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About ecodemocracy and MAGPIE
“ May we speak in all human councils
on behalf of the animals and plants
and landscapes of Earth” – John Seed
The definition of ecodemocracy that we shall use here is the one offered by Gray and Curry (2016): "Groups and communities using decision-making systems that respect the principles of human democracy while explicitly extending valuation to include the intrinsic value of non-human nature, with the ultimate goal of evaluating human wants equally to those of other species and the living systems that make up the Ecosphere."
Ecodemocracy is thus radically different from traditional democratic procedures. Its implementation, however, will be fundamental to any non-authoritarian ecological civilization – that is, one in which humans strive to live in harmony with the rest of nature, rather than oppressing and dominating other life through a lens of single-species supremacy. (The latter is something we do as standard practice, at the present time).
MAGPIE – as reflected in the expansion of its acronym – exists to provide Methods and Guidance for the Practical Implementation of Ecodemocracy. The motivation driving the project is one of providing support for a transition in the practice of democracy – in any situation that it operates, regardless of the scale – through suggesting means by which explicit consideration may be given to non-human interests.
MAGPIE has no ambitions of advocacy. In other words, energy is not being invested through this particular initiative in the vital work of changing minds and growing a movement. Rather, the materials being made available are tailored for situations in which human decision-makers are already open to ecodemocracy's practice. For anyone interested in reading more, however, some arguments for ecodemocracy's wide-scale adoption can be found in an article by Gray et al. (2020) and the refences therein.
MAGPIE builds on the groundwork laid by a short-lived predecessor project known as GENIE (the Global Ecocentric Network for Implementing Ecodemocracy), an initiative from which the new project's domain name has been inherited.
The sources cited in this section can be accessed through the links below:
< Gray and Curry (2016) > < Gray et al. (2020) > < ⇑ >
Resources
“ I speak for the trees, for the trees
have no tongues ” – the Lorax
Below you will find links to a growing set of resources, in PDF form, which have been developed for MAGPIE. The context for each is explained within the PDF.
A simple nature council • • • < Access PDF >
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Contribute
“ The least I can do is speak out for those who
cannot speak for themselves ” – Jane Goodall
If you have an interest in furthering the practice of ecodemocracy, there are several ways in which you can help this project. The first (and most important) is to use the resources provided, in a setting of your choice, and then report back on your experience. This will be invaluable in refining and informally validating their application. The second is to suggest additional materials that could be developed. The third is simply to spread the word about ecodemocracy's practice and the MAGPIE project.
In the first and second cases above, or for any other suggestions or enquiries, the site's creator would love to hear from you via the contact form linked to below.
< Contact Joe > < ⇑ >
Credits
This website uses the font Georama (Production Type; SIL Open Font License, Version 1.1). The magpie artwork was created by 'ingaclemens'. The butterfly photo in the 'About' section was taken, and all of the materials have been designed, by Joe Gray. Finally, the site is hosted on Kualo's renewably powered servers.
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Links
Below you will find links to other projects in which Joe Gray, the site's creator, is involved.
< Deep Green Earth > < Impudent Raven > < The Ecological Citizen > < Rewilding Successes > < Earth Tongues >
Methods and Guidance for the Practical Implementation of Ecodemocracy
< ecodemocracy.net > < ⇑ >