In the middle of all the controversies and confusions of a world in turmoil, two big truths stand out which must never be neglected or ignored. Firstly a very real threat to the basic life-nurturing conditions of earth exists, created for the first time in earth’s history by human-made factors. Secondly, the path ahead for humanity must be based on peace and equality, peace and non-violence, protection of environment and bio-diversity, and the survival crisis must also be resolved by following this path in thoughtful ways.
To make it easy to capture the above two statements very briefly to facilitate discourse, I have been using the abbreviation JEPPS, where J stands for Justice, E for Equality, the first P for Peace (and Non-violence), the second P for Protection of Environment and Biodiversity (and for generally having a protective attitude towards all forms of life) and S for giving very high priority to resolving the Survival issues in time.
Thus very briefly what the JEPPS approach says is that the path ahead must be based on justice, peace and environment protection and the survival crisis must be resolved within this framework, giving this a very high priority.
Welfare and safety are best achieved at the level of cities and villages, at the national and global level, for present and future generations, for human beings and other forms of life, by following the JEPPS approach.
While evolving and implementing the JEPPS approach for any region, highly democratic and participative processes must be followed with emphasis on decentralization, transparency and providing for early corrective actions if at some stage things start going wrong.
The main JEPPS precepts –commitment to justice, equality, peace, protection of environment and protection of other forms of life as well as emphasis on resolving the survival crisis– are entirely in harmony with each other. Problems arise only when mistakes are made in application of these key concepts. To give an example, someone may suggest a distorted version of conservation which leads to displacement and eviction of a large number of people. In such cases, there should be adequate space for wider consultation to resolve the disharmony that has arisen in two key precepts entirely due to human error. Democratic consultation and processes should result in the emergence of solutions (in this particular case ways of supporting conservation oriented sustainable livelihoods) which avoid such disharmony and seek the harmony which certainly exists.
In the present day context the bigger challenge comes from the high possibility that the communities or even entire nations that try to evolve their JEPPS path with deep sincerity and commitment face external opposition, or even violent repression by wider or more powerful forces.
This is unfortunately still very much a reality of the present-day world, persisting even in this stage of the survival crisis, although such a distorted state of affairs must have been corrected a long time ago.
Hence given the present –day sad realities, the communities and nations which follow JEPPS precepts with sincerity and determination should be prepared to face the hostility of powerful forces and to plan for their (by and large) peaceful resistance and protection. Such efforts worldwide will be strengthened by the greater, increasing unity of all those forces who believe in the basic JEPPS principles of justice, equality, peace, protection of environment and other forms of life and prioritizing the resolving of the survival crisis. The broader and stronger the unity of those who are committed to JEPPS path, the higher the chances that they can protect themselves, others on the same path and also their journey together to a better and safer future. What is more, as the JEPPS path involves highly creative and interesting experimentation, there is so much for various groups walking the JEPPS path to learn from each other and this unity also helps in the process of learning together and learning from each other.
The values and value systems, common thinking patterns so prevalent and widely rooted in the present day world, in its educational and community institutions, are frequently not in keeping with JEPPS precepts and are instead closer to aggressive pursuit of narrow self-interests. These often emphasize dominance while these should be emphasizing cooperation for the common welfare of all. Hence JEPPS path also involves deeper work with continuity at the level of communities for evolving social values which are supportive of JEPPS precepts and path.
The JEPPS path is easy for communicating to more and more people, and those who spread these ideas should retain this simplicity, speaking always in the language of the common folk, instead of inventing a language full of their own terminology.
Bharat Dogra is Honorary Convener, Campaign to Save Earth Now. His recent books include Planet in Peril, Protecting Earth for Children, Earth without Borders, A Day in 2071 and Man over Machine—A Path to Peace.
