A new superpower is emerging on the Earth. This new superpower is arising from the combined voice and conscience of the world's citizens mobilized through the global communications revolution. Although often chaotic, fragmented and confusing, the emergence of social movements such as the Arab Spring and the Occupy movement demonstrates to ordinary citizens that their collective voice can have a powerful impact, particularly when expressed with the maturity and dignity of non-violence.
When the people of the Earth are not simply on the receiving end of media as a collective witness to climate disruption, intense poverty, genocide, etc., but also capable of offering a collective voice for change, then a new and powerful force for creative transformation will be unleashed in the world. As the people of the Earth learn how to use the new media tools to come together as a global community and express their collective voice, a new era in human development is being born.
What kind of communication is required to give the citizens of the world an authentic collective "voice"? Critically important, it must be nearly instantaneous and global in scope. A genuine "Earth Voice" must reach the vast majority of the people of the Earth, and it must reach them virtually all at the same time! Seven billion or more people need to be able to offer their feedback about critical concerns if they are to feel part of an Earth Voice conversation. This level of functioning of our "global nervous system" would have been completely unthinkable prior to the emergence of a new capacity for computing and networking that places information in "virtual clouds" rather than on individual computers.
As "cloud computing" accelerates, by the decade of the 2020s, the world will have the technologies with which to acquire real-time feedback and knowledge of humanity's sentiments and views -- and humanity will move into a new phase of collective transparency, self-reflection and self-discovery. With communication capacities that are intensely interactive, highly intelligent and virtually instantaneous, the citizens of the Earth will have the power to communicate together and express common solidarity, for sustainable prosperity, freedom and justice.
An emerging Earth Voice movement -- we might also call it a "World Voice" or "Gaian Voice" movement -- is bringing all humans together in a shared process, all at the same time, enabling citizens to voice their hopes and concerns. For the first time in human history, we are acquiring a way to listen to and talk with one another as members of one family. In awakening to ourselves as a planetary species and seeing ourselves whole for the first time, we see that we have the potential for an evolutionary leap forward. However, having the technical ability to communicate with ourselves as a species does not mean we will automatically do so. The question remains open as to whether we will have the collective maturity to consciously seize this precious opportunity.
Building the Foundation: Local "Community Voice" Movements
It is important that an Earth Voice process be grounded, and it can find that grounding at the local level in independent "Community Voice" organizations. As metropolitan scale networks of citizen communication are established, there will be a robust and resilient basis for supporting diverse Earth Voice initiatives. Within the coming decade, independent, trans-partisan and nonprofit Community Voice organizations will likely emerge to represent the rights and needs of citizens in metropolitan areas and produce regular "Electronic Town Meetings" with local to global impact.
This is not a fanciful or new idea. With the understanding that citizens legally own the airwaves at the community level, in 1987 in San Francisco, our nonprofit and trans-partisan organization, Bay Voice, co-produced an Electronic Town Meeting with the local ABC-TV station that was seen by more than 300,000 people locally. Importantly, it also involved six votes from a pre-selected scientific sample of citizen-viewers during the course of the hour-long, televised gathering. Within an hour, the sentiments of the Bay Area public were vividly clear.
With our trans-partisan approach, a Community Voice organization has two key roles: first, to listen to the concerns of the community and second, to present those concerns for dialogue before the community in the form of Electronic Town Meetings. The Community Voice organization itself is neutral and does no advocacy; rather, it serves as a vehicle for giving the community a voice in its own affairs and future.
If communities around the country were to form independent, trans-partisan Community Voice organizations to launch local Electronic Town Meetings, it would immediately revolutionize the conversation of democracy. The leadership of one community could inspire and catalyze other communities to create their own Community Voice organizations, and an entirely new layer of sustained and meaningful dialogue could sweep the country. Citizens could voice their views and help break through the gridlock now seen at the state, national, and international levels.
An "Earth Voice" Movement
An Earth Voice movement based upon trans-partisan inclusiveness and the power of non-violent global communication could emerge rapidly from the initiative of local Community Voice organizations. However, rather than emerging in a controlled or contained fashion, it seems more likely that an Earth Voice movement will coalesce out of the unique events and grass-roots circumstances of life in different communities. Being uncontained and relatively spontaneous, it seems likely that many groups will seek in parallel to catalyze global conversations. This could develop into crowd-sourced global conversations with flash mobs of hundreds of millions -- or even billions -- of people joining in the dialogue. In this way, the collective intelligence of our global nervous system could take on a life of its own in a process that transcends artificial boundaries.
What will the human community want to talk about? Certainly there are global crises that we all recognize that require urgent and concerted action: climate disruption, energy transition, resource depletion, species extinction and many more. Do the people of the Earth want more concerted and decisive action from their leaders? An Earth Voice movement with its synchronized and coherent communication could ensure that this message is delivered.
We are witnessing the awakening of the collective consciousness of the species as the Internet, television, cell phones and other social media converge into an intelligent cloud of knowledge and communication. This intelligent cloud can support a truly global conversation for a promising future -- an Earth Voice movement. The next great superpower will not be a nation or even a collection of nations; rather, it will be the billions of ordinary citizens who encircle the Earth and who are increasingly calling, with one voice, for unprecedented cooperation and creative action to bring practical vision and hope to our endangered planet.
Duane Elgin is an internationally recognized author, speaker, and trans-partisan media activist. He is the director of the Great Transition Stories project. Previous blogs include, "Occupy the Airwaves," "Take Back the Airwaves," and "The Last Taboo on Television." His website is: http://www.DuaneElgin.com/
Follow Duane Elgin on Twitter: www.twitter.com/DuaneElgin
Blessings to you. Kindly watch The Most Important SCIENTIFIC Message of “ENLIGHTENMENT” and “ONENESS” that can Heal our World and Solve All Human Problems and Conflicts.
Latest Scientific facts that change the perception of our world. Please give your valuable feedback on this humble attempt (video) of mine.
If you think the message deserves to be known by all then kindly share it.
Thanking you. GOD BLESS YOU.
Gagan Polanki
http://youtu.be/wN9z0XEEb4w
http://www.ecohustler.co.uk/2012/06/16/urban-growth/
The new 'Earth Voice' movement is a huge step forward. I just want to flag that this must also translate to changes in how we live on our planet's surface. Crucially as we connect with new information about our world our values change and we have to flip from being a drain on the earth to becoming life enhancing. This trend is being seen in the swathes of urban farmers who are literally and metaphorically greening our cities.
Thanks all!
http://www.ecohustler.co.uk/2012/06/16/urban-growth/
Clearly, our next evolutionary state must be fundamentally different from the current one, where we are no longer thrilled with this world. It is so saturated by our egos that by obeying them, we are placing ourselves and each other in danger. We are aware that marriage, friendship, work, government – these anchors of human life are collapsing, prompting us to seek how to reform these essential social rudiments to match the structure of the harmonious world we all desire. So, as we evaluate our lives and count disappointments, let’s try to view it as a transition into the new life and opportunity to change.
IR www.amalgamag.com
Irene Rudnev
www.mutualresponsibility.org
www.amalgamag.com
Excellent article and commentary on the 'waking up' that humanity is going through relative to recognizing their precious relationship with Mother Earth.
And reminding people that "We Own the Airwaves" is a most important point, as so many don't even know that, and others, simply lost sight of it. We should therefore, have a majority 'vote' as to how these airwaves are used, and serving the People on local, community levels is, well "where it's at"...
I'll be contacting you momentarily about the HuffPost article of mine that could published just today (synchronous?) and having you as a guest on A Better World Radio very soon.
Excellent article---thank you.
Mitchell Rabin
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/duane-elgin/occupy-the-airwaves_b_1014433.html
Check it out...
http://world5.org
Oh, and it's built on principles, ethics if you will, instead of the power of money.
Today's 15th of October (15O) attest to the far reaching effects of Free Tunisia pure revolution. A Tsunami of peaceful global action engulfing the planet and inspiring free people to unite and speak in one strong voice on behalf of humanity.
This sweeping freedom tsunami, initiated in the land of the free Tunisia, and spreading all over the living planet, will energetically sweep away any malignant seeds should they resist to join the awakening of our planetary collective consciousness.
The coming planetary freedom era is being called aloud by free voices, like roaring drams, from all over the corners of planet Earth. People all over are keeping the flame lit and alive while chanting the chains breaking words of our mighty poets and praying for the blessings of our martyrs that either gave their blood or died awaiting a loaf of bread.
May God bless our mother-ship Earth with gentle winds of change so that it sails swiftly towards calm and serene waters and anchor its destiny to where we all WILL it to go and be for the benefit of all generations of living people and creatures: http://jasminrevolution.blogspot.com/2011/10/tunisia-again-15o-tunisias-evacuation.html
So, you’ve laid down a bridge, but I feel shakiness in my confidence that such a massive movement could get into place in any timely fashion without something that underpins it. We have a worldview based on Newtonian physics, while our science has marched on to embrace a quantum perspective. We need our worldview to be consistent with our knowledge-base, and what could bridge the gap is very public conversation about science having proved we are interconnected and interdependent – i.e. we are one. And, with a worldview based on that, we will rethink everything about who we are and what we are doing here. Perhaps, being on my mailing, you have read my recent post in which I deal with this: http://theconversation.org/blog/vital-mission-will-you-join-me.org
This is no longer the case. As we stare down the blind alley – the egoistic self – we must assess our next step with a new, altruist attitude: What is our next destination and how will we get there? Unlike our previous, instinctive behaviors in times of transition, today’s shift requires our conscious participation. Instead of being blind passengers rowing down the river of life, we must assume the driver’s seat in this evolutionary process.
For the first time in history, Nature is demanding that all of us, without exception achieve complete comprehension of who we are, the world we live in, and why we are in it to begin with. Our primary duty is to understand and know the essence of life, if we wish to be truly human.
IR
www.amalgamag.com
http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/internet-rising/