Action Priorities for a Sustainable Civilization

Draft for discussion at the Interdisciplinary Conference on the Evolution of World Order

October 2004, Ryerson University, Toronto. Suggestions Helmut Burkhardt, 04-04-08

Sustainability of our civilization requires protection of life and procreation for humans and all living creatures in the long term. The necessary conditions for sustainability are:

• Ecological integrity of the environment, i.e. an intricately connected web of life in favourable cosmic conditions. A healthy ecosystem is necessary for sustained availability of vital resources such as clean air, water, food, and habitat.
• Social integrity, which is supported by appropriately chosen political and legal structures that protect us from injustice, violence, and war.
• Personal Integrity, which is given by health of body, mind and spirit. For personal integrity it is necessary for individuals to adopt a set of good social and ecological values, and a moderate life style.

Steps required by governments, civil society, and individuals for the implementation of a sustainable civilization are:

1. Adopt worldwide a set of universal values. These ‘objective’ values can be discovered by scientific observation of the biosphere; they also can be found in the common core of worldly wisdom in religions.

• Promote justice and fairness, which are basic social instruments for the protection of life and procreation.
• Handle with caution transcendental religious and ideological values, which are creations of belief. These transcendental values are not verifiable, nor common to all people. While they supply a sense of belonging to those who share the same beliefs, they also cause intolerance against others, even wars.
• Apply the precautionary principle in all decision making. The complex, and often chaotic nature of environmental, societal, and human questions do not allow for precise, and definitive answers. In case of doubt, decision makers should err on the side of caution.

2. Recognize the ecological imperative. Without rich biodiversity in the web of life, human civilization is not sustainable. We must protect and recover the integrity of the global ecosystem by reducing the environmental impact of population, consumption, and technology.

• Reward small poor families with education and health care for the children, and discourage large rich families through progressive taxation.

• Reduce consumption by a taxation system that rewards conservation and efficiency, and punishes waste and excessive consumption.
• Accelerate the use of appropriate technology: wind and solar energy to avoid climate change, and organic agriculture to prevent soil degradation and loss of biodiversity; decelerate applications of risky technologies: fossil fuel, nuclear energy, and genetic engineering. for fear of unintended consequences.

3. Design appropriate political and legal structures for serving global justice and peace. Given the nature of weapons available today conflict resolution by war has become suicidal. Therefore, conflict resolution through global law and its enforcement is the only rational and humane option.

• Empower the UN with a multilateral, global rapid reaction force to regulate the use of the global commons: outer space, the atmosphere, the oceans, Polar Regions, rain forests, international relations.
• Establish regional unions on each continent, equipped with multilateral, regional rapid reaction forces, following the example of Europe and Africa.
• Reform the UN Security Council by abolishing the veto right, and by adding permanent seats for regional unions.
• Introduce at all levels of government environmental accounting as a measure of well-being, and impose severe penalties for corruption.
• Add to the Earth Charter, and a Universal Declaration of Human Duties to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
• Preserve and restore cultural diversity: by not interfering in tribal communities, or benevolent dictatorships; by cultivating local languages and adding a common global language to the curriculum in all schools.

4. Issue an urgent call for action on, and implementation of the recommended steps toward a just and sustainable civilization to: politicians, church leaders, artists, media professionals, Educators, business and union executives, civil society activists, youth organizations, all citizens: men and women, including seniors.