“Systems thinking is a discipline for seeing wholes” – Peter Senge.

Dear Climate Healers,

We have written a technical paper on “Planet B: A Systems Engineering Approach for World Peace and Planetary Health” that is being peer-reviewed for publication as a chapter in the MDPI Special Issue on Global Challenges by the Planetary Health Alliance later this year. As a follow up to this paper, we invite you all to consider the following draft proclamation for Planet B. Our goal is to formally issue this proclamation during V-COP23 after due deliberation, to be signed by consenting participants as Founding Parents of Planet B.

A Proclamation for Planet B

Preamble

We, people and communities of Earth, acting in friendship with all Life,

• Celebrate freedom as the birthright of every human and non-human being to live, flourish, and pursue well-being without fear or domination;
  

• Affirm ahimsa (non-violence), compassion, and reciprocity as the moral center of a peaceful civilization;
  

• Recognize that planetary health and world peace grow from systems designed for care rather than harm;
  

• Choose to add SDG #18: Zero Animal Exploitation as a shared societal goal, and to place sufficiency and regeneration ahead of growth for its own sake;
  

• Resolve to transition by consent and collaboration to plant-based ways of living that honor interdependence and restore Earth’s living systems.
  

With free hearts and open minds, we proclaim the following.

I. Meanings We Share

• Planet B. A freely chosen social order in which people nourish, clothe, entertain, and innovate without exploiting or killing non-human animals, because we prefer compassion and find it better by every measure.
  

• Zero Animal Exploitation (SDG #18). A common ethic and public commitment to practices that exclude animals as commodities, while expanding rescue, sanctuary, and mutual care.
  

• Plant-Based Systems. Interconnected food, health, cultural, economic, and knowledge systems designed to meet needs with whole-food, plant-based provisioning and to regenerate ecosystems.
  

• Rewilding. The joyful return of space and time to wild communities, enabling self-willed nature to thrive alongside us.
  

• Just Transition. A promise we make to one another that no person is left behind as we evolve our livelihoods and identities.
  

II. Guiding Principles (Axioms)

• Axiom A: Interdependence of all Life. We assert that all beings belong to one Community of Life and that what frees one, uplifts all.
• Axiom B: Non-Violence/ Zero Animal Exploitation: We choose means that do not harm and use compassion as a design constraint.
  
  
• Axiom C: Sufficiency over Growth. We choose goals oriented towards planetary healing and purpose beyond the self.
  
  
• Axiom D: Universal Provisioning within Planetary Limits. We organize for clean air, healthy soil, pure water and vitalizing food for all beings so that universal need, not luxury consumption, is our optimization criterion.
  
  
• Axiom E: Honesty and Humility as Design Criteria. We practice open science, transparent learning, and the precautionary principle.
  
  
• Axiom F: Distributed, Participatory Governance. We adopt distributed decision architectures that place whole-system health at the core and give standing to human and non-human stakeholders.
  
  
• Axiom G: Technology Subordinated to Life. We direct scientific and technological advancement to serve whole-system healing and prioritize technologies by their contribution to biosphere integrity and compassion.

III. Freedoms and Protections for Non-Human Animals

• Freedom From Harm. We recognize animal sentience and extend the freedom to live, form bonds, and inhabit their worlds without human exploitation.
  

• Guardianship. Communities create trusted Animal Guardians with a voice in public choices, so animals’ interests are heard and respected.
  

• Sanctuary Culture. We expand sanctuaries, rescue networks, and wild corridors as acts of love and gratitude.
  

IV. Food, Health, and Joyful Provisioning

• Plant-Forward Defaults. Schools, hospitals, workplaces, and public venues freely elect plant-based menus as the delicious, inclusive default—celebrating regional cuisines and cultural heritage.
  

• Access for All. We prioritize affordability and proximity of nourishing staples such as grains, legumes, fruits, vegetables, nuts, and seeds, through community kitchens, and cooperative distribution.
  

• Learning Together. We ensure culinary education, protein/calcium  literacy, and garden-to-table programs become everyday arts that families and communities enjoy together.
  

• Open Supply Chains. We support local processing, open-source formulations, and fair logistics that make simple, minimally processed plant foods abundant.
  

V. Land, Water, and Ocean Healing

• Living Landscapes. We commit to reconnecting habitats at scale, including native forests, grasslands, wetlands, rivers, reefs, so that biodiversity rebounds.
  

• Soil and Nutrients. We favor legume-centric rotations, trees on farms, and perennial polycultures that build soil carbon and revive microbiomes.
  

• Water for Life. We re-allocate by choice water from feed and confinement systems to ecosystems and communities, improving flow, quality, and resilience.
  

VI. Climate and Planetary Boundaries

• Fast Methane Wins. We unlock deep, near-term reductions in methane and nitrous oxide levels in the atmosphere by simply choosing plant-based provisioning and rewilding.
  

• Carbon Opportunity. We return land from animal use to wild mosaics and agroforestry in order to enable vast atmospheric carbon drawdown while cooling local climates.
  

• Biosphere Integrity. We phase in practices that reduce chemical loads and novel entities, guided by precaution and continuous learning.
  

VII. An Economy of Care

• Realigned Investment. We encourage resource flows toward legumes, fruits, vegetables, whole grains, ecological restoration, and community kitchens, because that is where health and happiness grow.
  

• True Value. We adopt accounting that sees the whole so that clean air and water, thriving soils, animal wellbeing, and human health are counted as wealth.
  

• Public Choice, Public Good. We use procurement by cities, schools, and hospitals to signal steady, fair trade for regenerative plant-based producers.
  

VIII. Just Transition: No One Left Behind

• Mutual-Aid Guarantees. We ensure workers and smallholders moving from animal-based livelihoods receive income bridges, reskilling, debt relief, and responsibilities in new plant-based and restoration enterprises.
  

• Rural Renewal. We revitalize rural communities to co-create diversified plant-based value chains, ecological restoration and place-based crafts and services.
  

• Dignity of Work. We identify new roles such as soil stewards, habitat restorers, chefs, nutrition coaches and wildlife rangers are honored and well supported.
  

IX. Milestones We Embrace (Indicative, by Consent)

• Within 12 months: We encourage public institutions to opt in to plant-based defaults, while communities map rewilding corridors and transition opportunities.
  

• By 2027: We aim for public provisioning to reach 100% plant-based as animal breeding for consumption winds down by shared commitment, and active transition support.
  

• By 2030: We aim to fully retire animal-use facilities peacefully with 30% of land/sea being cared for in connected, thriving networks so that methane content of the atmosphere has fallen sharply.
  

• By 2035–2040: We aim to ensure SDG #18 is fully realized in practice, Half-Earth style rewilding flourishes and all transgressed planetary boundaries trend back toward the safe zone.
  

(Milestones are collective aspirations that communities and institutions adopt freely and adapt locally.)

X. Culture, Education, and Health

• Curricula of Care. We ensure interdependence ethics, plant-based nutrition, and ecological literacy infuse education from early years to professional life.
  

• Healthcare for Life. We ensure preventive, plant-based care and culinary medicine become standard offerings, while communities share kitchens, gardens, and wellness practices.
  

• Stories We Tell. We ensure the arts, media, and festivals lift up the beauty of compassion, wild nature, and the world’s plant-based culinary traditions.
  

XI. Governance in Freedom

• SDG #18, By Choice. We encourage cities, regions, and nations to adopt SDG #18 through open deliberation, transparent metrics, and accountability.
  

• Councils for the Community of Life. We form plural, representative bodies with Indigenous leadership, scientists, ethicists, youth, and Animal Guardians, advise and consent on matters concerning all beings.
  

• Deliberative Democracy. We form citizens’ assemblies, participatory budgeting, and open data to anchor the transition in consent and trust.
  

XII. Knowledge Commons and Innovation

• Public-Interest R&D. We sponsor open, shared research on legumes, pulses, perennial grains, biodiversity-positive,  minimally processed plant foods and other necessities.
  

• Open Data, Shared Learning. We publish ecosystem, nutrition, affordability, and wellbeing indicators that are visible, enabling communities to learn and adapt together.
  

XIII. Global Friendship and Exchange

• Aligned Trade. We form partnerships to ease flows of plant-based staples and knowledge, while shifting resources toward compassionate provisioning.
  

• Solidarity Finance. We encourage grants, technology exchange, and debt relief support for Global South leadership in rewilding and plant-based transitions on their own terms.
  

XIV. Learning, Reflection, and Renewal

• Indicators We Watch: We monitor animal wellbeing, biodiversity, methane and nitrous oxide trajectories, plant-based affordability and uptake, dietary health, rewilded area, and worker transition flourishing.
  

• Rhythm of Review: Once a year, we gather, share what worked, and refine our path with humility, gratitude, and joy.
  

Entry in Spirit

This proclamation comes alive wherever free people consent to it by signature, by practice, and by care. In choosing to implement Planet B, we widen the circle of freedom from harm, freedom to belong, and freedom to thrive.

May Planet B be the world we build together, freely, and with love.

Signed on behalf of the Community of Life,
Date: Nov 2, 2025
Place: Toronto, ON, Canada
Founding Parents: ___________________________________

Join us at V-COP23

Please join us in Toronto for the Vegan Convergence Of the Peoples #23 (V-COP23) on Nov 1-2 to help shape and implement our system design plan for Planet B. The theme for V-COP23 is offered by our co-host, Plant Based Treaty: Redirect, Relinquish, Restore::

Redirect our focus from fixing Planet A to building Planet B.
Relinquish the excess resources we have taken from the planet.
Restore the life-support systems of the planet with the relinquished resources.

Please be there and help make history.

With much love,