Peace Archive: Jerry Brown

If you limited yourself to following conventional political debate, you would be unaware that a group of the world's leading scientists has unequivocally stated: "A great change in our stewardship of the earth and the life on it is required if vast human misery is to be avoided and our global home on this planet is not to be irretrievably mutilated."
Two views are vying for the allegiance of humankind. One is a complacent status quo--more inefficient and inequitable industrialized growth, leading to a computerized world of 12 billion people surviving as a global ant heap. The other is a transformed civilization based on wisdom, skill, caring, and collective and individual self-restraint.
This is the moment for prophets, for vision. Otherwise, the people will truly perish. The current war on terrorism dominates the headlines. Yet, as 99 Nobel laureates proclaimed in their 1992 Warning to Humanity, longer lasting and equally profound dangers are facing humanity in the form of deforestation, species loss and climate change, all of which could trigger "unpredictable collapses of critical biological systems whose interactions and dynamics we only imperfectly understand."

" . . .If you limited yourself to following conventional political debate, you would be unaware that a group of the world's leading scientists has unequivocally stated: "A great change in our stewardship of the earth and the life on it is required if vast human misery is to be avoided and our global home on this planet is not to be irretrievably mutilated."

This is unpleasant stuff. It is so unpleasant that conventional leaders would rather comfort us with reassuring words about the power of markets and the inevitability of medical and technical breakthroughs. When I was governor of California, the president of the leading Electric Utility company told me--after a fundraising dinner and drinks--that he hoped his company's nuclear power plant wouldn't go critical on his watch. He laughed and I shivered. Reflect for a moment on the popularity of Disney's gigantic amusement center in Florida. With more hotel rooms than either Los Angeles or New York, Disney has hit tourist nirvana as the most visited vacation spot in the world. Could this be the ersatz answer to the awesome challenge of the age? Create a perfect, managed reality that provides crime free, clean fun. In truth, this "Disneyfication" of existence does promise certainty and wonderfully sanitary conditions. Few need worry there about soil loss or global warming or an overcrowded world haunted by hungry people if they are sufficiently distracted and soothed.
The world's scientists are blowing the whistle. They are questioning over-consumption and straight-line optimism based on carbon-dependent auto travel, 24 hour advertising and endless expansion of desire and waste. They are telling us to change. How?

Shift sooner rather than later from fossil fuels to benign, inexhaustible energy sources. The sun has boundless energy, if we have the wit to use it.

Halt deforestation, destruction of agricultural land and loss of species. Stop wasting energy, water and materials--conserve and recycle.
Figure out what really slows population growth and encourage it.

Let those countries that have the power and conventional wealth lead the way by respecting environmental constraints, fostering real and sustainable ways of living and ensuring that equity becomes the foundation of local, national and international economic and political governance.

Please provide your own comments and your ideas on how this gathering can generate the positive commitments and the sustaining ideas that will help us negotiate this incredibly difficult and dangerous world.

Jerry Brown
http://www.jerrybrown.org/


	If you limited yourself to following conventional political debate, you would be unaware that a group of the world's leading scientists has unequivocally stated: "A great change in our stewardship of the earth and the life on it is required if vast human misery is to be avoided and our global home on this planet is not to be irretrievably mutilated." Two views are vying for the allegiance of humankind. One is a complacent status quo--more inefficient and inequitable industrialized growth, leading to a computerized world of 12 billion people surviving as a global ant heap. The other is a transformed civilization based on wisdom, skill, caring, and collective and individual self-restraint. This is the moment for prophets, for vision. Otherwise, the people will truly perish. The current war on terrorism dominates the headlines. Yet, as 99 Nobel laureates proclaimed in their 1992 Warning to Humanity, longer lasting and equally profound dangers are facing humanity in the form of deforestation, species loss and climate change, all of which could trigger "unpredictable collapses of critical biological systems whose interactions and dynamics we only imperfectly understand." " . . .If you limited yourself to following conventional political debate, you would be unaware that a group of the world's leading scientists has unequivocally stated: "A great change in our stewardship of the earth and the life on it is required if vast human misery is to be avoided and our global home on this planet is not to be irretrievably mutilated." This is unpleasant stuff. It is so unpleasant that conventional leaders would rather comfort us with reassuring words about the power of markets and the inevitability of medical and technical breakthroughs. When I was governor of California, the president of the leading Electric Utility company told me--after a fundraising dinner and drinks--that he hoped his company's nuclear power plant wouldn't go critical on his watch. He laughed and I shivered. Reflect for a moment on the popularity of Disney's gigantic amusement center in Florida. With more hotel rooms than either Los Angeles or New York, Disney has hit tourist nirvana as the most visited vacation spot in the world. Could this be the ersatz answer to the awesome challenge of the age? Create a perfect, managed reality that provides crime free, clean fun. In truth, this "Disneyfication" of existence does promise certainty and wonderfully sanitary conditions. Few need worry there about soil loss or global warming or an overcrowded world haunted by hungry people if they are sufficiently distracted and soothed. The world's scientists are blowing the whistle. They are questioning over-consumption and straight-line optimism based on carbon-dependent auto travel, 24 hour advertising and endless expansion of desire and waste. They are telling us to change. How? Shift sooner rather than later from fossil fuels to benign, inexhaustible energy sources. The sun has boundless energy, if we have the wit to use it. Halt deforestation, destruction of agricultural land and loss of species. Stop wasting energy, water and materials--conserve and recycle. Figure out what really slows population growth and encourage it. Let those countries that have the power and conventional wealth lead the way by respecting environmental constraints, fostering real and sustainable ways of living and ensuring that equity becomes the foundation of local, national and international economic and political governance. Please provide your own comments and your ideas on how this gathering can generate the positive commitments and the sustaining ideas that will help us negotiate this incredibly difficult and dangerous world. Jerry Brown http://www.jerrybrown.org/ << back
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