Seeds of the future
by Cher Gilmore
It’s easy to become despondent over the number and scale of today’s crises—global warming, increasing pollution of our soil, air, and water, growing economic inequality and injustice, endless wars, food and water shortages, and the list goes on. However, there’s another way of looking at what’s going on that can be illustrated by the simple visual image below.
The dark layer on top represents the decay and breakdown of all our major structures and institutions, forming a rich fertilizer (some would say manure). The layer underneath represents foundational soil—the people and basic resources of Earth. And, coming up from that foundational level, enriched by the fertilizer, are many sprouting seeds, some completely under the radar of the average person and mainstream media, and some already apparent. These represent new projects and developments that suggest a new civilization is incubating and major changes are ahead
Why is this happening?
According to Benjamin Creme, chief editor of Share International magazine, these sprouting seeds reflect a great shift in consciousness taking place within humanity as we leave one planetary cycle and enter another. At the beginning of a new “age,” he says, new energies and forces streaming into the world conflict with those currently at play. In scientific terms, this has to do with the movement of our solar system around the heavens in relation to the 12 constellations of our zodiac. As our sun makes its cyclic journey—taking almost 26,000 years to complete—about every 2,150 years it comes into an energetic relationship with each of the constellations in turn. When we are in alignment with a particular constellation, we are influenced by the cosmic energies streaming from it, and said to be in the corresponding age.
For approximately 2,000 years we have been in alignment with Pisces, or in the Age of Pisces, and our present civilization has developed in response to its energies. Two qualities of Pisces are individuality and devotion to an ideal, but in our expression we have tended to cling to our own ideals at the expense of all others. This has created serious divisions in the world. However, the sun is now coming into alignment with the constellation Aquarius, which carries the quality of synthesis. As the energies of Pisces recede, the structures and institutions created under that energetic stimulus begin to crumble, and as the energies of Aquarius become more predominant,
new institutions based on unity and cooperation will begin to appear.Sprouting Seeds
Fortunately for humanity, a little known cosmic event is taking place in conjunction with the shifting planetary cycles. At the beginning of each age, the spiritual custodians of human evolution send one of their great ones into the world to bring the teachings for the new time. Some of these we have known historically as Krishna, Buddha, the Christ, and Mohammed. Major world religions all expect another great teacher at some future time, and his imminent appearance has been foreseen by some writers since the early 1800s. The books of Helena Blavatsky first introduced our spiritual mentors, the Masters of Wisdom, to the Western world, and those of Alice A. Bailey predicted the reappearance of a great teacher around the turn of the century. The contemporary books and lectures of British artist Benjamin Creme indicate that he is here now, and has been since July 1977. Creme maintains that the teacher’s personal name is Maitreya, and that he has made a number of appearances on national television since the beginning of 2010, not yet revealing his true identity. His public emergence will continue to seed positive change.
Energy
Energy is a field in which many good things are happening, such as the global shift from fossil fuels to renewable energy. Lester Brown, in his book “Plan B 4.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization,” reports that Texas is now the leading generator of electricity from wind, and altogether around 10 states in the United States and several Canadian provinces are planning to export wind energy. Three states—North Dakota, Kansas, and Texas—have enough harnessable wind energy to run the entire US economy! Algeria, he says, is planning to build 6,000 megawatts of solar thermal generating capacity for export to Europe, and has enough harnessable solar power in its desert to power the entire world economy. Indonesia, with 128 active volcanoes, is developing enough geothermal generating power to possibly make it the first country to transition from oil to renewable energy.
Biochar is a promising new technology for carbon capture and permanent storage that also produces energy as a by-product. If used on all the world’s agricultural waste, the total carbon absorbed and buried safely as charcoal would equal our current global carbon emissions! Several countries are already manufacturing biochar, including the UK, Sweden, Australia, Cambodia, Costa Rica, and two states in the United States.
A new development that will revolutionize energy usage is Smart Grids (electric grids gone digital). Unlike our 100-year-old grid that only moves fossil-fuel generated energy to users, the Smart Grid creates a two-way flow of both electricity and information, allows renewable energy sources like wind and solar to get connected, and permits power plants to respond in real time to power needs. Boulder, Colorado, is the first city to use the Smart Grid citywide, and there are other pilot projects in Connecticut and Austin, Texas, all reporting energy conservation and increased efficiency.
Smart appliances, which can shift to reduced-energy mode when signaled by the grid or by the customer, are also being designed to work with the Smart Grid. The first one, already available, is a hybrid water heater that uses 62 percent less energy than a standard water heater.
A few cities, such as Copenhagen and Toronto, are also beginning to make green roofs the law. That is, suitable buildings have to be covered with vegetation. Green roofs absorb 50-80 percent of the rainfall, cool and insulate the building, shield it from UV rays, and reduce urban temperatures and hence energy usage. In the United States, Chicago and Washington, D.C. lead in green roof space.
Social/Cultural
Here, we have the “go local,” “slow foods,” and “voluntary simplicity” movements, which encourage locally sourced, ecologically sound foods and products, self-sufficiency, and sustainability.
The relatively new “commons” movement works to institute new international laws to claim and protect the commons. The commons is all that we share, such as parks, air, the broadcast spectrum, oceans, scientific knowledge, clean water, outer space, the Internet, etc.—things that should be no one’s private property, but monitored and secured for future generations. Since women traditionally embrace life-enhancing values, an increasing number of female world leaders bodes well for humanity’s future. At present there are 18 in power, in addition to six queens or viceregal females, out of a total of 26 past and present. In terms of their rights, although women produce over half of the world’s food and make up 80 percent of the farmers, they own less than 2 percent of the land. Advocates for the rights of women to own land are active, however, and have already had successes in Uganda, Morocco, and Namibia. The rights of nature are also beginning to be addressed. A recent international gathering in Ecuador formed the Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature, which views nature as “someone” to be protected and not exploited. This concept has already been incorporated into Ecuador’s constitution, and Bolivia is set to pass the Law of Mother Earth, which gives nature equal rights with humans.
Finally, we are rapidly shifting from individual consumerism to collaborative consumption, or sharing. The fact that we no longer really want “stuff” is fueling a massive shift from ownership to access. Dozens of Web sites have sprung up to facilitate swapping and recycling, and collaborative lifestyles (sharing money, skills, and time) are burgeoning.People Power
With continuing protests in the Middle East, the toppling of leaders there, and protests at every high level world summit, this seed has broken through the fertilizer into public awareness and is growing fast. In the United States, for example, we’ve seen protests in Wisconsin against a bill to strip public employees of their collective bargaining rights, and in France, 60-70 percent of the people recently demonstrated to demand a new social model. In India, protests stopped a dam from being located on a source stream of the Ganges, and indigenous peoples in Peru forced the government to revoke a new “Law of the Jungle” that allowed foreign countries to drill, mine, and log on their ancestral lands.
Avaaz, with its 8.2 million members, and MoveOn have harnessed the power of the Internet to effectively use people power to force progressive changes, such as the passage of a new anti-corruption law in India within four days.
In addition to the changes brought about by massive group action, countless individuals and small groups are creating positive new developments that affect many. For example, take the microbiologist in South Africa who invented a “teabag” water filter that costs just half a US cent per liter and protects against waterborne diseases where there is no clean water. Or the small company that developed solar-powered LED lanterns to replace candles and kerosene, which are a major cause of respiratory diseases among the 1.6 billion people without electricity. Or the woman who invented and distributes the Lifeline, a solar-powered and wind-up radio that makes communication, education, and information available to millions in Sub-Saharan Africa.
The Economy
The failure of the free-market capitalist system has made it clear that we need a new economic model, and even here, seeds of the new are sprouting. In his new book, “Agenda for a New Economy,” David Korten presents an alternative vision to the corporate Wall Street economy. His model is a Main Street economy based on locally owned, community-oriented “living enterprises,” whose measure of success is their positive impact on people and the environment rather than profit. His model is being demonstrated on a small scale in Transition Towns, which bring people together to implement plans for scaling back energy use, sourcing food and other goods closer to home, and otherwise aiming for local sustainability. As of fall 2010, over 300 communities around the world had started Transition Town initiatives.
American futurist Jacque Fresco has created a more radical and high-tech economic vision. His Venus Project calls for a complete reorganization of society based on applying the Scientific Method and innovative technology to human and social concerns. He proposes a resource-based economy as a social structure, which means all goods and services are available without the use of currency, credit, barter, or any form of debt. Decisions are arrived at by applying the Scientific Method, using computers having real-time feedback from the environment and a Central Database of all known technical information.The Big Picture
If we survey the many new developments in every field of endeavor, some of which are not even in mainstream public awareness yet, we can see that a completely new kind of civilization that will work for everyone is germinating—one that will be sustainable, environmentally responsible, cooperative, just, and peaceful. And the best news is that there are still more seeds to sow, and whether we choose to sow new ones or tend the ones already sown, there’s room for everyone to participate.For more information on Share International, please visit www.share-international.org. To learn more about the topics discussed in this article, also visit: www.avaaz.org; www.moveon.org; www.hightowerlowdown.org; www.positivenewsus.org; and www.thevenusproject.com.
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