Alternative Editorial: Settling on Planet A
On our 5th Birthday last week, we launched a new project: Planet A (see here). After five years of observing and immersing ourselves in the regenerative work happening all over the world, we felt it was vital to bring wider public focus to what is emerging in terms of possible futures.
It was a difficult moment to do so, with world attention now seized by the atrocities in Ukraine. To date over 351 civillians killed, those who had no voice in the power dynamics between nations. War crimes committed in the names of too many people who have no access to truth. Families - whole societies - decimated by competing stories of what matters more than their safety.
For those reasons, it became the right time to launch. As we describe here, this is not an alternative fantasy reality of the future. We are not turning away. But it is a co-existent, parallel ground on which to build the future from. One that brings together the flourishing of people and planet through diverse and vibrant community. This is the world we cannot see through the fog of our mainstream media and dystopian fictions. Yet it’s the world we know is possible.
From the perspective of the world of Planet A, it is an unmitigated tragedy that once again, men (85% of active combatants till today) and women, from multiple nations are trapped in war as an expression of power. It speaks to an obsolete culture in which only violence can guarantee security and autonomy. This is expressed as a territorial war between nations in Eastern Europe, but also manifests as civil war in 21 countries as we speak.
Even as we send resources of every kind to Ukraine, on Planet A we stand for the future they themselves demand: one in which they are free to choose their own destiny. Even if none of us reading are ourselves at war, we are also standing for that right-to-choose in other ways. Maybe as the right to choose a liveable future for our children through adopting environmentally regenerative practices without delay. Maybe as the right to choose response-ability through actively collaborating with others on reshaping our democracy. Maybe as the right to choose a quality life through paying attention to emotional as well as material needs. Standing together for a way of being citizens that are not available to us now.
None of these choices require us to be anywhere new physically on the planet, or even to join a new club. But when brought together from those parts of the socio-economic-political system that are actively transforming, they add up to a new sensibility. That sensibility can only grow through naming it, investing in it and reporting on it constantly. Acknowledging the ground on which these flourishing activities can converge is more than a wish or an intention. It is an act of poiesis - the making or creation of a new reality, as if it were a work of art. Existing first in the imagination, then as a concrete phenomenon that can, through daily engagement with it, transform the way we think and act.
In the course of this first week standing on Planet A, many quickly proclaimed themselves as long term inhabitants! Others approached us hesitatingly, with questions that invited us to make useful distinctions between the current mainstream reality and the new one arising. Since many of these questions overlapped and repeated, we thought it would be useful to share them here as a sort of decompression chamber for those wanting to land.
1. Is Planet A a dream of the future?
Not merely a dream: more in the liminal space between what we already know to be present, and what has not yet fully realised in the public space. For example, new forms of natural energy for powering the planet are already present and workable, however only very few towns and cities are using them as their main source. As a result, to the majority of people, this wholesale shift to new energy sources looks like an impossible dream. But for those already consciously choosing them - for their own home, their local community - it is not difficult to imagine. Paul Hawken's book Drawdown is a great example of how the solutions to our climate crisis have been present for over a decade, but, because invisible to most people, were hard to invest our time and energy into.
2. Is Planet A the metaverse?
Not simply a metaverse - but where the metaverse hits the ground. Mark Zuckerberg's invention might well play a part in the unfolding of a healthy future, but probably not on his terms. Meaning, while the virtual is an important play space - and play is essential for reaching the full potential of our civilisation - it always has a material world correlate. Without participants neccessarily being aware, too much of the metaverse today is harnessed to the growth economy that is destroying our planet. On Planet A, the metaverse is in constant dialogue with the ground of regenerative practice. You might say, in the worlds of our co-initiator Pat Kane, that Planet A could be a way to think about the metaverse as a “betaverse”, a test-bed for these better visions.
3. Isn't Trump also creating a parallel polis with his Truth Social? And Russia too? And all conspiracy theorists everywhere - in fact anyone who wants to offer a new version of reality to gain power?
Yes, he is. And other escapists have many options to choose from. Psychology, neurology and consciousness studies - as well as the Buddhist notion of karma - would back the notion that each of us is in an individual, in a 'world' of our own making. We are all unique in the way we look at our shared space and construct a reality that is the sum of our experiences. However, we gather in places that share culture and structure and give us common ground with those around us.
In this age of multiple perspectives, people will choose the new terrain that best reflects their own needs, where they feel they can belont. When we first started The Alternative UK, it was because we could see that the mainstream 'story of us' did not reflect the current potential of global society. In this story, the people are described as powerless without the instructions of the elites. In the UK the news is dominated by Rupert Murdoch owned outlets that control the narrative in favour of a socio-economic-political system that has failed to protect people and planet.
Planet A is a clear invitation to those who want to shift their perspective without demonisation of a specific 'other' (as per the usual enmities that fuel political struggle), who choose regenerative practices, that thrive on diversity and welcome multiple forms of agency - but also believe in our capacity to self-organise for our common interests. Maybe more than that, Planet A is a space for those who treasure beauty, circularity, vital energy and innovation: the future possible.
4. Can anyone join?
Yes, but not everyone will want to. Planet A has a clear agenda - arising out of the philosophical/spiritual framework of I-We-World - which is not shared by everyone that is doing good work in the world. For example, many strong and brave citizens are wholly invested in defeating their political opposition: they do not see the humanity in everyone. They must win in the current reality, and we are grateful for that kind of commitment. However, Planet A is where these reductive frameworks fall away and we remember ourselves as fellow humans struggling to make sense of this moment in history, whatever our context
5. Is Planet A designed to become a vehicle for instant, direct, digital democracy?
Not for the foreseeable future. Even as Planet A stands for the people's voice, an alternative political system would not prioritise individual opinion over deliberation with others. We are all in an era of having to unlearn the old systems that drove - and continues to drive - us to the edge of extinction. If we introduce voting on issues here, we would mostly replicate the old system we left.
For now at least, you are already on this terrain if you are taking part in building community agency networks (CANs) of all kinds. CANs open spaces, actual and virtual, for new conversations as we co-create a future we can look forward to. That possibility space is the atmosphere of Planet A.
You are already here if you are actively engaged in regenerative practices for food, energy, enterprise. Already here if you can imagine a world without war. If you are only dreaming about these possibilities, we invite you to read our evidence over five years that your dreams have substance.
Stay long enough, immerse yourself in activity and you will feel new ground under your feet. That's Planet A.
If you have more questions about Planet A, feel free to write them into the box below and we will drop them into the Discord channel for open discussion. Alternatively, if you are ready to start participating actively, do join our co-creators group which meets every fortnight..
