We live in an endlessly interconnected world but every day all too many of us don’t consider the impact of our decisions on the next seven generations yet alone the next six, five, four, three, two, or even one. Historians will write about ours as the generation of great unconsciousness. How despite all the warning signs and red flags waving violently in front of our eyes, we failed to see the writing on the wall.
Remaining hopeful in the face of our willful inaction is a daily challenge. Hope lives in the certainty that there is always the possibility that we might still be able to stop the huge momentum that is propelling us ever faster toward our plunge over the cliff. Hope lives in knowing we can if we choose to.
In the midst of the recent violent turmoil in Greece, Tom Friedman observed a piece of graffiti left by a 10-year-old child, who wrote on wall, “In what kind of a world will I grow up?”
We are responsible for the answer to that question and for whether or not she’ll want to bring children of her own into the world she inherits from us.
Later this week, I’ll deliver another speech. I was asked to be hopeful. I promise to try. I’ll focus almost entirely on one issue.
We must move from “Siloed Interests” to a “Shared Purpose.” What I mean by that is that we can no longer afford to advocate for “our” issue rather than “the” issue. We must stop organizing ourselves into categories that separate those who fight for global climate change, human rights, health care, environmental justice, or any of the countless other challenges we face.
There is now only one issue: redesigning the systems that govern our societies to ensure they are sustainable, just, and promote well-being for all the world’s living things.