Published 2021 – The two poles of the lemma “Emergence from Emergency” are complementary: while the Emergency calls for immediate actions from existing levels of decision, Emergence is about whole systems change at all levels, and first of all the cultural one. The tensions between our ever-expanding modes of exploitation and the finiteness of the planet originate in a civilizational trap, due to our continuing attempt to cheat the relationships that are imperative to life: those with nature, people and time.
In the 1970s the Club of Rome gave an anticipated signal of the threshold situation in which we are. Emerging from it will imply a reconfiguration of our societal arrangements, through a journey into largely uncharted territories. Will the transformation be tragic? By paying attention to many pathways already alive, the Emergence approach can bring hope for the future of humanity. But how can we consciously change the way we think while we still think that way? This publication addresses key elements of the journey to enable people of all ages and conditions—especially those feeling helpless—to learn and act by themselves. It dreams with life-inspired learning, based as much on ancient wisdom as on modern science, and mobilizing all human capacities. Learners and teachers, citizens and specialists, people of all ages and backgrounds can learn together how to address humanity´s existential challenges in their own ways. The future is unknown and the Club of Rome claims that its exploration can be warm, provided we make it together. In words of Aurelio Peccei, it is more than time to “learn what it takes to learn what we should learn, and learn it!”.
Download the report hereAuthors: Carlos Alvarez Pereira, with the help of Mamphela Ramphele, Nora Bateson and many others
