Communion for Sustainable Futures
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The Beacon

Those directly (as associates, advisors and youth) and indirectly (as well wishers) associated with the Centre are making significant contributions, influencing society in various ways and at different levels...contributing to critical thought/
reviews,  sustainability and/or spirituality. Here we share their concerns, works, views, criticisms, overviews and ideas for action.  

The views shared here are not necessarily the Centre's views. They are being promoted here to encouraging reflection, "hitchhiking" on ideas, constructive criticism, discussion and dialogue. Like a beacon, we hope that they will throw light on possible ways away from unsustainability.

* Important Note: 

(1) Earlier, this effort was on the Contributions Page. Please do check the page for more resources from persons assoicated with the Centre.
(2) Unless indicated, whatever that is shared here is not prepared by or for the Centre.  Contact the individual authors to engage. 
Or contact us and we will put you to them. Thank you.
(3) This page is being redesigned.

The Centre's first publication, a coffee table book by M. Nadarajah (Nat),  will be released by May 2013. 
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It is being published by Areca Books (based in Penang, Malaysia) for GCSSFS.

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Contributions by Sohail Inayatullah (On Alternative Futures)

Causal Layered Analysis

Causal layered analysis, a theory and practice of organisational, social and civilisational change, seeks to transform the present and the future, through deconstructing and reconstructing reality at four levels. The levels are: the litany or day to day unquestioned views of reality, the systemic, the worldview/stakeholder perspective and the deepest, often unconscious, myths and metaphors. Problems are considered at all four levels and multiple worldviews and stakeholders are brought into to consider alternatives. By moving up and down layers and considering alternative perspectives, transformative policy and strategic solutions are created.

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Contributions by Sashi Kumar (Media and Communication)

  • Portrayals of Rape
The gruesome manner of it instantly made this rape more than a statistic. Through the 13 days that the life of the 23-year-old woman hung in the balance, along with the anger and indignation that hit the streets of Delhi and other cities and towns, and beyond the incredibly callous comments by politicians of the right, left and centre, was a sense of stark helplessness, a desperate search for meaning. 
  • On 'Mediacracy' and Intellectuals
This conflation of the nation and the channel is at its bellicose acutest when, as now, something happens along the border with Pakistan. There is a recurring pattern of Track Two diplomacy between the two countries being brought to naught by the news media on either side second-guessing, blow by blow, the efforts at rapprochement so that the diplomatic corps and the political class take one step forward and, the moment the media swings into the act, two steps back, lest it be projected as a sell-out. If only the media could wage peace with as deadly effect as it mongers war!
  • Oedipus Vex:  Engorged on Anna, a feral media orchestrates opinion by inculcation
  • Hegemony in Contemporary Culture and Media and the Need for a Counter Initiative
Gramscian hegemony, more than overt imperialism, characterises contemporary mass culture and media. A paradigm shift in the way we understand, represent and experience the world subserves a new and aggressive corporate teleology. Technological convergence and digitisation, which held an initial promise of and potential for democratisation, collapse into vertical integration and monopolisation. In the process, cultural sovereignty is abstracted into a homogenised, make-believe, global marketplace, which reduces every individual to a consumer and excludes the real and abiding concerns of vast swathes of humanity. An intellectual resurgence must counter the counterfeit revolution of the information era.

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Contributions of Indu Prakash Singh (On Homeless People)

Non–Negotiables for the Shelters for the Homeless Residents (CityMakers) 

Rights Based Approach (RBA)



Being proactive!


A World of Care for the CityMakers (Homeless Residents):  Devoid of Brutality, Fear and Humiliation

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Contrubutions By Manish Jain

McEducation for All: 
Whose Agenda Does Global Education Really Serve?

By Manish Jain

The reflections in this article are a result of my explorations with rethinking education and development over the past 20 years. My work in essence is about strengthening peoples’ knowledge systems and cultural imaginations, and regenerating the larger learning commons that is necessary to move from a schooling society to learning societies. My essay has two deeper objectives: 1) To raise the bar of courage, dialogue and imagination required to think beyond the global monopoly of Education for All (EFA) which I believe needs to be exposed for what it really is, that is, McEducation for All; 2) To help reclaim and revitalize what is commonly called ‘informal education’, basically all of the natural learning that happens in everyday life that does not fit neatly into institutionalized categories of formal and non-formal education.  
Download full article from here.
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The Zoroastrian View of Ecology by Homi Dhalla

More of Dr. Homi Dhalla's contributions can be accessed here. 

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Blogs and Websites

  • Claudia Jazz Haley
The Rpkeya Project
Bringing young people together to create artistic responses to the problems of our global society.
  • Sangeetha Sriram
Love, Fresh Air and Sunshine
  • Prof. T.K Nair
Prof. T.K Nair's Social Work Blog

The Global Centre

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  • Focus
  • Vision, Mission and Values
  • Orientation
  • Disciplinary Focus Areas
  • SES Narratives (Spiritually-engaged Sustainability Narratives)
  • Climate Change
  • Urbanisation
  • HRD/HRM
  • People and Structure
  • Promoting SENSE

Knowledge Base

  • Main Catalogue
  • General Links
  • Indigenous Knowledge Collection
  • Agroecology
  • Beyond Sustainable Development
  • Commodification
  • No-Growth Philosophy
  • Focus Areas Sub-Catalogue
  • Sustainability and Spirituality

  • Ecology and Religion
  • Planetary Consciousness
  • Eco-Psychology
  • Future Studies
  • Sustainable Design
  • Authentic Communication
  • Sustainable Leadership
  • Books 
  • Reports
  • Videos on Contemporary Issues
  • Technologies for Sharing, Dialogue and Action
  • Info-graphics on Sustainability
Our Book
  • Living Pathways
Managed by:
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www.publicmediaagency.org

Booklet Series (Reprints)
Critical Orientations 
to Sustainability and Spirituality 


  • 7 Screens
  • Dialogue

This site promotes the orientation, activities, resources and projects of the Centre for the Study of Sustainable Futures and Spirituality (GCSSFS). The Centre is supported in the area of content generation, project execution, design and general administration by Public Media Agency (PMA),  Petaling Jaya, Malaysia under the direct care of one of their creative consultants, Dr. M. Nadarajah (Nat). Nat works as consultant on different projects.  He supports PMA on its various projects supporting social causes. Nat is presently engaged with Xavier University@Bhubaneshwar, India, with it School of Sustainability. He works with Loyola College@Chennai, India on issues related sustainability and spirituality. He is associated with the Centre for Diaspora Studies@MSU, Tirunelveli, India. He continues to support Pesticide Action Network Asia and the Pacific (PAN AP), which is based in Penang, Malaysia, as consultant on a project to set up a 'blended' institution, International People's Agroecology Multiversity (IPAM), to promote agroecology across Asia and the Pacific. He is also a member of the Asian Public Intellectual (API)  community.

GCSSFS, 2016