If there was one single word that could describe all of the diverse theories competing to define the 2012 mindshift, it would probably be another concept first proposed by Chardin: planetization.

The idea of planetization is that of an expanded frame of reference that places humanity and the biosphere into a new broader context of a symbiotic unity. To become planetized is to adopt new ways of thinking that reflect a holistic viewpoint between humankind and the planet.

A planetized view is one able to conceptually grasp that this planet is just one of many, from one solar system, among billions of star systems, among billions of galaxies. The Mayan calendar and the Vedic Yuga cycle, with their galactic frames of reference, are both planetized calendars. The planetophysical research of Dmitriev and the cosmoclimatology of Svens-mark are both planetized sciences.

The new Copernican revolution of planetization shifts the center point of our universe from the sun and our local solar system to the new reference point of the galactic center. This dramatically different sense of scale encourages more holistic global-scale thinking and makes it easier. A rapid shift to a planetized perspective may in fact be the best way to save our planet and ourselves from the blinkers of rampant technological consumerism and its toxic overshoot.

Planetization could be described as almost the polar opposite of globalization. The idea of globalization was to extend a free market around the world to increase international trade. In practice, this has tended to favor large multinational corporations at the expense of local, more sustainable industries. The economic transformation of globalization was only sustainable in a period of unprecedented global economic growth. The dual forces of the current economic crisis and ongoing energy crunch mean that the system of manufacturing parts of a car in China, shipping them to Europe to be assembled, and then sending them to Australia or Argentina to be sold no longer makes sense.

If globalization was the de facto economic religion of the expansionist late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, planetization is the balancing force of the emerging holistic paradigm of 2012. Dramatic choices await humanity as we approach 2012. As in the Chinese proverb, “We are born in interesting times.” It will be up to us collectively to decide whether this is a curse or a blessing.