Our “cultural butterfly” is emerging.
- elaine@elainecornick.com
- 6 days ago
- 4 min read
I'm seeing an ecosystem beginning to develop. Here are examples.
A culture we want to live in is a life-aligned culture designed around life-affirming principles, with the overriding objective to create the conditions for all beings to thrive on a regenerated Earth.
As Vandana Shiva says "In nature's economy the currency is not money, it is life."
I’m seeing that kind of ecosystem emerging. Following are a few examples:
They’re offering a sneak peek of a new documentary film, “Goodbye Elections: Hello Democracy”:
“The film tells the story of a Citizens’ Assembly filmed in the divided state of Michigan during the height of the covid pandemic, and will be officially released on July 4, 2026, the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Declaration of Independence. . .
“For the first time, audiences are going to see how the Citizens Assembly process, with participants chosen at random by democratic lottery, brings people together across political divides . . .
“If the process is run well, they reliably build strong emotional bonds as well as achieve broad consensus on well-thought-out policy recommendations. . . the ultimate goal is to help establish a movement for True Representation, which will run such processes to empower ordinary citizens and move entrenched political institutions to common sense solutions for most pressing political problems . . .
“Register to join one of two showings:
“In Colorado, rideshare drivers were earning between $5 and $10 an hour. Uber and Lyft were taking more than half of every fare . . . They didn’t have job security. No decision making power in the company. So they built their own. . .
“The Drivers Cooperative Colorado is owned by its 1,500 drivers and on their platform, drivers keep 80% of every fare. Guaranteed. Plus, it’s one member, one vote. No CEO making decisions for them. . .
“One driver said it plainly: “With the co-op, there’s dignity in work.” They want this everywhere. They have a class on how to start this in your city. . . DCC was incubated by the Rocky Mountain Employee Ownership Center.
“The model works. It’s proven. It just needs people in each city to hear about it and decide to make it happen, which means the most powerful thing any of us can do right now is talk about it. So next time you’re in an Uber or a Lyft, mention it to your driver. Tell your local business hub, small business center, or chamber of commerce.”
“Some of the most important conservation work happening right now isn't being done by governments. It's being done by private citizens quietly deciding that the land they own is worth more wild than developed. In Australia alone, 24 million acres of private land has been set aside for conservation, with a growing share coming through bequests in people's wills. . .
“In the United States, the Land Trust Alliance reports that 61 million acres of private land, more than the entire US national park system combined, are already held for conservation. Organizations like American Prairie in Montana are adding to that number every year, with a goal of protecting 2.3 million acres of wild grassland alone. Together that's 85 million acres and counting, held not by policy but by people who simply chose to.
“Spirit Airlines collapsed at 3am on May 2nd. By the next day, 36,000 people had pledged $22 million to buy it cooperatively. One member, one vote. The website crashed from all the traffic. . .
“The pledges aren’t binding yet and there’s no business plan in place. . .The point is that the demand is real, it’s massive, and it didn’t take years to surface. It took less than 24 hours. And we don’t have to wait for a bankruptcy to do this. . .”
The article has a four-point playbook for doing this.
These examples are in addition to the ones I’ve previously posted here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here, and my e-book Hiding In Plain Sight: Evidence of Our Life-Aligned, Regenerative Culture Emerging.
That book contains more than 200 specific examples with weblinks of actual on-the-ground, life-aligned, regenerative projects, programs, movements, and initiatives that are increasingly occurring. It has six sections:
1)The Context & Introduction, followed by the examples organized into these categories:
2) New ways of relating to the Earth, ecology, climate, food, and agriculture;
3) New ways of relating to economics, working, and doing & being in business;
4) New ways of relating to ourselves, other people and other beings;
5) New ways of living/lifestyles and relating to our ”stuff” (clothing, houses, buildings).
6) The final section is "What Now? What's Next?"
This a growing movement and it’s a shift in our consciousness, not just in our physical/material experience or framework. As Iain McGilchrist puts it, "The kind of attention we pay to the world changes the world we pay attention to".
Can you see the “butterflies” emerging in our culture?
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