Grief comes from one discovering that they have lost something they value and knowing they can’t get it back. The 5 stages of grief are described as anger, sorrow, negotiation, denial, and acceptance. We see in the world today all those symptoms to various degrees. So that leads us to the question – what is it that the human world is in mourning for? What have we discovered we have lost?

When my wife and I had a child that was born with special needs, we experienced a complex sense of joy and grief. Joy for the presence of new life and the infinite possibilities that implies, and grief, for the loss of some poorly understood dreams and aspirations. That grief can interfere with developing a loving relationship with a child, but by discovering what has been gained from the loss, we could reach acceptance, healing, and ultimately, growth.

By seeing our child for who she is, rather than who she is not, we could find that elusive hope and use it to champion her. Our role, as her parents, is to teach her how to get past the obstructions that prevent her from meeting her needs, wants, and dreams.

It is no different when looking at the world today – the grief we are expressing is preventing us from having a healthy relationship with our future generations. All around the world, the loss of a dream is creating conditions that are troubling, at best. We see anger projected out to rage, sorrow to depression, negotiation extended to a lack of purpose, denial to madness. We hope that acceptance will lead to healing, but that hope is elusive – we don’t trust it, because that hope is tied to the dreams that have been lost.

Those dreams have an origin in the Industrialization and the Green Revolution. The dreams come from the promise of a rising tide floating all boats, of technological innovation, of inexpensive mobility, and a better life for all.

But there are now cracks showing in the dream. The huge progress we have seen over the last 100 years or more has slowed, though, and the idea that the next hundred years will see similar economic growth is held by only the most optimistic of people. We are beset by Wicked Problems – with systemic poverty, global ecological degradation, and the end of economically viable fossil carbon.

And so, we begin to grieve the loss of the dream, a potential that won’t be realized. We collectively dread what could happen, and we variously deny, negotiate, and rage against reality. I suggest that we should take another look, to find a path to renewal, so that we can have a healthy relationship with our future. I would ask what we can gain from this loss of hope?

And the answer, at the community scale, is going to be fairly unique to each community, but the underlying core of all the answers will be ‘We can gain Sustainability’. We can, as individuals and communities, find ways to make ourselves resilient, and ensure we can achieve both “Needs Security” and “Regeneration”.

“Needs Security” like food security or energy security, but extended to encompass all needs, is the capacity of the people of a community to meet all of their needs using their time and skills, and the resources, energy, and ecological functions of the land/air/water that they are stewards of, in perpetuity. It is not a requirement that all people must meet all their needs all of the time, but they must not be obstructed by some agency or pressure from meeting their needs.

“Regeneration” is the co-evolution of the community and the ecosystem such that each supports the other to allow for a greater biocapacity on the land and quality of life within the community.

Needs Security is the minimum threshold of Sustainability in an absolute sense. Regeneration allows us to get to and past that threshold. Growth, as we have recognized it thus far, becomes a side effect of doing things right, but that is incidental to the elimination of poverty, reversing ecological damage, and adapting to the changing energy system.

So, how can I help you find out what you have yet to gain? What can I do to help your community achieve your Needs?