Had we had the wisdom to listen to and learn from Indigenous Peoples of the Earth, we would understand what they have always known: Nature is alive, encompassing all things and that everything is connected in a great web of life.
Fritjof Capra observed that Nature’s ecosystems are sustainable communities that include all manner of plants, animals, microorganisms, and natural processes (Capra, 2002). In his work The Systems View of Life, A Unifying Vision (Capra, et al., 2014), he wrote (my emphasis):
“Sustainable communities evolve their patterns of living over time in continual interaction with other living systems, both human and nonhuman. Hence, sustainability does not mean that things do not change. It is a dynamic process of coevolution rather than a static state.”
This interconnectedness is relevant not only to living sustainably but also to living in justice. The great Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. had this observation:
“All I’m saying is simply this, that all life is interrelated, that somehow we’re caught in an inescapable network of mutuality tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly. For some strange reason, I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be. You can never be what you ought to be until I am what I ought to be. This is the interrelated structure of reality.”
The common themes of resilience, reverence, and relationships run through everything we do with The Center. We cannot build resilient communities without addressing systemic racism and inequality. At the same time we must address social justice issues before we can live sustainable lives. On this website we explore alternative ways of living, organizing our communities, and interacting with each other. our goal is to work with others to bring about systemic change in our relationship to the economy, Nature, and each other
Please share, read, learn and take an active part in this experiment. There are better ways. Let’s implement the alternative
Everything is connected