International & domestic efforts are politically inefficient to help governments, organisations & communities efficiently scale planet repair solutions. We need to focus on rapidly growing transition-focused alliances & communities led by courageous, ethical leaders from society & business to achieve systemic change.
Author: Jake F. Kelley ––– Editor: Allison Hawkins
“Biodiversity is the greatest treasure we have… Its diminishment is to be prevented at all cost.” — Thomas Eisner
Diverse civil and market teamwork can make our sustainable dream work.
The most impactful systemic changes involve the participation of the masses. Leading approaches to untrashing the planet demand a diverse set of holistic, responsible and scalable solutions. Efficiently solving our problems requires embracing diversity as Mother Nature does. We will win by bringing together the powerful forces of civil society, markets and governments to recognize that our forests and vegetation are our shared lungs — and earth’s water is our blood. Let’s protect what keeps us alive — our planet’s organs which sustain our well-being and resilience.
We must mobilize to demonstrate that the majority of people want to take action — by taking meaningful actions now. Our sustainable values and missions can help us as individuals and our organizations lead the way into the future. The governments and other significant entities will be happy to follow when we’ve proven our success. Let’s pragmatically take the steps to urgently end the fossil fuel era and transform our world through the great untrashing of our planet.
Let’s plan and achieve systemic change for planet repair by gathering our collective force in our public commons with diverse stakeholders from all cities and towns. It’s time to efficiently redesign our future ecosystems at scale and have fun doing it. We all have a role to play in our communities so we can be stronger and safer. Human behavior and the earth’s resources build and power our cities. Collectively, our cities are the individual honeycombs of the entire beehive, where Mother Nature is our shared global mayor, the Queen Bee. Co-creating with her, and together, will help us achieve sustainable systemic change through co-creation.
“This City is what it is because our citizens are what they are.” — Plato
“When you look at a city, it’s like reading the hopes, aspirations and pride of everyone who built it” — Hugh Newell Jacsobsen
Now is a historical time for civil society and markets to convene for systemic change. Align your favorite hopes, aspirations and pride with planet repair.
The practical use of our economic, social and political power will better serve us by developing sustainable systemic changes that allow us to tangibly reformulate our definitions of profitability, growth and success. Critical convenings, alliances and capitalizing on the abundance of opportunities will enable action-driven discussions. Then, we can mobilize our diverse opinions, capabilities and resources by establishing our urgent calls to action for eliminating greenwashing and properly scaling planet repair.
“A city is not gauged by its length and width, but by the broadness of its vision and the height of its dreams” — Herb Caen
“Humankind has not woven the web of life. We are but one thread within it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves. All things are bound together. All things connect.” — Chief Seattle, 1854
We can create more value than ever before by focusing on long-term well-being because becoming sustainable is a process and not a status.
The future we need requires serious, actionable and attainable goals, missions and strategic, multilateral co-creation. Where we want to go should represent the opposite of the 200-year party of trashing our planet. We can achieve a new definition of party that is centered around the perennial process of repairing our planet. Sustainable growth doesn’t mean that we can’t profit while healing our home with its beautiful land, water and air. Imagine how far ahead of everybody else they would be right now if we’ve been spending just a few decades repairing our planet — a tiny amount of time in earthly history. Dream about the world we’d be living in if we made a concerted effort to start funding sustainable solutions. We need to focus our individual, communal, organizational and global efforts on goals that support planet repair. Let’s find purpose and passion in the mission, lifestyle and goals that that benefit the collective and our planet — our home needs planet repair. Let’s focus on the abundance of benefits we will see from a healthy, thriving planet and ignore those that focus on the negative. There is no negative to a healthy planet. It benefits us all.
“[A mission-oriented economy] means asking what kind of markets we want, rather than what problem in the market needs to be fixed.” — Mariana Mazzucato
Governments in international and domestic climate negotiations should step up their game — but ultimately, let’s not let our futures rest in their hands.
From recent COPs and domestic fumbles, it has become clear that political incentives, challenges and other barriers, like public opinion on energy transitions, have hauntingly slowed global progress on mitigation, adaptation and climate restoration. How is it that time and time again we have given in and conveniently followed those who profit from complacency and allowed them to continue to exploit planet-and-human-harming fossil fuels for money? Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results — so let’s stop giving money and opportunities to those who have become rich polluting the planet and choose a different path that benefits us all. We will win by acting together in the democratic commons by utilizing sustainable development, human rights, faith, trust, equity, justice and accountability.
In the past, critical convenings on climate action, like the one in 1996 that established the Kyoto international treaty on GHG emission mitigation, showed that we have consistently failed to acknowledge and achieve the determinations made in our negotiations and commitments. Nobody did what they agreed to do when they signed those agreements — — they didn’t even bother. Politicians for 30 years have signed agreements that they maintained would tackle climate change and agreed to certain targets but never did anything to meet those targets. The time for false promises and failed commitments is over. If we cannot lead with action, we will achieve nothing.
The only actions our complacency has achieved is , inequality, greenwashing and greed… transparency, trust and credibility are thankfully the new norm. It’s finally cool to embrace a life full of nature and equip ourselves with every sustainable tool.
Younger generations are wondering where and what were the values, visions and missions of older generations that allowed us to ignore all the warnings and trash our planet. We need to redefine ourselves and how we live by equating a healthy planet and ecosystems with true wealth. Almost all of us feel that we need to behave better to establish our missions and goals that respect humanity and the rest of nature. We should not tolerate those who disrespect and diminish the well-being of humanity and nature. Do not waste our time, energy, and attention arguing in favor of pollution over sustainability and money over health. There’s a sustainable global army of activists and actionists that are nobly fighting to eliminate greenwashing and to hold those accountable in meaningful ways.
Individuals and organizations that were/are climate change deniers and/or greenwashers didn’t face reality, and they hurt us. They went down lying and greenwashing tunnels while ignoring the well-being of others and earth until it was too late. People are fed up with the same dishonesty, complacency, BS, greenwashing, greed that trashed our planet. Now we’re in a conundrum of chaos that is littered with lies, false CSR, incoherent ESJ, inequality. It’s time for us humble planet repairers to clean up their mess. Humankind is flawed, but ultimately most of us want to do what is right. We need to clean up our behavior in order to be able to effectively clean up and repair our shared home.
“It is not our part to master all the tides of the world, but to do what is in us for the succour of those years wherein we are set, uprooting the evil in the fields that we know, so that those who live after may have clean earth to till. What weather they shall have is not ours to rule.” — J. R. R. Tolkien
“Clean air and water, a diversity of animal and plant species, soil and mineral resources, and predictable weather are annuities that will pay dividends for as long as the human race survives — and may even extend our stay on Earth.” — Alex Steffen
Markets inherently have the powerful potential to be efficient, innovative and drive systemic change. They could be much effective in improving our well-being and future if they effectively partner in co-creating with civil society leaders.
For many reasons, the private sector and civil society have never been more prepared to help save our home with their thirst and hunger for eliminating greenwashing while scaling-up planet repair innovations, structures, mechanisms and other tools. They have the information, knowledge, expertise, resources, networks and tools that we need in order to provide more clarity, credibility and accessible pathways for sustainable progress.
It’s as clear as crystal clean water that civil society and the private sector must convene its many leaders and masses to establish what are the best paths ahead for us to embark on for various aspects of planet repair. They have the knowledge and power to clearly and publicly establish what our optimal journeys, needs and futures for the land, ocean, air, citizens, businesses, investors, consumers, animals, ecosystems should be. Throughout history, cities and towns have set the foundations for critical stakeholders to establish centers and innovations for catalytic change. Rekindling their healthy growth requires that we embrace Mother Nature.
“The natural environment sustains the life of all beings universally.” — Dalai Lama
Ethical behavior, collective action, capacity-building and knowledge-sharing will help us grow while achieving a realistic balance with Mother Nature. Civil society can help markets use responsible, sustainable strategies and tactics that scale up alternative, futuristic resources and solutions.
Do what is right. Do what the ethical consumer and democratic citizen wants — do not give in to those who do not want to change and profit off pollution. Concentrating on profitability and short-term gains and planning is what leads to disturbingly problematic scenarios for future generations. We have seen it over and over and the destruction is immense. Look at the recent opioid crisis, which was fueled by greed and a lack of empathy. Profit over everything is an equation which will fail humanity and our shared home. Our transition from shareholder to stakeholder capitalism needs to be nurtured by all of us in order to evolve into something much better and sustainable. Old investors were right that if you want lucrative short-term returns, then look at things like quarterly reports. However, the truth of real value lies in long term planning. Your business doesn’t operate for four months at a time. We need to look beyond the short-term to make real change.
Business and finance will need support from civil society to ensure that we do not encounter more risk and insecurity. By collaborating proactively and reactively to better protect ourselves and our assets from worsening climate change and harmful chaotic forces like corruption and inequality, we can achieve stable markets and societies for a better world. We need to work together, agree upon the goals and take action to achieve those goals — right now. Let’s use the resources we have to work together and build a sustainable future with a healthy planet for all to enjoy.