this invitation-only conference, which leads toward the public W12 Congress in May.

Together, these organizations and experts are creating the W12 Framework, a document and a website that aggregates the best urban water practices from city governments and policy leaders around the world, as well as strategies from the sectors of economics, politics, natural sciences, technical sciences, social sciences and civil society. It aims to collect existing knowledge and best practices from cities around the world and to distill it in a way that is useful for city decision-makers and those they interact with.

Over two days, task teams made up of these sectors worked collaboratively toward multi-disciplinary actions and solutions.  Highlights from the conference include:

• Participation of six task teams in the sectors of natural sciences, social sciences, politics, economics, technical sciences and civil society.
  
  
• A screening of the BBC documentary Thirst for Justice followed by a discussion with the director Leana Hosea.
  
  
• Multi-sector workshops that explored water scenarios and strategies over 5, 10, 20 and 30-year periods.
  
• Deliberations and the collective drafting of a document that will propose long-term strategies for urban water solutions around the globe.

Cape Town weathered a water crisis for a number of years, and “Day Zero” marked the day predicted for all taps to run dry in the city. Fortunately, the city was able to avoid Day Zero as a result of widespread campaigns and initiatives to reduce water usage. Now, the W12 Congress is drawing upon this experience to strategize a protocol for global urban water security for the next 30 years.

This Framework document is set to be presented and discussed at the W12 Congress in May. Participants in this Congress include city government delegates, international leaders in the water industry, UNESCO directors, and global water experts. Former Governor of California Arnold Schwarzenegger will make an appearance as a keynote speaker.

Thank you to our partners University of the Western Cape, the University of Cape Town Future Water Institute, the Stellenbosch University Water Institute, and Save Our Schools NPO.

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Currently, in a strategic partnership between the California cities of Pomona and Claremont, Devon is launching CHERP’s capstone project called Locally Grown Power—t

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At a recent conference in San Francisco, he gave a talk called “Whitehead and Marx: A Cosmopolitical Approach to Ecological Civilization.” In short, Matthew argues that Whiteheadian process philosophy and Marx’s critique of capitalism must be brought together. Process philosophy, he suggests, not only helps to “diagnose the metaphysical roots of the present ecological catastrophe,” but also provides a corrective to Marx’s anthropocentr

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Save the date for the W12 Congress on the escalating water crisis from January 27 – 31, 2020 in Cape Town, South Africa!

The scope and direction of the Institute for Ecological Civilization (EcoCiv)’s upcoming conference in Cape Town has evolved and expanded significantly over the past few months from the academic conference originally planned for September 2019, jointly run by the University of the Western Cape. We are excited now to share the management partnership for the W12 Congress with the South African non-profit organization, Save our Schools (SOSNPO).

SOSNPO is an impact-based organization in Cape Town with a mission to improve water equity within communities, primarily focusing on sanitation and hygiene in schools, by providing sustainable water solutions through partnerships with businesses and other organizations. They are industry and youth focused, which is a fitting addition to our academic conference.

Prior to our collaboration, SOS – NPO planned to run a separate, much larger and multimedia focused event, also in September 2019. Upon realizing this significant overlap in not only logistics, but also the distinct focus on city officials and the final deliverable of a Water Protocol to guide global water resource management decisions, we decided to join forces, combining our separate conferences to create one event in January 2020. The new W12 Congress is the first of what we hope are many global events that bring together city leaders, industry experts, academics, and youth to share best practices and create a Water Protocol, valuable for years to come.

The key responsibility for the EcoCiv team remains the creation of this Water Protocol, ensuring that it is not only academically robust but also designed in a manner that is useful for industry and city officials who need to make big decisions quickly. We are working with experts from the University of the Western Cape, University of Cape Town, and Stellenbosch University to create this Water Protocol through “Task Teams” and a Water Protocol Working Group. A scholar from one of these three South African Universities leads each task team and aims to address water issues from the perspective of Natural Science, Economics, Politics, Technical Science, Civil Society, and Social Science.

Each Task Team has a lead convener who is already working on inviting other South African and international water experts to join their Task Team. These teams are divided by sector, but the key value-add for them will likely be the breakaway sessions that allow for cross-sector engagement and planning.

We are particularly enthusiastic about the increased reach of the collaborative W12 Congress and the compatibility of our new partner organizations. The W12 Congress has the potential to shape how cities around the world who are facing extreme water shortages manage their most valuable resource. We as EcoCiv also have the potential to reach a much broader audience with our message through this new collaboration.

The global water crisis is critical and will remain so for the foreseeable future. Although Cape Town was able to avoid “Day Zero” of water in 2018, when pipes throughout the city were predicted to run dry and residents of all classes would get their allocated water at designated pick up points, this reality is still not far off for Cape Town and many other cities around the world. Cape Town’s implementation of strict water usage rules was a major factor in why they were able to avoid Day Zero, but such rules are not sufficient for the long-term; societal shifts resulting from solutions derived by cross-sectoral collaboration are desperately needed.

Issues of water shortages can typically be traced to a combination of climate change and management causes, but their solutions require a much more intricate methodology that is underscored by a rights-based approach to water access and a deep understanding of water’s ties to life in distinct and important ways, from food production to hygiene and cooking – all looking and planning for at least thirty years in the future.

The W12 Congress will focus on solutions to the issue of our global water crisis in a manner that is innovative and intersectional, but also deep in terms of sector expertise and broad in its scope of participants – from academics to city officials to industry and youth. We are excited to create this Congress, the first of its kind, with its simultaneously broad scope, clear focus and distinct deliverables.

We will soon be launching social media and an updated website for the W12 Congress. Follow us on @W12_Congress on Instagram and Twitter and stay tuned for our Facebook Page.

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By Kelli Archie

When we think about the critical issues associated with the environmental crisis and our survival, what immediately comes to mind are things such as the warming temperatures, rising sea levels, and the decimation of our biodiversity. But there is another issue that will also play a deciding role in our quality of life going forward, depending on how we respond to it: the urban-rural divide. As the political and economic differences between city and country dwellers are illuminated, an increasing number of social and cultural aspects of personal identity are becoming aligned with geography. But when thinking about solutions to our problems, whether economic, social or environmental, we fail to take account of these boundaries. Solving systemic issues requires input from both urban and rural groups. At the root, these communities remain intimately intertwined, with one providing the raw materials upon which urban production depends, and the other providing the markets that support the continuation of rural life.

One major barrier to uniting our rural and urban communities is that we too often consider policies and planning at inappropriate scales. A national-scale approach lacks the detail necessary to understand regional differences, while a completely local scale approach prevents us from seeing the interconnectedness between our communities and the surrounding environment. The same holds true for planning horizons. Too long of a horizon ignores immediate needs while too short of a horizon sacrifices the integrity of our environmental systems and neglects to ensure that we can continue to meet the needs of future generations.

EcoCiv is working on a multi-year project titled Rethinking the Urban-Rural Relationship to accelerate the process of bridging the urban-rural divide through a bioregional framework and employing a method called backcasting, which uses long-term goals to identify actions that need to be taken in the present. This program will include a series of local events in cities and towns across North America and will expand to include multi-city and eventually multi-national conversations that address the urban-rural relationship from a global perspective.

To kick off the Urban-Rural program, we are gathering leaders from across the state of Vermont to participate in a one-day event called Vermont 2050: Rethinking the Urban-Rural Relationship, that will take place at the Middlebury College Bread Loaf Campus on September 15, 2019. In partnership with Middlebury College, EcoCiv will facilitate a charrette-style discussion that will allow participants from a wide range of industries and backgrounds to engage face-to-face in designing a plan we call Vermont 2050: Roadmap to the Future, a Bio-Regional Approach. Brief talks by speakers on topics such as ecological civilization and bioregional planning will be interspersed between group activities and two formal rounds of charrette-style backcasting.

We expect between 70-100 participants including leaders and representatives from academia, government, business, agriculture, NGO’s and civil organizations and education. Including a diverse group of Vermont residents that have different areas of expertise, experiences and views, will both empower local agents and give planners and policy makers the opportunity to include local perspectives in state-level work. Utilizing this research-based, multi-pronged approach at the Vermont event will build relationships among participants and promote collaboration toward a collective vision. We will consider this event a success if participants walk away with knowledge of alternative pathways to a sustainable future, understanding of the wide variety of perspectives that exist among residents of Vermont, and the motivation to work together in creating systemic change. Our hope is that this event will begin the process of transforming Vermont’s social systems into an ecological civilization and prove to be a vector for a contagious form of change.

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In a controversial 2018 article called “Deep Adaptation,” Dr. Jem Bendell—a professor of sustainability leadership at University of Cumbria in the UK—argued that large-scale societal collapse is now inevitable as a result of widespread environmental degradation and climate change. Having come to this conclusion, Bendell then proposed what he called the Deep Adaptation Ag

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Sofie’s Book Recommendations:

Don’t Think of an Elephant, by George Lakoff This is an Uprising: How Nonviolent Revolt Is Shaping the 21st Century, by Mark Engler and Paul E

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By Jennifer Martin

This year (2019) the Institute for Ecological Civilization is in the first stage of a multi-year initiative to collaborate on some of the greatest threats facing modern civilization: rapid urbanization, climate change, and the social and economic problems these will create.

As rural migration to urban centers increases, the relationship between cities and rural communities must be re-evaluated. Sprawl from cities threatens former rural and agrarian areas, even as growing populations put a strain on existing food, water, transportation, and energy systems. Urban design, planning, and engineering must be reworked to accommodate the increased populations and need for decreased reliance on carbon-based energy. Collaboration across the different sectors of society is especially important for reconceiving relationships between urban centers and the surrounding rural areas. Projects that focus narrowly on a single part of the overall system pose the risk, indeed the likelihood, that solutions to problems in one sector will have unintended consequences in other sectors. EcoCiv, with its unique capabilities in cross-sectoral analysis and collaboration, is well-positioned to gather experts across fields and sectors, to examine what changes should be made and how to make them from a systemic and long-term perspective. Viewing rural and urban communities not as separate entities but as parts of interconnected systems – as bioregions – is a key step toward reversing this trend.

Over the next few months, we are connecting experts in ecological civilization and bioregionalism in exploratory online meetings, identifying essential sectors, leaders, and organizations and bringing them to the table to flesh out systemic and long-term solutions. These meetings will culminate this summer in San Diego at a convening that combines these experts with a small group of visionary consultants from the private and public sectors. This team will identify successful initiatives already being done that align with long-term and cross-sector thinking, and begin exploring new and promising options for restructuring cities.

The methods and ideas produced in San Diego will help direct the next stage of the project, a larger convening in Vermont this fall. The convening will provide a working case study in the bioregions of Vermont, giving attendees an opportunity to convert their knowledge into a set of concrete goals, collaborating with local experts in agriculture and education, as well as representatives in local government, civic organizations, NGO’s, and small business. The recommendations developed here will offer guidance as we bring the conversation about urban-rural relationships to other regions and communities in the United States and around the world.

Header Photo: Pixabay

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By Jeremy Fackenthal

This summer EcoCiv board member Herman Greene, EcoCiv managing director Jeremy Fackenthal, and Bangalore-based scholar Kurian Kachappily will organize and speak at a session on “Whitehead and Ecological Civilization: Ecology, Ethics, Economics, and Law” at the 12^th International Whitehead Conference at the University of Brasilia in Brazil. The conference celebrates the work of early 20^th century philosopher Alfred North Whitehead, heralded as a foundational thinker in process-relational philosophy and a view of the world as organic, evolving, and interconnected. The session will include presenters primarily from China, Australia, and the United States on topics relating ecological civilization to jurisprudence, bioregionalism, and systems paradigms.

The term ecological civilization is now used by a number of process-relational philosophers to denote a worldview in which we recognize the value of all entities; indeed, it is one in which humans show concern for other humans and non-human entities alike. Forming such an ecological civilization requires rethinking the philosophical grounding of societies and how they are organized and function. Imagining and patterning an ecological civilization involves both concern and creativity—concern for all forms of life, and creativity in the ways we shape societies. This section at the International Whitehead Conference is interested in examining how the two themes of concern and creativity contribute to Whiteheadian understandings of ecology, ethics, economics, and law as they are manifest in an emerging ecological civilization. 

Fostering dialogue among process-relational scholars on the topic of ecological civilization is an important aspect of our emerging work on Ecological Civilization Studies (ECS). ECS seeks to promote scholarly and visionary work at the highest levels in order to catalyze thinkers across a number of disciplines around the notion of an ecological civilization. EcoCiv views this scholarly work as vital to our future success because it deepens our understanding of how future sustainable societies should look, increases collaboration among multiple fields of study, and orients top scholars around the most pressing topics of our time.

EcoCiv invites all of our colleagues in Latin America and friends in the process-relational community to attend this session at the International Whitehead Conference and to think with us on the myriad components of an ecological civilization.

Header Photo: Wikipedia

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By Jesse Knapp

The City of Cape Town, South Africa experienced in 2017 and 2018 a water crisis so acute that they became the first city in the world to face the possibility of running out of drinking water. Through a combination of water restrictions and techniques for increasing supply, the city was able to avert that outcome, but the threat remains, and not for Cape Town alone: a growing number of cities around the world face chronic water shortages. As the climate changes in the coming decades, water availability will become an existential question for much of the world’s population.

In response to this escalating water crisis, the Institute for Ecological Civilization has partnered with the University of the Western Cape, the Stellenbosch University Water Institute, and the City of Cape Town to convene leaders and experts from cities around the world. The Cape Town summit will lead to a set of recommendations on how to avert as well as endure water shortages and is expected to be the start of a global movement.

The conference will include plenary sessions with presentations by delegations from each city designed to highlight features both specific to the cities they represent and common to all cities facing water shortages. These presentations will alternate with breakaway sessions dedicated to areas of expertise related to water availability: government policy, economics, technical sciences, natural sciences, social sciences, and civil society. During the breakaway sessions, experts will consider similarities and differences between participant cities and work across sectors to develop a vision for water management in a sustainable society.

EcoCiv’s distinctive focus is on long-term prospects for sustainable communities. What will cities have to look like in order to prosper in climate conditions radically different from those we have until recently enjoyed? Significant changes will be necessary, and some of them will involve the way we manage, transport, and use water. The Cape Town summit will be a crucial step toward this urgently needed global transformation.   

Header Photo: Pixabay

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You can li

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By David Korten

Economic power is-and always has been-the foundation of political power. Those who control the peoples’ means of living rule.

In a democracy, however, each person must have a voice in the control and management of the means of their living. That requires more than a vote expressing a preference for which establishment-vetted candidate will be in power for the next few years.

My previous column, “Confronting the Great American Myth,” distinguished true democracy from government by the wealthy, a plutocracy. Contrary to popular belief, the U.S. Constitution was written by representatives of the new nation’s wealthy class to keep people like themselves in power.

On Jan. 4, the newly elected Democratic majority in the U.S. House of Representatives introduced HR1, the For the People Act of 2019. Its aim is to make voting easier, reduce the influence of big money, and curtail gerrymandering. Even before it was introduced, the champions of having rich people rule were falsely characterizing it as an attack on the freedom of speech of ordinary Americans.

The provisions of HR1 represent an important step in a transition from the plutocracy we have to the democracy most Americans want. Unfortunately, political gridlock assures that HR1 has no chance of becoming law until at least after the 2020 election. Yet the popular yearning for democracy reflected in that bill makes this a propitious moment for a serious conversation about what a true democracy might look like and why it would be a good idea.

We stand at an epic choice point for our nation and for humanity. The plutocracy now in place has put us on a path to self-extinction-a future with no winners, rich or poor. We must now seek a path that restores the health of Earth’s regenerative systems while securing equity, material sufficiency, peace, and spiritual abundance for all-exactly the opposite of the plutocrats’ drive to secure the power, privilege, and material excess for themselves. This makes democracy far more than just a good idea; it is now an imperative.

The power of plutocracy depends on keeping the people divided against each other along gender, racial, religious, or other fault lines. The goal is to divert our attention from themselves so that they can maintain their power and continue to amass wealth.

Champions of plutocracy would also have us believe that we must choose between two options: capitalism (private ownership and management) or socialism (government ownership and management). They prefer we not notice that in their most familiar forms, both capitalism and socialism feature an undemocratic concentration of control over the means of living in the hands of the few. Democracy is essential for either to work effectively for the benefit of all.

Plutocrats generally favor capitalism, because in the extreme form we now experience, it supports virtually unlimited concentrations of wealth and power. Its practitioners are also drawn by capitalism’s ideological claim that unregulated markets will assure that the presumed benefits of a growing economy will be shared by everyone, and so the rich need not bear any personal responsibility beyond maximizing their personal financial gain.

The critical economic and political question for humanity is not whether our means of living will be controlled by corporations or government, but whether control will be concentrated for the benefit of the few or dispersed, with benefits shared by everyone.

Support for the needed economic transition can come from many places. Just as people are not necessarily racist because they are White or misogynistic because they are male, people do not necessarily become plutocrats just because they are rich. Many wealthy people work actively for economic and political democracy and support radical wealth redistribution, including through support of progressive taxation and significant taxing of inherited wealth.

The political and economic democracy we seek cannot be easily characterized as either capitalist or socialist. It is a system of substantially self-reliant local economies composed of locally owned enterprises and community-secured safety nets with responsibilities shared by families, charities, and governments. Such a system facilitates self-organizing to create healthy, happy, and productive communities.

In our complex and interconnected world, this system will require national and global institutions responsive to the people’s will and well-being to support cooperation and sharing among communities, but the real power will be dispersed locally. There would be ample room for competition among local communities to be the most beautiful, healthy, democratic, creative, and generous. There is no place for colonizing the resources of others or for predatory corporations.

These communities will most likely feature cooperative and family ownership of businesses. They will also recognize the rights of nature and their shared responsibility to care for the commons and to share its gifts.

The rules of plutocracy evolved over thousands of years. We have far less time to come up with suitable rules for democratic alternatives. That search must quickly become a centerpiece of public discussion.

This article was originally published February 9, 2019 in OpEdNews.

Header Photo: Pixabay

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Making A Way out of No Way: A Womanist Theology, by Monica ColemanBraiding Sweet Grass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teaching of Plants, by Robin Wall KimmererSilent Spring, by Rachel Carson

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Music Credit: “lax” by Fascinating Earthbound

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Visit Isabella Alexander’s website or Twitter for more information about her work, and Small World Films to learn about her documentary film, The Burning.

You can also listen to this episode by subscribing to the show through popular podcast apps, including Apple, Spotify, or Stitcher.

Music Credit: “lax” by Fascinating Earthbound ObjectsLicense//Song Link

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By Kumsil Kang, Executive Director of People for Earth, lawyer

Two elder scholars from the United States visited Korea to attend the International Conference on Transition Cities hosted by Seoul on November 11, and the International Conference on Ecological Civilization held at Paju from December 12 to 14. They were John B. Cobb, Jr., Professor Emeritus of the Claremont School of Theology, and David Korten, former professor at Harvard Graduate School of Business and representative of The Living Economies Forum. They both advocate for ecological civilization discourse as an alternative to the current industrial civilization.

John Cobb specializes in process theology, which developed from Alfred North Whitehead’s philosophy of organism. It was in his 40s that Cobb began to develop his thoughts on ecological civilization; he claims that the inspiration came suddenly in the summer of 1969. Until then, though Cobb was painfully aware of the United States’ responsibility for numerous injustices around the world, he still believed that the globalism that enabled the independence of many countries also benefited their economic development.Cobb believed that the responsibility of a developed country was to accelerate the process of development everywhere in the world, but his then-eighteen-year-old son, deeply aware of the problems of globalization, provided the opportunity to change his thinking. Cobb realized that the American societal structure and development pattern that he had taken for granted was leading humanity to global self-destruction. The way that‘progress’ happened — the economic programs and development policies of the industrialized world — was part of a larger process that was destroying the foundation of human life on Earth. The overwhelmingly important issue of the survival of humanity had to become a priori.

In 1973, Cobb founded the Center for Process Studies in Claremont and continued to develop his scholarship and thought with ecological theology by applying Whiteheadian philosophy. The theory of ecological civilization that he advocated became a subject of deep interaction with Chinese scholars as well, influencing the Chinese Communist Party to designate ecological civilization as a national task in its 2012 Constitution.

Meanwhile, David Korten was working as an economist when he became involved with the U.S. Agency for International Development in 1970,managing international development projects in Asia, Africa, and South America for about 20 years. He believed that the United States could solve the poverty in developing countries through development and humanitarian aid, but experienced deep doubt when he witnessed communities disintegrate and the quality of life worsen instead. After returning to the United States in 1992, Korten began to research and teach about economic structures, and developed the Living Economy framework for an ecological economy.

In a joint interview with Mayor Park Won-soon of Seoul, Korten declared that civilization thus far has developed by destroying nature and people, and that a small minority of wealthy individuals enjoyed their opulent lifestyles while oppressing the masses, living beings, and the earth.Above all, he called the current economic model of production system a “suicide economy” that was created by destroying life.

Beyond the theory of ecological civilization that these scholars championed, what left a deep impression on me was the life trajectories of these two individuals. Both had transformed their lives through some experience or prescient introspection and demonstrated the power of making a bold resolution and charging forth.

After receiving his Ph.D. in process theology in the 1950s,John Cobb has never once been shaken from his philosophical values. He responded promptly to the issues of each epoch, developing his life deeper and wider. I feel that it must be a very rare case in which one continues to change themselves so readily while maintaining a core worldview throughout the course of their life  — as Cobb did from process theology to ecotheology, then to the theory of ecological civilization that focuses on the relationality of existence. This may have been possible because of the anchor provided by Whitehead, but John Cobb is the person who turned that fortune into a truly happy life. Happiness cannot be left out when asking, what the ultimate goal of life is. What is happiness? I feel that happiness might be that state without worry nor dissatisfaction because the mind and body are well placed in a pleasant and healthy spatio-temporal environment. I think that John Cobb is the model of a happy life, a life well lived through spiritual activity emanating from deep faith, maintaining good friendships. With a spiritual energy emanating from deep faith, John Cobb demonstrates the model of a full and happy life devoid of internal conflict, with good physical health, surrounded by good friendships.

David Korten always follows an introduction as a former Harvard Business School professor. The title pays homage to the fact that he has achieved the utmost scholarly achievement in the world. Nevertheless, Korten sought a different path, transforming his life in his mid-fifties. He says that while working in Asia, an Indian friend told him that “your role is to return to America and report on the problems of the mainstream economic system.” Korten embodies a classical and aesthetic way of life, facing problems squarely and pursuing solutions.

In the car returning from these two scholars’ talks, it occurred to me that while trees, flowers, and animals alike live without money,it is becoming harder and harder for people to live without it in this world. I do not know who is happier. If humans are happier, it would be because of the adventure of leaping far and blazing through to pioneer the boundaries of one’s life — because of the excitement of the future. However, ours is a world in which one increasingly cannot do anything without money. No matter how much you guard your self-esteem and respect, life becomes contemptible and destitute.Society does not easily provide an opportunity to create another life, or even to live a life that aligns with your conscience.

Nevertheless, we must repeat that we have to begin again.Life begins with the mind. Conflicted and agonized between hard realities and the desires coming deep from within us, we must hold onto the latter and push forward. These two scholars, whom it will not be easy to meet again, leave us the lesson to be true to these internally given conflicts and tasks. Do not give up, do not stop. If you keep going, there will be a way.

This article was originally published in Korean. Go here to read the original text.

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An interview with international ecological theologian John Cobb

By Kim Hwan Young

All belief systems, including philosophy, religion, and ideology, continue to change and evolve. The conservative insistence on maintaining the purity of heritage from founders and doctrines often fails to meet the practical need to adjust to worldly changes. But if there is excessive deviation from those earliest teachings, there is a need for ‘conservative innovation’ as well as ‘progressive innovation’ in order to restore original intentions.

The process philosophy and process theology developed by English philosopher-mathematician Alfred Whitehead (1861-1947) shook the 20th century. Process philosophy and theology claim that the universe is not a physical environment or object, but rather is created through events and processes that are experienced and understood subjectively and objectively.Additionally, each event/process is radically connected with countless other events/processes. It is estimated that there are around 1,000 Whiteheadian scholars and activists who have embraced this idea globally. They value cooperation rather than competition.

The American philosopher and theologian John B. Cobb III is a representative Whiteheadian. As a retired pastor in the Methodist Church,Cobb founded the Center for Process Studies at Claremont School of Theology, where he taught, working to incorporate Whiteheadian thought into postmodernism and ecology.

John B Cobb II pursues a theology that accepts the achievements of science like evolutionary theory and a theology that converses with Buddhist thought. He is said to be the most important North American theologian alive. He also provided considerable theoretical background for the Chinese Communist Party adopting the principles of ecological civilization into its constitution in 2012. I met Dr. Cobb on his visit to Korea amidst the publication of his essays in Ten Thoughts to Save the Planet (edited and translated by Han Yun-jung). Born in 1925 in Kobe, Japan, Cobb had previously visited Korea in 1936 when he was 11 years old.

In what follows, Cobb shares his wisdom regarding the topics of the ecological movement and religion.

What is the relationship between Christianity and the ecological movement?

The Abrahamic religions, Judaism, Christianity and Islam,differ fundamentally from other religions in their historical orientation. The mission of Jesus in the historical context was not limited to teaching God’s grace and human calling. For Jesus, the grace and divine calling at the heart of the Hebrew tradition was obvious. I think what Jesus truly sought was to save people from war and the Roman Empire. God also gives us a specific calling today: to save the world from self-destruction.

Do you think ecology was not a very important issue for Jesus or his disciples?

For almost 2000 years, ecology was not important to Christians. But once we realized we were destroying the planet, ecology became important. Because Christianity is a historical faith, the most urgent task is different according to time and space. There was a time and place in which the emancipation of slaves was the most important cause. The tremendous threat of war is a serious problem for God in every construction of time and space. I believe that the God-given calling for Koreans must be the pursuit of peace.This opportunity for dialogue must be maximized to end the belligerent attitude of inter-Korean talks.

Some people may wonder what the point of worrying about ecology is when God will create a new heaven and earth after the coming of Jesus and the Final Judgment. believing the salvation of the individual is more important. What is your response to this?

Such a claim is a very strange interpretation of Jesus’ or Paul’s remarks. It is not a healthy response to God’s call. The focus of the New Testament is not extreme individualism. I think the message of Jesus is oriented towards all Jews, and Paul’s message towards the whole world. Focusing only on personal salvation leaves no way of expressing neighborly love.

What is the future direction of the ecological movement?

Ecological civilization. The use of the expression,‘ecological civilization’ clarifies the crucial point that every aspect of civilization must change. The foundation of our present civilization is not God but the worship of money. The worship of money is idolatry.

Is your call for a religionized ecology?

It was not Christianity that dominated the life of Medieval people. I call their religion Christianism, not Christianity.It was a kind of ideology. At the heart of Christianity was the Church and related institutions, not God. And for centuries after that, the prevailing religion was nationalism. Today’s religion is economism. Everything is quantified and measured by money. Even the government, especially the U.S.government, works for money. I hope that this economicism will be replaced by Earthism. The whole earth must be our concern. I do not think Earthism is a religion. I want Christians to become Earthists, not worship the Bible or the Church or the economy or the nation. I hope not only Christians, but also Buddhist and Muslim believers can become Earthists. Christians alone cannot save the planet. In order to save the planet, we must recruit as many partners as possible.”

What role can Korea and Asia play?

East Asia has tremendous potential to lead the international process philosophy movement. This is because of language. Unlike Indo-European languages, East Asian languages, including Korean, emphasize events rather than objects. On the other hand, it is very difficult to avoid objectification in English. The Buddha opposed the objectification of the Indian language. This is why there is common ground to be found between process philosophy and the Buddhist tradition.

This article was originally published in Korean. Go here to read the original text.

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By Han Gui-Young 한겨레경제사회연구원 사회정책센터장 

People for Earth Forum “Earth and People” hosts International Conference on Ecological Civilization

If the entire world is to maintain Korea’s level of consumption, 3.5 earths will be needed

Ecological conversion is no longer a task that cannot be postponed

Immediately effective ecological conversion is more cost effective as well

Practical application such as “cooperative sharing society” is already active

The 2018 International Conference on Ecological Civilization was held from October 12th to 14th in Paju City, Gyeonggi-do. The goal of the conference was to diagnose earth’s limits and seek alternatives towards an ecological civilization. The first gathering taking place in 2016, the annual forum was hosted by the People for Earth Forum (Representative Kang Kum-sil) this year, under the theme of “Ecological Transformation of the Korean Peninsula and East Asia.”

Last summer, Koreans experienced the highest average temperature on record. In the spring we suffered from ultra-fine dust that threatened our right to breathe, and this winter is predicted to bring extreme cold. Such abnormal temperatures are signs of the ecological crisis we face; the price we pay for making economic growth our top priority. Korea has benefited much as a latecomer to the industrial civilization, and it is one of the countries causing the most harm to the planet. “Since 1970, the environmental burden caused by Korea has already exceeded the level of an ecological footprint. The ratio of Korea’s biocapacity to its ecological footprint is 800%, which means that if all the nations of the world were to maintain Korea’s level of consumption, they would need 3.5 earths.” This is the diagnosis provided by Kim Jong-ho, a panelist at the forum and a senior researcher at the Korea Institute of Environmental Policy. Given that exceeding the ecological capacity by more than 150% is considered serious ecological debt, an ecological transition cannot be delayed.The question is whether an economic system that harmonizes economy and ecology is possible in an industrial society.

Professor Jung Gunna of Hanshin University (Economics), who gave a presentation on “The role of the social economy in the transition to ecological civilization,” said, “If economic growth and ecological considerations were raised together, usually the economy would win. Before the great objective of growth, ecology was considered trivial and even extravagant.” Climate change is a representative example. According to Naomi Klein, author of This Changes Everything, named by The New York Times to be one of the most important environmental works, “Climate change is a war between capitalism and the earth, and capitalism has always easily won.” Voices of concern about climate change were always drowned out by the immediate dictates of growth and prosperity. This is why we need a great transformation on the civilizational level for real change. It is urgent to imagine and conceive of a new economy that harmonizes with ecology.

The integration of ecology and economy is not only normatively desirable, but also critical on the practical level. According to the Stern Report, in which U.K. economist Nicholas Stern warns of the danger of global warming, “humanity must pay 5~20% of our total GDP for the costs of climate change, accounting for all the risks and effects that have already come to pass. But if we act now, the cost of avoiding the worst-case scenario is but 1% of the total GDP.” Acting immediately stands to reason even from the economic evaluation of a cost-benefit analysis.

Professor Jung Gunna highlighted a ‘collaborative shared society’ as an alternative economic system. This concept was proposed by American social critic Jeremy Rifkin and has already come into our everyday economic lives in various forms — including housing, care, renewable energy,and urban agriculture. Practices that distinguish themselves from the profit-oriented capitalist economy, such as cooperatives, social enterprises,the sharing economy, community finance, and local currency are already active in many places.

Zack Walsh, a researcher at the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS) in Germany, said, “Capitalism has been sustained because of a lack of sharing. The unpaid work of women is a representative example. Capitalism has never recognized sharing practices as valuable.” The recent explosion of sharing-based economics is a practical response to a crisis. “In order for the transformation into a sharing paradigm to be genuine,it must include a societal and cultural change. We are developing the Contemplative Commons project, an experiment that explores how psychological, social, and mental patterns change in shared-based systems.

The practical search for a new economic system is also emerging in the field of law. Kang Jung-hye, a professor at Seoul City University (Jurisprudence), cited Thomas Barry’s “Earth Law” as an alternative to the “current economic system, which fails to include the health and vitality of various living systems and beings. The present system of law elevates only the inherent dignity of human beings, excluding greater principles of the functioning of the earth or the universe. The new paradigm of law must elevate the earth community over the earth community and introduce a new legal system.”According to such Earth Jurisprudence, we must give legal personhood to beings such as the earth, animals, plants, mountains, rivers, lakes, etc. “We want to include them as a component of the economic system so that their rights and interests are not violated.”

The International Forum for Ecological Civilizations, which took place over the course of three days, was concluded with the Declaration of Paju for ecological transformation.

This article was originally published in Korean. Go here to read the original text.

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Do you remember the terrible heat of last summer?Temperatures that forbade restful sleep because they didn’t drop below 90 degrees? Receiving news of record-breaking temperatures every day, people must have begun to understand the serious nature of climate change. But as the cool breeze returned, those memories faded. How long can such forgetting continue?

‘Is it too late?’ In 1971, a book with this title was published in American theology. It would become the first seminal work on the unfamiliar topic of ‘ecological theology.’ Its author was a leading theologian recognized for his advocacy for process philosophy, a new paradigm of theology considered heresy by conservative Christians. The author experienced a great revelation in his mid-40s. It was unlike the average religious experience, for the realization that shook his very essence was the fact that the human civilization he’d assumed would continue perpetually was in fact on the path to extinction.Since then, he has worked enthusiastically towards what he embraced as his calling: to convert the modern capitalist industrial civilization into an‘ecological civilization.’ Building connections among not only the economists,architects, and various academics of the world, but also with other religions such as Buddhism and Hinduism, he has sought strategies to move the world towards an ecological civilization. 93 years old as of this year, he is now considered an elder ecological thinker, but he still lives a life of an international activist. His name is John B. Cobb Jr., professor emeritus at the Claremont School of Theology.

He visited South Korea to participate in the Civilizational Transition and the Role of the Cities conference hosted by the Seoul Metropolitan Government (October 11) and the International Conference for Ecozoic Culture (October 12 – 14) of the Earth and People Forum. In time for his visit, a collection of his writings titled Ten Thoughts to Save the Planet was also published. Han Yun-jeong, researcher at the Claremont School of Theology who formerly worked as a journalist in Korea, had compiled and translated a selection of Cobb’s unpublished writings that would capture the breadth of the theologian’s life and thoughts.

When I met John Cobb at the Plaza Hotel in Seoul, South Korea on the October 10th, Professor Jung Gun-hwa of Hanshin University’s economics department acting as translator, he said, “God calls me to do everything we can to reduce suffering and increase the possibility of the survival of the human race. I cannot say that Marxists or Buddhists do not share that calling.”

“I do not think there is any chance of avoiding a terrible disaster. We are now destined to undergo tremendous suffering. We have already passed the point at which we may have stopped the decline of this vast civilization, and the only remaining battle is how much we can prevent the situation from getting worse and leave a base for reconstruction.”

What does he mean by the collapse of civilization?

“There are so many scenarios that it is impossible to know what will actually happen. There is still a big possibility that a nuclear war or a huge conventional war breaks out. Even if there is no war, climate change can deplete water and cause war within thirty years, making it impossible to produce enough food.”

Could not the self-correcting ability of the present capitalist economic system resolve this ecological problem, much as it did in its competition with communism? Unfortunately not, Dr. Cobb concludes: “The main production motive of the capitalist system is not reducing energy use. It is to make profit. This system cannot fundamentally resolve the present problem; it is critical to transform the global economy into a local economy.”

In his recent book, Cobb describes this radical turn towards a local scale economy, ending the fossil fuel-intensive globalized production and trade regime to produce and consume regionally. He advocates eating locally-grown produce, meeting energy demands with local alternative energy sources, and using local currency issued by community banks. But would people choose to live such an inconvenient life? Dr. Cobb believes they may if they have hope that a better future is possible by doing so:

 “Of course, in big cities like Beijing and Shanghai, people would only be concerned with finding a job or home and caring for their families. But I don’t think people are completely disinterested in the transition to ecological civilization. When people do not feel hope that they can do something from a long-term perspective, they become trapped in short-term concerns and indifferent to the alternatives.”

Thus, Cobb believes the role of leaders of society is critical. This view was greatly influenced by Pope Francis’ 2015 encyclical Laudato Si’ (“Praise be to You”), as well as Cobb’s experiences in China. Recently, he has visited China every year, at the invitation of the Communist Party government, to provide advice on the construction of an ecological city. Before this trip to Korea, he had stayed two weeks at Lishui City in the Zhejiang Province of China.

Cobb said that the Communist Party played an important role in incorporating ecological civilization as a national goal in the party constitution. “The Chinese government leadership is cooperative in the efforts to transition into an ecological civilization. The government is trying to convince people of the merits of the life agricultural life, and it is said that the number of young people who choose to go into farming is increasing.When climate catastrophe strikes, rural communities will become bridgeheads for civilizational survival. When the leadership demonstrates positive possibilities to the people and lead towards them, people can break out of their state of indifference.”

He is more pessimistic about America. This is understandable, given that an anti-environmentalist and climate change denier like Donald Trump had become president. However, Cobb discussed the paradoxical potential that Donald Trump had actually created some hope. “President Barack Obama had a brilliant rhetoric, but he did not even propose the kind of action necessary to stop the boat from sinking. But once someone so explicitly against an ecological civilization like President Trump got elected, many people realized that they themselves need to act in order to prevent the worst case scenario. If you raise the temperature slowly, the frog in the pot will die,but if you turn up the heat suddenly, the frog will desperately struggle to escape.”

The noteworthy thinkers garnering the most attention tend to romanticize the future based on novel technology. Academics declare that “a divine, immortal human race will emerge through the development of artificial intelligence and biotechnology” (Yuval Harari), that “it is possible to create a utopia that only requires working 3 hours a day for five days a week through a universal basic income” (Rutger Bregman), even that “nanotechnology can remove atmospheric carbon dioxide and restore the atmosphere to pre-Industrial Revolution levels” (Eric Drexler). Such claims evoke hope without requiring any sacrifice or inconvenience in the here and now. But can we can be satisfied with that? We have already enjoyed much without paying the proper price, and Nature has begun to demand that cost. This is why we cannot easily reject one elder theologian’s insight and prophecy that we will go bankrupt if we do not pay this price in advance.

Whitehead-inspired process theology

In 1925, John Cobb was born in Kobe, Japan, where his parents worked as Christian missionaries. He had visited Korea when he was eleven years old while traveling to China in 1936. “My memory is uncertain, but I stayed in Seoul for about two days, and also visited Gwanghwamun and somewhere like a temple.” This is Cobb’s first visit to Korea since attending the International Whitehead Conference in 2004. Six years ago, he visited North Korea.

The process theology Cobb espouses is an adaptation of the process philosophy developed by British mathematician and philosopher Alfred North Whitehead (1861~1947). Cobb studied philosophy under Whitehead’s disciple Charles Hartshorn at The University of Chicago Divinity School. In particular,Cobb was deeply influenced by Whitehead’s rejection of the Cartesian separation of Nature and Man, the idea that nature also has agency, and that humans and nature influence each other in an organic relationship. Dr. Jung Gunna declares that “because this ‘organismic philosophy’ shares many commonalities with Eastern philosophy that maintain that all beings exist in relation to each other, China is also using Whitehead and Cobb as a conversational partner with Western philosophy.”

Process theology’s novel idea is that God also is not omniscient and omnipotent and immutable, but rather a being influenced by the actions of Creation. Like the rest of Creation, God is an open being in the process of becoming complete. This process theology also argues for religious pluralism, the idea that Christianity is not the only truth, but can be supplemented through dialogue with other religions. Such is the reason why fundamentalist Christians who use a textual interpretation of the Bible to promote homophobia, religious xenophobia, or anti-abortion politics can only be critiqued.

Cobb currently lives a communally with about 100 other retired ministers in a retirement facility called Pilgrim’s Place, which he helped found in Claremont, California. He needs regular treatment for skin cancer in his forehead every six months, but does not suffer from any other chronic disease. He is a pescatarian, practicing an ecological lifestyle.

This article was originally published in Korean. Go here to read the original text.

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By Yunjeong Han, Research Fellow at the Center for Process Studies

On the last day of the ‘Ecological Transformation on the Korean Peninsula and East Asia’ conference (October 12-14, 2018), participants walked 6 miles along the DMZ (Demilitarized Zone) eco-trail. This green belt runs between South Korea, looking to transition from its industrial economy to an ecological civilization, and North Korea, which is taking the first steps towards opening diplomatic relations and economic development. We discussed the content covered over the three-day conference and shared plans for next steps, while admiring the beautiful mountains and rivers – well-preserved thanks to the 65-year-long division of the Korean Peninsula. We were satisfied with the success of the conference, and hopeful for what the future will bring.

Paju City, where the conference was held, is a small town northwest of Seoul, very close to the Military Demarcation Line. Just before embarking on the trail, six organizations that hosted or participated in the conference (People for Earth Forum, the Seoul National University-Hanshin University Post-Human Research Project, the Global Academy for Future Civilization of Kyung-Hee University, Institute for Ecological Civilization, Institute for Postmodern Development in China, Center for Process Studies) signed the Paju Declaration. The Declaration consisted of a preamble and 10 agendas:

    1. The Worldview of Ecological Civilization
    2. Responsibility as Global Citizens
    3. Establishing an Ecological Economy and Systems of Collaboration
    4. Resetting the Ecological Path of Science and Technology
    5 The Value of Earth Jurisprudence and the Need for Global Governance
    6. Revolutionary Transformation of Educational Institutions,
    7. Ecological Transition on the Korean Peninsula and a Global-scale
        Campaign
    8. The Constant Maturation Process of Self-reflection
    9. Urging Future Generations to Participate
   10. Creative Organizations and an Ecological Network

Ecological civilization is the alternative future we need and desire. Our goals are coexistence with the Earth, peace, and economic justice. In June 2015, Dr. John B. Cobb, Jr. organized a conference titled ‘Seizing an Alternatives: Toward Ecological Civilization’. The ‘Ecological Civilization (EcoCiv) in Korea Project’ was born out of that event, and the group hosted the 1^stInternational Conference on ‘Green Transition toward Ecological Civilization: A Korea-US Dialogue’ in Claremont, CA in November 2017. The People for Earth Forum and SNU-HU Post-Human Research Project, participants in last year’s Claremont conference, co-organized this year’s Paju conference together with the EcoCiv Korea Project. The Paju conference introduced the concept of ‘ecological civilization’ to South Korean society for the first time, where the term ‘ecology’ is a biological concept, and ‘civilization’ evokes notions of imperial or religious power.

The conference sessions included topics covering philosophy, economics, neuroscience, STS (science, technology, and society), law, culture, and education. There were 20 presenters, 12 discussion panels, and over 140 audiences for three days. Most of audiences were members of People for Earth and hailed from various fields, including lawyers, scientists, artists, journalists, scholars, and graduate students. People for Earth, led by attorney and former Minister of Justice Kumsil Kang, hosts several study groups on topics such as the ‘Ecozoic Era’, ‘climate and culture‘, and ‘Earth jurisprudence’. This organization has ambitious spread ecological discourse throughout the Korean peninsula, particularly in relation to the issue of reconciliation with North Korea. This year’s Paju conference was also People for Earth’s first attempt to begin building an overseas network for this cause.

Ecological transition is an important issue in South Korea. Inaugurated after the ‘Candlelight Revolution’ of 2016, President Moon Jae-in chose to shut down nuclear power plants as a major energy policy. Unfortunately, the nuclear power plant under construction will continue to be built, though no new plans are made. Economic policy focuses on distribution rather than growth. Initiatives of the central government are slow-moving, and often faces strong opposition from the interest groups. Local governments are further ahead, testing policies that drive community-making, local economies, and energy self-reliance – all of which promote ecological civilization.

The EcoCiv Korea Project has formed a cooperative relationship with the city of Seoul. The Seoul Metropolitan Government held the ‘International Conference for Transition city, Seoul 2018’ (October 11), another connection made through last year’s gathering; Mayor Park Won-soon had sent a video message for the 2017 conference. In the recent Seoul conference, Dr. John Cobb and Dr. David Korten gave keynote speeches on opportunities and strategies for big cities like Seoul to participate in building an ecological civilization. The audience, which included urban planning professionals, appeared inspired by the policy implications of ecological civilization discourse. Dr. Cobb, Dr. Korten, and many other participants from CPS and Institute for Ecological Civilization (Philip Clayton, Andrew Schwartz, Zhihe Wang, Meijun Fan, Gunna Jung, and myself) spoke with Mayor Park about the need for ecological civilization, who in turned promised Seoul’s efforts towards that objective.

The third and final conference was the ‘International Forum on Ecological Urban Regeneration in Northeast Seoul’ (October 15). Among the 25 boroughs of Seoul, 4 boroughs in the northeast region of the city co-organized this conference. These areas are surrounded by beautiful mountains and enjoy relatively healthy environments, but suffer from underdevelopment and a high unemployment rate. Residents and civil activists are cooperating with local governments and universities for economic, cultural, and environmental regeneration.

These three conferences and participants visiting from abroad attracted much attention from Korean media. Major newspapers, including the Hankyoreh, Joongang Ilbo, and Kyunghyang Shinmun, reported on Dr. Korten’s conversation with Mayor Park about building community and local economy, as well as Dr. Cobb’s interview regarding his newly-translated anthology Ten Ideas for Saving the World’ Dr. Cobb also gave a lecture on the role of religion and science in the transition toward ecological civilization at The Center for Religion and Science (CRS) of Hanshin University, which signed a Memorandum of Understanding with CPS.

The ecological civilization movement in Korea has launched successfully. The Seoul metropolitan government, civil and academic society has begun building a positive relationship with CPS, Institute for Ecological Civilization, and IPDC. The EcoCiv Korea Project is working to create a new future with colleagues in US, China, Japan, and Germany. We can cooperate and support each other, while pursuing our respective projects at our home base. The October 2018 conferences in Korea demonstrated that we are all indeed interconnected.

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Philip Clayton leading a panel discussion during the Justice Assembly with thousands in the audience.

Finally, the third hour moved toward action and concrete change for a more just, peaceful, and sustainable world. Each movement of the assembly included a multi-sensory approach, with panelists from around the world (and particularly from the global south) sharing their own experiences and expertise, artists painting live on stage, and performers offering spoken word and musical pieces. Keynote talks at the assembly came from Njeri Kabeberi (Executive Dir. of GreenPeace Africa), Miguel de la Torre (professor of social ethics and Latinx studies), Isabelle Alexander (professor and documentary filmmaker), and EcoCiv’s own John Cobb (process theologian and environmental scholar).  The assembly closed with a strong call for an ecological civilization as a paradigm for a just, peaceful, and sustainable world.

Throughout the week, the Justice Track hosted over 40 breakout sessions and major speaker sessions, many of which included ecological

Andrew Schwartz with panelists Fr. Josh Kureethadam, Vandana Shiva, Mary Evelyn Tucker, and Ken Kitatani.

justice as their central theme. Two separate sessions on food justice were spawned from EcoCiv’s previous convenings on the topic. In addition, David Korten (member of the EcoCiv International Board of Advisors) organized four connected sessions on aspects of an ecological civilization, culminating in a group session featuring John Cobb, Matthew Fox, Jeremy Lent, and David Korten. EcoCiv Vice President Andrew Schwartz led a major speaker session on Integral Ecology with Vandana Shiva, Mary Evelyn Tucker, Fr. Josh Kureethadam, and Ken Kitatani.

Packed house for the final session in the ecological civilization series featuring David Korten, Jeremy Lent, John Cobb, Matthew Fox, and Fran Korten.

With more than 7,000 people and over 200 religious and spiritual traditions represented, the Parliament provided a unique platform describing the need for and concrete steps toward an ecological civilization. We cherish the individual connections made at the Parliament and look forward to working with many of the assembled participants on a roadmap toward a future in which life in all its forms may flourish.

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Chef Andrés described his experience providing food and emergency relief to Puerto Ricans in the days and months following Hurricane Maria. A panel of experts — Stephanie Burgos (Assoc. Dir., Oxfam), Timothy Carter (President, Second Nature), Mary Ellsberg (Dir., Global Women’s Institute at the George Washington University), Karenna Gore (Dir., Center for Earth Ethics at Union Theological Seminary), and Radha Muthiah (CEO, Capital Area Food Bank) — expanded the discussion to other sectors. Moderators Philip Clayton (EcoCiv President) and Steven Knapp (EcoCiv Board Member) focused on the challenges participant organizations face and ways to facilitate more effective collaboration.

The event was a key step in EcoCiv’s ongoing exploration of cross-sectoral approaches to building a just and sustainable society.

The post Food Justice Event with Chef José Andrés appeared first on Institute for Ecological Civilization.

I spent much of my time working with the Institute for Ecological Civilization (EcoCiv), for which I am a senior partner. The Institute organized a major track exploring issues of religion and justice. My colleagues and I worked for more than a year recruiting and administrating a host of speakers and panels. Perhaps the most effort went into developing a 3-hour plenary assembly. I’m happy to say all of this work was a great success!

I could say much about my Parliament experience. But I’ll briefly mention five highlights for me:

1. I was proud to be part of the team that constructed and implemented the plenary assembly on justice. Philip Clayton, the President of EcoCiv, hosted the three-hour event. It featured activists from Africa, South America, Asia, and North America, artists, and faith leaders. John Cobb concluded the session by encouraging the audience to imagine a future in which ecology was our civilization’s guiding motif.
2. I gave a presentation on the meaning of love. Xiaoan Li of the Fetzer Institute offered a response. I felt good about my lecture, although it was quite brief. The audience responded well to it. I felt even better about the friendship I developed with Xiaoan. I look forward to working with him on future projects.
3. The themes of ecological civilization were well articulated in several justice track sessions. Among the speakers who articulated those themes well were Isabella Alexander, John Cobb, Ken Kitatani, David Korten, Josh Kureethadam, Ron Phipps, Andrew Schwartz, Vandana Shiva, and Mary Evelyn Tucker. More needs to be done to explain why and how changes must be made to avoid catastrophes and establish a loving world.
4. Alexis Waggoner moderated a discussion between Jihad Turk, Shai Held, and me. We talked about love and justice from Muslim, Jewish, and Christian perspectives. The insights that emerged were thrilling! I was especially grateful for the exchange between Shai and Jihad on the state of the Israel-Palestine conflicts.
5. Finally, it’s such a joy to renew long-time friendships and establish new ones. I saw former students in action as speakers, which was so cool. I ran into friends whom I’d not seen in person for years. And I made new friendships I hope will deepen in the future. Although I’m a big fan of technology and social media that links me to others, there’s something powerful about being together in person!

After the Parliament, a few friends who did not attend asked me what had been “decided” in Toronto. To many people, the word “parliament” suggests a decision-making body with the power to implement those decisions. My friends wanted to hear what consensus had been reached.

The Parliament of the World’s Religions doesn’t take votes or make binding decisions. It’s more about people offering ideas, sharing wisdom, learning about traditions, and exploring interfaith issues. It’s a “come one, come all” gathering not an elected congress.

Of course, it would be good if people left the meeting determined to be more loving and to care for each other and the planet. I suspect some walked away with such determination. I know I did.

And that’s something worth celebrating!

The post Parliament Reflections from Tom Oord appeared first on Institute for Ecological Civilization.

With such a grand title, it’s not surprising representatives from diverse religions will convene to explore a diverse set of topics! Some presenters are long-time contributors to this conversation. But many are new voices with potentially exciting perspectives.

Justice at the Parliament

I’ve been working with leaders of the Parliament’s “Justice” track/emphasis. Addressing justice seems appropriate given the Parliament’s mission to promote “a more just, peaceful, and sustainable world.”

I’m particularly interested in the relation between love and justice. I’ve published many books and articles exploring the meaning and forms of love. Some of my work is aimed at topics relevant to many religious traditions and many disciplines of science. But as a Christian, I also sometimes do research with a Christian audience in mind.

I’ll be speaking as part of a 3-person panel exploring the relationship of love and justice in the Abrahamic traditions: Christianity, Islam, and Judaism. My friends Rabbi Shai Held and Jihad Turk are also on the panel.

Forms of Justice

For many in the Abrahamic traditions, “justice” brings to mind retaliation, punishment, or retribution. In this sense, justice is thought to describe the consequences wrongdoers must face for their hurtful actions. God exacts justice in this way, they say, and we are sometimes justified in exacting such justice.

For others, “justice” means fairness, equality, and securing well-being for those treated unjustly. Activists for social justice, for instance, stand on behalf for those treated unfairly or oppressed.

These diverse meanings of justice can butt heads. One group who may want to see wrongdoers get their “just deserts.” Others want to stop practices of discrimination, power imbalance, or prejudice.

Justice as an Aspect of Love

I see justice as a feature of love not an opposite or alternative. I don’t pit love and justice against one another.

On my view, justice plays a key role in love’s attempts to promote overall well-being. I define love, in fact, as acting intentionally, in response to God and others, to promote overall well-being. That last phrase, “promote overall well-being,” asks the questions of justice in terms of equal distribution of goods and resources.

The issues of justice prompt the lover to think about how his or her actions affect the whole. Actions are not loving that clearly undermine the common good.

For instance, giving too many goods and resources to a few is not a loving action. In our everyday interactions and larger social actions, we must ask the questions of fairness and equity.

Christian Love and Justice?

To prepare for this interfaith Parliament panel, I’m working to formulate a Christian view of love and justice. Notice I said “a” Christian view; I don’t claim to represent the views of all Christians. But I do wonder if Christians have something important to say about love and justice in light of their beliefs about Jesus, the church, the “least of these,” and Christian social ethics more broadly.

I’m inclined to think love is love no matter the religious tradition. And the same for justice. But the ways each tradition may express love and justice, emphasize them, or express them in practice may differ. But I’m still working this out!

I encourage you to consider attending the Parliament in November. It’s not too late to register. Consider this essay my way of inviting you to attend the Justice Track sessions.

And if you come to the Three Abrahamic Traditions panel, say hello!

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Dr. Mayer-Ries spoke with EcoCiv about the broader goals behind his work, speaking of his own motivations in carrying out his high-level responsibilities in the Federal Ministry for Environment. The discussion highlights the role of the goal of an ecological civilization as a guide to Dr. Mayer-Ries’s overall program.

The post Dr. Joerg Mayer-Ries in conversation with Philip Clayton appeared first on Institute for Ecological Civilization.

The Journey of the Universe Film, Book, & Conversations are a collaboration of evolutionary philosopher Brian Thomas Swimme and historian of religions Mary Evelyn Tucker. They weave a tapestry that draws together scientific discoveries in astronomy, geology, and biology with humanistic insights concerning the nature of the universe.

Click here (PDF) for an overview and watch the Journey of the Universe film below.

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Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

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November 7-9, 2017
Claremont Graduate University
Claremont, California, USA

한국어 번역

Online Program Booklet

Our world is facing an unprecedented threat. If we have any hope of averting the predicted consequences of the climate crisis, we need radical change and we need it now. Making minor adjustments that maintain the status quo is not enough. Putting green paint on unsustainable practices is not sufficient. We need a “Second Enlightenment,” a new paradigm, a fundamental change of framework on which we can build a more sustainable and just world—an Ecological Civilization. Such radical civilizational change will require collaboration around a shared vision for the future, toward mutual flourishing; bringing together the best in theory and practice across all areas of society.

This fall, key leaders from Korea will gather in Claremont to collaborate with US leaders around the shared vision of an ecological civilization, and the steps needed to initiate the transition on a global scale. Participants represent leaders in national and local government, NGOs, universities, journalism, and religions. Each participant and key speaker brings a unique set of skills, experiences, and achievements, critical to ushering in a new ecological paradigm. Inspired and guided by the work of John B. Cobb, Jr. whose vision was at the heart of the 2015 Claremont conference “Seizing an Alternative: Toward an Ecological Civilization,” we will examine big ideas toward a new paradigm for the future and how this vision is already being actualized by scholars, activists, governments, and politicians, in Korea and beyond.

Perhaps most important, this conference will serve as a first step toward building a Global Network for Ecological Civilization–bringing people together from around the world to collaborate on this common vision. While the 2017 Claremont conference will focus on Korea and the US, the 2018 Seoul conference (in partnership with the City of Seoul) will focus especially on forming an active network in Asia, that includes Korea, China, and Japan.

What to Expect:

Transdisciplinary discussion: We will facilitate a transdisciplinary discussion among philosophy, economics, science, law, urban planning, cultural studies, and theology.

Comparative analysis: Through constructive dialogue, participants will be able to discuss core challenges and achievements, comparing and contrasting the best insights from leaders in South Korea, United States, and China.

Paradigm change: We will clarify the features of a new paradigm toward ecological civilization and how this new paradigm relates to specific issues such as climate change, city renovation, aging, economic growth, unemployment, etc.

Practical solutions: We will explore important strategies and practical steps that can be taken by universities, local governments, NGOs, and religious communities.

The post Green Transition Toward Ecological Civilization: A Korea-US Dialogue appeared first on Institute for Ecological Civilization.

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At the Shanahan Center auditorium at Harvey Mudd College, the Claremont Energy Vision program attracted a large crowd of students from the Claremont Colleges and community members from the city of Claremont. Using the framework of the pressing crisis and the need to move toward an ecological civilization, the event featured CHERP’s “Claremont Locally Grown Power” project as a case study in local sustainability efforts. Featuring speakers who were among local leaders and politicians, government officials and advocates, business executives and cutting edge researchers, the conversation welcomed the audience into learning about the exciting work being done in their own backyard. Following time to interact with questions, the audience was invited to engage the speakers in informal discussions of how the aspects of the project work together and opportunities moving forward.

Claremont Energy Vision sought to demonstrate the multi-faceted value and implications of CHERP’s efforts to implement energy efficiency on a city-wide basis. Speakers worked to inspire the local community and increase awareness, with the goal of building future support from new strategic partners and local stakeholders. Instead of focusing on a singular and compartmentalized issue, Claremont Energy Vision demonstrated how both EcoCiv and CHERP aim to bridge “silos” by integrating the critical elements of job creation, local economic stimulus, economic social justice, and mitigating greenhouse gas emissions. Through our expert speakers, the discussion began to construct the groundwork for a grassroots movement. There was a unanimous agreement across federal, state, and city leaders that local communities are the true catalyst for instituting an ecological civilization – working within a “bottom-to-top” paradigm empowers citizens and subsequently local officials, allowing them to diffuse the efficient and replicable CHERP innovations from city-to-city. EcoCiv will collaborate with CHERP and others to use the Claremont Energy Vision event as outreach to other cities, demonstrating the support and replicability of the locally grown power project. Participants confirmed that the project is scalable throughout California and is a necessary step in working toward a more sustainable future.

For further details on Claremont Energy Vision, please see the event webpage. EcoCiv welcomes you to contact us for further information on how you can become involved.

The post Claremont Energy Vision: A Grassroots Movement for Energy Efficiency appeared first on Institute for Ecological Civilization.

“Journey of the Universe: A Story for Our Times” Yale University Online Classes Now Open to the Public

Mary Evelyn Tucker and John Grim, Senior Lecturers and Research Scholars at Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies are currently offering four six-week online courses. These are featured as a specialization under the theme of “Journey of the Universe: A Story for our Times.” This specialization includes two courses on Journey of the Universe and a course on the Worldview of Thomas Berry. Each of these courses can be taken independently, followed by an Integrating Capstone course. These are MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) available on Coursera to anyone, anywhere on the planet.  This is the first MOOC specialization for Yale and the first MOOCs for the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies.

Learners may audit these courses FREE OF CHARGE (with the exception of the capstone course). Or learners may register for all of the courses for a small fee and, upon completion, receive a specialization certificate. The courses do not have to be completed within the six week period, rather, learners may finish at their own pace.

Courses:

• Journey of the Universe: The Unfolding of Life
• Journey Conversations: Weaving Knowledge and Action
• The Worldview of Thomas Berry: The Flourishing of the Earth Community
• Integrating Capstone: Living Cosmology (only available as part of the specialization certificate—not available to audit)

Upcoming sessions:

• January 16, 2017 – March 6, 2017 April 10, 2017 – May 29, 2017
• February 13, 2017 – April 3, 2017 May 8, 2017 –June 26, 2017
• March 13, 2017 – May 1, 2017 June 5, 2017 – July 24, 2017

For more details and to register, go to:
https://www.coursera.org/specializations/journey-of-the-universe

Praise for the Journey of the Universe: A Story for Our Times online courses (from course participants):

“While I have taken several dozen online courses, I have never before been moved to want to participate on a deeper level as I have with this series. [This course] made a deep impression on my thinking and my feelings, and I sincerely hope that I will find ways to further my understanding of [this] work as well as to develop my own independent thinking in the direction [the instructors] have pioneered. I am given fresh hope and faith in the idea of being a part of this vitally important, and vitally potent, undertaking.”

“I am a retired university lecturer from Australia, and a life-long learner. The Journey of the Universe was the first professionally presented online course that I have undertaken. I loved everything about it; the book, the film, the additional resources. Most importantly, the integrated vision of the evolution of the universe, and the principles and processes of evolution from the original flaring forth, through to the evolution of Earth, and humanity as it is now, and what it may be in the future. I am thrilled by the multi-level examples of interconnectedness, and your orientation of bringing it all back to me/us. It is just what I needed – the deepening of my understanding of ‘humanity’s roots’, in order to expand ‘horizontally’ in my perception of global events in the context of wonder and possibility for the future of earth community. I love the integration of science, humanities and the spirituality underlying world religious systems; i love the heart-felt, poetic language of your story of the journey(s).”

“I would really like to say thank you for providing this course as it is one of the most profound and momentous experiences of my life. It has given me a much greater understand of who I am and where I live. My view has been expanded exponentially. It also, importantly, gives me hope. My goal is to dedicate my life’s work to promoting a flourishing future for all life and hopefully making some sort of small difference for future generations, of all kinds.”

“It’s beautiful! I’ve never described any Coursera courses this way. This lecture guides us widen and enhanced world around us. I believe it make us becoming better beings. Thank you!”

Praise for Journey of the Universe:

“This is one of the most remarkable films I have ever seen.”
– Thomas E. Lovejoy, Ph.D., Scientist and Founder of the PBS series Nature
Professor, George Mason University

“This story of the universe has the potential to change our civilization.”
– Gus Speth, Vermont Law School, Former Director, United Nations Development Programme, Co-founder of National Resources Defense Council and World Resources Institute

“Journey of the Universe uses stunning imagery to foster an understanding of our evolutionary origins and the urgency of protecting the diversity of life and environments on our home planet.”
– Derek Briggs, Ph.D., Director, Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History

“This is the film that so many of us have been waiting for: a clear, wondrous telling of the Universe Story. The science is rigorous and engaging. The film is mind-blowing in all respects.”
– Ursula Goodenough, Ph.D., Biology Department, Washington University, Author of Sacred Depths of Nature

“A remarkable film…While science itself is rooted in rigor and dispassion, its findings can inspire wonder, even reverence. I think the film is a great experiment. It is also beautifully filmed, and, refreshingly, largely a “woe-is-me/shame-on-you”-free zone. I hope it gets wide viewing.”
– Andrew Revkin, Journalist, Author, “Dot Earth” blogger for The New York Times

The post “Journey of the Universe: A Story for Our Times” appeared first on Institute for Ecological Civilization.

Dr. Gardner has tracked the environmental movement in China before, outlining both its popularity and political challenges. His work, posted below, tells the story of China’s awakening to the depth of the environmental crisis through the “airpocalypse” and discovery of “cancer villages,” rural villages often located downstream from industrial plants, amongst other major events. Dr. Gardner later traced the embrace of “Under the Dome,” a documentary on air pollution in China, by the Chinese people while political leadership tried to ban the video.

China, the most populated and polluted country in the world, has embraced the concepts and practices of ecological civilization to counteract environmental damage caused through industrialization. Dr. Gardner’s research will be a vital contribution to the ecological civilization conversation and action taking place globally. His research will contribute to communicating the move towards ecological civilization in China, outlining challenges and successes, and tracing the movement into the future.

Dr. Gardner’s work:
Prof. Daniel K. Gardner Chosen for Prestigious Andrew Carnegie Fellows Program
China’s Environmental Awakening
China’s ‘Silent Spring’ Moment?

Background on ecological civilization in China:
China: Ecological Civilization

The post Prestigious Andrew Carnegie Award for Research on Ecological Civilization in China appeared first on Institute for Ecological Civilization.

Jon Erickson is Professor in the Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources and Fellow of the Gund Institute for Ecological Economics at the University of Vermont (USA). He has published widely on energy and climate policy, land conservation, environmental public health, and the theory and practice of ecological economics. Professor Erickson is an Emmy award-winning film producer, Fulbright scholar, founder of numerous non-profit education organizations, and US leader of the Economics for the Anthropocene partnership.

Peter G. Brown is a Professor in the Departments of Natural Resource Sciences and Geography, and the School of Environment at McGill University (Canada). He is principal investigator of Economics for the Anthropocene, a graduate training and research partnership supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and twenty-five international university, government, and non-governmental organizations (e4a-net.org). His most recent book is Ecological Economics for the Anthropocene: An Emerging Paradigm, written and co-edited with Peter Timmerman. He is a member of the Society of Friends (Quakers), and the Club of Rome.

The post How Higher Education Imperils the Future appeared first on Institute for Ecological Civilization.

To watch Mary Evelyn Tucker on “Cosmology, Ecology, and Justice in Laudato Si'” please click here.

The post Mary Evelyn Tucker on "Integrating Ecology and Justice: The Papal Encyclical" appeared first on Institute for Ecological Civilization.

Where: Wednesday, December 7th, 7pm
When: Aero Theater, 1328 Montana Ave. Santa Monica, CA

A Panel discussion will follow the screening moderated by Bill Selby, Retired Geography and Earth Science Professor, Santa Monica College.

The panel discussion will include other experts in the field.

FREE Admission to Sustainable Works members, Santa Monica residents and High School/College students (with valid ID) who reserve their seats here.

Not a Santa Monica resident, High School/College student or a Sustainable Works Member? Purchase tickets here.

Download the flyer for the event by clicking here (PDF).

*Please arrive by 6:40 to guarantee you get a seat

The post Racing Extinction appeared first on Institute for Ecological Civilization.

Rene Ebersole: Should we be looking more closely at how the food we eat affects the climate?

Michael Pollan: I think there’s a growing recognition that you can’t really address climate without looking at the food system. Yet, exactly how you do that, what that means from a policy point of view, is a lot more complicated than regulating coal-fired power plants.

RE: Agriculture is a large source of global warming emissions. Yet you propose that it can help reverse climate change?

MP: We certainly need to mitigate the amount of carbon and methane and nitrous oxide that agriculture adds to the atmosphere, but we can do much more than mitigate, because we can use agriculture to sequester large amounts of carbon. In fact, a third of the carbon in the atmosphere today was originally in the soil. Not in the form of fossil fuels but in the form of soil carbon.

To read the the entire interview, please click here.

The post Reforming Farming to Fight Climate Change: An Interview With Michael Pollan appeared first on Institute for Ecological Civilization.

The Trump proposal for a ten year trillion dollar investment in infrastructure supported by an 82% tax credit has the potential to help build an efficient, productive and low polluting 21st century economy.

The focus is on user or fee based projects that would pay for themselves once operating, paying taxes on revenue and income taxes on wages. Using a public private partnership model supported by the tax credit would facilitate both private investment and oversight over long term maintenance and performance.

Public private partnerships mean that investors will write checks to finance vetted projects and not just dip into a tax payer funded slush fund. This is the way to avoid building bridges to nowhere. Projects are funded by private capital. Completed projects are meant to be self-sustaining and built to highest standards. They must pass the no boondoggle test. That’s the value of public private partnerships done right.

Several choices for needed, innovative, and profitable investment are clear.

First, is national high speed internet that can both employ new fiber optic cable and take advantage of existing capacity in underused copper electric lines. ATT is already at work on Project Air Gig using low cost plastic antennas installed on power lines.The goal is for all Americans everywhere to be linked by high speed internet connectivity. The economic benefits are enormous and the system will clearly be profitable.

Second, is building a network of regional and continental Supergrid power lines using High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) . This will allow power to be moved from where it is generated to where it is needed 24 hours a day. Our cars, factories, heating and cooling in the 21st century will be electric. Electric use will soar and pollution decrease. A small charge for transmission added to electric bills makes the system highly profitable. The wind in the midwest and off shore, the sun in the deserts has potential to easily provide all our electric power generated here with zero fuel cost and zero pollution.

Third, is to install a national electric vehicle charging infrastructure. Electric cars use energy at a rate equivalent to a $1.00 a gallon or less compared to gasoline. Installing a charging station at each gas station will generate enormous revenues if there are lots of electric cars that will be become irresistible if there are charging stations.This will be an enormously profitable venture.

Four, is the driverless car infrastructure that is next, but that is not yet commercial under the tax credit model.

Five, is to build national high speed rail that will move people swiftly and safely long distances at seeds of 200 miles per hour. High speed rail can pick up and deliver people from city centers and not waste many hours traveling to distant airports and slash energy use and pollution.

Six, is building housing in our cities using new manufactured housing techniques. This is a program for neighborhood redevelopment for affordable housing to be owned by individuals and by cooperative groups with a stake in their neighborhoods. Building homes in factories in sections to be assembled on site cuts costs and creates jobs.It will revitalize cities, reduce homelessness, and reduce commuting and slash pollution. This is certainly in Donald Trump’s wheelhouse.

Participation in all these projects will allow American companies to compete in a burgeoning international marketing in all these areas, or be left behind while the world embrace 21st century technologies and 21st century solutions.

Roy Morrison’s latest book Sustainability Sutra is forthcoming from Select Books in NY, March 7, 2017.

Fact Check
The Plan

High Speed Internet
How AT&T plans to deliver cheap, high-speed internet over power lines

SuperGrid
The Coming Super Grid Build-Out — Investing Daily
Can the U.S. develop a supergrid before China
Building the 21st Century Transmission Super Grid: Technical and Political Challenges for Large Scale Renewable Energy Production in the U.S.

Electric Vehicle Infrastructure
Obama Administration Announces New Actions To Accelerate The Deployment of Electrical Vehicles and Charging Infrastructure
Charging Infrastructure for Plug-in Electric Vehicles | Overcoming Barriers to Deployment of Plug-in Electric Vehicles
Utility Involvement in Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure: California at the Vanguard

High Speed Rail
US High Speed Rail Association
High Speed Rail Infrastructure – US High Speed Rail Association

Building Housing
Factory and Site-Built Housing: A Comparison for the 21st Century
Understanding Today’s Manufactured Housing (PDF)
Innovations in Manufactured Homes
Technology Roadmapping for Manufactured Housing (PDF)
Cost-Optimized Attic Insulation Solution for Factory-Built Homes
What Are Manufactured Homes?
Why Manufactured Homes?

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Friends,

Yesterday’s election was frightening in many respects. But from an ecological perspective, it is an unimaginable disaster. The United States had recently signed on to the Paris agreement ― the successor conference to which is occurring in Marrakesh as I write — and President Obama recently signed the important agreement on the use of HFCs with President Xi of China. The new president of the U.S. has promised to reverse these agreements, deepen our dependence on coal mining, increase oil drilling in the Arctic, and open the way for environmentally destructive methods such as fracking.
One of the world’s most effective environmental organizations, 350.org, is normally neutral on candidates. The environmental devastation that would follow from a Trump presidency is so great that even 350.org joined the battle to defeat the Trump campaign.

For people who care about the future of the planet and who pay even passing attention to science, last night was a devastating defeat. We believe that, decades from today, people will look back on this election as the moment when the global community may have lost its (already slim) chance to prevent run-away global warming.

Take a deep breath.

Now let’s roll up our sleeves and get going.

There are at least three crucial things we have to do, and we have only four years to get them done:

1. We need to redouble our efforts to communicate the planet’s actual situation to voters in North America. We need to show that climate change is a bigger threat to jobs, prosperity, and a secure future than any other threat humanity faces. By focusing on the positive examples of change that are springing up around us — what we call EcoLabs — we bring attention to the first positive steps in the transition to a sustainable civilization.
2. We need to walk our talk ― to become positive examples of sustainable modes of living on this planet. A serious environmental movement begins at the grassroots; it begins with people whose actions inspire others.
3. Finally, if we cannot influence our own government in the right directions, we need to increase our international focus. It’s now crucial that we help strengthen serious ecological movements around the world. Last night shattered the dream that the United States would take leadership in the move toward an ecological civilization, at least for the next four years. By contrast, in Europe, in Asia, and around the planet, people and organizations are actually taking decisive steps … as individuals, organizations, NGOs, and governments. Even if we cannot bring about change in our own country, we can support the efforts of the people who can make and are making a difference.

At EcoCiv, we are committed to investing mind, soul, spirit — and our resources as well — to assist in the transition to an ecological civilization. Please fight discouragement and despair, the desire to give up now. Our work has only become more important. It calls for a greater investment of time and money than ever before.

Please join us with renewed energy in the fight for the planet. We may or may not be able to avoid an environmental catastrophe and the collapse of economies and social structures that it would bring. Yet in the fight for a deep transformation of society, we can help humanity prepare for ecological ways of living on this earth after the crisis. And if we are successful, perhaps we will avoid the collapse after all.

—
Philip Clayton, President
Toward Ecological Civilization

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Introducing the Institute for Postmodern Development of China

Ecological Civilization – A national strategy for innovative, concerted, green, open and inclusive development

The Ecological Civilization Debate in China

Green is Gold – the Strategy and Actions of China’s Ecological Civilization

China’s New Blueprint for an ‘Ecological Civilization’

Interpreting Ecological Civilisation

China: Ecological Civilization Rising?

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For more details about this education program and how to register and participate, click here.

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To access the report of this meeting, click here or here (PDF).

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For more details about the summit, click here. To view the 2016 Shared Roadmap to Prosperity, click here (PDF).

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To read more details, click here. To download the report, click here (PDF).

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Read the entire essay here.

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Call for Papers
We are inviting authors to submit contributions to the first issue of The Ecological Citizen. For details, please click here.

Deadline: November 30th, 2016

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LOS ANGELES, May 19 (Xinhua) — A noted U.S. philosopher has praised Chinese President Xi Jinping‘s remarks on updated Marxism, saying Xi’s understanding of Marxism is a light on the path toward a new global ecological civilization.

Philip Clayton was commenting on Xi’s speech about the importance of adhering to and innovating Marxism at a philosophy and social sciences symposium in Beijing on Tuesday.

“He stressed that the birth of Marxism is a great event in human intellectual history, and noted the wisdom of traditional Chinese culture. These two themes coincide with the Organic Marxism theory,” Clayton told Xinhua in an interview on Wednesday.

In Clayton’s book “Organic Marxism: An Alternative to Capitalism and Ecological Catastrophe” published in 2014, he wrote, “Capitalism as a social and economic system has created massive injustices and has devastated the global environment… Only a Marxism built on organic principles will be able to respond productively to these demands for new political theories and new roles for governments in an era of environmental catastrophe.”

“President Xi did not interpret Marxism as a timeless truth, but called innovation the eternal theme of philosophy and social sciences, and also of social development,” Clayton told Xinhua.

Based on English philosopher Alfred North Whitehead’s Process Philosophy theory, Clayton’s Organic Marxism focuses on the evolving process of Marxism and its organic integration with the needs of specific cities, countries or cultures.

“The basic principles of Marxism have to evolve to fit the concrete realities of today’s China. Socialism with Chinese characteristics is not the same as the German Marxism of the 19th century,” he said.

Paying much attention to China’s social developments in the past 20 years, Clayton called himself “a China watcher.”

“President Xi also noted the complementary relationship between Marxism and Chinese traditional culture resources,” he said. “The Chinese people have developed a deep cultural tradition over thousands of years of thought and practice. This accumulated knowledge is a wise guide to help Chinese leaders with developing socialist policies that suit China’s unique situation.”

He also said that an updated Marxism is indispensable for building an ecological civilization, which requires a social, economic and political philosophy that places the common good of humanity and of the planet above all else. “We predict that the principles of Organic Marxism will play an increasingly important role,” he said.

Clayton criticized the growing inequalities in U.S. society and damages profit-driven corporations have caused to the environment. “In America, the protesting voices against these inequities grow louder,” he said.

“China is the largest nation in the world defined by its Constitution as a Marxist state. President Xi is calling for a Marxism that evolves to address the unique challenges facing China,” he said, adding that the developments Xi is calling for would serve as a strong guide to the school of Organic Marxism.

The post Interview: Xi's understanding of Marxism a light on path toward ecological civilization — U.S. philosopher appeared first on Institute for Ecological Civilization.

Presented by Amol Navangul

In collaboration with the

International Section of the Association for Conflict Resolution (ACR),

The Community Section of the Association for Conflict Resolution (ACR), and

The National Association for Community Mediation (NAFCM)

Session Description:

Climate change and security or economic conflicts are making the fight against poverty harder. Capital flows are more difficult to control, applications of available resources are difficult to optimize or channelized, and developmental goals are difficult to be attained. The eyes of the world are on these challenges. India and other emerging economies are typical examples to see these issues in that perspective, thus the developmental policies adopted by these economies need to take strategic approach to climate change, conflict and capital, which are key factors affecting development and the fight against poverty. This webinar tries to see these conflicts, development needs, the resources allocations, and further tries to identify the solution approach, may that be through policy or through application of technology.

Although the global development policies are to help countries gain control over their own development, and to help individuals gain control over their own lives, the rapid and alarming negative effects of climate change and the unified response observed in the near past have created a paradox in terms of UN Millennium Development Goals and country obligations to climate response. The webinar will take an example of energy and resources crisis faced by India, to understand this paradox, and will try to zero-in on possible way forward.

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The post Climate Conflict, Capital & Development Paradox: A case of India’s Energy & Resources Crisis appeared first on Institute for Ecological Civilization.

Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York
3041 Broadway New York, NY 10027

June 6-10, 2016

From the California drought to Missouri floods to changing growing seasons across America, climate change is already affecting our country and world. The deeper ecological crisis known to front-line communities for decades is also coming to greater attention: toxic drinking water, collapse in fisheries, soil erosion, and oil and gas leaks have all received recent news coverage. Historically, the church has met world affairs with discernment, seeking to carry out the teachings of Jesus according to the material context of the age. What is the role of the Church in this moment? How can Christian clergy help their congregations profess the Good News in a changing world?

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The post The Gospel in the Ecological Crisis appeared first on Institute for Ecological Civilization.

Source: Xinhua   2016-05-01 15:07:04

The post Spotlight: Organic Marxism, China's ecological civilization drive in spotlight at int'l conference appeared first on Institute for Ecological Civilization.

————-

It was a Victorian morality tale about the Central America which reached the art critic John Ruskin in Oxford just when he was beginning, disastrously for his career and reputation, to apply his principles of art and life to economics. So when the novelist William Makepeace Thackeray asked him for four articles on economics for his newspaper, The Pall Mall Gazette in London in 1860, Ruskin put the story at the heart of his first essay.

The post The Birth of the New Economics appeared first on Institute for Ecological Civilization.

—–

‘We are people of faith. We are also people of hope.’

I heard those words Monday, as the names of over 270 high-level faith leaders – including the Dalai Lama and the President of the World Council of Churches – and thousands of people of faith were presented to the President of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, supporting the Interfaith Climate Change Statement to World Leaders.

I hope you’ll sign the statement today.

GreenFaith organized the handover ceremony. We partnered with diverse faith groups around the world to develop the statement.

Days like today give me real hope. I saw faith leaders from many creeds and from around the world come together.

I also saw that world leaders were listening.

The French Permanent Representative to the UN made it clear that people of faith played a vital role in making the Paris Agreement possible.

The Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN of Morocco, where the next round of climate talks will happen, agreed.

The President of the UN General Assembly said that “religions can be a catalyst for common action.”

A representative of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change Secretariat said that “religion has always been the foundation of civilization.”

It is also clear that our work is not done.

We need to keep praying, advocating and acting.  Pressing for change and bringing people hope. The way ahead will not be easy. We have much work to do. We will not make it without hope and faith.

If you already signed this statement – thank you so much for lending your voice. If you have not yet signed – now is the time.

Plans are building for our next step – a day of faith climate action on June 12 called Sacred Earth, Sacred Trust. I look forward to sharing more with you on this soon.

Yours with faith and hope,

Rev. Fletcher Harper
Executive Director

P.S. Please make a contribution today to support GreenFaith’s work.

The post Interfaith Climate Change Statement to World Leaders appeared first on Institute for Ecological Civilization.

The post Seizing an Alternative: A Big First Step appeared first on Institute for Ecological Civilization.

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