Today, we'd like to bring your attention to this recent article from Mary Evelyn Tucker: “Ecological Civilization: An emerging paradigm in China.” Upon her return from China, Mary Evelyn reflected deeply on all, and wrote this piece for DeepChina to illustrate the importance of Ecological Civilization for the future of the planet, as well as why it is not merely a government program in China, but a valuable framework being embraced at all levels of society.
From the article:
…we can refer to ecological civilization as a “transformational theory,” which calls for more comprehensive systemic changes, in education, politics, economics, and business. This broader vision for systemic changes has been written into China's Constitution since 2018, namely, “to promote the coordinated development of material civilization, political civilization, spiritual civilization, social civilization, and ecological civilization, and build China into a prosperous, strong, democratic, civilized, harmonious and beautiful socialist modern power.”
A larger question, then, for building an ecological civilization is: “Do we want the future of the Earth to be simply sustainable or genuinely flourishing?” The first might be described as moving into a Technozoic era where technology is a primary solution; while the second is an Ecozoic era where the resilience of ecosystems is considered indispensable to regenerative societies.
It is toward this broader shift in consciousness and conscience that the ecological civilization is beckoning for not only the Chinese, but the larger human community as well. This is not simply an idea in the abstract, but a pragmatic idea that leads to practice. This includes ecological education, economics, energy, transportation, and industry.
She goes on to describe the experiences she and John have had in China over many years, and how they have seen things begin to shift and transform. And she gives us much wisdom about the holistic Confucian worldview and why this created fertile ground for this concept to take root in China.
From the article:
Of singular importance for China is the rich cosmological worldview of Confucianism that promotes harmony of humans with nature amidst change. This is a significant perspective for seeing nature as intrinsically valuable and for understanding the role of the human in relation to natural processes as critical.
This worldview is characterized by four key elements:
- an anthropocosmic rather than an anthropocentric perspective
- an organic holism of the continuity of being
- a dynamic vitalism of material force (qi)
- a comprehensive ecological ethics embracing both humans and nature (“Humans and nature are one”).
All these ideas from Confucianism can be further developed as a basis for building a robust ecological civilization in China.
And for more on Mary Evelyn and John's recent journey in China, see the following:
Blog: Mary Evelyn and John Across China Part 1
Blog: Mary Evelyn and John Across China Part 2
And see the interview below