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Earth Community
Few books I've ever read have impacted me as much as
The Great Turning: From Empire to Earth Community
by David Korten. Vast in scope, yet highly personal in delivery, its message is based in the understanding that we stand at the threshold of a profund moment in human evolution. In evocation of the collective import of this moment, Korten opens his book with a quote from
The Earth Charter (2000):
We stand at a critical moment in Earth's history, a time when humanity must choose its future. As the world becomes increasingly interdependent and fragile, the future at once holds great peril and great promise. To move forward we must recognize that in the midst of a magnificent diversity of cultures and life forms we are one human family and one Earth community with a common destiny. We must join together to bring forth a sustainable global society founded on rspect for nature, universal human rights, economic justice, and a culture of peace. Towards this end, it is imperative that we, the peoples of Earth, declare our reponsibility to one another, to the greater community of life, and to future generations.
On page 73 of The Great Turning, Korten carries this message further:
"The technological revolution of the twentieth century fundamentally altered the relationship of humans to the planet and to one another, created an unsustainable economic dependence on depleting the finite resources and regenerative capacities of the planet, and placed the human species at increasing risk of destruction by its own hand. Yet the circumstances of the lives of Empire's privileged rulers so isolate them from the negative consequences of this change in the human condition that they are unable to even comprehend the import of what is happening, let alone come forward with appropriate leadership.
Hope for the human future lies in the fact that Empire has created the conditions for the emergence from the bottom up of a new leadership of the whole. The same technological revolution that brings the imperative for change is also facilitating a global cultural and spiritual awakening to the interdependence of life, the unrealized possibilities of our human nature, and the opportunity before us to bring forth a cultural, economic, and political transformation as a conscious collective choice."
It is in support of this hopeful vision of a sustainable fuure where everyone matters that I open up this section of The Cumberlander. Please feel free to join me in this quest by contributing your own insights and information to this section. Everyone welcome.
