Confronting the Human and Planetary Existential Emergency

A Sustainable and Desirable Future for All of Us
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Reception

Humanity is facing the triple challenge of climate change, biodiversity and wildlife loss, and pollution. At the same time, our civilization is on an unsustainable trajectory pointing to a collapse if fundamental transformations cannot change this trajectory very soon. The community in the VCC has prepared a Declaration of Human and Planetary Existential Emergency that summarizes the challenges and indicates an action plan to face the challenges. We have two main foci: (1) Ensure that all people on Earth have the opportunity to read or listen to the Declaration in their own language; (2) Provide a place where those who want can join in our effort of coping with the challenges and finding ways to bring us and Earth out of this existential emergency.

COPE VCC Billboard

[Jun. 09, 2024] A Core Statement: George Tsakraklides states:
The reason why capitalism is a death sentence for humanity is that it is a system which only understands doing, building and achieving.
It is incapable of stopping, retreating and reducing, which are the very things we must do if we want to have any chance of continuing to exist.

[Jun. 08, 2023] Translation of the Declaration: The translation of the Declaration of Planetary Emergency is under way. To help, go to the Declaration.

News

COPE VCC News

[Oct. 24, 2024] Hope: the promise of the future instead of focusing on the challenges of the present: Jonathan Watts asks an important question in his article published in the Guardian today: “Would abandoning hope help us to tackle the climate crisis?” He continues to ask “But what if it is hope that is the problem? What if hope is the antidepressant that has been keeping us all comfortably numb when we have every right to be sad, worried, stirred to action or just plain angry?” Watts finds that “Hope is at best a motivating belief, a tool, a commodity. It should never be rammed down other people’s throats, especially those who are suffering the consequences of the wish fulfilment of wealthier, faraway consumers.” Based on the overwhelming evidence, he concludes “If you are not alarmed at what is happening to the forests, oceans, ice-caps, cities, farms and supermarkets, then you are not paying enough attention. That may be due to fear, doubt or ignorance. Or perhaps you are enveloped in that insidious, complacent long-term form of hope that has been diverting our gaze, giving us pause, slowing action and normalising the degradation of our home planet. Essentially this can be boiled down to the fact that we are leaving our problems to our children. Where is the hope in that?

[Sep. 23, 2024] Humanity seems to have pushed Earth across seven of the nine boundaries of the 'safe operating space': The Guardian reports today in an article by Damien Gayle that a new report from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) indicates that the industrialized civilization has pushed Earth close to, or already across the seventh planetary boundary, that is, the boundary for ocean acidification. The oceans face ‘triple threat’ of extreme heat, oxygen loss and acidification.

[Sep. 21, 2024] We need a new approach to biodiversity loss: Olivia Nater published a highly relevant blog in May 2024 titled “Everything is connected: We need a new approach to biodiversity loss.” Reflecting on on humanity’s failure to halt the extinction crisis, she comes to the conclusion that we need a new approach to conservation: we need to tackle what she identifies as the root cause: overpopulation.

Platform News

[Nov. 03, 2024] ClimateAdaptationNow VCC opened: The "Climate Adaptation Now VCC" has been initialized and is open now.

[Nov. 03, 2024] LearningSustainability VCC opened: The "Learning Sustainability VCC" has been initialized and is open now.

[Oct. 21, 2024] COP16: Are Governments Acting on the Urgency to Reduce Extinction and Wildlife Loss?: The article by Phoebe Weston today in the Guardian seems to give a clear answer to that question: No. This week, COP16 of the UN biodiversity convention takes place in Cali, Colombia, and Weston reports that few countries have meet the self-imposed requirements prior to the meeting. Experts in biodiversity find that humanity is “on the precipice” of shattering Earth's limits, and will suffer huge costs if the urgency to act on biodiversity loss does not lead to immediate actions. Not waiting for the governments to act, in the Extinction VCC and the COPE VCC we discuss in a deliberation room what can be done by us on local to global scales to reduce our contribution to wildlife loss and extinction of species.