Great Transition Stories for Becoming a Global Eco-Civilization

Abstract

The most difficult challenge facing humanity is not devising solutions to the energy crisis or climate crisis or population crisis; rather, it is bringing stories or narratives of the human journey into our collective awareness that empower us to look beyond a future of great adversity and to see a future of great opportunity. What visions of humanity's journey are sufficiently compelling to transcend age-old differences and bring us together in a common venture of inhabiting the Earth in ways that are sustainable?

Accounting for Sustainability: Episteme Change and Ontological Plurality

“…Such a level of change amounts to a new era or civilisation. Elgin [2014] describes this level of change in terms of humanity growing-up from its present condition as short-term, pleasure-seeking teenagers who try to prove their superiority and independence at the expense of other species and future generations. Kallis [2011] is not so scathing but argues for a similar level of change with a diff erent zero-growth system not dominated by economic rationality and goals.…”