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The PNAS Nexus “Earth at Risk” report makes clear that humanity is entering a phase of converging, self-reinforcing crises — climate change, biodiversity loss, overconsumption, food and water insecurity, and deepening social inequity — driven by an economic model predicated on endless growth. This model operates with the pathological dynamics of cancer: uncontrolled expansion, destruction of its host systems, and resistance to corrective feedback.
Building on John McMurtry’s life-value onto-axiology and his diagnosis of the “cancer stage of capitalism,” this article offers a framework for systemic healing: regenerative coherence. This paradigm recognizes that life at every scale — from cells to civilizations — depends on the reliable provision of universal life necessities: clean air, water, nutritious food, shelter, education, healthcare, cultural participation, and security. When these necessities are denied at any nested level (individual, community, national, planetary), systemic breakdown accelerates.
We propose the Nested Host Coherence Map, a design and policy tool showing how upward flows (local innovation, ecological feedback, cultural narratives) and downward flows (resource redistribution, ecological regulation, shared standards) must operate in concert to restore planetary stability. This model synthesizes the insights of planetary boundary science, commons governance, and Indigenous lifeways with economic and policy innovations such as Rights of Nature legislation, wellbeing economy frameworks, and global wealth transfers.
The urgency is non-negotiable: fossil fuel use must be cut now, ecosystems must be restored, and extractive capitalism must be replaced with regenerative systems that prioritize care, reciprocity, and justice. Anything less risks accelerating toward irreversible planetary tipping points. The challenge is nothing short of civilizational redesign.
This article aims to equip policymakers, academics, and civic leaders with a conceptual and operational framework to navigate this crossroads — choosing not the path of systemic pathology, but of planetary healing.
