http://www.youtube.com/drtfmalone
Transcript of Speech:
A Societal Response to Three Overarching Global Challenges
It is a genuine pleasure to share with you some reflections on the future of humanity as they have emerged since my graduation in 1936. The 21st Century is emerging as a “tipping point” for human life on planet Earth. Whether our future is bright and sunny, or cloudy and forbidding, will depend ultimately on the collective impact of decisions made by individual members of our global society.
Today, humanity faces three overarching challenges: (1) sustainability (or survivability) – reconciling exponential growth in the global economy with the finite capacity of our planet to provide the goods and services necessary to meet expanding basic human needs and legitimate aspirations, (2) equity – achieving fairness in sharing our planet’s resources among all people, (3) nuclear catastrophe - the stark possibility that conflict among nations could escalate into a globally disastrous nuclear war. In the final analysis, the most effective response to these three challenges will be the universal adoption of a set of the human values that will guide decisions by individuals as they pursue sustainability, equity, and peace.
The sustainability challenge is clear from the fact that during the last thousand years the global economy expanded nearly 300 times as a result of a 22-fold growth in world population and a 12-fold growth in average economic productivity of each individual. Today, society’s demands on Earth’s natural resources are about 30 per cent greater than our planet’s capacity to renew those resources. If we pursue the path on which we are now embarked, the global economy could grow another four times within a few decades. But that growth is not possible, since we are already exceeding our planet’s carrying capacity – and this imbalance is growing. The natural world has manifested ominous signs of this over-capacity, particularly in the climatic dangers posed by man-made global warming. In addition to perilous climate change, the present path on which world society is embarked would lead to a future plagued by escalating wars fought over dwindling natural resources. The very survival of civilization is at stake!
The equity challenge is manifested in the widening gap in living standards between the rich and poor nations, paralleled by widening gaps between the affluent and impoverished individuals within all nations. Presently, there is a 23-fold gap between living standards between the affluent countries and the least developed countries. A “business as usual” path would increase that gap within four decades. That pattern is replicated within all nations. Left unchecked, this discrepancy will lead to armed conflict between nations and social unrest within all nations. The outlook is ominous!
The development of nuclear weapons has added a frightening dimension to armed conflict. This development brought a dramatic end to World War II and was barely contained during the tensions between the two superpowers during the last half of the 20th Century. Studies have demonstrated the potential global devastation of a large-scale nuclear war, and the roster of nations with nuclear weaponry continues to grow. Apocalypse threatens!
Intellectual leadership on the linked issues of environment and religion is under way at Yale’s multireligious, multicultural, and interdisciplinary Forum on Religion and Ecology (www.fore.yale.edu ) coordinated by Mary Evelyn Tucker and John Grim. Meanwhile, a grassroots effort along these lines is the United Religions Initiative (URI) founded in 2000 and dedicated to the promotion of enduring, daily, interfaith co-operation through a worldwide network of self-motivated and self-organizing Cooperation Circles (CCs) that create local cultures of peace, justice, and healing for the Earth and all living beings. URI is a bridge-building organization and not a religion. It respects the sacred wisdom of each religion, spiritual expression, and indigenous tradition. Nearly 400 CCs are active in about 70 countries, involving a hundred religions and tens of thousands of individuals. In 1993, Hans Kung famously remarked: “Peace among nations requires peace among religions that in turn requires dialogue among religions.” URI can be accessed at its website: www.uri.org.
A greatly expanded URI could be a promising response to our three contemporary global challenges. Enriched by incorporating into it the principles of the Earth Charter (www.earthcharter.org), the URI and its associated CCs would bring within reach success in the pursuit of the realistic dream of a world society in which all of the basic human needs and an equitable share of life’s amenities are met by every individual in successive generations while maintaining a healthy, physically attractive, and biologically productive environment.
Transforming this dream into reality is the unique opportunity facing every individual on planet Earth during the 21st century.
Let’s do it. Why not?
