Connecting for Change: Insights from an Emerging Global Transformation Movement

“The present convergence of crises–in money, energy, education, health, water, soil, climate, politics, the environment, and more–is a birth crisis, expelling us from the old world into a new.” ~ Charles Eisenstein You might say it is the dark night of the planetary soul. Here we are in the midst of an ecological nightmare some are calling irreversible. The weight of war and human suffering…

Reflections on Transformative Education: Toward Peace Learning Systems

Global Transformation through Peace Learning Systems Over the past 15 years, I have worked on peace education programs in communities in the US and abroad and have personally seen community members, teachers, and students from a diverse array of social backgrounds engage in the work of transformative education. Peace education strives to empower future generations to use “the capacity and…

Transformational Education

Consider the problems today’s young people will have to face: global warming and other changes in climate, disastrous ups and downs in our interlinked financial markets, worldwide unemployment, more than a billion people living in deprivation, disappearing soils and forests, oppressive governments and corporations, a stratified economic system that rewards the most greedy among us. As we confront…

Roadmap: A Movement of Movements

We in the progressive movement have been aware for some time that we tend to be ‘siloed’ in our respective niches, whether saving the whales, protesting the 1%, militarism, or what have you. It had become so much a part of how and who we have been, however, that very few of us thought to do anything about it. Then along came Blessed Unrest, the book and other presentations by Paul Hawken, that…

Planting Seeds of Peace in Liberia

The story I want to share with you is a story of determination, courage, and collective action begun by the women of Liberia that has catalyzed the transformation of a country in seemingly unimaginable ways. In a culture whose fabric was all but destroyed by war, this story is about ending violence and building peace, guided by heartfelt prayers and intentions that manifest in action. The story…

Emerge! The Rise of Functional Democracy and the Future of the Middle East

Introduction Why have democracy and the one person, one-vote system become so dysfunctional? How can an electoral process based on the voice of the people add to the toxic polarization in Washington, elect the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, and bring Hamas to power in Gaza? What causes a group with a radical ideology like ISIL to rise to power? The answer to these and to many questions about…

Connecting the We-in-the-I: Global Responsibility Rising Within and Without

Even if it’s true that humanity has never created a problem that it couldn’t solve, let’s not bet our future on it. We do have an extremely challenging set of interwoven global crises at hand and a high level of competences are needed to address them. We could be fully immersed in a global ‘flow state’ of co-generating the transition to a thriving and prosperous planetary culture. But we aren’t.…

UN High Level Forum on the Culture of Peace

A talk given at the United Nations High Level Forum on Peacebuilding and Global Citizenship. September 9, 2014. I want to open by thanking and acknowledging everyone at the United Nations. As we know, September 13th is the 15th anniversary of the consensus adoption of the UN Declaration and Programme of Action on the Culture of Peace. This is a time of celebration and rededication of our…

Unleashing Our Potential to Create A Whole New World

If the unrealized potential of humanity had a sound, it would blare like a sound cannon used to scatter unruly crowds. If we could see from the sky the momentum we’ve generated for transforming our world, we’d see a great tsunami. Despite the tremendous energy we’ve generated, it remains scattered and insufficient, activating people alone or in small groups across the globe, often focusing on…

Awakening the Divine Spark in the Spirit of Humanity

left to right: Fuji Sanctuary; Initiators of the Fuji Declaration, Masami Saionji, Ervin Laszlo, Hiroo Saionji, Danish Radio Concert Hall The Fuji Declaration Read the Declaration Almost a decade ago, the Goi Peace Foundation, together with our partners including Kosmos Journal, launched an initiative for ‘Creating a New Civilization,’ envisioning a peaceful planetary civilization based on…