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Parallel Climate Summit intentions (COP28, but our way)
Together we can do it!
From Nov. 30th till Dec 12th there will be yet another climate summit, this time in Dubai (UAE). Despite the beauty of the website, the statements, the intentions, the many private jets, government jets, limousines and well dressed officials, the general outcome of the meetings leave much to desire. After all, the position of all these people is within the ruling of a system that is inherently abusive on the planet and humankind itself. To challenge this would challenge their own positions. A recent theater piece produced by our Dutch national theater shows clearly that “change cannot be expected from politics“.
Climate issues are the result of a failing use of the system.
In Sustainocracy we have discovered that it is not the societal system that fails. It is the context of economic growth, within a hierarchy of interests, that fails, not for themselves but indeed for the perspectives of a sustainable humankind and our living planet. We therefore have to define a context in which the latter rules. The parallel summit is hence contextually focused in our core essential values as a species and our shared individual, collective and institutional responsibilities to recover and sustain those values. It is this new contextual focus that makes the difference. And together we can do it!
Our essential values have been defined in five clusters within the overall umbrella of Sustainocracy. These clusters are:
- Integral and positive health
- Safety, expressed through respect
- Awareness, as our shared learning process
- Cocreation, expressed through our share responsibility for our essentials
- Our basis needs:
- Healthy, unpolluted air
- Healthy, regenerative local food
- Unpolluted drinking water
- Warmth, both physical and social
Our summit consists of contextual presentations, commitments, workshops, masterclasses and demonstations of institutions and initiatives developing their 4 x WIN entrepreneurship of the 21st century.
With our summit we will develop wellness for all, eliminating poverty, abusive hierarchies, misuse of resources, by cooperating with nature using our scientific and technological expertise of today. The climate will react instantly and positively.
Our parallel summit will address our younger generations first.
“Don’t expect change from politics”
The Dutch national theater produced a piece about citizen’s participation in our democracy. I had been invited to the preparation rounds to share my experiences with government participation in our projects. The theater production developed a powerful reflection about the two worlds, human and the system, that both seem to work so separately from each other.
Democracy is much more than delegating our responsibilities to political parties every four years!
Gaafland production
Poetry, theatrical interaction, songs with sharp lyrics, were all present. Also a reflection about genuine change coming historically from citizens that stood up and claimed those rights from “the system”. The system statement “sorry, that is not how it works” would be overthrown by citizen activism that show that it did work differently. Politics never fought for the benefit or defense of our natural human values, such as equal rights for all, women rights, against the political investments in the fossil fuel industries, attention for our climate, etc. It were human initiatives, people, that claimed them and produced change.
The production was a powerful reflection about the current segregated functioning of society and a cry out for more demanding citizen participation. Where it failed, in our Sustainocratic views, was that it did not challenge directly the society model in which politics still occupies a powerful stand away from our essential values, demanding citizen courage and intervention to defend our natural human essentials. In our view we are in a process of developing a society where our values are leading, not fragmented political interests.
Social media risks for our teenagers
In March this year a group of 29 youth workers from 9 different countries joined us in the Netherlands to discuss this valuable topic. The project is called Techrouters and is funded by the Erasmus+ program of Europe. This idea was to create a toolbox that could help youth workers to address this with the young people, youth organizations and schools in their home country. During on entire week the participants did roll plays, workshops and openly discussed their own experiences.
The toolbox that has been created, with an introduction by STIR about the development phases of our youngsters, can be downloaded here. We would appreciate it if you could add your own experiences and methods to it and share this with us.
Sustainocracy, the new democracy 