The Gaia hypothesis proposes that organisms interact with their inorganic surroundings on Earth to form a self-regulating, complex system that contributes to maintaining the conditions for life on the planet. The hypothesis was formulated by scientists James Lovelock and Lynn Margulis in the 1970s.
The word Gaia is sometimes used as a substitute for Mother Nature.
Gaia was the Greek Mother Earth. The name pre-dates classical Greek. She was the mother of all and arrived with air, sea and sky.
Purpose
A gathering place for people who consciously acknowledge the human predicament and who seek with others its resolution through the creation and exploration of ideas and actions that move Humanity toward a more harmonious relationship within Gaia.
History
The organization started in Toronto Ontario in 1990 as a monthly discussion group with an occasional guest speaker. The GPC Purpose, Goals and the 12 Personal Principles were developed at that time. The 12 Personal Gaia Principles were recited at the beginning of each meeting. Although written about 25 years ago, The Goals and Principles remain valid and are linked below.
The group later became an email discussion group and established this web page. No significant projects were initiated by the group because none seemed adequate to deal with the growing human predicament.
The Paradigm Junction Project is our first initiative. The project intent is to envision, develop and articulate the structure and socio/political/economic framework for a future Blue Planet Governance. The synopsis of a booklet linked leads to an example of an envisioned regional/global governance system. The envisioned scenario is shown 50 years after a significant paradigm change, where widespread grass roots initiatives motivated regional governments to form a central chaordic organization called the United Regions (UR). The purpose of UR is to administer a worldwide government for our small blue planet and to be interactive with the founding regions in providing good governance with the long term goal of moving humanity to a more harmonious relationship within Gaia.
The power of envisioning is to free our mind of the destitution of today’s warring nations with expansionist economic systems and a human ecological footprint far beyond the carrying capacity of our small blue planet. Envisioning enables us to design a governance system using existing first class management procedures with a deep understanding of science and human nature, guided by energy and environmental realities.
Just how humanity could reach a sustainability-drive government is unpredictable, but it will likely be chaotic.
Today there are thousands of change initiatives at work, such as separatist movements, regional currency advocates and environmental protection organizations. If leaders of these grass roots initiatives had a common shared vision of what good global governance could be like, it would be useful for them today in forging cross-disciplinary bonds in order to gain the benefits of synergy as integral parts of a more complex system begin to blend together with a common long term goal of Blue Planet Governance.
