Eco-Social Narratives for Awakening an Era of Transformative Change

The central question that this special issue poses is ‘What will allow new systemic approaches to emerge that include all humans and all living beings in the benefits of life, rather than expecting some to suffer for the benefit of others?’ This paper argues that a key starting point for systems change, and the changed awareness or awakening that it brings, is developing new narratives or stories that form the basis for new core cultural mythologies, replacing currently dominant social imaginaries, which describe how people envision and act in their worlds, that are no longer fit for purpose. Today’s polycrisis, a set of intersecting, intractable and civilization threatening crises, means that more people need to work considerably more effectively to catalyze the systemic transformations so desperately needed. Developing and deploying new ecological-social (eco-social) imaginaries based in principles (among others) of relationality, equity, inclusiveness, and flourishing for all beings is an important step to moving transformational change efforts forward; indeed, it is core to the catalysis process needed for transformative change. Doing that, change makers can potentially work to build eco-social imaginaries that enable humans to find ways to live, as many Indigenous peoples have done for millennia, within the constraints of Earth’s capacities. Two recent examples, the Natural Social Contract and the Regenerative Lens, underscore the potential and possibilities for creating powerful, positive, and inspiring new narratives to develop holistic new visions that can potential inform needed new eco-social imaginaries.