Our planet is suffering from many decades of oblivious and unsustainable exploitation, which did not take into account the footprint we left on the natural environment which sustains life on the planet.

The International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and Inter-governmental Science-Policy – Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) are issuing alarming assessments and predictions about the magnitude of environmental harm already done to the planet and the environmental catastrophes that lies ahead. The IPCC 2018 report states, “We have 12 years to limit climate change catastrophe. Urgent and unprecedented changes are needed. “ In the May 1919 IPBES meeting  “Negative trends in nature will continue to 2050.” According to Prof. Sandra Díaz (Argentina) co-Chair IPBE, “Biodiversity and nature’s contributions to people are our common heritage and humanity’s most important life-supporting ‘safety net’. But our safety net is stretched almost to the breaking point.”

Statistics on forest and wetlands loss, coral reef degradation and loss, and the numbers of species threatened by extinction (one million) is staggering. Many species are a barometer of the health of the environment we depend on and the alarm bells are ringing.

To acquaint yourselves with the organized efforts of responsible people worldwide to stop this process, visit https://dceff.org/, where you can watch award-winning documentaries from recent years and learn of courageous and radical mobilization initiatives from every corner of the globe. One such example, which inspired millions of people worldwide in 2013 is the documentary “Black ice” (https://dceff.org/film/black-ice/) about the Arctic 30, who risked their lives to raise the awareness of media and the world public of what greed is still doing amidst the rapidly melting ice of the Arctic.

These films, as well as many global panels, raise the inevitable question that we face now: how will we overcome the gap between sovereign and narrowly defined national interests and the global soclutions needed to contain climate change catastrophe.

Dr. Arthur L Dahl, President of the International Environment Forum, explains that “The IPCC is a very conservative in how it evaluates the data, its reports are vetted by governments and always picks the most conservative interpretation of scientific facts. There is a rapid acceleration of climate change around the world, and it has gone much faster than earlier predictions. We need to bring ethics, spirituality and science together” in order to address the severity of the problem.[1]

As early as 1936, Winston Churchill addressed the British Parliament with the following words: “The era of procrastination, of half-measures, of soothing and baffling expedients, of delays, is coming to its close. In its place we are entering a period of consequences.”

Where then is the hope? We are capable of connecting our hearts and creative minds together to engage the spirit of this age and to propel our countries and the world toward ethical solutions in harmony with natural and spiritual laws, so that we can save our planet for our children and grandchildren.