The Gaia Revolution

ー GAIA before Human Being ー


written by Seishu Makino







Recently, the severity of environmental issues is sparking the interest of people around the world. Works such as Al Gore’s movie “An Inconvenient Truth” and Dr. James Lovelock’s “The Revenge of Gaia: Why the Earth is Fighting Back” are designed to raise awareness amongst the public of the urgency and importance of environmental issues. I feel it is my mission to take their message very seriously, and to enlist everyone’s help in resolving these critical issues.

I believe that the time has come to create a single vision common to the people of the world, and for us to all put it into action together. I am proposing a “Gaia revolution.” In President Kennedy’s inauguration speech, the new president famously said, “Think not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.” What I want to say is along these same lines.

I would like to ask everyone to think of how we can save Gaia, our living planet, rather than focusing on what the planet can give us. And then let’s turn our thoughts into action.


1. The Gaia Revolution

１．What’s Gaia?
”Gaia” means each of the living planets in the universe, or the earth as a living organism.

２. What’s the Gaia Revolution?
The Gaia Revolution seeks to turn the idea that mankind is most important on its head, and instead to shift the focus to Gaia being most important. We humans need to work not for ourselves, but for Gaia, and we need to do everything not for the purpose of sustainability, but for the survival of Gaia.
And we need to work not on an individual level, both together with our families, and at the community, national, and international level. We must be aware that we are here on this planet in order to maintain Gaia’s purity, beauty, and abundance.

３．The Objective of the Gaia Revolution
（１） Lower the earth’s temperature to stop global warming immediately
（２） Stop pollution of the earth and return it to its original state.
（３）Reduce the world’s population to an appropriative level.

４．Structure of the Gaia Revolution
（１）A revolution of awareness
（２）A revolution in lifestyle
(３)Overcome the phenomenon of globalization (win out over the single-nation dominance of the United States).
（４）A changeover from worldwide pursuit of growth to a stationary state at an appropriate scale and level.

５．Key players of the Gaia system
（１）International agencies
（２） Governments
（３） Corporations
（４） NPOs and various other groups
（５） Every member of the human race

６． Methodology
（１） Public agencies devise goals and action plans
（２）Implement action plans through public authority
（３）Transfer funds from military budgets around the world to the maintenance and prosperity of Gaia
（４）Each individual possesses the authority to influence the government, and exercise this authority.
（５） Establish a Gaia Revolution headquarters from which to carry out our actions.
（６） Create a “Gaia government” to foster and protect Gaia.



I’m just a novice to this subject, but these are my thoughts for the moment.


２．The Gaia Revolution: Taking Yet Another Step

Now I’d like to take my approach to the Gaia Revolution one step further.

�T．A Revolution of the Mind

As long as we continue to talk about sustainable development, destruction of the environment will not end. Therefore, we humans need to consider what we can do for Gaia and what sacrifices we can make, and then to take action. What I would like to say is that if we do not make a shift from focusing on ourselves to focusing on Gaia-that is to reverse our current way of thinking entirely-then the root of the problem will never be resolved.


�U．A Revolution in Lifestyle

The following are some details of how we might go about our lives based in the above Revolution of the Mind.
（１）People would stop working at such a fast pace and have a slower life.
（２） Instead of moving from one corner of the world to another, people would stay as close to home as possible and resolve issues from there. They would also make the switch to an autonomous lifestyle in their region to the greatest possible extent.


�V．Overcoming Globalization

Globalization brings about environmental destruction, and so we need to move away from the trend of globalization.
Globalization is the most important action undertaken by large companies to secure profits. In fact, we can say that globalization is an example of the dominance of large companies over national governments. It is also a means for the U.S. to maintain world economic dominance. Unless we defeat globalization, destruction of Gaia will continue, and even grow worse.

To make the shift away from globalization, corporations’ basic business stance must change, and the one-country hegemony of the U.S. must come to an end. To achieve this, the world must be divided into three or five parts, and each must function as its own autonomous economic and cultural sphere.

Specifically, North and South America, the EU and Africa, and Asia and the Pacific
should move to scale down transport to their respective areas to the greatest possible extent.

How many airplanes fly the skies each day, and how much carbon dioxide are they releasing? It is critical that we consider this.


�W．The Shift from a Growth-Oriented Society to a Stationary One

The idea of focusing only on growth and that growth is entirely good is simply corporate rhetoric.
What good does it do even if we continue to improve upon our cars? Of course, if the cars don’t produce exhaust or if they don’t use gasoline, it is fine. Along the same lines, no matter how convenient refrigerators and other electronics get, it’s much better of they don’t waste energy.

I think, therefore, that it is enough if our lives are just somewhat convenient.
If the population continues to grow, we will be faced with a dangerous situation. We need to achieve appropriate population levels. I’m not sure if the appropriate level is three billion or four billion-I’ll leave that to the scientists.

In any case, it is time to take up the population issue on a global scale while at the same time addressing poverty issues. It is possible to achieve a satisfying lifestyle and a good society at a certain cultural standard if we keep our population at a reasonable size.

Though we may not be able to hope for development on a large scale, we can create a highly spiritual culture and civilization.
However, all this is impossible if we continue at the speed and scale we have pursued until this point. It will not be possible if we continue to grow and splinter into a complicated system of subdivisions. Most importantly, the issue of efficiency should not be all-pervasive.

As many people have said, I believe that the values on which our lifestyle and actions are based, should be the following:
　（１）Slow
　（２） Small
　（３） Simple
　（４） Spiritual

What does everybody think?
I think it’s too late to solve the problem by individuals acting alone-that is by letting only those people who have understood the problem to take action. I believe that national governments, religious organizations, and large companies all have to take responsibility and work together on a global scale in order to enable recovery of the earth’s environment.

The Gaia Revolution is about “structural reform” of environmental issues.


３．The Orientation of the Gaia Revolution

The very best way to solve the crisis is if each of us can come to understand the situation and take action.
Yet the situation has deteriorated to the point where it cannot be resolved even with the effort of each and every individual.

We need to make the switch from “Think Globally, Act Locally” to “Collaborate Globally.” Further, it is critical that we “Understand Universally, Act Individually,” and to “Live Spiritually, Act　Selflessly.”
I think believe this is the way the Gaia Revolution needs to go.


４．An Alternative Organization to the UN
　　and Independent Collaboration of Individuals

I traveled to New York for several days starting March 11th. I stopped by the UN and other international organizations to ask about human rights, and we talked about environmental issues. I came to the conclusion that the United Nations is already defunct.

If we really think about the issue, we see that the UN has never solved a single issue related to world people, the environment, human rights, energy, population, poverty, etc. There has been no resolving of issues on a fundamental level. Instead, the UN appears to simply be coming up with alibis. If the UN were really operating as it should, the world would be getting better.

The UN is now manipulated by the large countries, and the large countries operate based on the logic of massive corporations, which essentially consists of achieving profit by exploiting weaker countries. I therefore believe it is a mistake to have any expectations of the UN as it is now.
So then what should we do? There are two answers.

First, we could foster alternative organizations to the UN. Second, we could devise a system where we rely on ourselves instead of an organization, and work together.
I actually think we need to do both.

The alternative organizations would consist of conferences of representatives of the various races of the world, NPO representatives, scientists, religious leaders, and educators, and these would all work together.
On an individual level, on the other hand, people would collaborative via the Internet on what they determine to be the most effective strategies. This would be conducted on a global scale.

The Gaia Revolution will not be successful without organizing the above. We need to go beyond the unit of the national border, put an end to the senseless pursuit of profit of the massive corporations, and to create a network of like-minded people on a global scale.
We could call it the Gaia Revolution Headquarters.


５．Awareness of the Current Situation and its Causes

The truth s that Gaia is now facing a crisis, as pointed out by many academics and specialists including Al Gore and James Lovelock.
However, this is simply mankind’s perception of the problem and an understanding of the causes of the problem.

To complement our awareness, we need to add additional perspectives. First, there is the awareness of living beings other than humans, i.e. animals, plants, and microbes.

Second, there must be awareness of other natural phenomena, i.e. mountains, rives, valleys, meadows, forests, wind, rain, typhoons, tornadoes, earthquakes, volcanoes, waves, tides, the oceans, and more-all of which ancient people believed to house spirits.

So here I am talking about the souls of the lives that have been taken by humans, the soul of natural phenomena destroyed by human, and the spirit world in general.

We need to understand that there could be other perceptions than the ones that we humans have, including the awareness of spirits of animals killed as livestock, animals killed for sport, and of those lives taken for no reason in wars and conflicts.

Dr. James Lovelock emphasizes that Gaia should not be a focus of the occult. I believe he is right, yet from the modern perspective of quantum mechanics, the spiritual perspective can also be highly scientific.
The Gaia Revolution is a comprehensive revolution based in awareness of both scientific and spiritual perspectives.

If there are people out there who are capable of understanding what the animals are saying, what nature is saying, and what the spirits are saying to us, we would love to have their cooperation. If we have passed the chaos point, as Al Gore puts it, or if James Lovelock’s “The Revenge of Gaia” has already begun, then time is of the essence.


６．The Relationship Between the Earth and the Sun

One reason behind global warming, as emphasized by Dr. Lovelock, is said to be stronger and stronger energy in the form of heat.

A variety of ideas designed to address the problem are now being researched, including 1) Generating clouds artificially to create shade, 2) Placing a thin “curtain” in the atmosphere to reflect the heat of the sun, and 3) Placing a thin coating over the ocean surfaces to prevent the seas from absorbing heat.

While I think this research is a good thing, the fact is that the earth and the sun are in a mutual relationship, and so it is not only the sun that is impacting the earth, but vice-versa as well.
The earth must also have some impact on the sun. If this were not the case, the earth would not have continued to revolve around the sun for such an immense period of time.

I think we need to quickly begin to research just what that impact is. The vibration inherent to Gaia is sure to have significant influence and power.


７．GAIA Before Human
The Key Concept behind the Gaia Revolution is
“GAIA Before Human”


８．Making the Shift from “Sustainability” to the “Survivial”
The Concept of the Gaia Revolution: Part II

People around the world are still discussing environmental issues as an extension of the issue of sustainability, but I believe that we have already passed the time when we can talk about sustainability: instead we need to address the issues with a view to survival.

The Gaia Revolution is about ensuring the survival of the human race and the planet. In this regard, we need to set goals, decide on who will do what, and devise a plan--and the entire human race needs to work together on a global scale to put it into action.
The question is then who will be in charge.

The United Nations?
That wouldn’t work. The UN is run by the big countries, and big countries are manipulated by big corporations. Big corporations fight wars and continue to destroy the environment for profit.

The UN officers have stooped to the level of being “UN aristocrats,” and they spend their time tackling issues only on a superficial level.

I think it’s safe to say that the UN is dead.
What we need then is a world government that focuses on environmental policy free from the influence of existing governments and organizations-what we need is a “Gaia government.”
And that’s our goal in carrying out the Gaia Revolution.



９．The Gaia Revolution 〜Pleasure and Comfort〜

More than 10 years ago, I had the opportunity to speak with a drug addict.
He knew that he might die from overdosing, but it had become a habit for him and he couldn’t stop doing the drugs because it felt so good.
And then one day he just fell down and died in some corner of the city.

And every day in the big city I see the same scene behind the prosperity: so many people are falling victim to drugs in the pursuit of pleasure.
Even though they know that they themselves and their children and grandchildren will someday die, they still can’t quit the drug.
The name of that drug is “oil.”

The Gaia Revolution is all about the actions of people who have recognized the problem, and about systematic cooperation involving the entire human race.
The Gaia Revolution is about saving the planet.
Blue Phoenix




10.　Determine to the establishment of Gaia revolution Headquarters!

On May 8th, U.S. President Bush and Japanese Prime Minister Abe agreed to try to reduce CO2 emissions by half by the year 2050 as of the next summit in Germany.

The fact that the leaders of the countries with the two largest GDPs in the world have agreed on this issue is an indication of the direction in which trends are going.

If Japan and the U.S. go a certain way, then the U.K.’s Prime Minister Blair and Russian’s President Putin are bound to follow. France’s new president Sarkozy also agrees with the U.S., and when it comes to long-term goals of 43 years from now, China’s Hu Jintao is likely to agree as well.

This means that the general direction of the summit is already determined.
It follows, then, that the policy of the United Nations will be decided upon as well. The participating countries devise their respective polices, which in turn determines the policies of NGOs and NPOs receiving government assistance. In essence, the policy of the entire world is thus drawn up in this way.

But can the world’s leaders really save Gaia by just talking about reaching goals to cut emissions 43 years from now?
Saving Gaia means, in fact, saving ourselves.
James Lovelock claims that the “revenge of Gaia” may have, due to the earth’s living systems having reached a critical point, already begun.
Ervin Laszlo says that the “chaos point” will come in 2010.

I have faith in the opinions of the scholars and specialists, and I therefore believe that this is not the time to be taking it easy.
I don’t think we can leave it to our leaders to save Gaia. I think it’s time each and every one of us takes responsibility, and that we also take action.
Let’s set up the Gaia Revolution Headquarters on July 18th.