The
Case for Optimism
We
do face risks for survival, but if we change course, there are
probabilities of a decent life for all people. here are 10 major
steps that must be taken now.
By Maurice Strong
Are
we headed for planetary doomsday? Is the human prospect as bleak and
unpromising as the prophets of doom suggest? I believe that there
is a case for hope, that doomsday is not inevitable.
There is hope
in the dawning realization of our basic interdependence in caring
for and sharing the worlds precious resources.
There is hope
in the attitudes of young people, their questioning of the competitive,
materialistic values of our society, in their awakening sensitivities
to its inequities and injustices.
There is hope
in the courageous experimentation of some people, particularly
youth, with new, simpler, more human life-styles, which are pioneering
new concepts of growth and alternative development patterns.
There is hope
in the growing number of positive examples of the way the creative
uses of technology, combined with political will, can indeed
produce a better and more livable environment.
There is hope
in many parts of the developing world where traditional values
and cultures have been harmonized with modern technology to permit
the achievement of a quality of life that is in no way inferior
to that enjoyed by the wealthier societies and in many ways has
much to teach them.
There is hope
in the nature of man himself, man at his best, and in the evidence
in our past that we can and do respond to appeals to our higher
values and our larger concepts of enlightened self interest.
I am fully
persuaded that the case for hope must begin with a realistic
acknowledgment of the fact that we do indeed face risks to our
survival and, perhaps more importantly, to the survival of the
qualities and values which endow human life with its higher purposes
and meaning.
Doomsday
is possible, -- even probable -- if we continue on our present
course, but it is not inevitable. It is possible to opt for a
future of unparalleled promise and opportunity for the human
species. But this future can come about only if we make a radical
change in our present course.
More
from The Case for Optimism coming soon to this innerspace!