kosmos

An Interview with John Räätz

Launching the Global Alliance for Transformational Entertainment

John Räätz and Nancy Roof

definition of what it is? What distinguishes a transformational film

from an ordinary Hollywood film, for example? I believe there are
a couple of components that help to distinguish these differences.
e first is intention. When the filmmakers of What the Bleep Do
We Know!? set out to make that film, they did so with a specific in-
tention and agenda. ey wanted to share certain information
with the hope and expectation that it would better the world. e
stories that comprise What the Bleep contain information related
to science and spirituality—so there was a specific intention, a spe-
cific agenda. In ordinary Hollywood films an element of transfor-
mation may be present, but it’s really a part of the story, not
necessarily what drives the creation of the film. Transformation
is not necessarily the primary or overarching theme of the film. So
I believe the element of intentionality is one quality that helps dis-
tinguish transformational entertainment from ordinary enter-
tainment.

at is a great distinction—the intention behind the story and

transformation as a theme of the story.

Yes. You could look at almost any film out there and say it is trans-
John Räätz
formational because it contains an element of transformation. All
stories contain an element of transformation. But not all films
John Räätz is a pioneer in the growing genre of transformational
have a distinct intention of transformation as the primary element
media and entertainment and the founder of the Global Alliance
that embodies the entire film and was an agenda from the very
for Transformational Entertainment. Over the past 21 years, he has
beginning.
been involved with the marketing, public relations, distribution and
other business aspects of many groundbreaking films including
Another attribute that helps define transformational entertain-
Mindwalk, Baraka, Hearts of Darkness, What e Bleep Do We
ment is a set of values. I believe that people who create transfor-
Know!?, Peaceful Warrior, America: Freedom to Fascism, Illusion,
mational art—whether a film or television program, a song, or
Darshan: e Embrace and many more. He is the founder and CEO
poetry, or fine art—bring to that creation their set of values. Val-
of e Visioneering Group, LLC, a transformational marketing and
ues in transformation entertainment are inherently more univer-
strategic public relations firm linking spirit, vision and progressive
sal, humanistic and holistic.
values with compassionate communication to promote a positive
and sustainable future™. is multifaceted group contains a pro-
e traditional news media gauges news by a set of values that
duction company that strives to create community and bring about
journalists learn in journalism school. One of the expressions
global transformation through transformational entertainment, a
prominent in the news media business is, ‘If it bleeds, it leads.’
media network that supports alternative distribution venues, and
ere are twenty or so values—conflict, controversy, novelty and
educational and PR branches. Currently a consultant on more than
celebrity are at the top of the list—that guide what we consider to
20 films, Räätz is in pre-production on a documentary called Con-
be news in our culture. I believe that transformational entertain-
sciousness Unveiled about non-dual spiritual teachings.
ment and media are also about proposing a new set of values. You
know this all too well because this is what you are about.
Nancy Roof: What is considered to be transformational media
seems to be evolving over time like everything else. At this point, Values were our major contribution at the UN. Creating a new set
what is your definition of transformational media and how does of humanistic values had not been recognized as an important
that differ from the business of Hollywood? component in worldwide political decisions until we brought the
issue to the floor.
John Räätz: I no longer have a definition of transformational
media and entertainment. When I hear it or see it, I feel it. I in- I am happy to hear this. Humanistic values are also a part of the
stantly know it! But how can I talk about transformational enter- agenda and intention of individuals making transformational art.
tainment or media with others if I don’t want to adhere to a strict ey bring to their art a set of values that more completely express

64 kosmos | fall.winter 2009

the essence of who we are and who we want to collectively be-
come. at figures prominently in distinguishing transforma-
tional entertainment from traditional entertainment. Of course,
those humanistic or holistic values have their roots in conscious-
ness. People who explore the inner dimensions of their lives for
years have made certain discoveries. ey have also encountered
a set of values that are naturally embedded in the fabric of con-
sciousness itself and become expressed through love, compassion,
creativity and so forth. So you find that true transformational art
is an expression of consciousness, holistic values and intentional-
ity. It is more fundamental to look at a film in terms of con-
sciousness, holistic values and intentionality as distinguishing
factors rather than focus on the content itself, such as asking, “Is
it a film about science and spirituality?” or, “Is it a film about
non-duality?”
Well put! I think your insight helps people contrast what the val-
ues are in mainstream art and entertainment and see the signifi-
cant differences between what is mainstream and what is
transformational. If you only see forms of art derived out of main-
stream values you don’t see the prominent differences
between the two.
Something else just occurred to me as you were speaking. I be-
lieve that there is also an element of collectivity. Many transfor-
mational artists are delving deep into the collective and starting to
bring out a lot of the archetypes that are embedded in the fabric
of consciousness itself. So many people have a similar response
when they read a book like e Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle.
Readers experience an undeniable fundamental understanding.
You can’t argue with it; it simply just makes sense. I believe the
reason this is the case, and why so many other books similar in na-
ture to this book are popular today, is that people are reading
about who they are at the most basic level. ey are resonating
with the truth of who they are. Transformational art and media af-
fects us all in the same way.
Beautiful! We always have galleries of art in Kosmos and I always
select them based on whether the images speak to me or they
don’t. ey have to touch something deep within me for me to se-
lect them.
All great art embodies and expresses the universal and attempts to
communicate the universal that is within us. You just validated
for us that transformational art is self-evident. It needs no defini-
tion. It simply is. It expresses that IS-ness and we pick up that IS-
ness because we are that ourselves.
is is so exciting to me because I think we are the first journal
really combining head and heart, which was my goal from the
beginning. We have wonderful, leading-edge authors who have
these values, intention and consciousness and they present what
can be presented in words. But the other piece, which I think is
equally important, is appealing to the heart and that is wordless:
a vision, an image, a piece of music, a piece of art. We have to pres-
ent information both ways—with and without words. is is why
I am so excited about what you are doing!
Tell us a little more about e Visioneering Group that you started
in 1988. is was a pioneering group, the first of its kind with a
goal of promoting transformational projects. How did this group
develop?
Well, this is a big question. First, let me say that my intention in
answering this question is to share with your readers that they too
can and should, as Joseph Campbell says, follow their bliss. A lot
of people work in jobs where they are not happy. I have fortunately
not had to deal with that very much. I frequently have conversa-
tions with people where I try to inspire them to step out from be-
hind the 9-to-5 job and pursue what their heart is calling them to
do—to express their dharma in the world.
I began my search on the path about 40 years ago. Here is the long
story made short: everything I have done for the past 40 years has
been by inspiration, by listening to and accepting the call from
within. Consequently, my journey has taken me in many different
directions, from being a manager and agent in the entertainment
business, to being an executive director at an ayurvedic clinic, to
being a meditation teacher, to being a stockbroker and financial
planner. Many different things but, in each incarnation, I sought
to bring what was in me outside and into that particular profession.
It was about infusing my job with spirit, even in traditional en-
tertainment. I was representing a musical artist by the name of
Billy Preston who played with the Beatles and the Rolling Stones.
I was in New York negotiating a record contract for him and had
an aernoon off. I had never been to the New York Stock Ex-
change and wanted to check it out. I was so smitten and fascinated
by the expression of energy going on there that I came back to Los
Angeles, studied for the Series 7 exam, and started functioning as
a stockbroker.
But then the market crashed in 1987, as you may remember. I was
sitting behind my Quotron, my hand quivering from writing buy
and sell orders—we weren’t as computerized back then. I leaned
back and thought, “Something has gone awry here.” I had gotten
too far afield from my spiritual intention in life. I had become too
identified with this experience. Working on the trading floor was
not what my life is about!
I was one of those people with many interests and had collected
articles on many different topics. I started to go through my ex-
tensive files and organize them into categories. I discovered that
my greatest resonance was with marketing, public relations, pub-
licity, promotions—that sort of thing. And it really got me excited
thinking about it! As part of that analytic, investigative process
lasting several weeks, I started to ask myself who I would want to
represent and what kind of contribution I could make in the
world. I decided that I only wanted to represent projects, prod-
ucts, services, issues, ideas and personalities that reflected and em-
bodied transformation. en I began to look at that more deeply
and came up with the name ‘Visioneering’, which basically came
from the words ‘Vision’ and ‘Engineering.’ e idea was that I
would assist people in the engineering of their visions, the mani-
festation of their visions. So began my work. And here we are 21
years later. I believe you have to follow the natural impulse of your
life as it manifests within you. You have to be true to that.
I think that is what integrity is. Many people think of integrity as
being on the outside. I think of it as being on the inside.
kosmos | fall.winter 2009 65
 from left, Actor and GATE co-host Jim Carrey, Oscar-nominated actress Virginia Madsen, Actor Billy Zane, Actress Frances Fisher
Beautifully said. I think you are right. And outer integrity natu-
rally follows the inner integrity. As much as I could hear it, as
much as I could follow it, I followed that natural impulse as it ex-
pressed itself within me to do this kind of work. As I set about
building the business, I only sought out clients that resonated with
me at that level.
is is exactly what I do at Kosmos.
And it shows! You don’t even have to open the cover of Kosmos to
feel that energy. You hold it in your hands and feel the wisdom
that emanates from the pages. I know that you bring that level of
consciousness and consideration to the expression of Kosmos, the
physical expression.
ank you, John. We are so touched when people with sensitivity
can feel the depth we bring to Kosmos. I think our readers would
like to hear about the timeline of transformational entertainment.
I believe there have been several tipping points along the way. I be-
lieve the film Resurrection was a tipping point. I did not work on
that one although I wish I would have. Mindwalk—based on
Fritjof Capra’s work— was a tipping point. I believe that Baraka
was a tipping point in 1992. What the Bleep Do We Know!? was
definitely a tipping point.
Much of the marketing that we undertook for Mindwalk, Baraka,
and What the Bleep were pioneering techniques that were later
used by people who marketed e Secret and other productions.
We started pioneering grassroots marketing with Mindwalk in
1990 using special interest groups. We even used very primitive
Internet communications. Back then, you had Dow Jones News
Retrieval and Compuserve. We used electronic bulletin boards
and what was then called eco-linking to help spread the word
about the film. We had screenings for special interest groups like
the Student Environmental Action Coalition, the Society of Envi-
ronmental Journalists, and the Harvard Divinity School. So even
back then, we recognized the importance—in fact, the need—for
connecting grassroots special interests groups and using the In-
ternet, even as relatively primitive as it was back then, to com-
municate these messages.
More recently, Eckhart’s webcast with Oprah was a major turning
point. I believe Oprah, in this particular regard, was visionary be-
cause she thought to integrate the web and television. at web-
cast was a wonderful initial expression of that integration and, of
course, attracted millions and millions of people from around the
66 kosmos | fall.winter 2009
world. I believe the success of that webcast was due primarily to
the fact that people resonate with the messages of Eckhart and e
Power of Now.
at really was something when that happened. Many people were
introduced to meditation through the Eckhart-Oprah partnership
and were shown that it wasn’t some exotic or foreign type of thing,
but that it was something very close to their own lives. It was just
a terrific thing! How were you involved in that?
I had been working with Eckhart and his teachings for many years
and I just happened to get the first call from Oprah’s office. e full
glory of that experience belongs to Eckhart and Oprah. e com-
bination of those two set the world on fire with wisdom for those
10 weeks!
Earlier this year you launched a new project called the Global Al-
liance for Transformational Entertainment (GATE). e inaugu-
ral event was at Fox Studios in June and I was thrilled when you
called to request 500 copies of Kosmos for the gi bag. Can you tell
us more about how GATE was formed?
e genesis of GATE was about 30 years ago. When I first moved
to LA I was fortunate to meet actor Ned Beatty. I hadn’t been here
for a very long time and certainly didn’t know what I was doing.
I knew very little about the entertainment business, but felt a kin-
ship with it. When I was younger, I had played in a lot of rock
bands so that whetted my appetite for the entertainment business.
But then I took the detour of getting on the spiritual path and le
entertainment behind.
Ned invited me to work with him. So I did and in the process of
working with Ned one project that I co-founded was an organi-
zation called e Council for the Enlightenment of the Enter-
tainment Industry. All of the people who were a part of that group
practiced Transcendental Meditation and, of course, their experi-
ences with TM were so beneficial that they wanted to share it with
their associates in the entertainment business. I became a TM
teacher in 1976. A few other teachers and I decided that we were
going to help bring meditation to the entertainment community.
at was 1979 or 1980. Doug Henning was this magician—quite
famous at that time—that I worked with for a while. He had a play
on Broadway, performed frequently in Las Vegas, did road tours
with Earth, Wind and Fire and all kinds of things. He later started
designing with Maharishi a consciousness-themed theme park
that unfortunately never got off the ground because he died when
it was in development. Doug was a part of this group. Mike Love
 Folk-rock icon Donovan, Producer Michael Garcia, Producer Sandra Hay, Cellist and composer Michael Fitzpatrick
from the Beach Boys was a part of it. ere were quite a few
celebrities like Merv Griffin, Clint Eastwood, and many others
who were meditating using TM at that time and were a part of it.
We were out there teaching meditation, but I don’t think it was
everything it needed to be in order to succeed and make the kind
of impact that we thought it would make.
Now, flash forward to 2007. It was becoming clear to me that
transformational entertainment was on the rise. I started seeing it
as early as 1990, but a certain momentum had developed by 2007
that was overwhelming. I started noticing that there were a lot of
people with professional experience who were also interested in
spirituality, but keep it to themselves within the entertainment
business. ere was an undercurrent of spirituality among certain
people in Hollywood so I started exploring this with friends and
colleagues. One day a phrase emerged from within me: ‘Global
Alliance for Transformational Entertainment.’ I liked the name
and thought, “what is this?” As the idea developed more, I began
to see that there were three criteria for becoming part of the GATE
community. e person would be employed or self-employed full-
time in the entertainment or media business. He or she would be
a person of distinction and achievement and, just as importantly,
would be committed to their own personal transformation or at
least have a strong and sincere interest in that. e idea here was
to bring together people who have achieved success in the enter-
tainment or media business and get them interested in expressing
transformation in film, media, television and so forth.
Since then, we’ve also come up with several collective purposes
for GATE: education, connection, collaboration and advocacy.
Education would be of the inner variety. at is, we will provide
resources—events, books or introductory experiences—that we
believe will help people deepen into their own inner process. We
also want to be an organization that connects people with the in-
tention of collaborating—sharing ideas, projects, money, contacts
and other resources that can help manifest and actualize trans-
formational entertainment projects. Finally, we want to be advo-
cates within the trade, as well as to the general public. We want
people to understand that transformational entertainment can be
a legitimate genre along with action/adventure, drama, comedy,
etc. ere is an audience, a very large audience, who has interest
in such expressions.
When I started exploring these ideas and goals more deeply, I
began to see the need to organize an event around them. One day
it just came to me that this is the moment. e time is right. I need
to do this now.
Yes, we feel it. We receive inner signals when it is the right
moment to act.
Exactly! So I said to my business partner David Langer, who by the
way, sends his regards and wants you to know that he is a dear
friend of Sander Feinberg.
Oh my goodness! Sander is our talented webmaster! Isn’t that a
coincidence? Well, not a coincidence. is is the way it goes, isn’t
it?
Indeed. So I said to David that the time is now. I went to my friend
and colleague Jim Carrey and expressed my desire to do this pro-
gram. Jim got it instantly and asked what he could do to help sup-
port it. en I went to Eckhart. One day when he was in Los
Angeles we sat down and I expressed to him what GATE was and
what it could do. I told him that I felt consciousness had to be at
the core of what GATE is and asked him to do us the honor of
being the keynote speaker. He accepted. So I knew that everything
could fall into place with Jim and I co-hosting and Eckhart as the
keynote speaker. I felt that it would be a very auspicious and dy-
namic beginning to GATE! From there, I began thinking, “who
else?” Of course, you know about the other people, Nancy, be-
cause you were there. I began extending invitations and, without
exception, everyone said yes. About 500 people! Even more, there
were many other people who offered to be speakers, but we un-
fortunately couldn’t accommodate them.
GATE quickly began taking on a life of its own and that, of course,
proved to me that its time had come, that the time was now. en
I had to decide how to market GATE, how to attract a particular
audience. I did not want the usual Hollywood audience. I decided
that I needed to basically call every single person and communi-
cate with them directly, at least initially. So I went into my address
book and made a list of people. I started calling those people and
sharing my enthusiasm for GATE. Aer they were inspired, I
would ask who they knew that shares an interest in transforma-
tional entertainment. People would give me names and then I
would send invitations to those people and it just kept building
that way. When all was said and done, we had to turn away almost
1500 people!
e interest is high. People are thirsty. ey are desperate to find
meaning in their lives.
And what better expression, what better channel than media—
whether it is a film screen or a television screen, or a CD, or a canvas?
kosmos | fall.winter 2009 67

Folk-rock icon Donovan, John Räätz and Eckhart Tolle
What better way to connect all of us than through art? You can
send a film around the world and have it do its work. You don’t
have to be present.
Our firm was marketing What the Bleep in 2004 and I remember
standing in the back of a theatre—in San Francisco, I think—and
feeling a palpable shi in the audience during a particular mo-
ment in the film. And I remember a phrase emerging in my
mind—‘eatre as Temple’—and I had never before conceived a
theatre as a temple, as a community, as a place of deepening con-
nection to life. It became very clear to me that film had the po-
tential, the possibility of fostering such a connection, such
awareness.
I had read Kosmos many, many times before, but just weeks before
the launch event I picked up the most recent edition at a news-
stand and, before I opened it I said, “I want to introduce people to
this because I think it is a very right, mature, holistic expression
of where we want transformational entertainment to go, what we
want it to embody.” When I thought about other magazines out
there, I felt that I would be doing a great service by introducing
Kosmos to them.
Great. ank you. I really, really thank you for that recognition. I
think this is how we know each other. We recognize each other. It
is not analysis; it is recognition.
I am sure our readers would like to know about the next steps for
GATE.
We have added 20 to our core team and are planning our next
event sometime between December and March. We will move to
the Wadsworth eatre in Los Angeles, which holds 1350, so we
can invite more people. We are inviting an amazing group of
speakers. e theme for the next GATE meeting will be, “Only a
New Seed Will Yield a New Crop: New Media Values for a New
World.” So we will announce that next meeting soon.
68 fall.winter 2009
Something else extraordinary happened aer the first
GATE event. One of our speakers, Scott Carlin, who was
president of Domestic Television Distribution at HBO at
the time and has a degree in Spiritual Psychology, called
me about a month ago and told me that he is going to leave
HBO because he was inspired by GATE and other events
that had happened in his life recently. He and I have since
formed a venture to represent transformational projects.
We’ve acquired one television series and are in the process
of working on another. We’ll make these announcements
at the next GATE meeting.
How could Hollywood entertainment have more sub-
stance, integrity and inspiration? What forces prevent tel-
evision and films from being elevated?
Very good question. One of the forces is economics be-
cause most major Hollywood companies are driven exclu-
sively by economics. It’s a bit of a catch-22 because if you
were to say to a major Hollywood studio or network that
people want more transformational content they would
argue that their research doesn’t indicate that. But they may
not be talking to members of our audience, of our family, so to
speak, and they may not be asking the right questions. ey might
not even know the ‘right’ questions to ask. ey are operating in
a bubble; they are insular. ey believe they know what people
want. Rather, they tend to dictate what people want. is isn’t to
say that there aren’t people in Hollywood that recognize the need
that we have been speaking about. ere are many. e purpose
of GATE is to empower these people to come out and to share
their experiences and to become involved in projects that reflect
the kinds of content that we deem would be transformational, that
would appeal to this audience and beyond. So I believe that the
transformation of entertainment is on the way; it is unstoppable.
e writing is on the wall, but everyone isn’t reading it yet. But
there are those people—just like yourself and many of your read-
ers and many people in Hollywood—who do see that writing. And
the fact that we had 500 people show up at GATE not even really
knowing what it was going to be about but just having the reso-
nance with what they thought it would be indicates that we are
now in a place where change is happening at a very rapid pace. In
upcoming years, I believe you will begin to see more and more
high quality transformational programming.
Instead of these films and television programs and events and so
forth being for a relatively small number of people, it needs to be
about distribution and magnitude. It is about allowing more and
more people to resonate with who they are at the deepest possible
level by participating and partaking in these entertainment prop-
erties. When you watch certain films, attend certain kinds of
events, read certain books, listen to certain kinds of music, go to
stage plays that reflect these values, you walk away somehow
transformed, transfigured, made more whole. at is going to be
the great boon! More and more people will recognize themselves
in those expressions and will want more of that. And that will help
establish the transformational community as economically viable.
ere’s already some transformational content out there, even on
television, for a wide public audience. ere is a television pro-
gram called e Philanthropist that airs Wednesday night on NBC.
It is bringing transformational values to the television screen.
But how do we produce more transformational content and
ensure that it is of sufficient quality to be viable in the main-
stream? And how do we connect with the transformational audi-
ence to prove that they are an economically viable audience? All
of this is in process and has been demonstrated to a degree. From
here, we need more content of high quality and we need film-
makers who are skilled and professional. We need actors, ac-
tresses, producers, directors, writers, musicians, agents, managers,
studio executives and so forth who all come from a transforma-
tional mindset and will bring that mindset into their work.
It seems that the right means of distribution will be extremely
important.
Yes, and distribution has many levels. Word of mouth is a form of
distribution. Let’s say you saw the film Peaceful Warrior and you
liked it and you told five or ten of your friends. at is a form of
distribution. It is not physical distribution, but it is a form of mar-
keting and distribution.
One innovative means of distribution that e Visioneering
Group started a few years ago is with the Unity Church. I pro-
posed to the Unity School of Christianity and the Association of
Unity Churches that we organize the 1300 or so Unity Churches
into the first non-theatrical cinema network called the Unity Cin-
ema Network. We want Hollywood to see the potential in this net-
work and our alternative distribution methodology for
mind-body-spirit films. Let’s think beyond theatres for distribu-
tion of films. People are gathering in these churches to watch films
and Hollywood is starting to see that it is economically viable. By
Hollywood standards, it’s not that much money, but it’s a begin-
ning. It’s an entry point. And it’s also an important way to let film-
makers know that even if a film does not make it into a theatre
for political reasons, you do have other ways of distributing your
work.
How do you see entertainment and media shiing within the
greater context of social transformation and the evolution of
consciousness?
Reinvention and re-purposing is happening everywhere. Because
I work across a broad spectrum of business firms I see that in-
vention. Going back again to our earlier conversation about what
is meant by transformational entertainment—consciousness, val-
ues and intention—those same qualities are alive in the business
world, in religious sectors, in education. In every field of human
expression and endeavor there is reinvention going on because
people of consciousness have now become people of influence and
they are infusing their work with their consciousness. eir in-
tentions and qualities are becoming embodied in day-to-day ex-
pressions and more and more people are beginning to resonate
with them. at level of consciousness is waking all of us up. Every
field of human expression is waking up!
ank you, John, for taking the time for this interview. We
consider your work pivotal to creating the new values-driven
global civilization. Media and entertainment carry powers that
have still not been recognized. Your work will help pioneer a new
movement for change and help Hollywood wake up to the kind of
enriching entertainment most of us are yearning for.
from our readers
Alternative Globalisations for a Future Planetary Civilisation
The human family faces challenges that threaten the ways of life,
even survival, of many people on Earth. Climate change, water,
energy shortages, ecological devastation, war, terrorism—all sug-
gest the need for cohesive worldwide resolutions. However, there
is no universally agreed means by which these issues can be de-
bated and decided at the planetary level. Consequently, the glob-
alisation and global governance discourse increasingly includes
discussion about the commons and the prospect of a future plan-
etary civilisation.
Globalisation has become associated with Western neo-liberalism:
politics and money. is narrow interpretation misses the many
rich alternatives that exist including ecology, culture, human
rights, law, spirituality, consciousness, civil society, technology
and new forms of socially and ecologically responsible economy.
These alternatives create space for dialogue around new forms of
social organising and governance at the planetary level. Over the
past decade writers such as Galtung, Inayatullah, Sardar,
Skrzeszewski, Lipschutz, Thomashow, Henderson and others have
explored possibilities including: restructured UN of 3 ‘houses’:
people, nations and corporations; an alternative global governance
paradigm based on four concepts: unity, trusteeship, worship and
knowledge; global republics formed through online networks;
bioregionalism; PROut (progressive utilisation theory) based on
the philosophies of PR Sarkar; and a UN Parliamentary Assembly
that recently received support from the European Parliament and
the Senate of the Republic of Argentina.
People around the world have rallied to exercise their power in
demonstrations against neo-liberal globalisation, wars, environ-
mental issues and social injustices. Forming transnational social
movements to challenge governments and corporations, they are
countering political and economic decisions to influence social
change. Could these movements become a means for the peoples
of the world to effectively participate in global decision-making?
Or will a completely new system emerge?
For me, the future of planetary governance lies in accessing the
collective intelligence and wisdom of all peoples. A wisdom coun-
cil would be the ultimate planetary decision-makers. Govern-
ments and communities would make national and local decisions
respectively, adapting and implementing planetary decisions to
local environments and cultures. Information technologies would
be used to collect and manage contributions and social technolo-
gies at local, national and global levels would assist humans in cre-
ating their collective vision for the planet’s future. Move over
United Nations—this is ‘One World’!
I believe that a peaceful world with healthy eco-systems and a
life in dignity for all is achievable. For this to be realised, however,
a strong platform for participation by the peoples of the world in
global decision-making is essential.
Anita Kelleher, MLMFS, MFS, Principal, Designer Futures
kosmos | fall.winter 2009 69