War of the World

As you are aware, a vital element in saving life and biodiversity on this planet is coherence of action and unity of purpose of human beings.  With the population having recently reached 7 billion¹ and increasing by 7 million every month, plants and animals are now being driven into extinction at a rate hundreds of times higher than is natural, as their habitats are being progressively destroyed.  At the same time, with many millions already living lives of extreme poverty, squalor and abject misery, and with Earth’s resources being exhausted at an ever increasing rate, the threat to and rising cost of food and water supplies is already leading to civil unrest, and will lead to millions of deaths in land and resource disputes if resource consumption is not stabilised at a sustainable level for both the short and the longer term. 

Fortunately; we do have the tools with which to address these problems – all we need do is apply them in a concerted global effort.  Yet this is truly the War of Our World; and the longer we delay, the greater the risk we run of failure, and the harder the task will be.  It is still not too late, but now is the time to make the change, now is the time when we can still make the difference and we must, because we are rapidly running out of time; and when it’s too late, it’s too late. 

Within a framework of security, defence and the law² to protect against man’s propensity to do wrong and the almost inevitable resource disputes in a time of change and readjustment of the world economy and man’s mindset, the following publications illuminate much of the way forward into a better, more fulfilling and safer future for our children³, our children’s children and all the lives to come.

1. ‘World on the Edge – How to prevent environmental and economic collapse'                        by Lester Brown⁴

2. ‘Prosperity Without Growth – Economics for a Finite Planet’ by Tim Jackson

3. ‘Capitalism as if the World Matters’ by Jonathan Porritt

4. ‘What Money Can’t Buy: The Moral Limits of Markets’ by Michael Sandel

5. ‘The Price of Inequality: The Avoidable Causes and Invisible Costs of Inequality’                 by Joseph Stiglitz

6. ‘Keynes: The Return of the Master’ by Robert Skidelsky

7. ‘How Much is Enough?: The Love of Money, and the Case for the Good Life’                       by Robert Skidelsky

8. ‘The Art of Happiness: A Handbook for Living’ by The Dalai Lama

9. ‘Pass It On’ by Joanna Macy

10. ‘Back to Sanity: Healing the Madness of Our Minds’ by Steve Taylor

11. ‘Out of the Darkness: From Turmoil to Transformation’ by Steve Taylor

12. ‘Waking From Sleep: Why Awakening Experiences Occur and How to Make Them Permanent’ by Steve Taylor

13. ‘How Much is Enough: Everything You Need to Know to Steer Clear of Overindulgence and Raise Likeable, Responsible and Respectful Children’ by Jean Clarke

14. ‘Detoxing Childhood: What Parents Need to Know to Raise Happy, Successful Children: What Parents Need to Know to Raise Bright, Balanced Children’ by Sue Palmer

I hope that these publications provide some food for thought and that you may be able to make use of them.

Yours with best wishes,

James

1. For a sustainable future... http://populationmatters.org/magazine/0812.pdf
2. Provided by the armed forces, the security and police services and the judiciary.
3. In all things; let all children dance; let all children play http://www.set4sport.com/

Note that an electronic version of the ‘World on the Edge...’ publication, along with presentations and a comprehensive dataset, may be downloaded free of charge from the Earth Policy Institute at http://www.earth-policy.org/books/wote