With the presumed success of the Paris COP21 Climate Accord, are we beginning to see the socio-cultural dawn of the Turquoise value system? This is a level of human existence that recognizes the finite resources of our planet and looks to restore the damage we’ve done over the last 500 years to our only home.

There is no doubt that the deal reached in Paris by 200 nations represents the dawn of a new level of global cooperation. Many participants dubbed the last day of talks as a “Momentous Day.” In the Graves-Beck-MEMEnomics model, humanity needs many of these momentous days to create what Dr. Graves called a “Momentous Leap”; a sustained level of human development from which there is no return to the lower levels of existence that we’re experiencing today.

This entry and the Paris COP21 serve as a confirmation of Dr. Graves’s research on how cultures evolve. It is also a validation of his Level of Existence Theory (ECLET), which proves its superiority to other models on issues that deal with the dynamic relationship between human and cultural emergence.

Unlike many models that believe that the primary driver of change is the evolution of human consciousness, the Graves model places change in the hands of  Existential Reality as the triggering mechanism for higher levels of psychological development. Sadly, in developmental psychology today, there’s little attention paid to the study of systems and cultures, which, in my opinion is a disservice to humanity.

So, what does that have to do with this unprecedented Paris deal that has the potential to define the future of global governance? Most psycho-spiritual models on the evolution of consciousness are absent the implications of the social psychology aspect of Graves’ model. Graves believes that in most cases, we ascend to higher levels of sustained bio-psycho-social development when  solutions to our Existential problems can no longer come from the current system. As a result, we propel ourselves into the next system out of necessity. Conscious evolution rarely influences the political class that runs the world. As proof, Paris COP21 came out of overwhelming evidence that the planet is in trouble. It came out of “survival needs” and the necessity to resolve that, not out of “voluntary evolution of consciousness” of a few highly evolved people who rarely influence the political process.

Paris was about survival of the human species in a complex world.  Much like the first level of human existence, the Beige/Caveman system that seeks the survival of the individual, this time around, evidence is pointing to survival values in the much higher Second Tier of the Graves model. Challenges from our current Existential Reality have triggered the intelligence needed  to solve problems of existence. This time around, the problems are of exponentially higher complexity. The A-N Beige-Survival of the Individual values, repeats in Second Tier as A1-N1-Yellow, but this time around it’s the Survival of the Planet values. And, if humanity doesn’t become extinct, Third Tier A2-N2 might be the fight for the Survival of our Solar System values. Of course, any talk beyond the Yellow value system at this point, is pure speculation. We will never fully know the content of what evolves that far ahead while we’re still fighting the subsistence values of the lower six levels.

To the point on whether cultural emergence happens out of evolution of consciousness or necessity, if the top 3 polluters, the US, Europe, and China could sell their products on another planet they will have no incentive to evolve their views on economics, capitalism and endless growth. They would very likely continue to separate their actions from any sense of responsibility towards restoring the damage done to the planet. Thankfully, there are no extraterrestrial markets, nor is there another planet we can pick up and move to. Because of these facts we are forced to evolve our ways, not voluntarily, but out of the necessity to survive and adapt to new realities.

Based on the Graves model, I contend that if Paris COP21 laid out the potential road map for a Turquoise level of human existence, then it is the hard work of the Yellow system (The Gravesian Platform for Functional Capitalism), to build a road map from that blueprint. This is what lies ahead for the foreseeable few decades.

The fact that the developed world has taken responsibility for our current carbon footprint is a good start. Inward reflection and holding ourselves accountable to our past actions is the first step towards healing a broken planet. This realization however, cannot be punitive towards the emerging world. Advanced countries cannot shut the door to modernity on their younger siblings.  First world economies have the responsibility to provide the rest of the world  with tools and methods learned from the lessons of their own journey.

To help the world meet the targets of Paris COP21, Western nations need to engage more in creating disruptive technologies that will hasten the end of our carbon-heavy Industrial Age values. That disruption must be brought to an all-systems application, from the way we govern to the way we run global finance, and to how we design new management systems, harness energy  and reinvent  manufacturing processes.

The challenges to our survival today are far more complex than those we faced when the first coal-fired factory started belching black smoke over London 350 years ago. The trials and tribulations that brought us to Paris since, may never be repeated again in history.