Dawning of a New ERA of Eco-Response-Ability
Brian Sarwer-Foner
2024 saw the dawning of a new ERA of Eco-Response-Ability largely due to actions I, Brian Sarwer-Foner, initiated through the development and promotion of a new paradigm which catalyzed a watershed shift in people’s thinking while serving as guidepost for shaping individual and collective behavior. This led to Humanity achieving Harmony with Life and All Relations by 2050.
It started by launching a collaborative co-creative process on the Deep Transformation Network (DTN) to interpret a traditional Indigenous teaching of the Anishinabe from Quebec, Canada about a 13-part Constitution based on the symbolic depiction of 12 bones of a pike’s head plus the singular bone of the sturgeon’s. Using the pike’s and sturgeon’s head teachings as a template, the collaborative process led to the co-creation of a living document, ERA Constitution, exemplifying the understanding, passion, care and devotion of the participating DTN members.
The Anishinabe teach that all 13 pieces of the Constitution (Belief, Vision, Balance, Peace, Freedom, Destiny, Principles, Education, Integration, Structure, Prosperity, Environment, Responsibility) need to be defined, understood and acted upon in order for any human enterprise to be successful.
The definition of each piece of ERA Constitution (Constitution of Eco-Response-Ability) emerged through a collaborative co-creation process synthesizing the collective knowledge, wisdom, experience and all the great ideas of the contributing participants. ERA Constitution incorporated the Earth Charter (principles) and the fruits of many other important initiatives already undertaken. As well, deep reflection and brainstorming on how to disseminate, share, and publicize ERA Constitution was performed as a final part of the collaborative co-creative process.
ERA Constitution became the blueprint for Environmental Social Change (ESC) which allowed us to escape from the destructive pathway we were collectively following and veer off in a new direction leading to Harmony with Life and All Relations based on applying individual and collective Eco-Response-Ability.
Traditional Indigenous Peoples and their teachings about how to live a good life, based on generations-old knowledge and understanding of how to live in harmony with Nature, led the way for implementing ERA Constitution, shining a beacon for the dominant societies to follow and pattern themselves upon. They held constant gatherings (local, regional, national, international) and ceremonies, leading to the formation of a plethora of councils (local, regional, national, international) of elders, women, men and youth. Defining needs, identifying best practices and innovating new ones to fill existing gaps was the work at hand, with experts in pertinent fields invited to join the counseling processes to share their ideas and solutions.
The expertise of marketers, publicists and advertising agents were solicited. A communication strategy was created and put it into action, combining initiatives from environmental NGOs and their campaign messages, in particular Jane Goodall’s Message of Hope. Catchy phrase, slogans and memes (e.g. Human Destiny is Ours to Co-Create) were crafted to empower people and further promote, publicize, and market ERA Constitution on mainstream, alternative and social media.
Pitted against the disconnections, cynicism and apathy rooted in the dominant 2020s culture of hatred, war, injustice and ecological devastation, more and more people were reached. They became open to hope using ERA as a mediating process for engaging in action. This led to the further formation of People’s Councils in all regions, at all levels of society, in all sectors.
ERA Constitution became a structural template and moral compass for organizing, being applied through all levels of activism: citizens (consumers), reformers, rebels and social change agents, with a common focus and the widest of reach, including everyone on Earth. Protests were constantly occurring throughout the world demanding Environmental Social Change; people working inside the system responded with their abilities by making openings for change to happen within; citizens started to evermore live ERA values, behaving, spending and consuming eco-response-ably; with social change agents communicating and linking to people and processes for ever-greater reach, organizing to help people get evermore deeply involved in on the ground actions.
Politics arose to answer the call, with progressive politicians adopting ERA Constitution and the public learning to trust them and vote them into power. The British Royalty embraced ERA as a matter of utmost importance with King Charles III and later, King William V implanting ERA in the ideological heart of their reigns, reaching around the world through the Commonwealth. The UN embraced ERA as well; instead of resisting change and fighting over details, more and more countries embraced ERA, and started taking as many steps and initiatives as possible while setting the bar ever-higher, encouraging others to keep on going and do evermore.
Each nation took ERA up in it’s own way, with the ethics of hope, trust, care and devotion driving the efforts of each and all. Love started to replace hatred and peace eventually overtook war as equitable ethics defined new societal values and norms. Societies began moving from the baby steps characteristic of late 20th and early 21st century response to the environmental crisis to giant leaps forward, finally leading to cooperation, peace, love, respect and Eco-Response-Ability as the values that drive decision-making, organizing and deep transformation of all manners of social structure and individual and collective behavior.
Technological innovations were achieved through ending the use of fossil fuels and the implementation of a vast variety of renewal energy alternatives and the integration of deep green design principles, including Biomimicry to help us reconnect with and emulate the natural world.
Green architectural and engineering redesign of our urban, rural and transportation infrastructures was achieved, including using all rooftops as green spaces, community gardens or solar and wind power generating sites. Green Economics, including Donut Economics, informed the deep redesign of trade and industry. Agricultural systems were radically redesigned, with Permaculture and Eco-villages, dominating the rural landscape. Hemp became a dominant crop for nutrition, fibers, textiles, paper and building materials. Trees were no longer harvested for their wood and forests began to regenerate. Slowly but surely human societies approached near-zero waste, with the recycling of organic wastes, reuse of garbage for energy and the creation of new building materials.
The workforce shifted to be more connected to land with new jobs emerging with eco-restoration efforts, and green corps cleaning up waterways and riparian zones, working with Earth’s natural resiliency to foster nature’s abundance and flourishing.
Health improved from people exercising more and changing their diets to be mainly vegan, and eating synthetic meats from a variety of new sources, including algae and bacteria. Pollution diminished drastically, Biodiversity began rebounding as ecosystems reestablished themselves, and the climate started stabilizing as the atmosphere began cooling.
As the 2030s and 2040s progressed, local decision-making started to become increasingly the norm, respecting social diversity, safeguarding equality, honoring and applying traditional teachings; there was evermore uptake and cooperation in upholding and applying ERA Constitution. There is a great depth to the plethora of positive changes implemented during the last few decades and an abundance of fascinating details etched within its history. In 2050 it was globally declared that after decades of focused dedication to the deep transformation of our societies, our structures, our systems and ways of life that humans have managed to regain balance with Nature and have succeeded in our momentous efforts to achieve living in Harmony with Life and All Relations. Humanity is doing well and the Earth is thriving!