The Recalibrating Our “Moral Compasses” (ROMC) Survey Project--Now Seeking Collaborators

This “Now Seeking Collaborators” outreach message includes the following sections:

Introduction
Details about the Survey Design
The Three Most Important Goals of The ROMC Survey Project
Why The ROMC Survey Project Could Make Especially Valuable Contributions
What the ROMC Survey Project is Currently Seeking
ROMC Survey Project Documents
Concluding Comments

Introduction

The ROMC Survey Project is seeking advisors and collaborators for a large survey project: a survey of 300 people from around the world, who are well known in fields of activity associated with creating a peaceful and sustainable world.

The ROMC Survey Project believes there are many unprecedented challenges which are now on dangerous trajectories (many danger signs flashing red); that there is a high likelihood of significant, actually occurring, and ongoing damage to ecological stability and social cohesion; and (thus) that there is an urgent need to reach positive tipping points on many of these challenges as soon as possible.

What we need more of now are collaborative problem solving processes which help citizens understand that the investments of time, energy, and money (the “votes”) each of us make in our everyday circumstances become the larger economy. And that wisely directed, such “votes” can result in countless ways of earning a living which contribute to the peacebuilding, community revitalization, and ecological sustainability efforts necessary to drastically reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions, and minimize other related challenges. Citizens from every variety of circumstances can learn how to wisely cast such “votes”—through workshops and meetings at Neighborhood Learning Centers (during a Community Visioning Initiative, for example) and through other local learning experiences.

But even if we had such collaborative problem solving processes in place, what do we have in the way of working definitions of “right livelihood” and “moral compasses” which would help “citizens from every variety of circumstances learn how to wisely cast such ‘votes’”?

And if we have serious concerns about the nature and reliability of our “moral compasses” at this critical time, we may not be able to avoid the kind of capital misallocations “which deplete the world’s stock of natural wealth” and “allow businesses to run up significant, largely unaccounted for, and unchecked social and environmental externalities”… and thus we may do more to create widespread cynicism, rather than confidence, about our collective capacity to resolve the unprecedented challenges we face.

But how will we even know if we have such concerns if the most well-known critical challenge assessments and solution guides do not give serious attention to the nature and reliability of our “moral compasses”?

Details about the Survey Design

The ROMC Survey Project is being designed to contribute significant input towards determining, with a high degree of certainty, whether or not we are at a critical point in the history of life of Planet Earth—and how we can best use field specific solutions, collaborative problem solving processes, and working definitions of “right livelihood” and “moral compasses” to maximize citizen participation, accelerate solution-oriented activity, and—as quickly as possible—reach positive tipping points on many of the challenges of our times.

In the survey, carefully selected participants will be asked 9 questions, which (in the current version; 12/2014) will include questions requesting--

1) a 10-20 page critical challenge assessment [an “Example Challenge Assessment” (20 pages) is in Appendix B of the ROMC Survey Project Prospectus—see Project Documents list below]
2) a 10-20 page summary (with as much detail as possible) of solutions specific to their field(s) of activity [an “Example Solutions Guide” (17 pages) is in Appendix C of ROMC Prospectus]
3) 4-10 pages describing collaborative problem solving processes which survey respondents feel will be most effective at creating positive tipping points and positive multiplier effects at the local community level

--and questions seeking input on

4) what local institutions would be most appropriate to commission a “right livelihood” resource guide
5) what is a “moral compass”? (i.e. How does one know when one has a “moral compass”?; how is it created; what do people usually expect a “moral compass” to do for them?; etc).
6) what percentage of people have a “moral compass” which is relevant to the challenges of our times, and which they use regularly to make wise choices regarding the investments of time, energy, and money they make in the everyday circumstances of their lives?
7) how a “moral compass” might be created and maintained, so that it remains relevant even during times of unprecedented change.

The Three Most Important Goals of The ROMC Survey Project

The three most important goals of The ROMC Survey Project are:

1) to compile key insights on the challenges of our times—and solutions to those challenges—from survey respondents most people will recognize as voices of experience speaking honestly and truthfully about what could be the most critical time of decision-making in the history of life on Planet Earth

2) to create clearinghouses—accessible on The ROMC Survey Project website—which

a) organize and make accessible survey responses, and evidence supporting the responses, for both critical challenge assessments and field specific solutions
b) organize and make accessible best practices in the field of stakeholder engagement/collaborative problem solving
c) organize and make accessible input relevant to building more consensus about the meanings of “right livelihood” and “moral compasses”

3) to create educational resources

a) an Ebook with 30 selected responses to the 9 survey questions
b) a website which provides access to all 300 responses, and which hosts a Discussion Forum
c) an indicator/index (derived from the 300 responses) which can be updated every 2 years (to monitor and report on awareness, resources, and initiatives relating to resolving the unprecedented challenges ahead); etc

Why The ROMC Survey Project Could Make Especially Valuable Contributions

What makes this ROMC Survey Project most unique, and why it could make especially valuable contributions at this critical time, is that it believes variations in human morality, the “leanings of human aspirations”, and a need for more consensus about the meanings of “right livelihood” and “moral compasses” are significant factors affecting the nature of the challenges of our time—and thus it incorporates such factors into both survey design, and survey presentation.

What The ROMC Survey Project is Currently Seeking

The ROMC Survey Project is currently seeking:

1) a Board of Advisors

2) people, organizations, and educational institutions interested in collaborating to carry out this project, especially

a) universities and colleges which could house the project, benefit from becoming a clearinghouse for many of the survey topics, and provide experiential training for students—and thus develop into a provider of practitioners with skill sets related to the many facets of this survey project

b) research organizations and socially responsible investment organizations, who see the potential of this ROMC Survey Project to create an indicator/index, which would provide key data about where we are on the spectrum of “many danger signs flashing red” on one end, and “many positive tipping points achieved” on the other end

c) non-profits working on holding global warming at or below 2OC, and non-profits contributing to ecologically sustainable local community and regional economies

ROMC Survey Project Documents

There are currently 3 documents which describe the potential of this project to make valuable contributions:

a) this 4 page “Now Seeking Collaborators” outreach message
b) a 13 page Overview (on The Potential for Valuable Contributions)
c) the 74 page Prospectus (Gathering Evidence to Support a Recalibration of Our “Moral Compasses)

These documents are all accessible for free at http://www.cpcs.co/romc-survey-project.html

Concluding Comments

The ROMC Survey Project is being designed to contribute significant input towards determining, with a high degree of certainty, whether or not we are at a critical point in the history of life of Planet Earth—and how we can best use field specific solutions, collaborative problem solving processes, and working definitions of “right livelihood” and “moral compasses”, to maximize citizen participation, accelerate solution-oriented activity, and—as quickly as possible—reach positive tipping points on many of the challenges of our times.

The ROMC Survey Project believes that there is a need for hundreds of surveys similar to The ROMC Survey Project, as a way of gathering sufficient evidence to recalibrate our “moral compasses” at this critical time.