Handbook of Ecological Civilization

‘Ecological civilization’ is conceived as a vision for a future world-order harmonising relations between people and between humanity and their broader biotic communities, including the global ecosystem. Inspired by Russian biologists and embraced by Chinese environmentalists, the Chinese Communist Party and the Chinese Government, the idea of ecological civilization continues to evolve. Articulating ‘ecological civilization’ as a vision for the future involves rethinking ethical, political and economic thought and practices for the whole of humanity. By providing an historical perspective on this vision, I argue that the notion of ‘ecopoiesis’, that is, ‘household-making’ or ‘home-making’, brings into focus what is required of ecological civilization. ‘Ecopoiesis’ builds on work in ecology, revealing and explaining how in healthy ecosystems, organisms and eco-systems are inter-related at multiple levels to augment the conditions for each other, and ultimately, for all life. Making ‘ecopoiesis’ central to ‘ecological civilization’ involves defining the ultimate end of humanity as augmenting the conditions for life. This poses the problem of, but also offers guidance for, finding solutions to how to organize political and economic structures and processes at all levels to achieve this. Ecopoiesis involves organizing the whole of humanity as communities of communities, constraining themselves and each other, to facilitate working for the common good of life.