by David Korten
Something must happen so as to touch the hearts and souls of men that they will come together, not because the law says it, but because it is natural and right.
— Martin Luther King, Stride Toward Freedom, 1958
The American Experiment is being placed in peril by a small […]
LIVING ECONOMIES FOR A LIVING PLANET
SUPPORTING ESSAYS
The essays referenced below further develop themes and issues raised in the web essay “Living Economies for a Living Planet.”
Living Economies: Lessons from Biology by Elisabet Sahtouris, Ph.D. A visionary evolution biologist draws lessons from living systems essential to distinguishing between health and pathology in economic systems […]
Many of the essential elements of local living economies are already in place. More are being created everyday by people who believe a better world is possible and are doing their part to live it into being. These elements include […]
The following thought experiment frames the problem humanity must now address.
Six billion people live together on a crowded planet. A hundred million or so — less than 2 percent of the whole — enjoy extravagant material affluence and consume as […]
The economic transformation from suicide economy to living economy will involve changes as sweeping and
profound as those experienced by a forest ecosystem as it moves from colonization to maturity. The imperatives of our situation […]
Part I: Introduction
Having reached the limits of an Era of Empire, humanity is compelled to accept responsibility for the consequences of its presence on a finite planet, make a […]
The great work of humanity at this historic moment is to negotiate a transition from an Era of Empire to an Era of Community. Economic transformation from a global suicide economy to a planetary system of living economies is […]
The defining agenda of the Era of Empire has centered on unifying the planet’s territory and resources under centralized institutions with the power to impose order in the name of peace and prosperity. The dominant institutions, including […]