WorldShift Council

Ervin Laszlo — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 17:45:42 +0000

THE G20 AND THE WS20:

TWO DECLARATIONS BUT ONE WORLD

Which World is the Real World?

AN AFTERWORD BY THE WS20 CONVENER

A review of the G20 Cannes Declaration and the parallel WS20 Declaration gives the impression that there are two different worlds. The world of the G20 is one where the problem is economic instability and financial insecurity, and the remedy is to re-stabilize the economy and overcome the financial crisis. The world of the WS20 Declaration is a world where seven billion people share a small and highly exploited planet and face the urgent need to share it cooperatively, peacefully, and sustainably.

In the WS20 world economic and financial issues are not the real problem: they are manifestations and consequences of the real problem. The real problem is the way the social, political, economic, financial, and cultural system of this planet evolved in the last several decades. This is a multidimensional system that has come to be unilaterally dominated by the economy. In the dominant feature of the system the function of money is to make money, and without money fulfilling this function the system collapses: its persistence depends essentially on accumulating wealth for a powerful minority. However, the continued concentration of wealth entails the progressive marginalization of the majority, and the progressive overexploitation of natural resources and degeneration of the environment.

The growth required for the viability of the system has an endemic problem: it generates social and cultural crises, catalyzes political upheavals—and produces economic instability and financial crises. Concentrating on the latter is like trying to cure the symptom while leaving the malady out of account. Yet this is precisely what the leaders of the twenty richest and most powerful countries of the world propose to do.

The G20’s approach is at best a band-aid covering a festering wound. It will not work even in the medium-term; at the most it will postpone the onset of one or another crisis. But if the processes the trigger the crises continue unchecked, the next crisis will be greater and less amenable to temporary fixes.

For this reason the WS20 recommends that the G20 appoint an independent body composed of ethical and insightful individuals to examine the root causes of the problem and recommend effective measure for coping with it. The Independent Advisory Council (IAC) would make its findings available to the G20 at its 2012 Mexico Summit, and the G20 would place the review of the findings on the Summit’s agenda. The Independent Advisory Council’s findings would be made available to the general public, since in the final count in a democracy it is the people who are to lead. Through the IAC the WS20 intends to provide the information the people need to lead wisely and effectively.

In the WS20’s view if real progress is to be made toward building a peaceful, equitable, and sustainable world, there is no alternative to this approach.

(Ervin Laszlo, November 8, 2011)

WS-20 Declaration Released

Ervin Laszlo — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 22:33:15 +0000

The 2011 WorldShift-20 Declaration was released on November 5th and is posted on this site together with the 2011 G-20 Cannes Summit Declaration. It is also available in .pdf format.

WS-20 Meeting in Munich

The WS-20 Council will meet in Munich on November 4th-5th, following the G-20 Summit in Cannes on November 3rd-4th, to consider the global economic and financial issues that make up the G-20 nation-state agenda. The aim of the Ws-20 Council is to contribute proposals on behalf of humanity for a comprehensive, far reaching and effective resolution to the enormous issues arising from the mismanagement of the financial system and the collective wealth of humanity that continue to dangerously threaten global society and humanity’s present and future. The 2011 WS-20 Council Declaration will be released at a Press Conference in Munich, Germany on November 5th.

Urgent Call for a Global Mindshift

Marianne Obermüller — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 18:10:59 +0000

“We stand at the threshold of a new world and a new identity that is spurred on to assume its role within a broader environment.” (Lewis Mumford)

Today we are meeting our fate. What will come next? We will only be able to start over again should it eventually be understand that it is our common responsibility. It is the responsibility of every single human being.

It is all about climate change in our minds and the way we think. When I founded the Earthrise Society two years ago, it was clear to me that we humans could not possibly continue living on ours planet the way we had before without causing irreparable harm. We find ourselves in an extremely critical situation.

For quite some time now there have been people who have recognized that in the long run humanity and the Earth could not continue to exist in this way. Many non-profit organizations have been formed with the idea of saving ourselves and our beautiful planet. Yet we cannot afford to continue existing at the expense of the poor and the weak.

The Earthrise Society is working specifically with those persons who have come to this recognition. The time is here for us to stop merely thinking of the needed new ideas. NOW is the time to actually implement them in practice. The intellectual world will help us understand the situation and risk taking this important step.

I am convinced that in part this will occur quite unobtrusively. The future of our society is changing. Our human life will only become more sustainable if we are all prepared to take the necessary initiatives. Sustainability means a society that can meet its needs without damaging the prospects of future generations.

Earthrise Society stands for intellectual climate change in the direction of a culture that thinks and the acts for the well being of all humanity and Planet Earth. Each individual human being along with his or her real needs and capacities must be placed at the center of society. We must listen to the wisdom of our children and our elders. We have to build upon people who understand that we only have a chance of success if we proceed in UNITY.

There is great potential in the WorldShift 20 Council responding to the G20 Declarations from the perspective and on behalf of all humanity. Together we will provide a platform and proposals for concrete action.

“Human consciousness and our sense for others will make a quantum leap forward. Everything will change. We will turn into completely new human beings.” (Paul Williams)

World Population Reaches 7 Billion

Min Jiayin — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 18:10:09 +0000

On the 30th of October, 2011 the world population reached 7 billion. This means a net increment of 1 billion over the past ten years. Based on this trend, the U.N. Population Fund predicts that, at the end of this century, world population will reach 10 or even 15 billion. This is a linear thinking that one deduces the future performance of a system from its past performance. The curves of population are full of non-linear changes in history. For example, for about one thousand years, from the Han-dynasty to the Song-dynasty, the population of China has been oscillating between 55 million and 15 million. When the country was united and society stabilized, population increased to 55 million, but when there was internal warring, famine and infectious disease, it reduced to 15 million.

In the 20th century, as the globalization of industry civilization continues, world population has been increasing, but on the other hand environment pollution, the greenhouse effect and resource shortness also continue; and if these negative factors are not kept in check, they will create wars for resources, natural calamities and famines. As a result the global population would be reduced to 5 or 6 billion.

WS-20 Meeting in Munich

Ervin Laszlo — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 19:05:02 +0000