Arrival of the Anthropocene has focused attention on human beings’ impacts on functioning global ecosystems and made increasingly urgent the need to focus on global institutional reform. The Anthropocene involves the notion that we have entered into a new era in which human beings have permanently modified global ecosystems, including the climatic system. Evidence mounts that the Earth’s climatic system is approaching tipping points with potentially catastrophic consequences. This has led John Dryzek to call for a rethink of political institutions appropriate for this new era based on ‘ecosystemic reflexivity’ as a first overriding virtue. ‘Ecosystemic reflexivity’ involves incorporating better ways of listening to ecological systems with broader participation – taking in both nature and future generations – into human institutions.