By Myra Jackson
On January 16th, 2015, I found myself surprisingly engaged in a historic event of immense meaning for all life on our planetary home. It was 3pm, GMT and I, like so many of my virtual colleagues were gathering for the last meeting of our epic twelve-week course on Planetary Boundaries and Human Opportunities led by Lisa Deutsch and Johan Rockström of Stockholm Resilience Centre, SRC. The course had a deep impact on me and I was feeling a sense of strength and accomplishment from completing it. I arrived at our final virtual hangout eager to hear how others were impacted and curious how each of us might respond to the human opportunities laid out before us.
Within moments of Professor Johan Rockström’s arrival, history began to unfold.
He announced that he had just come from a meeting with the Prime Minister of Sweden, where they discussed presenting Planetary Boundaries at the World Economic Forum in Davos, January 21-25. Further, Rockström announced that publication of the updated research on Planetary Boundaries and the Great Acceleration coincided with our final meeting. The timing of these milestones turned our final gathering into a real time briefing and the excitement among us was evident in the flurry of questions posed. It was clear that heads of state and policymakers were connecting the dots related to the state of Earth’s systems. It seemed clear that we were witnessing a breakthrough. The power of the research and its approach seems to have shifted the debate and the drive toward a concerted global response was in the making to prevent irreversible tipping points in critical Earth systems as noted in the Stockholm memorandum:
Science indicates that we are transgressing planetary boundaries that have kept civilization safe for the past 10,000 years. Evidence is growing that human pressures are starting to overwhelm the Earth’s buffering capacity. Humans are now the most significant driver of global change, propelling the planet into a new geological epoch, the Anthropocene. We can no longer exclude the possibility that our collective actions will trigger tipping points, risking abrupt and irreversible consequences for human communities and ecological systems. - Stockholm Memorandum (2011)
Professor Rockström quoted Elinor Ostrom on several occasions in response to the opportunity before us:
Nobel Laureate, Elinor Ostrom cautioned against single governmental units at the global level to solve the collective action problem of coordinating work against environmental destruction. Partly, this is due to their complexity, and partly to the diversity of actors involved. Her proposal was that of a polycentric approach, where key management decisions should be made as close to the scene of events and the actors involved as possible.
There it was again — the idea of commons-based approaches being cited as an opportunity for humanity to live within safe and just boundaries relative to Earth’s systems to insure the continuation of Holocene-like conditions conducive to human development and well-being. It was resoundingly clear that Dr. Rockström and the scientific team valued Ostrom’s advice and took the case for Planetary Boundaries direct to the citizens of the Earth in a course to elucidate the opportunity in front of us all. It is a bottom-up and top-down approach.
Kosmos released the Connecting for Impact study last year and continues to chronicle the growing impulse toward communities of learning and action.
In October 2014, the Kosmos team participated in a 3-day conference, Building the Collaborative Commons at the Omega Center for Sustainable Living, OCSL, led by CEO Skip Backus. There were nearly 400 participants in attendance representing a confluence of community members, climate change and peace activists, environmentalists, green economy advocates, farmers, seed harvesters, entrepreneurs, artists, educators, and more gathered in support of the Commons. David Bollier, author of Think Like a Commoner, in his keynote address proclaimed the Omega event as the first Commons gathering in North America and the largest Commons assembly in the history of the movement.
The Omega conference included a diverse lineup of presenters, such as: Dr. Vandana Shiva, David W. Orr, Bill McKibben, Jeremy Rifkin, Winona LaDuke, Osprey Orielle Lake, Xiuchetzal Martinez, Devita Davison, Van Jones and others.
Skip Backus, CEO of Omega Institute with Nancy Roof, Editor of Kosmos Journal
In discussions leading up to Kosmos’ participation as a Media Partner for the conference, civic education and engagement was forecast as the next area of focus for Omega. In his opening address, Skip Backus aligned OCSL in the direction of civic engagement and global citizenship that echoes Ostrom’s call for working as close to the scene and the actors as possible to protect and steward the Commons. Omega sets a stellar example of stewardship of the Commons as a responsible actor in the Hudson Valley region. OCSL through Backus’ leadership brings their successes as interventions in local to global policymaking. OCSL is a zero-water waste facility, grows food using permaculture practices, buys local, integrates Ostrom’s eight principles and provides a convening space for civic education focused on sustainable living.
The Pachamama Alliance after a year of piloting their Game Changer Intensive launched its program into the public domain this January as a natural next step from the Awakening the Dreamer symposium into direct civic engagement designed to address the root causes of the challenges facing humanity.
Another area galvanizing global citizens into action are various Citizen Scientist initiatives.
In a year in which the world becomes aware of the Anthropocene as a new geological epoch suggesting that humanity is in the driver’s seat with regard to the sustainability of Earth’s systems, we also find ourselves commemorating the 800th anniversary of the Magna Carta and the lesser-known document within it known as the Charter of the Forest. A direct link to a time in human civilization where everyday men and women sought to insure access to the Forest for all and the protection of one of Earth’s primary systems integral to the well-being of all species – the Forests and one of the nine key planetary boundaries defined.
Building on the momentum of the people’s Climate Change movement led by Bill McKibben’s 350.org, LIVE EARTH will amass One Billion Voices across the span of seven continents on June 18, 2015 to send a message to World Leaders to take action on Climate Change now, as we build momentum heading into the UN Climate Summit in Paris in December.
As Global Citizens unite on Climate Change, may the highest aspirations sealed and codified within the Magna Carta become actualized and ensure a safe and just planetary home for all species for the next 800 years and beyond.
In summary, the planetary boundary concept is a very important one, and its proposal should now be followed by discussions of the connections between the various boundaries and of their association with other concepts such as the ‘limits to growth‘. Importantly, this novel concept highlights the risk of reaching thresholds or tipping points for non-linear or abrupt changes in Earth-system processes. As such, it can help society to reach the agreements required for dealing effectively with existing global environmental threats, such as climate change. - Nobel laureate Mario J. Molina