At Earth Civics, we believe civics is the most hopeful of all human endeavors. Not only do we spend time in our civic spaces thinking about a better future, planning for it, and making appropriate decisions; we do that together with others who may not share our views. Imagination and pragmatism come together to work out the best possible solution for the benefit of as many people as possible. Or so it should be.
Civic spaces are not just about policy, and they should not be defined by partisan politics. Political parties fight the contest of persuasion during elections, but elections are meant to shape the civic space for a limited period of time. During that time, we all have a stake in the integrity of those who hold office, in the decisions that are made, and in how they affect our prospects for security and wellbeing, over the long term.
It is worth noting that both the U.S. Constitution and the U.N. Charter both acknowledge this shared duty—speaking as We the People and We the Peoples, respectively—to address injustice and to honor the humanity of future generations.
- The U.S. Constitution aims to “establish Justice… promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity…” The Bill of Rights establishes the primacy of unalienable human rights over the whims of those who hold office.
- The U.N. Charter aims to “save succeeding generations from the scourge of war… to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person… to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom,” for people of all nations.
In the charters of towns and cities around the world, people have acknowledged the core purpose of an organized civil society in similar terms: to protect against danger, support health and safety, provide infrastructure and services, and create the foundations for lasting opportunity and wellbeing.
In its 2025 Advisory Opinion on the obligation of nation states to reduce climate danger, the International Court of Justice found that climate protection and a healthy, clean environment are implicit in all other human rights, and that the duty to act is grounded in treaties and in customary international law. In other words: the civic duties of governments at all levels are tied to fundamental, transcendent human rights, and need not necessarily be stated explicitly to be legally binding.
Some would say this is common sense, or an insight that naturally emerges if one approaches government from a perspective of common decency. The 9th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution grants full legal protection to all human rights, even if they are never written. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights also acknowledges that rights are inherent and inviolable, and not granted by the powers of the state.
In the age of industrial climate disruption and worsening Nature loss—where microplastic pollution has reached the deep Arctic Ocean, mountain glaciers, and the bloodstream of hatchling salamanders in wetlands, and of human beings—it is necessary to think about how the civic spaces available to us can serve as laboratories for engineering a livable future.
A Toolkit for Local Stakeholder Engagement Meetings
The Earth Civics Toolkit is designed to provide clarity, structure, and flexibility, for anyone wishing to organize such a meeting. We also recognize that ongoing processes tend to require networks of engaged individuals and institutions, so the Toolkit includes suggested coordination strategies for supporting such networks.
The puzzle that needs urgent attention includes, among other challenges, the need for climate-resilient infrastructure, regenerative agriculture that restores and protects ecosystems and watersheds, a shift in priority technologies and business models in energy systems, investments that foster clean industry and profits without pollution, and innovative approaches that can bring capital to communities.
Civics is another word for coopereative future-building. In community meetings—whether they are official meetings of the municipal council or informal stakeholder-centered meetings organized outside of government—everyone can play the role of engineer, by providing insights that help officials and service providers design the most effective, durable, and adaptive, solutions to pressing problems.
National governments, global banks, and major industry leaders, should not be—cannot be—the chief decision-makers on the future of our relationship to Earth’s biosphere and climate system. Even with the most skilled and well-meaning people in those roles, they would be too few, with too little time, and not enough practical reach into the lives of local communities.
Leaving everything to the highest-level decision-makers means leaving most of what is possible untested and unexplored. This is even more the case when we consider that the industrial systems we need to rescue ourselves from the ongoing planetary crisis must still be invented. The technologies and the knowledge exist, but the practical applications and locally rooted business models and practical arrangements must still be discovered.
Civic spaces are where we come together to engineer our collective future, to invent new possibilities out of recognized needs and from discussion of the uncertain ripple effects of new kinds of choices. Civic spaces are where we talk to each other about what is possible and have a chance to ensure we honor the rights and dignity of all people, now and in the future.