Ross Jackson: Ecovillages Are The Future of Gaia

During crises visionaries pop up. I found this interesting by chance tonight – or was it chance? I doubt it. What I find inspiring about the logjam politically these days is that it forces the public to take responsibility, I think this is a good development. It is everyone’s responsibility what happens to the planet and our civilisation. You can jump up and down but what are you really doing to create change? My friend who is an environmentalist told me today some of her intelligent friends don’t think about their own personal lifestyle yet will have passionate arguments about what is going on. I think that is a truism, many don’t walk the talk. Ross appears to be one who is walking the talk with action.

Here is biographical and ideas on how to respond to the global crisis. The ideas are out there. I was intrigued to find out he had a spiritual experience, that gives him more credibility in my eyes, more so than qualifications.

So the changing world of Ross Jackson.

http://www.ross-jackson.com/rj/about/

About Ross Jackson

Ross is a Ph.D. in Operations Research (the theory and practice of problem solving), born in Canada in 1938, educated in Canada and the USA. He has lived in Denmark since 1964 and been a Danish citizen since 1972.Through most of his life, Ross has operated in the business world, while giving a high prioriy to his family. He is now semi-retired, focussing on writing and Gaia Trust. For many years, he was a very successful businessman and independent management consultant in the field of Information Technology, working in many branches of business, later specialising in investment and international finance. Besides his continuing role as CEO of Gaia Trust, Ross is a majority shareholder and director of Scandinavia’s largest wholesale organic food company, Urtekram A/S.

Gaia Trust , GEN and Gaia Education

Ross, together with his Danish wife Hildur, is the founder/chairman of Gaia Trust, a Danish charitable association whose main projects to date have been supporting the fast-growing ecovillage movement, and in particular GEN, the Global Ecovillage Network, as well as supporting education for a sustainable future, and in particular, Gaia Education. Ross and Hildur have three children, Rolf, Thor and Frej.

Gaia Trust is self-financing, based originally on income earned from daughter company Gaiacorp that specialized in currency fund management. Gaiacorp was founded by Ross for the specific purpose of financing Gaia Trust in 1988. The methodolgy was based on Ross’s research into currency markets in the early 1980’s. This business was sold off in 2000.

GEN is a global network of autonomous regional ecovillage networks, which three major Regional Offices for the Western Hemisphere, Europe/Africa, and Asia/Oceania. There are several hundred members across the world.

How important is this embryonic ecovillage movement? Sociologist Ted Trainer of the University of New South Wales puts the question into historical perspective as follows:

“Would it be an exaggeration to claim that the emergence of the ecovillage movement is the most significant event of the 20th century? I don’t think so.”

Gaia Education’s curriculum was developed by ecovilage experts from around the world and is taught both as a 4-week course at many ecovillages and an 8-month on-line course in partnership with the Open University of Catalonia in Spain.

Themes in Ross’ Writings

A number of closely related themes permeate all of Ross’ writings over the years. Characteristic for all of them is that he tends to be far ahead of his contemporaries in his thinking. Ross’ analyses are always long-term and strategic. One theme is spirituality as the foundation of life and the hope of the future, as well as being the inspiration for everything he does.

Another is his passionate interest in the long term evolution of the planet, which he sees as passing through a very critical time today as our civilisation deals with the problems arising from meeting head-on the limits to physical growth on a finite planet. In his writings, Ross argues that the crux of the current crisis is that, though we are experiencing these limits, we have not yet realized the need to move away from the dominant mechanical worldview that has been very successful in the past but is now destroying the very basis of our existence, namely the environment and our social cohesiveness. We must shift our thinking towards a more Life-based, holistic worldview that sees the planet, not as a group of separate competing nations, but as a single living organism, and then find corresponding global solutions that will encompass all and work for everyone.

A third theme is that the major political leverage point in the current global crisis is the way we organise international trade. Ross has put forward concrete proposals for changes in the global economic system such that the true ecological and social costs are reflected in product prices and trade rules, changes which will automatically nudge the international community in the direction of becoming a sustainable and just civilisation.

As his fourth theme, he sees the appropriate response to this global crisis at the individual level to be a shift in lifestyle. This is why he promotes and supports the ecovillage movement. Ecovillages are early models of the way we will all have to live eventually — small sustainable communities in the countryside and in the cities, where social, ecological, and spiritual aspects meet in a holistic life style.

For more information, check out this web site, its links to Gaia Trust and GEN, and in particular, reviews and excerpts from Ross’ two autobiographical books:

Kali Yuga Odyssey: A Spiritual Journey

This is Ross’s fascinating account of his incredible spiritual awakening in India in 1982 and his subsequent search for understanding of his experience and the mysteries of life. His odyssey includes dramatic and entertaining experiences with Stanislov Grof, Swami Muktananda, Sai Baba, Christian mystic Daskalos from Cyprus, Michael Harner, Osho, Danish master Jes Bertelsen and many more. The puzzle gradually unfolds, until it suggests some startling conclusions about what appears to be in store for us as we enter the next stage of our evolution.

And We ARE doing It!: Building an Ecovillage Future

This is Ross’s entertaining and inspiring account of his personal transformation from international businessman to a leader of the global ecovillage movement as a response to the global crisis facing humanity. The story includes many humorous episodes as well as a devastating criticism of the negative effects of commercial globalization, and a fantasy trip into the coming “era of ecovillage” in 2064.

I fuld gang (Danish)

This is a special Danish language version of And we ARE doing It with many Danish anecdotes not in the English version. Check out the Danish Books section.
Kali yuga odysséen: en åndelig rejse (Danish)

This is the Danish version of Kali Yuga Odyssey, with three additional chapters not in the English version. See the Danish Books section.

Sir Francis Bacon and the Shakespeare Works

On a completely different note, many readers will be interested in Ross’ recent controversial and dramatic novel Shaker of the Speare on the life of Sir Francis Bacon, including his birth as son of Queen Elizabeth, his aspirations to succeed her as King of England and his authorship of the Shakespeare works under a pseudonym. Surprising? Yes, but this is in fact a subject, which has been hotly debated for over 400 years. The storyline is authentic and is documented in Ross’ typical thorough and sobre style in a second volume entitled The Companion to Shaker of the Speare. Check out these books and make up your own mind on the literary question of the century.

Reviews and excerpts are now available on this site.

Breaking News (November 2011)

Ross’s long-awaited book, Occupy World Street: A Global Roadmap for Radical Economic and Political Reform (Chelsea Green Publishing, USA), is nearing publication and can be expected in the bookstores in early 2012. The book presents a radical, innovative proposal to break the logjam of inactivity on a wide range of critical global issues, including ecosystem overload, global warming, overpopulation, peak oil, unsustainable economic growth, and a dysfunctional economic system that is a major hindrance to a sustainable future because it is in conflict with the irrefutable Second Law of Thermodynamics of physics. Ross claims that a new “Gaian paradigm” is emerging across the globe, one that rejects the dominant but failing free market, materialistic ideology and promotes a more Life-based economic and political system that protects the environment, diverse cultures and social structures. Ross puts forward a concrete two-pronged “breakaway strategy” to bring about the necessary reforms. The key initiative is that a few of the smaller nations take on a global top-down leadership role at this critical time in history by breaking away from the dominant and destructive political/economic system that is leading us to disaster and replacing it with new institutions of global governance and trade that will regulate intergovernmental relations for member states, while protecting the environment, human rights and social structures in a democratic “Gaian League” —a parallel model for a new civilization that other states are welcome to join when they are ready. The second prong is the bottom-up pressure from NGOs and the “Occupy World Street” folks in the streets demanding a referendum on their country joining the Gaian League because it stands for everything their leaders claim to believe in, but seldom follow up in practice. Stay tuned!

See more on the Chelsea Green website………

Alumni Profile

The magazine of the faculty of Engineering and Applied Science of Queen’s University, Ontario, Canada, where Ross did his first degree in Engineering Physics, did a profile of a number of pathbreaking graduates, including Ross, in the Winter 2011 edition. See the article here.

Contact Information

You can reach Ross Jackson at: rossjackson@gaia.org