I Want to Start an EOS Holon

The Earth Organisation for Sustainability has one goal – to ensure that human civilization achieves ecological, economic, and social sustainability in relation to the Earth’s biosphere. Many other movements are aspiring to the same overall goal, what then is making us different?

The EOS is both a very broad and a very specific organisation, both very techno-progressive and very ecologically radical in comparison to the current state of the planet. We are conservative in the regard that our goal is to protect humanity and help save our civilization; we are disruptive in the aspect that we have an uncompromising threshold of what should be the minimum requirements for achieving sustainability.

We are standing on three legs, which each is of equal importance – Research, Civic enlightenment and Social activism. These three legs are connecting our present with the future we want to help bring closer to the present and are connecting scientists, activists, and the public.

First and foremost, we want to thank you for this commitment to the future of humanity, and hope to be able to help you in realising your own visions, and to be able to learn valuable insights from you. Warmly welcome!

The Three Criteria

The three criteria for sustainability are the minimum requirements of what human civilization needs to achieve for us to reach a state of sustainability. These are – from the point of view of our movement – not a matter for compromise in the long perspective. In the short to medium perspective, we can accept steps towards this state, but only on the condition that it is overtly and openly stated that these are just intermediary steps.

These are the three criteria in falling order of importance.

• The First Criterion: We need a global ecological budget ceiling. That means that we need to determine, through scientific consensus, how much surface and resources we may use each year before we are starting to move towards an unsustainable state which threatens to cause a new mass extinction event.
• he Second Criterion: The resources we extract to sustain our civilization needs to be managed as sustainably and responsibly as practically and organizationally possible – which means a circular, blue economy in some form, characterised by establishing loop flows of resources, local resiliency where possible and the minimisation of waste.
• The Third Criterion: All human beings have a right to life, and a right to the conditions which make a life possible. This of course means a support for basic human rights and for the right of human beings to live as dignified lives as possible. It also means that no human being should need to live homeless, without food, clothing, and the energy needed to make it possible for them to improve their lives.

One very important aspect, which we will revisit when we discuss our ideology, is the fact that one may not violate one criterion to support another. So we may not violate human rights or do things against the consent of those affected by our actions. Remember, the reason why we struggle for a sustainable future is for humanity to thrive in that future!

The Ideology of the Third Millennium

Our ideology as an organisation is our guiding ethos – that Life is the self-expression of the Universe and that the purpose of any advanced civilization ought to be to uphold and create conditions where Life could thrive.

When we talk about the concept of Life, we are talking about:

• The planetary biosphere itself, encompassing all ecosystems and the water and soil systems necessary to sustain them.
• Individual eco-systems.
• Species.
• The rights and dignity of human individuals and their ability to express themselves without causing injury to others.
• The rights and dignity of animal individuals and their right to be able to express their natural behaviour.

Of course, the main aspect of these interests is that they often conflict with one another – and that is why we must look at all of these at the same time. The main purpose of the ITM is to create a framework for weighing interests and reach balanced outcomes on the basis of a life positive civilization.

These values should be the foundation of the local work of any EOS holon.

What is a holon?

Arthur Koestler coined the term “holon” as defining an entity which is both a part of a whole and a whole in it’s own right. For example, molecules can be studied in their own right, but also as part of for example cells, and cells could also be studied in their own right as autonomous or semi-autonomous units, but are also part of organs, which share the same characteristics and so on.

The EOS is meant to grow as a network of semi-autonomous local groups, which all are equipped with facilitating the Transition in their own area. Each holon is structured around a group of between five and ten individuals, which ideally should represent the same neighbourhood. Several holons can coexist within the same neighbourhood as well.

The holon should at a minimum keep contact with itself, with the EOS and with at least another holon if there are any nearby. The minimum requirement is that the holon should hold at least one monthly meeting, discussing for example sustainability in social and ecological terms. From that point on, the holon may build on its tasks.

Maybe the participants in the holon want to self-educate and learn to understand aspects of sustainability better? Maybe they would want to lecture and recruit more members? Maybe they would want to improve their neighbourhood by for example constructing aquaponics systems, solar power plants, wind turbines, or irrigation systems? Maybe they would want to reduce crime or help people improve their lot and organise in the community?

Examples of what a holon could do – social activism

Often when we think of activism, we think of disruptive activities which are intended as reactions to policies which we disagree with, like protests, barricades and in extreme examples sabotage and civil disobedience. The EOS does not disavow or condemn movements which engage in such protests, but we do not engage in that type of activism.

Our type of activism could be called “constructive activism” or as we prefer to call it – “social activism”. It is a process of initiating the Transition on a local level, aiming to include and organise communities.

In Umea, we have been engaged in numerous examples of social activism. Here we will describe a few:

The integration events of the autumn of 2016

As a part of our long-term dream of establishing a creative centre in Umea, we decided to launch two workshops where young citizens and asylum applicants got the opportunity to collaborate with practical projects, the first being a September 2017 event where a street-art painter brought from Växjö (and who later settled in Umea) gave the youths the opportunity to express themselves on the legal graffiti walls in the I20 area in western Umea.

The next event was one where the youths got the opportunity to write a plotline for a film, and to actually film, edit and finish their film, held at Klossen and co-organised with JAQ Studios. These events were characterised by collaboration with a number of other organisations and individuals, and the EOS acted as a central focal point between them, connecting them to one another.

The Alidhem Biodome Project of 2017-2018

An on-going project in Alidhem, Umea. The goal is to strengthen the reach and ability of the local urban farmer community by donating and raising a biodome for them. The biodome will be six metres in diameter and standing six metres tall. In this project, we are closely collaborating with the municipality, the urban gardeners and other organisations.

This project is the first foundation stone for a more long-term project of Transitioning all of Alidhem closer and closer towards sustainability.

What holons may not do and consequences

A holon may not engage in discriminating behaviour, in physically aggressive behaviour towards third parties, engage in illegal activities such as selling drugs or stolen materials, or promote ideologies which are running counter to the values and goals of the EOS.

If a holon is engaging in any of these behaviours, the Board must come to a decision whether to ask the holon to disengage from the EOS or to ask them to cease with the infraction. If a holon is disengaged from the EOS the EOS Board is responsible for notifying all of the movement that has happened.

The first step – gathering the team

The first step should be to build a network, and initially it is sufficient with one other member who can actively aid you. It is important that individual should be engaged, conscientious and punctual in their endeavour, and even – most importantly – that they do not habitually promise things which they won’t or cannot fulfil. Most people desire to be appreciated, and some may promise things which they do not deliver on because they haven’t thought through whether they know what their promise entails or how to accomplish the task at hand. Remember, the EOS relies very much on voluntarism, and this means that a high degree of motivation will be the determining factor.

When you look for individuals to add to your team, you should initially look within your circle of friends. If the team is built out of a friend circle, it will be more durable, and most likely have a greater attraction power. Friends would also generally listen to you more than strangers.

If you for some reason fail to attract your friends, there are tools of attracting people whom you do not know. The easiest method is to pick up conversations, on the pub, on the bus, on a bus stop. Good opportunities may present themselves when people complain about the weather, or when they mention something about a foreign war or climate summits or the incoming election.

The EOS line is to use a short window of opportunity to establish the following foundation:

• We are heading towards a Sixth Mass Extinction Event (cite climate change, our usage of soils and groundwater reservoirs and land surface, trawling and other insanities). ∙ The cause is ultimately that we have a debt-based fiat system which forces us to achieve exponential growth no matter what the cost.
• For this century we must start to see the entire Earth as an integrated ecological system, and for that reason we need a limit on how much we may take out from it. Do not try to recruit people who show hostility or not even a modicum of interest. Only those who exhibit curious interest at first. The interest will be truly awakened when they learn that ordinary people, by organising in their neighbourhoods, may facilitate a difference in the Transition, and that they will begin the Transition locally. Basically, every social activist will make a journey of personal development which will begin in the place they live and hopefully end with the establishment of global sustainability.

Another way of recruiting people, even if this method almost requires you to have a colleague who can help you put out flyers and posters, is to hold a lecture. If you are studying or working at a University of College you can book a lecture hall and announce a lecture. Ideally the lecture should be announced two weeks prior, and posters must go up at least two times. It is a good idea to co-arrange it with locally established associations since it will lend the EOS legitimacy and tap into established social networks. At the end of the lecture, you should invite those who stayed to a “house group meeting”.

The House Group meetings

One model of constituting a holon is in the form of a house group. A house group meets one to two times a month and consists of between five and ten people. Often, they meet for dinners or “fika”, and it is a good idea that everybody participates in preparing the food. If the people in the house group are socially unacquainted, a round of introductions should be held. It is a good idea to have three questions, like “your name, what you do and something fun that happened this week.”

Other ways of breaking the ice could be to bring games.

Suitable topics for a house group meeting could be ecological sustainability, with focus on one specific topic for that meeting, the local EOS projects, events in the world and how the members of the group want to improve themselves. The ideal is that the house groups evolve their own projects and work as EOS magnets.

We must always emphasise the seriousness of the current global situation, but in the same time we must show that we have the power – if we unite – to steer away from the impending abyss and create global sustainability.

What must be avoided: Puritanism

It is essential that the local groups evolve friendships which allow people to act as a support and kinship network for one another, and that trust evolves. Therefore, we must avoid tendencies towards puritanism – for example to condemn house group members because they have travelled to Thailand, eaten a Big Mac, are driving a diesel car or have a cake containing gelatin (even though we in Umea tend to buy vegan as default).

Puritanism is a situation where the members are bashing on one another and jealously guarding one another to see who is less (or even more frighteningly, more) holy than themselves. This kind of toxic and humourless culture serves to attract a specific subset of the population, but we do not want to build a cult.

Therefore, what must also be avoided is any situation where the EOS as a whole tend to attract certain types of subcultures to a larger degree than others, and there is also a risk that the local groups develop their own subculture and that they will become a vessel for expressing uniqueness visavi the mainstream. That must be avoided.

We are not interested in poking a finger against the mainstream culture, rather we want to shift it by pacing and nudging.

Pacing and nudging

Pacing – we should try to see at what level of sustainability awareness the local community is having, and the local EOS groups should place themselves one step higher on the ladder, but only one step. For example, if the local community is really bad at handling its waste and people are not aware of green consumption, then the EOS group should place itself on the level above it. If it is, the EOS group should aim to focus in on the most developed and eager elements of that community, and strive to organise it. This would not mean self-contradiction, we would only place ourselves on a level where the community would understand us.

Nudging – We should plant seeds in society, and try to present our ideas in such a manner that people would come to the conclusions about what would have to be done by themselves. Our foundation is strong because it is rooted in knowledge about ecology and natural sciences – and as it is said, “the Truth is a lion, set it free and it will defend itself”. If people are presented for the same facts as we, and are given the opportunity to ponder on them, they will invariably come to similar conclusions. If they do not come to the exact same conclusions as us, it is good, because a diversity of different solutions and experiments is needed in this phase.

Politics

EOS as an organisation is not a political party and does not stand for elections. We will however listen to politicians, and speak with them as well. We should not lend our support to any singular political party, but rather seek a support for policies. Our position should generally be:

• The protection of human rights.
• That prices increasingly should reflect the environmental impact of different products. ∙ Support initiatives which bring us closer to sustainability, even if they do not bring us the whole way.
• Support for measures which are helping our efforts to foment the Transition. ∙ Support for increased international collaboration, a decrease of tensions between the great powers and the eventual transition towards a global confederation of a United Humanity.
• Resistance against tribalism – politics which are upholding the interests of one group of humans over another group of humans.
• Migration – here we should ensure to reduce tensions by focusing on activating migrants in projects which benefit entire communities, which can help create inroads for integration.

We should stand clear in all encounters with politicians that global sustainability can never be achieved on the national level.

The Transition

Our long-term goal as it stands now is to help move humanity towards the Transition. This process is characterised by a shift of today’s non-sustainable linear flows towards a more stable and circular global system. The EOS wants to get an opportunity to test its Design to see if parts of it can help move us towards this future.

The future which we want to help create is one that is communitarian, collaborative, de centralised and one where resources are utilised as wisely as possible. Instead of having a system which forces us to convert the surface of the planet into linear monocultures, we will strive for a balance between human well-being and the planetary sustainability.

This will mean that people in the future would have more say about their own communities and control over the vital systems in these communities, and that technological development – instead of destroying the vital life-supporting systems of our globe. A world where labour time is reduced instead of the labour force, where human beings will live for their own sake, and not for the sake of fiat-fuelled exponential growth, and where global poverty will be finally abolished.

That is the future we will build, and we will build it together.

Good luck on your journey!

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