1 The Requirements of a Sustainable Planetary System Duncan M. Taylor, School of Environmental Studies, University of Victoria, Canada Graeme M. Taylor, Co-ordinator, BEST Futures Project, Brisbane, Australia Abstract Living biological and social systems are sustainable as long as they are able to manage and adapt to change. Sustainability is a function of a system’s ability to meet its needs and maintain health, wholeness and resilience. Because the global system is now environmentally and socially unsustainable, it will collapse in the coming decades. It is unsustainable because it is based on destructive views and values that promote competition, exploitation, inequality, fear, violence and waste. For a global system to be sustainable, it must be based on constructive values that enable environmental, social and individual needs to be fully met. Since societies are organized by culture, a sustainable system will require a paradigm shift to an integral (holistic) worldview capable of organizing a functional system with congruent values, social structures and economic processes. Global events are being shaped by two trends: the dominant trend towards collapse and the emerging trend towards societal transformation. While the key elements of a sustainable system have begun to emerge, they are still very fragmented. We need to support their development through presenting a clear and unifying vision of a sustainable alternative. The Earth Charter is the cornerstone of this vision. Keywords Sustainable, global, system, society, functional, paradigm shift, needs, health, wholeness, resilience, integral, collapse, transformation, Earth Charter