About Us

Human society tends to ignore that we are an inseparable part of the wider community of life on Earth. Our blinkered pursuit of ‘development’ is based on the misconception that we are separate from, even superior to, the natural world.

The challenge we face is for transition from this period of human devastation of the Earth, to a period of living in a harmony with nature: referred to as the “Great Work”, by Thomas Berry.

We cannot solve a problem by simply looking at it from the same level from which it was created. Technology, recycling and reusing will not change the underlying cause of the problem, the crisis in our human-Earth relationship. For most of us, it requires a radical change in our worldview and our behaviour; to be reflected in the nature of our choices, and governed by an awareness of the consequences of all our actions for the rest of the Earth Community.

In May 2003, at a Summit gathering for Associates and close partners of the Gaia Foundation, one of the main outcomes was an agreement to promote community ecological governance and Earth jurisprudence, and develop a network of ‘learning centres’ from which to encourage people to become more Earth-centred in their attitudes and practice. The Earth Community Network was established to formalise the working relationship between the group.

Some of the organisations involved in this initiative have been working for many years at the community level, and have already established learning/teaching centres for local people. These are being adapted to also receive international visitors, including policy-makers, for more experiential learning.

A quarterly e-newsletter has information on forthcoming courses at the learning centres, and other news or events of interest.

If you would like to receive this mailing, please contact: fiona@gaianet.org

Vision

We share a vision of people living consciously as compassionate and respectful members of a flourishing Earth Community.

The Earth Community Network believes that:

• Humans are an integral and inseparable part of the living, dynamic Earth system. We have co-evolved with the rest of the Earth Community and thus have an intimate and interdependent relationship with this Community.
• As part of a greater whole we humans cannot achieve fulfilment if we undermine the integrity of the Community on which we depend for our physical, emotional and spiritual wellbeing.
• The universe is a communion of subjects, not a collection of objects. The quality of our relationships with the rest of the Earth Community will determine the quality of our lives.
• For the major part of the short history of our species, humans have been conscious of the context of the wider Earth Community and have evolved different cultures, well adapted to their ecosystem.
• The globalising industrial system that now dominates the world is based on the arrogant and mistaken belief that human wellbeing can be attained by exploiting the rest of the Earth Community. This unviable system is now in crisis, as reflected by increasing human misery and the degradation of ecosystems on which we and other species depend.
• Human transformation to a new mode of being requires imagination, exploration and willingness to suspend habitual modes of thought so that fresh thinking can emerge.
• The main source of inspiration is the Earth herself (the primary text), as well as cultural traditions that reflect respect and equity for the Earth Community, including human beings.
• Changing our way of being on the Earth and the direction of our societies requires changing our whole worldview and how we govern ourselves.

Contact

If you would like more information about the Earth Community Network, or ideas on how to be come involved, please contact: fiona@gaianet.org