Pathways is the first in a planned series which builds on the efforts of an expanding and co-evolving network of individuals and organizations. The book is organized into three main sections, with 14 chapters: I) Systemic and Institutional Pathways, II) Community Pathways, and III) Individual Pathways. We also offer in the final section a perspective on the emerging, self-organizing framework which includes the efforts to achieve sustainability globally, including these pathways.
Joseph Kruth
Chair, Tahoe Center for a Sustainable Future and President, Arete, Inc., Lake Tahoe, NV
Joseph Kruth
Chair, Tahoe Center for a Sustainable Future and President, Arete, Inc., Lake Tahoe, NV
Bernard Lietaer, Center for Sustainable Resources, UC Berkeley
Art Warmoth, Professor of Psychology, Sonoma State University
Kenneth W. Hunter
Co-editor, Future's Research Quarterly, World Future Society, and President, Collaborative Future's Network, Columbia, MD
Prasad Kaipa
President, Mithya Institute for Learning, Campbell, CA
F.L. "Rick" Smyre
President, Communities of the Future, Gastonia, NC
Andrew Cohill, Ph.D.
Director, Blacksburg Electronic Village, Blacksburg, VA
F. Michael Smith
President, F. Michael Smith and Associates, San Anselmo, CA
Michael Reber
Assistant Professor, Kanazawa Institute of Technology, Japan
Susan F. Boyd
Executive Director, CONCERN, Inc., Washington, D.C.
Peter Alexander
Founder, San Cristobal Ranch, Taos, NM
Randy Fuller
Founder, Wisdom Moth Spiritual Community, Grass Valley, CA
Bruce Gregory, Ph.D.
President, Gregory and Associates, Los Angeles, CA
Gordon Davidson, President, Center for Visionary Leadership, Washington, D.C.
Corinne McGlaughlin, Executive Director, Center for Visionary Leadership, Washington, D.C.
Joseph Kruth and F.L. "Rick" Smyre
Joseph Kruth
Chair, Tahoe Center for a Sustainable Future and President, Arete, Inc., Lake Tahoe, NV
Joseph Kruth
Chair, Tahoe Center for a Sustainable Future and President, Arete, Inc., Lake Tahoe, NV
Enormous tidal waves of economic and financial globalization are now crashing over humanity, concentrating wealth, increasing corporate power and disrupting lives and nations. This chapter reviews how we allowed them to propagate, the myths and institutions which continue to support that journey, and what individuals, communities, and societies must do to create a future they define.
Bernard Lietaer, Center for Sustainable Resources, UC Berkeley
Art Warmoth, Professor of Psychology, Sonoma State University
This chapter argues that there is a critical need to develop self-aware bioregional economies in responses to the challenges of globalization. This conclusion is based on a sector analysis of what a globalized economy can and cannot do. We then suggest that the design of conventional debt-based national fiat currencies tends to leave critical sectors of regional economies starved for liquidity and incapable of achieving a sustainable future. The solution to this problem is complementary currencies. Case studies of successful complementary currency experiments are included.
Kenneth W. Hunter
Co-editor, Future's Research Quarterly, World Future Society, and President, Collaborative Future's Network, Columbia, MD
This chapter offers a perspective on ten functions of community-level systems, how to identify those which are crucial to community evolution and empowerment, the public policies which will facilitate them, and the actions required to support communities.
Prasad Kaipa
President, Mithya Institute for Learning, Campbell, CA
A description of inter-and intra-generational sustainability, based on the "Napa Tetrahedron," of a general model for sustainability usable in many situations and by many groups to provide a tool for communities to define the elements they value and need to work together toward common goals.
F.L. "Rick" Smyre
President, Communities of the Future, Gastonia, NC
The challenge for communities is to reach a consensus on how to solve increasingly complex and interrelated societal problems. Communities must build the capacities to define and address new ways of relating, as well as the specific individual issues and preferred outcomes they identify as crucial to their futures. Consensus democracy is a process that communities can adapt to sustain their health and deal more effectively with this complexity.
Andrew Cohill, Ph.D.
Director, Blacksburg Electronic Village, Blacksburg, VA
A discussion of the opportunities and challenges that are faced by communities and how technology can be applied creatively to bring people and communities closer together.
F. Michael Smith
President, F. Michael Smith and Associates, San Anselmo, CA
A discussion of how the community is analogous to the business "enterprise," how it relates to other enterprises, and adds value for its citizens and related organizations. Using new technologies can make decisions transparent, empower individuals, and increase the accountability of public representatives and business leaders towards a common agenda.
Michael Reber
Assistant Professor, Kanazawa Institute of Technology, Japan
Communities must create learning networks that allow people of all ages access to any learning resource at any time. Subjects and methods should be organized around learners so they can forge their personal curricula in interaction with others doing the same across a whole spectrum of learning sites, situations and technologies. The main learning sites that are employed in these learning networks are community learning centers. They not only help individuals with self-actualization via personalized education, but they also foster a sense of community by calling for every community member to participate in the ecological and economic sustainability of the community.
Susan F. Boyd
Executive Director, CONCERN, Inc., Washington, D.C.
Communities from the South Bronx to the Sierras are developing innovative processes to create collaborative visions of the future and to realize them through actions that have multiple benefits for the environment, the economy and society as a whole. In this shift to sustainability, communities are moving from competition to collaboration, independence to interdependence and from linear to whole systems and place-based planning. Over 700 initiatives in communities of place in the US are at work on one or more initiatives and they are rapidly becoming linked by meta networks through electronic communications. With communities of interest, they are part of an expanding global network analogous to the Internet and the Web.
Peter Alexander
Founder, San Cristobal Ranch, Taos, NM
This chapter begins with a personal view of what the journey to achieve sustainability means, the successes and challenges along the way, the personal rewards, and the relationships that evolve. It explores the necessity of including the bottom rung of our socio-economic ladder in any plan for sustainability, building on the author's organizing experience in dealing with Welfare to Work in Rural New Mexico, and community activities aimed at creating a sustainability "model" from the greater Taos Community. The reference point will be a "Uniform Code of Sustainability" drafted with help from Hazel Henderson, Donella Meadows, Paul Hawken and others--the principal feature of which is a statement of "Human" sustainability, outlining the conditions necessary to allow for a meaningful quality of life for all stakeholders.
Randy Fuller
Founder, Wisdom Moth Spiritual Community, Grass Valley, CA
This chapter highlights ideas from spiritual thought systems and explores how "secrecy" is a value and an attitude that produces ill health and dysfunctional family relationships, including between government, its commerce and its citizens. This paper will further present how we as a nation and as a society can reclaim healthy and sustainable values by de-institutionalizing secrecy. Changing our minds about the value of secrecy is a powerful example of how individuals can positively influence the functioning of government and its social institutions.
Bruce Gregory, Ph.D.
President, Gregory and Associates, Los Angeles, CA
In our society, the self focus known as narcissism interferes with and ultimately undermines leadership and efforts towards sustainability. This chapter will define the problem, address some of the skills necessary to interface effectively and proactively with individuals exhibiting narcissism, and offer alternatives for positive transformations and sustainability.
Gordon Davidson, President, Center for Visionary Leadership, Washington, D.C.
Corinne McGlaughlin, Executive Director, Center for Visionary Leadership, Washington, D.C.
This chapter describes the new visionary leadership that is emerging around the globe to address complex problems and create a sustainable future for humanity and all of life. Visionary leadership is based on values, vision and vitality. Visionary leaders have a commitment to core spiritual values. Their leadership is based on an inspirational and practical vision of the future that invites others to participate as partners. They radiate a sense of vitality, energy and optimism that motivates others. And they are innovative, whole systems thinkers who go beyond the limits of conventional thought in their efforts to truly serve the common good.
Joseph Kruth and F.L. "Rick" Smyre
Our rapidly changing world has many self organizing systems which are undergoing transformation. Understanding these changes requires a flexible, evolving framework that supports human evolution. This chapter describes why transforming, not reforming, our societies and its systems is essential. It will consider how we can begin to redefine criteria for success in very practical ways that support individual opportunity and the common good. It will introduce a vision of a future based on human collaboration, a context for that vision, and suggest meta-principles which offer an opportunity for all individuals and organizations to find common ground. It will suggest there are common, core values which may be embraced by anyone interested in creating a better future for themselves and all of our children. It will discuss the need for congruency across levels of complexity, from the local to the international, as a means of ensuring the effectiveness of policy decisions at local levels.