$10.00 US THE ECOZOIC READER Critical Reflection, Story and Shared Dream Experience of an Ecological Age If we are moving into an ecological age . How Do We Get There? "The historical mission of our time is to reinvent the human-at the species level, with critical reflection, within the community of life systems, in a time-developmental context, by means of story and shared dream experience." –Thomas Berry A Publication of the Center for Ecozoic Studies Volume 4, Number 4, 2007 The Great Work We are about the Great Work. We all have our particular work–some of us are teachers, some of us are healers, some of us in various professions, some of us are farming. We have a variety of occupations. But beside the particular work we do and the particular lives we lead, we have a Great Work that everyone is involved in and no one is exempt from. That is the work of moving on from a terminal Cenozoic1 to an emerging Ecozoic Era2 in the story of the planet Earth . which is the Great Work. —Thomas Berry 1Our current geo-biological era, the Cenozoic Era, began 65,000,000 years ago following the mass extinction of dinosaurs and many other species. Now Earth is undergoing another mass extinction of plant and animal species, this time caused by the impact of human activity on the community of life systems. The Cenozoic Era is ending. 2That another geo-biological era will follow the Cenozoic Era is not in question. What is in question is whether humans and other forms of life as we know them will continue to flourish. Will we achieve a viable mode of human presence on the Earth? The "Ecozoic Era"–a time of mutually enhancing relationships among humans and the larger community of life – represents the hope that we will. Center for Ecozoic Studies Ecozoic Reader Editorial Board Officers and Directors Advisory Board Jennie Baumeister Herman F. Greene, President* Margaret Berry Lewis Ford Dennis O’Hara K. Lauren de Boer Tim Watson, Vice President* Thomas Berry John Grim James Peacock W. Malcolm Byrnes Laura Watson, Treasurer Jane Blewett Stuart Hart Brian Swimme Herman F. Greene Mary Dalton, Webmaster John B. Cobb, Jr. Jay McDaniel Carolyn Toben Ellen LaConte K. Lauren de Boer Warren Nord Mary Evelyn Tucker Ann Loomis *Director Alice Loyd Membership and Subscription Information Submissions for Publication A subscription to The Ecozoic Reader is a benefit of membership We invite you to share with us your thoughts, poetry, art, music, in CES. Membership in CES means a personal commitment to research, dance, ritual, meditation, story or dream experience of the Ecozoic Era education and artistic expression concerning the Ecozoic Era and how and your insights on how to realize it. to bring it about. To submit an item for publication, e-mail it to Dues are $25.00 US per year for individuals or families (outside of [email protected], or mail a printed copy and the the USA, Mexico and Canada, add $10.00 US). Sustaining memberships electronic file(s) on diskette (formatted for PC) to Center for Ecozoic are $125.00 US. (Reduced cost memberships are available for $15.00 Studies, 2516 Winningham Road, Chapel Hill, NC 27516, USA. Please US per year.) send your contact information and a brief biography. Publication and Membership forms and a description of member benefits may be copyright guidelines are available at www.ecozoicstudies.org. found at www.ecozoicstudies.org; or contact CES as indicated on the back cover. Statement of Purpose The purpose of the Center for Ecozoic Studies (CES) is to contribute through education, research and the arts to the realization of the Ecozoic Era. CES emphasizes critical reflection, story and shared dream experience as ways of enabling the creative advance needed to bring into being a new mode of human civilizational presence, and also discerning the practical steps leading toward the Ecozoic. CES is dedicated to the principle that we live in a meaningful, continuously evolving universe. In such a universe, the Ecozoic Era is a process concept—not something to be arrived at, but rather something ever to be created. Its hallmarks are inclusiveness, interdependence, and appreciation; communion, differentia- tion, and subjectivity; and sensitivity, adaptability, and responsibility. It crucially involves more just and cooperative relationships among humans, as well as transformed relationships of humans with the larger natural world. Thomas Berry’s work offers key insights into how we get to an ecological society. Gardens of the Universe: A Cosmic Chronicle By Tom Keevey (Dedicated to Thomas Berry on his 92nd birthday, November 9th, 2006, His works inspired by childhood memories of a meadow garden.) A divine garden, infinite grandeur and mystery Pulsing, throbbing with blazing lights, caves of darkness. A cosmic forest, unending landscape, awesome liturgy The universe, scriptures of God’s great wilderness. In a single moment, life begins, continuous journey of diversity Dark matter, mystical night so pregnant, nurturing, a bed of fertility. Stars and planets, galaxies exploding, stretching, expanding From one to many, sacrifice and compassion, all communing. A small garden of the cosmos, tiny, blue, floating in a galaxy The Milky Way, unique, bursting with life, Gaia by name Billions of years becoming, composing its own symphony The Earth, such a marvel to gaze upon, God’s singular flame. Spending seven long days, tilling the soil, still evolving Cool nights, stories, all creatures with Eve and Adam, praising. The Lord of the universe, delighting in his beautiful garden Sabbath celebration, God and creation rest, all sing Amen. Truly, a home for all life forms, a place of beauty and wonder Mighty oceans, restless streams, winds with no boundaries, fertile pasture Fire brightens the day, distant lights the night sky, ever so somber Mountains with memories, silent stones and fields, a Eucharist of nature. Years pass, Wisdom Incarnate enters the garden, walks the earth Reading the book of creation, teaching the way, truth, new birth Seeding it with goodness, love and compassion, mystical forces With stories, preaching and healing, a gospel of resources. Disciples listen, jealousy grows, rulers and religion conspire Eliminate this teacher, destroy, uproot, tear down, crucify Captured, tortured, death on a cross, planted deep, reaching high to inspire A cosmic tree, now shading creation, shows the way, all glorify. Risen Lord—a stranger, gardener, pilgrim—recognized in bread and wine A divine word to believers, echoing God’s love, mystical vine Calling men and women to cultivate, companionate the land Creation renewed, the Spirit’s presence in every grain of sand. Yet his passion continues, earth now bears a heavy cross The same greed extinguishes life, how regain the loss? Suffering, pollution and disease, all for human gain. How remember what we’ve dismembered? Can Earth dream again? 1 The Ecozoic Reader Vol. 4, No. 4 During winter’s sleep of long nights and blankets of white Frozen days, stillness, nature sleeps, the soil revives. Spring, metaphor of hope and peace for all, longer light The vigil ends, music fills the air, growth arrives. Our garden mirrors the cosmic story, cultivating earth’s life Chanting birds, silent fish, quiet prayer, all companions, little strife. Flowers and trees, herbs and fruits, surround a bubbling pond A place of belonging, of beauty, reaching beyond. The garden’s presence fills the air, a world beyond compare It welcomes soft rain, feels the sun, offers shelter, bears many scars, It sings a melody of death and life, songs for daily prayer, When the symphony’s over, garden keepers we, will rest among the stars. At last, beholding with awe the divine in all creation No space or time, peeking through thin places, a cosmic vision. An old friend appears, takes our hand, once a dreamer in Earth’s meadow His “Great Work” coming to completion, now like Dante, leads us to the rose, the rainbow. Then, we meet the Eternal Gardener, goodness and love, constantly birthing The wild Universe, a garden of wonder and peace, infinite wandering. 2 Barney, author of Global 2000, offers the keys of values education, dynamic modeling and vision. Finding a Path to the Ecozoic Era By Gerald O. Barney Introduction envisioned Ecozoic is by no means assured. The scenar- ios simulated with the World3 computer simulation When Herman Greene asked me to write an article model for Limits to Growth: The 30-Year Update do on how to reach the Ecozoic Era, I was reluctant. I don’t show the possibility of achieving something like the know the way. He persisted, however, and asked for an Ecozoic provided humans can recover from their addic- opinion on the way, plus a bit on my previous efforts tion to economic growth. But the scenarios also show and plans for the future. Opinions I have aplenty, so I the possibility of continued deterioration and collapse.7 agreed. I will focus on my guess at the path and plans; Jared Diamond provides many historic examples of the the past is covered in a brief annex. collapse of civilizations that abused their environment.8 Our Epoch Anthropocene to Ecozoic The 65 million years of the Cenozoic have been Attempting to suggest a path for this transition feels characterized by a gradual punctuated, global increase in a bit like trying to answer the frequently asked question: biodiversity. The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment What should I do? So, let’s begin with this question. My reports, however, that species extinction rates have favorite answers come from others: Center for the New climbed 1,000 times over rates typical of Earth’s history, American Dream,9 the late Donella Meadows,10 and and that 10-30% of mammal, bird, and amphibian Jared Diamond.11 Meadows, who was a systems modeler, species are now threatened with extinction.1 Future offers a provocative list: visioning, networking, truth- extinction rates are projected at more than ten times the telling, learning, and loving.