Where Are We?

We also want to know
What's Possible

If the yardstick is environmentally sustainable, spiritually fulfilling and socially justthen where are we? What do we see occuring around u? And what is the gap which still needs to be closed to bring us to this peaceful, just and sustainable goal? 

Social Justice – is our world fair?

Wealth Distribution

• The United Nations University found that the top 2% of wealth-holders in the world controls more than 50% of all wealth on Earth
• The bottom half of humanity–more than three billion people—control less than 1% of all global wealth
• In 1998, the top 1% of the US population held 38% of the total wealth. The wealthiest 10% held 71% of total wealth and the bottom 40% of the population in the U.S. held only about two-tenths of 1% of total wealth. 
• The U.S. has the third largest inequality in the distribution of wealth of any country in the industrialized world—the only countries in the industrialized world ranking higher in unequal distribution of wealth are Russia and Mexico.

Verdict – wealth inequality is huge and growing

Social Indicators

• 80% of humanity lives in sub-standard housing
• One out of two people on Earth are malnourished on a daily basis
• One out of three people on this planet have access only to unsafe water to drink
• The percentage of African Americans and Native Americans in the USA living under the poverty line is three times that of whites
• Forty-three percent of black children in the USA live beneath the poverty line, and their life expectancy is about seven years shorter than that of white children
• In the USA young black men are now just as likely to end up in jail as to receive formal higher education. And there is now a higher percentage of African American men in jail than the percentage that were imprisoned under Apartheid in South Africa

Verdict – a small minority live in comfort as the huge majority lack basic rights and a basic standard of living

Environmental Sustainability – can our way of living continue?

Population of Humans

When you see a graph like this of the growth in population of rabbits or field mice, you know that this kind of growth can’t possibly be sustained—and it is pretty clear that the rabbits have some very hard times ahead.

Verdict – hard times ahead.

Population of Other Species

• Half of all species of life may be extinct in 50 years, we are losing as many as 100 species a day
• We are witnessing the sixth mass extinction of life in the history of Planet Earth
  

Verdict – erosion of biodiversity very serious and accelerating.

Greenhouse Gases

• Every breath we take contains 30% more carbon dioxide than the breaths our grandparents took
• Polar ice-caps are melting at rates which exceed even the most pessimistic projections of scientists, the Arctic ice-cap may be completely disappeared by 2020

Verdict – expect severe consequences, both predictable and unpredictable, if unchecked.

Top Soil

• Forty per cent of the globe’s agricultural lands are degraded
• Twenty per cent are in danger of becoming deserts

Verdict – land management increasingly vital to protect the food supply

Deforestation

• Since the Industrial Age we have destroyed 70% of our forests

Verdict – serious consequences for greenhouse gas balance expected.

Water

• 2 billion people already contend with water shortage
• We are using water beyong the rates of replenshment

Verdict – dry times ahead

Footprint

We already require the resources of 1.3 planets to support the current population on Earth, whilst both rates of resource usage and population continue to rise

Verdict – the ability of the planet’s ecosystems to support future generations can no longer be taken for granted.

Spiritual Fulfillment – are we at peace with ourselves?

Alcohol

In the United States 700,000 people receive treatment for alcoholism on any given day (and those are the ones seeking treatment)

Verdict – use of alcohol irresponsibly is increasing

Stress

Doctors in the USA reckon 75 – 90% of visits are for stress-related conditions

Suicide

17% of US American school children have seriously considered suicide in the last 12 months, 9% attempted it

Violence

The typical American child in his or her lifetime will witness 8,000 murders and 100,000 acts of violence on television, and by age 18 will have spent more time in front of the television than in school

Overall Summary

Our dream is causing huge ecological devastation and enormous human suffering, and this will continue to produce increasingly serious effects unless we change to a new dream.

Personally, it will be completely normal to feel grief, rage, guilt or enormous sadness; any and all of these emotions are common responses as we confront the full facts of our situation.  Be aware that these will pass most quickly if you acknowledge their existence, express them fully and commit yourself to a course of positive action.

Please be aware of others who will only be able to respond by retrenching into old dream thinking, clinging to the hope that the things will somehow all turn out OK without their lives being disrupted. Expect to see denial, even ridicule, used in the face of the facts above.