The Earth's Ecology is at a Crossroads 
photosynthesis is the foundation of every economy, and human life flourishes in a narrow window that may well be in jeopardy...

“ We are at the terminal phase of the Cenozoic – the last 65 million years.   We are not just passing into another historical period or another cultural modification.  We are changing the chemistry of the planet.  We are changing the bio-systems.  We are changing the geo-systems of the planet on a scale of millions of years.  But more specifically we are terminating the last 65 million years of life development.

Now a person would say – Well where do we go from here?  To my mind we go from the terminal phase – if we survive it – into a really sustainable world.  We will be passing from the terminal Cenozoic into what I call the Ecozoic.

And the primary principle of the Ecozoic is that the Universe - and in particular planet Earth – is a communion of subjects,
not a collection of objects

If we don’t learn that – nothing is going to work.  Whereas all this beauty of the universe that we see about us came into  being without human consultation, from here on, the universe will never function that way again.”

Edited Interview clip with Thomas Berry from video recording by writer and  teacher Ram Dass (Richard Alpert) in  1991
The prevailing ethos that has driven western civilization for the past 300 years, and that came to dominate the globe in the second half of the 20th century has run its course. We face serious challenges in the economy, the environment, education, and health care, not to mention the decline of civility and the rise of political and religious extremism. Increased population and the global proliferation of industrial capitalism are seriously testing the carrying capacity of the planet. The well being of our children and our grandchildren demand that we create a more organic culture and a more conscious brand of capitalism.
Distressing Facts about the Earth
  • Since 1970, U.S. energy consumption has risen by 50%.
  • In 2007 the United States used 21 million barrels of oil per day, equivalent to the use of Japan, Germany, Russia, China, and India.
  • Each year in the United States, we lose 1.2 million acres of farmland.     
  • After decades of effort, the environmental laws, put on the books in the 70s are not working.
  • Three decades after the Toxic Substances Control Act we continue to put massive amounts of pesticides into the environment.
  • At least 5 to 6,000,000,000 pounds of insecticides, herbicides, fungicides rodenticide and other pesticides are aired to the area each year and 25% of this is in the United States.
  • The ideological shift to hyper individualism has sunk into many areas of society.
  • Hydrological cycles have been altered. Warm air holds more water vapor than cold air, meaning that there are more droughts in arid areas, and more deluge and floods in moist areas.
  • North American rainfall up 7% and more in downpours.
  • Flood damage is now increasing by 5% a year.
  • We are experiencing a dramatic increase in extreme weather conditions across the planet. 
Picture
Throughout most of human history Society was small and Nature was large.  In the last few hundred years, society grew larger as we discovered fossil fuels and drew on the inventory of energy that the sun had given the planet over billions of years. That well is running dry, and the evidence is overwhelming that the current financial/industrial system no longer works, . We need to readjust how we imagine our lives and our conception of what brings us happiness.
 
Despite the many challenges we face today, the time is ripe for us to become more conscious and to re-create society and  culture so that they move beyond sustainability to actually regenerate the earth and that our collective evolution accelerates. The only way for this to happen is if we simultaneously recreate the economic, legal, governmental, health, food and related systems that structure our lives and provide for our needs; at the same time that our family and cultural models are revitalized.  And all of this must happen as large numbers of us become wiser, more skillful, and more highly developed in many of the ways we make sense of the world and each other. What is called for is no less than a third "Great Awakening," a spiritual and practical renewal that permeates to the very depths of who we are, individually, and as a people.