eGaia Growing a peaceful, sustainable Earth through Communications

Published by Lighthouse Books, ISBN 0907637248, 2002

“a manifesto for a new world order, disarmingly presented and written.”

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The problems which humanity has created for the natural world and for itself – extinction of species, loss of habitat, damage to agriculture, climate change, wars, hunger, poverty, family and community disintegration and financial instability – are severe enough that the metaphor of a global cancer seems appropriate. To counter that global cancer, this book sets out a Utopian yet practical agenda for change that harnesses the exciting potential of electronic communication to launch a new era of community regeneration.

It proposes a system of relationships – with the Earth as a living organism, and among the people living in it – that embody principles of collaboration and sustainability.  eGaia describes a practical collaborative economy in which

• production is primarily local, but globally connected
• quality is maintained by feedback, ratings and reviews
• mechanisms for public reputation are the principal means of social control
• ‘real costs’ – social and environmental – guide people’s consumption.

It describes community-based self-governance, in which skills of conflict resolution and effective communication are widely understood and used.

It shows how electronic communications can be used so that the driving force of the economy is the health of the environment and the well being of all of humanity rather than money flows.

Download any or all of the parts of the first edition

Table of Contents for eGaia

Preface
Introduction to eGaia

• download as pdf (241 KB) egaiastart

Part I From global cancer to global nervous system

1 Humanity as a global cancer
2 eGaian principles
3 A taste of an eGaian future

• download Part I as pdf ( 437 KB) egaiapart1

Part II The Five Billion Year Story

4 Symbiosis and competition: The story of life on Earth
5 The co-operative ape: The early human story
6 Towards the global cancer: The late human story

• download Part II as pdf (508 KB) egaiapart2

Part III – An eGaian Guide: Philosophy and principles

7 eGaian Relationships
8 A Peaceful Earth: Conflict Resolution
9 A Co-operative Economy
10 A Sustainable Earth

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Part IV – Making it happen

11 Starting points
12 eGaian Co-operative Networks
13 Towards an eGaian Earth

• download Part IV as pdf (451 KB) egaiapart4