Flourishing Diversity for an Abundance of Life

Only a diversity of place-based solutions can restore biocultural abundance on earth.

 

Jerome Lewis, Ameyali Ramos, and Jessica Sweidan

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If the challenge of our times is to pass on a livable Earth to future generations, then what will it take? “Flourishing diversity” is not just a concept; it’s a fundamental truth about how life evolves and persists. Nature thrives by generating diversity — of species, cultures, and ways of being. Sexual reproduction itself is an evolutionary strategy to ensure genetic variety, reducing the risk of collapse from any single crisis. Even dinosaurs survived through diversity — some took to the skies, becoming the birds we know today.

But today we are seeing the opposite. Industrial capitalism has fostered an alarming monoculture — of landscapes, economies, and even ways of thinking. This erosion of diversity, both biological and cultural, is not just a tragedy — it’s an existential threat. The more we homogenize and standardize, the more fragile we become.

“Flourishing diversity” is not just a concept; it’s a fundamental truth about how life evolves and persists.

And yet, our dominant response remains narrow: quick techno-fixes such as geo-engineering, carbon capture, payment for ecosystem services, or carbon trading are being hailed as solutions. But solutions to what? These interventions barely scratch the surface of the deeper issues: our broken relationship with the earth, one another, and the species we share the planet with. The expansion of industrialized societies continues to strip the earth of its natural abundance, forcing landscapes and communities to uniformity. And as we push farther down this path, the consequences become more severe: rising temperatures, extreme weather, and instability in the very systems that sustain life.

The challenge before us is not only about reducing harm; it’s also about restoring what has been lost. It’s about embracing complexity, protecting the web of life, and recognizing that our resilience — our very future — depends on the flourishing of diversity in the world around us.

Some call the current period the Anthropocene: the age of humans, an epoch where human activity is reshaping the very fabric of the earth. But not all humans bear equal responsibility. This crisis is not the work of humanity as a whole; it is the product of a dominant economic model, built on unchecked resource extraction, endless consumption, and the pursuit of profit at the expense of life itself. Some have aptly called our time the Capitalocene, in reference to a system that prioritizes short-term financial gains while externalizing the costs onto ecosystems, species, and the communities least responsible for the destruction.

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The consequences are staggering. In the race to meet the ever-growing demands of modern urban economies, we have replaced thriving, bioculturally diverse landscapes with agricultural monocultures and cultural homogeneity. The loss is not just a statistic; it is the unraveling of the intricate, interdependent systems that sustain life. We are now witnessing a mass extinction event, not caused by an asteroid or natural disaster but by our own hands. The disappearance of species is accelerating at a rate seen only five times before in Earth’s history — each of those extinctions bringing a profound transformation in the story of life.

Unlike past extinctions, this one is not inevitable.

But unlike past extinctions, this one is not inevitable. It is not beyond our control. The question is: will we recognize our role in this moment and choose a different path? Will we have the courage to challenge the system that brought us here and commit to restoring the balance we have so carelessly disrupted?

To understand where we are, we must look back. The Holocene — officially our current epoch, unless we accept the informal notion of the Anthropocene — began twelve thousand years ago at the end of the last Ice Age. As glaciers receded, life flourished in their wake. Species moved into new landscapes, adapting and evolving as they formed intricate, interdependent ecosystems. Anthropologist Anna Tsing calls this process “Holocene resurgence,” the slow, dynamic rebuilding of diverse living environments. Forests, wetlands, and meadows were not just passive backdrops to human existence; they were, and still are, some of the very foundations of our survival.

By contrast, Tsing notes, the Anthropocene — or Capitalocene — has been marked by a starkly different phenomenon: plantation proliferation. Designed for the relentless demands of urban economies, plantation systems reduce landscapes to their most profitable components. Forests become timber farms, and biodiverse lands become endless rows of cash crops. Anything that does not serve an economic function is erased. These systems do not just simplify nature; they alter it in dangerous ways. They intensify the spread of pathogens, weaken ecological resilience, and create the conditions for collapse. In her article “A Threat to Holocene Resurgence Is a Threat to Livability,” Tsing wryly puts it, “Welcome to the Anthropocene, in which alienated and disengaged organisms, including humans, multiply and spread without regard to multispecies living arrangements.”

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The signs of emergency are everywhere: climate breakdown, biodiversity loss, disappearing languages and cultures, accelerating wealth inequality, disappearance of crop diversity, emergent zoonotic diseases, and political polarization and conflict. The language of crisis has become unavoidable. Vanessa Machado de Oliveira describes this moment as “hospicing modernity,” ushering in the unraveling of a system that no longer serves life. What comes next remains uncertain. But one thing is clear: if we continue to uphold values that reward monoculture — whether in our economies, our landscapes, or even our ways of thinking and being — we will leave little chance for a livable future.

Every thriving ecosystem, resilient culture, and truly sustainable solution is rooted in variation, adaptation, and interplay of countless unique expressions of life.

The alternative is already here, waiting for us to recognize it. It is in the diverse cultures and ecosystems that still hold the knowledge of how to live well within nature’s limits. It is in the thousands of place-based solutions already being practiced by those who have long understood that true resilience comes not from control but from interconnection and relationship. If we are to build a flourishing future, the task begins with recentering diversity — of life, knowledge, ways of thinking and being — not as a problem to solve but as the foundation of everything we hope to sustain. At the heart of that transformation lies the understanding that life thrives through diversity. Every thriving ecosystem, resilient culture, and truly sustainable solution is rooted in variation, adaptation, and interplay of countless unique expressions of life.

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As decades of research by Terralingua and others have shown, biocultural diversity is not just a sign of a thriving world; it is a fundamental requirement for one. In industrialized societies, we often overlook the deep connections between cultural and biological diversity. But they are inseparable. Through their unique ways of living, many Indigenous and local communities sustain biodiversity by spreading ecological impact, using different resources, and holding different relationships with the land. Their presence enriches the ecosystems they inhabit, reinforcing the truth that diversity — when allowed to flourish — creates abundance.

Biocultural diversity is not just a sign of a thriving world; it is a fundamental requirement for one.

If we are to navigate our way through this moment in history, we must take our cues from life itself. Evolution has always favored diversity, complexity, and collaboration. It is not homogeneity that survives — it is interdependence. We need to cultivate an abundance of approaches to caring for the earth and support the people already doing this work. Only by doing so can we restore an abundance of life.

Ensuring a thriving future requires us to reimagine our societies at the most fundamental level. What does a flourishing world look like? How do we shift from extractive models of dominance to ones of reciprocity, relationship, and deep care? As thinkers like Arturo Escobar, Ashish Kothari, Luisa Maffi, and others have long observed, the most compelling visions for the future are not emerging from institutions that created this crisis but from the diverse, living experiments in alternatives — biocultural communities across the world who are already embodying other ways of living. These models are especially important because they emerge outside modernity, producing and sharing the knowledge most likely to inspire the search for postcapitalist, sustainable, and plural models of life. The question is, will we listen? And if we do, how will we act?

Arturo Escobar speaks of a pluriversal world: a world where many ways of knowing, being, and thriving can coexist, rather than being forced into a singular, dominant model. Ashish Kothari’s Global Tapestry of Alternatives reminds us that countless solutions already exist; they just don’t always fit within the mainstream narratives. Luisa Maffi’s Terralingua has long documented the deep connections between cultural and biological diversity, demonstrating that the two cannot be separated. A flourishing future depends on fostering, protecting, and celebrating diversity at every level — ecological, cultural, economic, and philosophical. Many who engage with such pluriversal, alternative, and biocultural visions are already living this truth, quietly shaping new possibilities for the world.

A flourishing future depends on fostering, protecting, and celebrating diversity at every level.

Flourishing Diversity, then, becomes an informal movement, an invitation to recognize and honor these countless biocultural explorations. Small actions may feel inconsequential in isolation, but collectively they produce a powerful shift. Every choice to safeguard diversity, every effort to restore ecosystems, and every refusal to conform to a monoculture of thought or practice is part of something bigger. Change does not come from a single sweeping solution, but from a mosaic of actions, voices, and perspectives woven together.

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Societies that have endured across generations have done so not by imposing control but by aligning with the rhythms of life itself. Resurgence — of landscapes, languages, and life — can only be possible when diversity is nurtured rather than suppressed. The modern obsession with progress and growth often erases this wisdom, reducing everything to a linear trajectory of expansion and extraction. But to ensure a livable future, we must shift our focus — from conquering to coexisting, from consuming to creating, from imposing solutions to listening to those who have long lived in harmony with the earth.

In the Anthropocene, our best hope lies in learning from those least entangled in the logic of industrial capitalism — the cultures, communities, and ecosystems that have not yet been consumed by a system that values profit over life. This is not about looking backward; it is about recognizing the wisdom that has always been there and choosing to carry it forward into a future where many worlds — not just one — can truly thrive.

As Arturo Escobar emphasizes, the most transformative and inspiring models for the future are not emerging from usual places. They are coming from Indigenous communities, landless movements, Black or feminist activists, and others who have long been marginalized. These are the people who are actively shaping the alternatives we need — not through theory but through lived experience, resistance, and deep-rooted relationships with land and community.

To protect human cultural diversity, we must recognize that it is not an abstract ideal; it must be defended, empowered, and upheld through action. It is tied to territory, autonomy, and the right to exists on one’s own terms. Without space and territory — physical, cultural, and political — many ways of being that enrich our world and hold the wisdom necessary for our collective future risk disappearing.

To protect human cultural diversity, we must recognize that it is not an abstract ideal; it must be defended, empowered, and upheld through action.

Predicting the future is always a precarious endeavor. History has shown us that the most unexpected shifts often redefine what is possible. Yet, one thing remains certain: diversity — biological, cultural, ecological — is life’s most profound strategy for resilience. If we want a flourishing planet, we must embrace and nurture the vast symphony of life that sustains us.

Flourishing Diversity invites us into a different way of seeing, one that acknowledges that the health of our planet is inseparable from the diversity of its species, cultures, and ways of knowing and being. It is not an abstract ideal but a lived practice — one that asks us to listen deeply, learn from Indigenous and local wisdom, and cultivate a world where many worlds can thrive.

The question is not whether we have solutions but whether we are ready to commit to them with our whole hearts and beings. Flourishing Diversity thrives on the actions of those who listen deeply, dream boldly, and act with care. There is no single blueprint; there has never been one. The beauty of nature, and indeed of human ingenuity, lies in the richness of our responses. Flourishing Diversity dwells in the small everyday choices we make, how we hold space for different perspectives, and our courage to imagine alternatives to the systems that have brought us to the brink.

When we commit to the flourishing of the earth, we are also committing to the flourishing of our own lives.

This is an invitation. An invitation to recognize yourself as a part of this beautiful, living, evolving, interwoven web of life. To take action in the places where you hold power and influence. To champion diversity in every form — not just as an idea but a daily practice. Your voice, your creativity, and your commitments matter. Because when we commit to the flourishing of the earth, we are also committing to the flourishing of our own lives.

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The future is not fixed; it is something we create, together. Whether through storytelling, conservation action, cultural revival, or daily choices, each of us holds a piece of the puzzle. So, Dream — of what is possible. Share — your experience, your ideas, your hope. Plan — with those around you. And Act — with the knowledge that every step toward diversity is a step toward a flourishing future.

Let us choose, with intention and love, to build a world of abundance — where all life, in its endless diversity, has the chance to flourish.

Support the Cause: If you recognize yourself as a “flourisher,” you are warmly invited to identify as part of the Flourishing Diversity Coalition. This is not an organization but a movement to restore biocultural diversity, building itself locally from wherever you are. Be creative: Dream. Share. Plan. Act.

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Jerome Lewis teaches anthropology at University College London, is a co-founder of Flourishing Diversity, and is an adviser to Synchronicity Earth. He has been working with hunter-gatherers in the Congo Basin since 1993.

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Ameyali Ramos is Deputy Chair of the IUCN Commission on Environmental, Economic and Social Policy (CEESP), Technical Advisor to the ICCA Consortium, and Reimagining Philanthropy Affiliate at Synchronicity Earth. She has over twenty years of experience working on social and environmental governance, international policy, conservation, and human rights.

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Jessica Sweiden is a passionate philanthropist, creative connector, and implementer. She is co-founder of Synchronicity Earth, a U.K.-based charity that supports urgent, overlooked, and underfunded conservation to protect globally threatened biodiversity, as well as of Flourishing Diversity, an initiative that highlights the interrelation between cultural and biological diversity.