NEO Magazine Issue 1 | Page 51

The shocking and widening gaps between rich and poor, and the apocalyptic crisis of climate change, and outcomes of those systems we have been relying on for decades, which no longer work. It is time to dismantle that old architecture and rebuild systems that are more equitable for all, and can ensure the sustainability of this planet. This is about the democracy of people’s economics at work, voices and action of people in communities across this planet coming together in common purpose, putting idealism to work in a practical way. If we connect the dots, and look at these independent grass roots and community efforts as a whole, respecting their differences and diversity, we will realize that all of these progressive economic movements -- what the mainstream calls “those alternatives” -- have already in fact become a new mainstream. And so dawns a New Earth Consensus. And we are it! Laurence Brahm is Senior Economist of the New Earth Institute, a global activist, international lawyer, and author. He is a spokesperson for both the Himalayan and African Consensus movements. His forthcoming book “Fusion Economics: How Pragmatism is Changing the World” will be published in October 2014. photography courtesy of laurence brahm ence in its multiplier forms is absolutely necessary to force key issues into the face of a media that is owned by those same corporate and banking interests that own the politicians they give airtime to. However, we must also present rational and constructive frameworks and lay the foundations of new and pragmatic systems so that a New Earth Consensus arising from the different consensus movements across this planet can parallel and then displace the old consensus that has already had its time. History moves on. We must continue to re-invent ourselves, and our systems, to keep up with the change that we in fact have created.