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A seed is transformed in the process of becoming a plant. Likewise, we have to be willing to change our old identities to evolve into new beings. To quote Susan Pitcairn, an artist and a direct descendant of the US founding Father, President John Adams,

“Life is a creative journey. Each day, each moment, each thought and each act is an opportunity for creative expression. We are all actors in this vast cosmic play and together we are co-creating this very complex thing called human life on earth… In every species, there are two currents: one is the conservative current that keeps the ball rolling, that keeps the farms going, that keeps the garbage picked up and keeps the families together. The others are the creative explorers and the innovators who become the cutting edge of evolution. As we know, these two forces often clash and yet, we need them both. Life is a dance between them, but this is not us versus them. Each of us has both those forces. We have the ability to keep plugging on, to pay the bills, to get the job done, and we each have the spark of the creative that drives us to try new things, to evolve.”

We are now at a pivotal moment in human history where we are called to evolve, in a hurry. Currently, our socioeconomic system concentrates money and power in fewer and fewer economic elites who are proving to be incapable of addressing our problems honestly. As a common Tamil saying goes, “It is possible to awaken someone who is asleep, but it is impossible to awaken someone who is pretending to be asleep.” The only power we have left is the power of the people – our duty to awaken, reclaim our autonomy and create a new socioeconomic system in parallel that serves all life on Earth. We are called to summon our creative juices on behalf of all life on Earth. We are ready to get to work!

Our vision is an eco-centric, life-enriching global culture of normalized nonviolence.

Gandhi’s oft-quoted aphorism, “Be the change you want to see,” requires us to see the change that we want to be. The mission of the Sacred Lifeline project is to embody this change. It is to integrate human economy with natural ecology, creating and cultivating thriving, regenerative, nonviolent systems of joyful living, founded on compassion for all life.

The Sacred Lifeline project is based on our core guiding principle that compassion for all life is infinitely sustainable. Compassion for all life is consonant with all the faith and wisdom traditions of the world. It is said that it is within human nature to be violent. But it is also within human nature to be compassionate, to adapt, survive and ultimately thrive. Just as in Nature where the caterpillar gorges itself before forcibly undergoing a metamorphosis in the chrysalis, we over-consuming humans have reached a point of being forcibly transformed within the cocoon of our finite planet into compassionate, life-affirming butterflies: Vegan life affirming butterflies. But first, we must build a socioeconomic system that is consonant with that cocoon. The Sacred Lifeline project is to help humanity imagine, define, implement and cultivate this system.

The Sacred Lifeline project is founded on the core values of Freedom, Ecological Thrivability and Sacredness of all Life, the true Foundations of Ecological Security (FES). We value that each individual is unique and should be free to contribute to the larger community as they choose. We value that a thriving human economy is only possible within a thriving natural ecology. We value that all life is sacred, precious and interconnected. From an operational perspective, the change called for is from consumption to contribution as an organizing value and from competition to collaboration as an organizing principle. We will build our community on a set of principles in accordance with the Vegan World 2026! project findings:

Spiritual Principles:

1. Animal Liberation
2. Compassion for all Life
3. Veganism
4. Acceptance of all faiths and non-belief traditions
5. Eco-centric
6. Love of Life

Ecological Principles:

7. Biodiversity (Food Forests)
8. Climate Healing
9. Ecological Thrivability
10. Abundance
11. Life-enriching

Social Principles:

12. Guaranteed Equality
13. Community Oriented
14. Collaboration
15. Cooperative and Consensual
16. Openness and Truth
17. Durable Peace
18. Selflessness and Contentment
19. Radical Inclusion
20. Partnership/Respect relating
21. Individual Privacy / Institutional Transparency
22. Normalized Nonviolence

Economic Principles:

23. Gift Economy
24. Development
25. Ecological Currency
26. Distributed Renewable Energy
27. DC Grid
28. Robust Durability
29. Labor based on Volunteerism
30. Decommodification
31. Conscious Simplicity
32. Non-toxic Products and Processes
33. Preventive/Lifestyle Medicine

Political Principles:

34. Eco-Governance
35. Distribution of Power
36. Participatory Democracy

Goals:

A global transition to a simple, Vegan lifestyle allows for massive carbon sequestration through re-wilding of the planet. In the “Lifestyle Carbon Dividend” paper that we presented at the AGU Fall Meeting in 2015 (Rao, Jain and Shu), we estimated through an Earth Systems Model (ESM) developed at the University of Illinois, the Integrated Science Assessment Model (ISAM), that 265 Giga tons of Carbon (GtC) can be sequestered on just the 41% of grasslands that used to be forests in 1800, prior to human intervention for Global Animal Agriculture (GAAg). That is more carbon than the 240 GtC that was added to the atmosphere since the industrial era began in 1750 until 2015! That is such a stunning result and yet, even climate scientists don’t want to talk about it, since that requires dismantling GAAg, which is such a “Keystone”  aspect of the current system.

Therefore, our primary goal in the Sacred Lifeline project is to implement and demonstrate that it is possible for humanity to live comfortably in a nonviolent Vegan lifestyle, while utilizing less than half the Earth’s ecological capacity, thus allowing wildlife to flourish and massive carbon sequestration to occur in recovering forests in the other half.

Our second goal is to cultivate such nonviolent Vegan lifestyles throughout the world so that we realize a largely Vegan World by 2026. Specifically, our goal is to ensure that at least half the citizens in developed countries such as the United States self-report to be Vegan by 2026.

Our third goal is to re-wild the planet so that the biomass of wild vertebrates in 2026 is equal to or greater than the biomass of wild vertebrates in 2010 and the alarming declines reported by the World Wildlife Fund are reversed.

Tools and Technologies:

We now have the tools and technologies to build a new socioeconomic system that promotes selflessness not selfishness, generosity not greed, and activism not apathy, while ensuring that radical equality and ecological sustainability are built-in from the outset. The Internet with Holochain software technology enables true peer-to-peer communication, distributed data storage and large trust networks, Cryptography enables individual privacy, Open-source enables institutional transparency, Solar panels with DC Grid technology enables distributed energy sourcing. The Sacred Lifeline project will utilize all of these available tools and technologies to create the new system. Specifically, we will build two key Open-source Apps: the AhimsaCoin currency system and the TrueCost accounting system.

AhimsaCoin would be similar to Bitcoin, but with authenticated members automatically receiving one AhimsaCoin every 50 minutes into their account during their lifetime. Each AhimsaCoin entitles the owner to the productivity of 1m2 of the Earth’s surface for one year so that humanity’s global ecological footprint does not exceed half the Earth. The TrueCost value of AhimsaCoins are retired when a product is consumed by a member. As the human population increases, the frequency of AhimsaCoin issuance would decrease to one every 51 minutes, etc., to create a feedback loop for human population stabilization.

TrueCost is a measure of the true ecological footprint of any product. While we work to convert all products to be biodegradable and ecologically harmless, we are forced to use some products in the interim that are not. TrueCost accounting is essential to ensure that the AhimsaCoin economy uses no more than half the Earth. Initially, we will populate the TrueCost database with existing biodegradable, ecologically harmless, vegan products in the market and then add in possible exceptions, as we need them.

Concept:

The Sacred Lifeline project envisions a network of radically inclusive, sustainable, off-grid, zero-waste, “Imaginal Cell Academy” communities, modeling and exemplifying a compassionate, vegan lifestyle. These communities will be located around the world to provide opportunities for a steady flow of local visitors to experience such a lifestyle during their visits. Visitors would come with nothing except the clothes on their back and they will be provided with everything they need, toothbrush, toothpaste, clothes, towels and other personal items that are guaranteed to be cruelty-free and toxin-free. Visitors would literally be taking on a new material identity in such an “Imaginal Cell” experience.

Roughly half the community would be mentors/educators and permanent residents while the other half would consist of short-term visitors, or longer-term college students working on research projects. Since almost everything needs to be changed in the Caterpillar’s violence-drenched, growth-oriented technological culture that has literally poisoned the planet, there is plenty of research work to be done, including rewriting most of our children’s stories. In addition, all material processes that routinely poison the environment today will have to be re-imagined and researched for the new paradigm as well.

The Sacred Lifeline communities will develop and adopt open-source software tools and technologies to ensure that their ecological footprint does not exceed half the Earth if the whole world were to live that way. The open-source software tools and technologies developed in the project will then inspire and enable these visitors to continue their lifestyle experience remotely. The goal is to spread this view of how to operationalize sacredness to every part of the Earth until we realize a radically inclusive, equitable human society that is in harmony with a thriving natural world.

Living arrangements in the Sacred Lifeline project would be designed to facilitate individual privacy while connecting with Nature and creating community around food production, preparation, sharing and enjoyment. Critical to the Sacred Lifeline project are the partnerships with universities, academic institutions, NGOs, businesses and local markets, thereby connecting those who are transitioning towards a sustainable, compassionate lifestyle with suppliers of triple green products which are kind to humans (toxin-free), kind to the planet (pollution-free) and kind to animals (cruelty-free).

The Sacred Lifeline project will also help to close feedback loops in the current system, for example, through recycling waste water, composting food waste and agro-ecological farming. It will also provide affordable housing and healthy, organic, plant-based food preparation and delivery. There will be an Inter-Spiritual All-Faiths temple in each project location to signify the unity of all faith and wisdom traditions, including secular humanism and indigenous wisdom traditions, in this endeavor. The World Council of Religious Leaders is actively participating in the Sacred Lifeline project to bring the faith community onboard.

Each Sacred Lifeline project location will also offer specialized courses in meditation, yoga and other techniques to build resiliency in these troubled, transitional times. Revenues generated at each Sacred Lifeline centre would be used to fund re-wilding projects throughout the Earth. The goal is to quickly realize the enormous carbon sequestration potential of regenerating native forests as the whole world goes vegan.

Each Sacred Lifeline project location is a “Model City” based and run on vegan ethics with an economic base and employment from Vegan wedding ceremonies, Bar Mitzvahs and United Vegan Network (UVN) broadcast revenues: Think Oprah Winfrey Network.  Think Everything Vegan, around a Food, Mind, Body, and a Soul Experience, hosted by Vegan Thought Leaders; Authors, Speakers, Filmmakers, Artists, Chefs, Farmers, Musicians and Change Makers.

Many of these Thought Leaders will live within this Sacred Lifeline community with the sole mission of teaching veganism, extending out to the world using social media, from its production studio, broadcasting on UVN, Internet Channel, with 24/7 programming:

The Proposed Show Segments of UVN are:

·  Vegan Revolution
·  Healthy Mind, Body and Planet Events
·  Vegan Compassion
·  Award Winning Vegan Recipes prepared by Chefs
·  Vegan Spirituality
·  Awakening to Ahimsa (Nonviolence)
·  Vegan Travel Log
·  Staying Committed to Vegan Ethics
·  Saving the World One Bite at a Time

This programming will provide a transformational experience for the mind, body, and spirit for true vegan renewal and awakening.  Most important, UVN will broadcast to hearts and minds with nourishment for a more loving and compassionate world and to normalize this new way of joyful living.

Locations

Costa Rica

We envision the first Imaginal Cell Academy of the Sacred Lifeline Project to be in Costa Rica, tentatively at the Refugio de Los Angeles (RDLA) near the village of Quebrada Grande, 40 minutes from Jicaral, in the Guanacaste Province of Nicoya Peninsula. Porvenir Designevaluated this site as well as another site near Comunidad, also in Guanacaste Province, and the RDLA site was found to be much more suitable for our purposes.

Guanacaste Province is the cattle-ranching hub of Costa Rica and the cattle and sugarcane industries have been literally eating up the tropical forests in the region. RDLA is a 100-acre “oasis” at the edge of Guanacaste province where the current owner, Maria Cis Wilson, has largely restored the native vegetation of the region. This gives us an opportunity to create living arrangements that are minimally disruptive and blend in harmoniously with her creation and thus implement a prototype for E. O. Wilson’s “Half-Earth” solution. More information on the property can be found in http://www.simplelivingbydesign.com.

Imaginal Cell Academy at RDLA

The Imaginal Cell Academy is intended to be a place where we exemplify sustainable living in the eco-centric, life-enriching culture of normalized nonviolence of the future, while also showing how the world can transition to such a culture in the current environment. As such, it should demonstrate the integration and marked improvement in the lives of the local community. The RDLA location is relatively remote from the flow of tourists in the Nicoya Peninsula and therefore, we envision creating organic dried food production cooperatives in the neighborhood using the technology pioneered by Just One Organics, to integrate the local community, promoting alternate livelihoods to cattle ranching.

Below is an overview of the current infrastructure, boundaries, roads, and notables features of the property as well as highlighted zones for potential development.

Map of RDLA property with highlighted zones for potential development

SWOT Analysis of RDLA

Strengths
• The property, including its soil, water, and plant resources have been lovingly cared for and regenerated over the past 20 plus years.
• The location and elevation create a unique landscape and microclimate, resulting in more comfortable living conditions and stunning views.
• This is a turnkey property; water, electric, internet, access, and infrastructure are all in place, and well built. Our team could live comfortably on the site from day one as we implement our vision for the property.

Weaknesses
• The topography of the site and dry tropical forest climate result in a property that isn’t suitable for large scale grain/legume agriculture.
• The national road entering the property is extremely steep, requires 4×4 vehicles, and could limit access for parts of the rainy season.
• There is no public transportation through this area and it is relatively isolated from recreational activities without a personal vehicle.
• The maintenance of the property requires a lot of labor, and as such, is quite expensive to keep up.

Opportunities
• This is an ideal property for a medium scale community development and retreat center. It meets all of the basic requirements for development.
• There exists a nearby small Costa Rican community that has strong ties to the property, and could be a good source of local labor.

Threats
• Relying on reaching good ground water for a well always comes with risks. The ability to develop the property would be greatly reduced if a successful well is not established.
• The steep topography creates risk for land slumping from seismic shifts and water logged soils.

Main 3BR Residence

1 BR Casita – a humble home example

A potential building site

Nature flourishing on site

Future Steps (from Porvenir Design)

There are a number of steps to consider for immediate advancement of the project at RDLA:
• Verification of strength of the local aquifer for well installation, accessibility of municipal water supply, and general estimations of water demands for the future community.
• Clear definition of food production goals for the project moving forward.
• Identification of community infrastructure needs and where development of residential areas will be.
• Re-cutting some of the access roads to improve access by car or truck to more isolated parts of the property.
• Stabilization of some of the steeper areas that are prone to erosion.
• Consideration of the logistics of getting basic utilities to all areas of the property that are of interest for infrastructural development.

Team

We have assembled a strong team with diverse international experience and strong knowledge to mentor the Sacred Lifeline project. Here are brief descriptions of the organizations and team members in the project.

University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA
Prof. H-S. UdayKumar
Prof. Meena Khandelwal

The University of Iowa, founded in 1847, is a flagship public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, USA.  University of Iowa is organized into eleven colleges offering more than 200 areas of study and seven professional degrees. Located on an urban 1700 acre campus on the banks of the Iowa River, the University of Iowa is classified as a Doctoral University with Highest Research Activity by the Carnegie Classifications. The university is best known for its programs in health care, law, and the fine arts, with programs ranking among the top 25 nationally in those areas. The university was the original developer of the Master of Fine Arts degree and it operates the world-renowned Iowa Writer’s Workshop, which has produced 17 of the university’s 46 Pulitzer Prize winners. Iowa is a member of several prestigious research coalitions, including the Association of American Universities, the Universities Research Association, and the Big Ten Academic Alliance.

University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, IL
Prof. Atul Jain

Since its founding in 1867, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has earned a reputation as a world-class leader in research, teaching, and public engagement. The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is charged by the state of Illinois to enhance the lives of citizens in Illinois, across the nation and around the world through its leadership in learning, discovery, engagement and economic development.

Indian Institute of Technology, Madras
Prof. Ashok Jhunjhunwala

Indian Institute of Technology, Madras is one among the foremost institutes of national importance in higher technological education, basic and applied research in India.  The Institute has sixteen academic departments and a few advanced research centers in various disciplines of engineering and pure sciences, with nearly 100 laboratories organized in a unique pattern of functioning. A faculty of international repute, a brilliant student community, excellent technical and supporting staff and an effective administration have all contributed to the pre-eminent status of IIT Madras. The campus is located in the city of Chennai, previously known as Madras. Chennai is the state capital of Tamilnadu, a southern state in India.

In Defense of Animals, San Rafael, CA
Lisa Levinson
Judy Carman

In Defense of Animals is an international animal protection organization with over 250,000 valued supporters and a 30-year history of protecting animals, people and the environment through education, campaigns and hands on rescue facilities in India, Africa, and rural Mississippi. Its main headquarters are established in San Rafael, California.

COLA Now, Tustin, CA
Frank Lane

In Defense of Animals is an international animal protection organization with over 250,000 valued supporters and a 30-year history of protecting animals, people and the environment through education, campaigns and hands on rescue facilities in India, Africa, and rural Mississippi. Its main headquarters are established in San Rafael, California.