A BRIEF INTRODUCTION TO ECO-GOVERNANCE
Love and Wisdom in Action
For the Health and Vitality of the Planet and All Its Inhabitants
Eco-Governance offers a non-political, universal and practical framework for how We, The People, can unite and work together across national, cultural and ideological boundaries to co-create new social systems that effectively ensure the thriving of all humanity and all of Life.
As a whole-system healing framework, Eco-Governance works to realign all our social systems – politics, economics, media, education, agriculture, health, etc. – with the principles of Nature and evolving human consciousness. The evolving framework is designed to support individuals and communities in self-organizing – locally, regionally and globally – for rapid social and ecological healing and regeneration.
The term Eco-Governance is rooted in ancient Greek; "eco" deriving from the word oikos, meaning "home, dwelling place" and "governance" deriving from the word kybernan, meaning "to steer or pilot a ship". Ultimately, Eco-Governance aspires to offer a unifying compass for exploring how humanity, as a species, can best "steer" ourselves to ensure the thriving of our shared planetary home and all Life. This means shifting from a human-centered to an eco-centered perspective, where our governance is guided by and aligns with the ancient wisdom and intelligence of Earth.
Eco-Governance is inspired by the following questions:
How do we apply the reality of our interconnectedness with all of Life to how we organize ourselves as a Life-enriching species?
What can we learn from Nature about co-creating and cultivating thriving living systems?
What would it look like if we were to apply ancient and evolving wisdom and practices to inventing an entirely new system of governance that protects and benefits all of Life?
How can we organize, as One Humanity, to exponentially heal the damage and trauma we have caused and ensure a thriving world for all of humanity and all of Life in the shortest possible time?
Concise and Extended Video Introductions to Key Elements of Eco-Governance
offered by Dr. Shelley Ostroff
7 Minute Presentation
1Hour Presentation
VIDEO PRESENTATION:
An Introduction to Key Elements of Eco-Governance, offered by Dr. Shelley Ostroff
This is an edited video of a 1-hour introductory presentation of Eco-Governance that was shared on July 8th, 2022. The video has been subtitled in 7 languages: Spanish, Japanese, Portuguese, French, German, Italian & English.
You can view and download the PDF of the presentation HERE.
CO-CREATING ECO-GOVERNANCE
Eco-Governance is inspired by and emerges from the global movement of healing and regenerative initiatives around the world. It recognizes that many of these initiatives are already aligned with and leading many of the Eco-Governance principles and practices. The unifying architecture of Eco-Governance supports these initiatives to find each other and collaborate more effectively.
Eco-Governance emerges into the world in 2022 as an inspirational offering and collaborative opportunity for love and wisdom in action towards exponential whole-system healing. The framework was first publicly introduced in June during World Unity Week, a global event dedicated to unity and collaboration for a thriving world for all.
The Eco-Governance framework has been developed by Dr. Shelley Ostroff and is being co-stewarded with Yan Golding and evolving in community. It is currently being shared with community and network leaders from diverse fields of stewardship. If you would like to arrange a presentation please contact us.
Core Elements of the Eco-Governance Framework
PURPOSE
Eco-Governance offers a unifying purpose as a shared compass for organized action, decision-making and mutual accountability.
Eco-Governance affirms that the only legitimate purpose of governance is to protect and cultivate the health and vitality of the planet and all its inhabitants for generations to come.
VISION
Mother Earth, humanity and the entire community of Life flourish, and all human beings are supported in realizing their unique potential as wise and compassionate stewards of our planetary home.
WHOLE-SYSTEM HEALTH
Eco-Governance recognizes that for humans to thrive, all Life and planetary systems—including animals, rivers, soil, ecosystems, climate, and social systems—must thrive. Eco-Governance also addresses the mental, emotional, physical, spiritual and multi-dimensional nature of human experience. The framework is rooted in whole-system healing wisdom and situates the impact on the health of the whole at the heart of all our decisions.
VALUES
Eco-Governance offers a unifying set of meta-values as a shared aspirational compass for our collective behavior. The value compass provides a clear reference point that invites us to explore what it means to embody and cultivate these values. The compass also calls us to discern the unconscious patterns of behavior that are not in alignment with our values, so that we can constantly evolve in our awareness and integrity.
5 Core Values
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Sacred Stewardship
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Wisdom
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Harmony in Diversity
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Integrity
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Whole-system Health
ACTIONS
Eco-Governance proposes 7 Core Actions that support individuals and communities in focusing our energy towards whole-system health and healing. These actions invite a field of inquiry as to what do we need to protect, respect, nourish, cultivate, care about, share and value and how do we do this in a way that is most aligned with our shared purpose.
7 Core Actions
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Protect
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Respect
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Nourish
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Cultivate
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Care
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Share
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Value
GUIDING PRINCIPLES
Codes for a Healthy Earth offers a compelling set of common sense agreements and guiding principles that support humanity in working together across national, cultural and ideological boundaries for exponential whole-system healing.
PRIMARY TASKS OF ECO-GOVERNANCE
The primary tasks of Eco-Governance focus our collective attention and energy on what is most essential for achieving whole-system health and our collective purpose.
PRIMARY TASK 1: FOUNDATIONS OF LIFE
The first primary task of Eco-Governance is to protect and restore right relationship with the 7 Foundations of Life—Earth, Water, Fire, Air, Climate, Biodiversity and the Web of Life.
PRIMARY TASK 2: CORE NEEDS
The second primary task of Eco-Governance is to ensure the 7 Core Needs of all humans and animals are met through guaranteed access to:
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Living Soil
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Healthy Water
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Vitalizing Food
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Fresh Clean Air
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Physical and Emotional Safety
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Comfortable Shelter
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The conditions needed for all to manifest their unique potential – in mutual enrichment with their communities and ecosystems
PRIMARY TASK 3: VITALIZING FLOW OF ENERGY & INFORMATION
The third primary task of Eco-Governance is to ensure the most vitalizing flow of energy and information throughout human society and the entire biosphere.
PRIMARY TASK 4: CULTURE & CONSCIOUSNESS
The fourth primary task of Eco-Governance is to support the evolution of the 13 spheres of human culture and consciousness in ways that nourish the health and vitality of the whole. These spheres are: Identity, Value, Communication, Home-making, Culture, Service, Relationship, Transformation, Learning, Purpose, Governance, Consciousness and Whole-System Health.
THE VITALITY CODE
Eco-Governance is inspired by how Nature self-organizes towards ever-evolving complexity and harmony in diversity through elegant codes of Life.
The Vitality Code refers to Nature’s primary code and principle of self-organizing and self-regulating thriving living systems.
The Vitality Code ensures that all parts of a living system receive precisely what they need in order to manifest their unique potential in mutual nourishment with the interconnected whole. The Vitality Code is the core organizing principle for all aspects of Eco-Governance.
STEWARDSHIP CIRCLES
The Eco-Governance structure has three primary self-organizing Stewardship circles:
ACTION
CIRCLE
ADVISORY
CIRCLE
SERVICE
CIRCLE
Action circles focus on addressing issues and implementing related tasks.
Service circles provide diverse services to the stewardship circles and communities.
Advisory circles offer information and guidance relating to their areas of stewardship.
There are four forms of Advisory circles:
Guardian circles represent those human and non-human beings unable to represent themselves.
Expertise circles bring their area of expertise to serve the whole.
Issue-focused circles offer their experience working on a specific issue.
Synergy circles cultivate synergy throughout the circles and the community at large.
DECISION-MAKING CRITERIA
Eco-Governance cultivates a culture of deep listening and consultation. All decision-making processes are guided by four core discernment criteria. Together these criteria support all decisions in aligning with whole-system health. Consensus and nuanced refinement of decisions is supported through the collective aspiration to optimally answer these criteria.
The 4 Core Decision-Making Criteria:
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Most Vitalizing
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Most Impactful
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Most Compassionate
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Most Efficient
ISSUE REPRESENTATION
Shifting from a human-centered to a Life-centered mindset, Eco-Governance works to ensure that the most relevant and diverse human and non-human perspectives for optimal decisions are taken into account.
Eco-Governance offers 5 Main Areas of Representation that are needed for holistic, issue-focused decision-making:
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Human and non-human stakeholders
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Wisdom, skills and expertise
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Aligned initiatives
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Stewardship roles
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Process facilitation
WHOLE-SYSTEM FUNCTIONS
Eco-Governance organizes and manages information through the lens of the Whole-System Functions. These stewardship functions are fundamentally interwoven with each other like a hologram, each containing the whole within themselves.
