Maximizing Citizen Participation and Accelerating Solution Activity
in a Time of Unprecedented Challenges

We are at one of the most critical crossroads in the history of life on Planet Earth.

1)  The Climate Emergency
The Climate Emergency Era has begun, and it is not currently known how long it will last, or if it will end. 
[Reference: “Global Warming Awareness, Climate Change Awareness, and Climate Emergency Action--
A Survey: 1961-2020” (240 highlights) (316 pages; November, 2020) Compiled and Edited by Stefan Pasti, Founder The CPCS Initiative www.cpcsi.org ]
2)  6th Extinction
“Nature is declining globally at rates unprecedented in human history--and the rate of species extinctions is accelerating, with grave impacts on people around the world now likely….” 
[from article “UN Report: Nature’s Dangerous Decline ‘Unprecedented’; Species Extinction Rates ‘Accelerating’”--about the new report from The Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) (May 6, 2019) (paragraphs 1 and 10)]
3)  Human Morality
We are at one of the most critical crossroads in the history of life on Planet Earth… and human nature, with its flaws and shortcomings throughout the ages, is now being asked to look at itself a little more closely than before.
[Reference:  "Do We Have Moral Compasses We Can Rely On?"  (147 pages; April, 2021) Compiled and Edited by Stefan Pasti, Founder and Resource Coordinator The CPCS Initiative www.cpcsi.org --with supplemental copy "Table of Contents" (13 pages) as Executive Summary (Section B: Concerns about the Leanings of Human Aspirations; Section C:  “The smaller the circumference, the more accurately can we gauge the results of our actions….”)]

Participants look over very helpful displays of the goals they created in “REvision 1993”, and put stickers (their votes) on the goals they support [from “Chattanooga: A Community With A Vision” (at Vimeo) (13 minute documentary--image at 9:37)] The 1984 Chattanooga Community Visioning Project (“Vision 2000”) attracted more than 1,700 participants, and produced 40 community goals--which resulted in the implementation of 223 projects and programs, and a total financial investment of 793 million dollars. (reference at 2:14-2:28)

Participants look over very helpful displays of the goals they created in “REvision 1993”, and put stickers (their votes) on the goals they support [from “Chattanooga: A Community With A Vision” at Vimeo (link below in “Featured Resources and Commentary” section, in 1/6)
(13 minute documentary--image at 9:37)] The 1984 Chattanooga Community Visioning Project (“Vision 2000”) attracted more than 1,700 participants, and produced 40 community goals--which resulted in the implementation of 223 projects and programs, and a total financial investment of 793 million dollars. (reference at 2:14-2:28)


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Featured Resources and Commentary

_________________________________________

Template for
”Letter Appeal to Accelerate Climate Emergency Action”
(sent to 75 universities and colleges March-April, 2024)

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6 Tweet Thread (November, 2023) (in document form; at Twitter)

 1/6

Increase opportunities re #RightLivelihood  (thread image)
= key to limiting #GlobalWarming
= key to minimizing # of disastrous social tipping points triggered
https://www.cpcsi.org/231-positive-tipping-point-orgs-and-insti
+many more identified +5-10 page overviews = #clearinghouse
= accelerate local action +below #Cop28

(+text box)
Activists, Educators, Journalists

There are 1000s of positive tipping point organizations and institutions
(Exs:  https://www.cpcsi.org/231-positive-tipping-point-orgs-and-insti )--well-known, reliable, and key to limiting Global Warming and minimizing the number of disastrous socio-cultural tipping points which get triggered.  Hundreds of 5-10 page overviews from such positive tipping point orgs and institutions can be well organized on a clearinghouse website, and will alert key local leaders to the cultural transformation necessary--i.e. once the clearinghouse is established, local activists and educators can create surveys and questionnaires (focusing on local challenges and solutions) which reference the clearinghouse as a most comprehensive State of the World summary--and invite responses from key local leaders.  Journalists can help communicate questionnaire results to the public.  People in local communities everywhere can see their circumstances more clearly, and be much more motivated to participate in collaborative problem solving, Community Visioning [13 minute documentary “Chattanooga: Community with a Vision” (1993) at https://vimeo.com/9653090 ] , and Neighborhood Learning Centers.   Summary at https://www.cpcsi.org/constellations-of-initiatives-approach and p. 16-20 in ”Triggering Positive Social, Environmental, Economic, and Cultural Tipping Points” (20p).  In addition, the brainstorming about challenges and solutions during Community Visionings can highlight solutions which may benefit other communities doing such collaborative problem solving (add to #clearinghouse).

[Note:  local stakeholder engagement and collaborative problem solving, using online engagement with features such as described at  https://engagementhub.com.au/software-features ).]


ALSO FEATURED

“Triggering Positive Social, Environmental,
Economic, and Cultural Tipping Points” (20 pages; September, 2022)
 
p. 1-14 how close our GHG emissions are to dangerous tipping points
and runaway Global Warming
p. 14-16 about The CPCS Initiative
p. 16-20 about the CPCS “constellations of initiatives” approach
to triggering positive social, environmental, economic,
and cultural tipping points

“17 Tweet Thread Summarizing the ‘Constellation of Initiatives’ Approach” of
The Community Peacebuilding and Cultural Sustainability (CPCS) Initiative 
(10 pages; June, 2020) (in document form, as pdf file)]

 

6 Tweet Thread (November, 2023) (continued)

2/6

Key opportunities (below) for #highered #communitycollege
= catalyze local #CommunityVisioning +below and Neighborhood Learning Centers
= exponentially accelerate #CitizenClimateCorps +below
#workforcedevelopment #ecosystemrestoration #foodsecurity #EqualJustice #Peace 

(+text box)
Opportunities for Universities, Colleges, and Community Colleges
re Exponentially Accelerating Solutions Action in the Climate Emergency Era

1)  assist in facilitating and providing clear guidance on key fields of activity (food systems, water scarcity, migration, housing; land rights, biodiversity; civic engagement; peacebuilding; emergency assistance, etc.)     2)  accelerate **Civilian Climate Corps** into key fields of activity     3)  create curriculum resources, classes, workshops, and teacher training to maximize the identification of challenges and solutions during **LOCAL** Community Visioning Processes (and other **local**stakeholder engagement, collaborative problem solving approaches)     4)  accelerate the training of organizers and facilitators for **local** collaborative problem solving     5)  demonstrate how all the investments of time, energy, and money (the “votes”) each of us make in our everyday circumstances become the larger economy.  People from every variety of circumstances can learn how to wisely cast such “votes”     6)  make better use of teachings which inspire and encourage people to:  a)  sacrifice personal desires for the greater good of the whole  b)  find contentment and quality of life while using less material goods, ecological services  c)  support community life and cultural traditions which “bring to the fore how many good people there are, how many ways there are to do good, and how much happiness comes to those who extend help, as well as to those who receive it” 

[Note:  universities and colleges can concentrate on training organizers and facilitators for local collaborative problem solving (Community Visioning)--the 13 minute documentary “Chattanooga: A Community with a Vision” https://vimeo.com/9653090; the screen shot above, under this website’s banner; and the text accompanying the screen shot, highlight many of the advantages of this approach to local collaborative problem solving]

3/6--Ex from #ConscientiousObjector form
“Describe actions and behavior in your life which most conspicuously demonstrate the consistency, depth of your religious convictions”
4/6--“Duties of consumer—”when buying an article of everyday use, one has to take into account the full repercussions of one’s transaction….”
5/6--The Community Peacebuilding and Cultural Sustainability (CPCS) Initiative (www.cpcsi.org ) believes that priority actions **for urgently and drastically cutting Global Greenhouse Gas Emissions** would be more constructive if they were focused on small cities, towns, and villages… Key Indicator:  the small size of habitats caps energy consumption and toxicity at levels much more near the #ZeroFootprints we need
6/6--“Thousands of local Community Visioning Initiatives, in communities around the world, can activate the most possible human participation (by way of 6-12 months of workshops, meetings, brainstorming, and prioritizing challenges, solutions

(complete 6 Tweet Thread: in document form; at Twitter)

ALSO FEATURED

9 Tweet Thread (November, 2023)--”It is time for the women of the world”
5 Tweet Thread (March, 2023)--“Leveraging positive tipping point organizations and institutions”


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About The CPCS Initiative

The Community Peacebuilding and Cultural Sustainability (CPCS) Initiative provides research and analysis for critical challenge alerts, and research and support for collaborative problem solving, community education, and citizen peacebuilding initiatives which seek to maximize citizen participation, and accelerate solution-oriented activity

Key Documents

1.  “Global Warming Awareness, Climate Change Awareness, and Climate Emergency Action”​  A Survey:  1961-2020”  (240 highlights from reports, websites, articles, books, etc.) (316 pages; November, 2020)
2.  “Quick Reference to 10 Key Graphs and Charts” (6p)   (last six pages from “Survey” in #2 above) 
3. ”Unprecedented Challenges Ahead—March 2024” (4 pages)
4.  “17 Tweet Series Summarizing the ‘Constellation of Initiatives’ Approach” of
The Community Peacebuilding and Cultural Sustainability (CPCS) Initiative 
(10 pages; June, 2020) (in document form, as pdf file)]
5.  "Sample List of 231 positive tipping point organizations and institutions" (12 pages; December, 2020)
6. “Maximizing Citizen Participation and Accelerating Solution Activity in a Time of Unprecedented Challenges”  (6 pages; December, 2021)  (Draft Syllabus-short course)
7.   “Neighbor to Neighbor Community Education (NTNCE) Project” (6 page Overview; May, 2015)
8. “Community Resilience and Cultural Sustainability Survey” (10 pages; March, 2022)
9. “Large Cities are Not Sustainable--and will not help us get to Zero Carbon ASAP”
(148 pages; May, 2022) (Complete Report) (May, 2022)
10. “26 Example tweets from my Twitter Account” (17 pages; July, 2022)
11. ”Triggering Positive Social, Environmental, Economic, and Cultural Tipping Points”
[20 pages, September, 2022; added overview of wetlands methane increase (runaway?), CPCS vision]
12. “61 Indicators of a Convergence of Unprecedented Challenges” (3p; Jan., 2023)
13. “Quick Resilience Questionnaire” (3 pages; September, 2023)
14. “1000s of “Positive Tipping Point orgs —> Global Clearinghouse risks/solutions
= Hub support for *local* #Ed #CivilianClimateCorps #SelectiveBuying #ConscientiousObjector #SmallerHabitats #EmergencySharing #Peace
= limiting #GlobalWarming in #10years” (6 Tweet Thread; 6 pages; November, 2023)
[Note: this 6 Tweet Thread is the same as the one featured above.]

Larger Compilations of Challenges and Solutions
1.  "IPCR Critical Challenges Assessment 2011-2012: Summary Report"  (444 pages; January, 2012)  (Table of Contents)
2.  "Invitation Package for Possible Board of Advisors"  (589 pages; November, 2013)  (Table of Contents)
3. “Harvest Song” (78 pages; December, 2018) (summary of challenges and solutions)
4.  “Brainstorming 100% Reduction in GHG Emissions ASAP Campaign” (157 pages; June, 2019) “Press Release” (14 pages; September, 2019) [Appendix 10 in the 157 page paper is a list of 616 positive tipping point organizations and institutions with Twitter profiles, in 30 categories (see p. 69)]--and related Brainstorming Zero Carbon ASAP Project “Initial Contact Letter” (6 pages; January, 2021)

———————————

“… there are truths which none can be free to ignore, if one is to have that wisdom through which life can become useful. These are the truths concerning the structures of the good life and concerning the factual conditions by which it may be achieved….”
[From “General Education in a Free Society, The Harvard Committee (1945)]

“… every article in the bazaar has moral and spiritual values attached to it… hence it behooves us to enquire into the antecedents of every article we buy…. “ (p. 53)
If we feel it is beyond us to guarantee the concomitant results of all our transactions, it necessarily follows that we must limit our transactions to a circle well within our control. This is the bed rock of swadeshi… The smaller the circumference, the more accurately can we guage the results of our actions, and (the) more conscientiously shall we be able to fulfill our obligations as trustees.” (p. 60)
[From “Why the Village Movement?” by J.C. Kumarappa   The All India Village Industries  Wardha, C.P,  1946 (at https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.118819 ) (using page numbers in the book)]

“The transition from an unsustainable fossil fuel-based economy back to a solar-based (agriculture and forestry) economy will involve the application of the embodied energy that we inherit from industrial culture: This embodied energy is contained within a vast array of things, infrastructure, cultural processes and ideas, mostly inappropriately configured for the ‘solar’ economy. It is the task of our age to take this great wealth, reconfigure and apply it to the development of sustainable systems.” [from “Energy and Permaculture” by David Holmgren (1994)]


”Summary of The Community Peacebuilding
and Cultural Sustainability (CPCS) Initiative”
(4 pages; February, 2024)

and “Summary of The CPCS Initiative” (4 pages; March 1, 2024)
(added link re negative tipping points, p. 3)

 

Equally Important—About

The Community Peacebuilding and Cultural Sustainability (CPCS) Initiative is an effort to apply the accumulated wisdom now accessible to us towards the general goal of integrating spiritual wisdom into the everyday circumstances of community life--and towards the specific goal of generating practical responses to the challenges of our times.

Key Documents

1.  “Do We Have Moral Compasses We Can Rely On?"  (147 pages; April, 2021)
Supplementary Table of Contents (13 pages) (summary of challenges and solutions)
2. “Key Sources of Inspiration” (51 pages; September, 2021) 31 key sources of inspiration listed followed by corresponding entries, with inspiration excerpts and links (also “Key Sources of Inspiration” webpage)
3.  "Growing Wisdom and Compassion in Small Communities (13 Steps)" (summary document)
[older CPCS Initiative document "13 Steps for Long Term Culture Change" (78 pages; May, 2017)
re-titled in 2019]
4. “An Arrangement of Quotations from ‘Sathya Sai Speaks’ (Vol. 1-15)” (301 pages; 1997, 2006)
(Table of Contents)
5.  "The Spirit of the Sacred Hoop" (10 pages, short story) (First version Fall, 1984; first revision Spring, 2004; minor changes Summer, 2006; Winter 2013-14; Winter 2022-23)  The story is about a tribe of people who are experiencing great challenges, and who go on a great journey to find the tree at the center of the sacred hoop.
6.  “30 Propositions and Premises of The CPCS Initiative” (4 pages) (May, 2017; December, 2021) is a helpful view into the balancing I have done between the second mission statement above and the first.
7. “Spiritual Peacebuilding: 47 Quotes and Proverbs” (12 pages; 2007)
8. “’Holding Together’ During the Climate Emergency Era” Climate Emergency Questionnaire
(14 questions; 10 pages) (August, 2019)
9. ”On the subject of ‘drawing on the worlds faith and wisdom traditIons to confront the ecological crises’” (27 pages; January, 2023)
10. “The Day of the Verdict:  plaintiff (Humans) v. GOD” (3 pages; July, 2023)
”The Day of the Verdict: plaintiff (Humans) v. GOD” (3 pages; updated re December 12, 2023; Cop28)
11. “It is Time for the Women in the World” (9 tweet thread; 9 pages; November, 2023)
12. “Quaker Queries Conscientious Buying Triggering Positive” (6 tweet thread; 6 pages; Nov., 2023)
13. “The Villages in Our Hearts” (3 pages; January, 2024)
14. “To my dear Divine Jour-ne-yers” (1 page; January, 2024)
15. “For a Long Time” (1 page; February, 2024)
16. “First Reply to ‘For a Long Time’” (1 page; February, 2024)
17. “Where have we gone?” (1 page; February, 2024)
18. “To Whom It May Concern” (1 page; February, 2024)
19. “Summary of The CPCS Initiative” (4 pages; February, 2024)
20. “All My Relatives” (1 page; 367 words; Op-Ed; March, 2024)


One way practitioners of religious and spiritual traditions can make a significant contribution during this Climate Emergency Era is by encouraging and supporting Interfaith Prayer Vigils.
To learn more, visit https://www.cpcsi.org/interfaith-prayer-vigils .

_______________________


One of the most persistent ironies in life is that with so many opportunities to provide real assistance to fellow human beings, there are still many, many people in this world who cannot find a way to earn a living providing such assistance. 

https://www.cpcsi.org/231-positive-tipping-point-orgs-and-insti
+ ”Triggering Positive Social, Environmental, Economic, and Cultural Tipping Points” (20 p., Sept, 2022)
+ https://www.cpcsi.org/constellations-of-initiatives-approach
+ "Growing Wisdom and Compassion in Small Communities (13 Steps)"  (78 pages; May, 2017)
+ “God can do anything….” and “Love is My Highest Miracle.”  (7 pages; May, 2023)
+ “1000s of “Positive Tipping Point orgs —> Global Clearinghouse risks/solutions
= Hub support for *local* #Ed #CivilianClimateCorps #SelectiveBuying #ConscientiousObjector #SmallerHabitats #EmergencySharing #Peace
= limiting #GlobalWarming in #10years”

 =  Countless opportunities for all of us--ourselves, our neighbors and our fellow citizens—
to become part of a system of mutual support and encouragement in our local communities

 “By the examples of your lives, you have to restore confidence among the people in the higher values of life.... Have the picture of the happy, united, love filled human community in your heart. That will give you enough encouragement in your mission.”  [Sri Satha Sai Baba in "An Arrangement of Quotations from 'Sathya Sai Speaks' (Vol. 1-15)"  (301 pages; 1997, 2006)]

CPCS Initiative Vision

The Community Peacebuilding and Cultural Sustainability (CPCS) Initiative believes that priority actions—for urgently and drastically cutting Global Greenhouse Gas Emissions—would be more constructive if they were focused on small cities, towns, and villages, which--

1)  are more sustainable-friendly in the long run
2)  have less complex vulnerabilities
3)  create more emphasis on downsizing and focusing on what basic necessities are most needed
and
4)  where it is easier to see the results of our actions
5)  where a truly natural circular economy (sewage treatment; food miles; less packaging; zero waste; etc.) is much easier to implement,
and more likely to actually happen. 
[see “Large Cities are Not Sustainable, and will not help us get to Zero Carbon ASAP” (148 pages; May, 2022) 


Key Indicator: the small size of habitats caps energy consumption and toxicity at levels much more near the #ZeroFootprints we need

The CPCS Initiative also believes that it is possible for local communities and regions to include parts or all of the “constellation of initiatives” approach advocated by the CPCS Initiative into their local specific action plans, and for all continents, countries, regions, and local communities to achieve Zero Carbon in ten years.