Why do we exist

Life can poetically be described as “the Universe experiencing itself”. Life is so unique in the universe that it has the capability for deliberate activity and conservationism. As a species of life, endowed by life with intelligence, we should use that capability to act as stewards of life on this planet.

However, our Universe is not so well-adapted to complex life, as it mostly consists of a cold and desolate void, stretching tens billions of light years across in all directions. The stars, united in the glittering bracelets known as galaxies, are separated far between one another.

Under conditions that might be microscopically rare, life evolves on planets – some even developing into garden worlds dominated by complex biospheres.

Our world – the Earth – is such a garden world. For 3.5 billion years, life has evolved gradually on our planet. It is however only during the last 600 million years that complex life has seen the light of the morning. From beautiful sea creatures in the oceans, to the multitudes of fish species existing through the ages, to dinosaurs, mammals and birds, animal life has offered a mind boggling adaptability and a beautiful diversity.

Five times, life on Earth has nearly been annihilated by cataclysmic events. The last time was 65 million years ago, when a meteorite caused a darkening of the Sun which destroyed more than half of the species on our planet. Yet, life managed to recover and once again flourish. From the ruins of an age dominated by dinosaurs, a new era dominated by mammals and birds was born, and the complex web of life we know today was formed.

For the last two hundred years, however, things have changed for the worse. Scientists estimate that species are dying out at a rate ten thousand times higher than normal today – the highest rate since the Late Cretaceous Extinction Event.

Today, the climate is changing at a rapid pace towards a more unstable equilibrium, the ocean eco-systems are collapsing, a third of the freshwater reservoirs are being depleted and complex ecosystems of thousands of species are actively phased out to be replaced with mono cultures containing a few pesticide-dependent plant species. If this trend continues, most eco-systems will have collapsed around the year 2100 CE.

There are many reasons behind this, as you probably know already. We in EOS believe that the main cause for this on-going extinction event is that we (as in the human race) have decided to make ourselves dependent on exponential growth through a global debt-based economy.

We were formed by researchers and students to investigate whether there is any alternative to this current system, and how we can transition towards such an alternative in a way that includes and empowers individuals and local communities.

Our three criteria for a sustainable civilization

With soon to be nine billion people on this planet, it is not an alternative to try to move back into a pre-industrial civilization. However, we do not believe it is modern technology that is the problem, rather we see modern technology – if applied in alternative ways and within the context of alternative systems – as a necessity in order to build up the foundations for a sustainable civilization.

Three criteria must be realized to achieve sustainability globally.

A global resource survey. We need to know how much we can take from the Earth and where before we start to use resources, in order to know if we are using more than the biosphere can cope with in any area.
A circular economy. In order to minimize our resource usage and optimize our utility, we must form our economy in such a way that we reduce waste, recycle everything that could be recycled, and manage our resources consciously and intelligently.
A guaranteed basic income. All human beings deserve to live, to pursue their creativity and to form meaningful lives. We cannot build a sustainable civilization if not all humans have access to shelter, food, drinking water and energy.