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One of the most important books of 2024, Children of a Modest Star sparks a vital conversation about the future of planetary governance – a concept distinct from global governance. While the nation-state may dominate our current political thinking, it represents only a brief chapter in the long history of human organisasing. For most of our past, we’ve lived under diverse forms of multi-level governance. Now, as we face challenges that transcend borders, it’s time to expand our thinking. This book urges us to imagine – and begin shaping – a truly planetary thinking.

Matti Sarmela, the Finnish cultural anthropologist, foresaw much of what we’re grappling with today – as early as the 1980s. This book takes readers on a fascinating journey from deep history to the horizon of the future. For most of human history, culture was profoundly local, shaped by immediate surroundings and traditions. Over time, this was replaced by hierarchical systems of power and knowledge, and eventually by a post-local, interconnected world. Reading this book, I was struck by a humbling realization: just how little we would have if the global systems of exchange were to collapse.

Seeing humanity as a relational being – deeply embedded in and inseparable from nature – is a relatively recent perspective. While we are products of biological evolution, most social and political theories have largely ignored this reality. In the Anthropocene, however, making this shift in our worldview, our theories, and our practices is not just important – it’s urgent. The New Survival Doctrine, a book by Pekka Kuusi Ecofoundation is about that transformative shift.

How can we organize humanity to maximize well-being for all – while staying within the planetary boundaries? The visionary book by Jon Sundell offers a bold proposal: a radical new system of governance designed to unlock human potential and expand freedom, all within the boundaries of a thriving Earth.