Ending industrial devastation enables an equitable world
“Close your eyes, prick up your ears, and from the softest sound to the wildest noise, from the simplest tone to the highest harmony, from the most violent, passionate scream to the gentlest words of sweet reason, it is Nature who speaks, revealing her being, her power, her life, and her relatedness.” —Johann Wolfgang von Goethe “Humanity now faces perhaps the biggest choice it will ever make: continue down the road to a future devastated by climate change, dwindling Nature, degraded land, and polluted air, land and water, or change direction to secure a healthy planet, healthy people, and prosperity for all.” —Inger Anderson, Executive Director, UN Environment Programme “Cruelty to animals is one of the most significant vices of a low and ignoble people. Wherever one notices them, they constitute a sign of ignorance and brutality.” —Alexander von Humboldt The recent launch of a major UN report on Nature assesses global crises and spells out how our urgent need to look for unconventional non-status-quo solutions translates into doable actions that then become a catalyst for a transformation Nature can then thrive on. By looking at such topics as climate change, biodiversity loss, pollution and waste and land degradation, as well as desertification issues, we can find equitable responses. Over three years the UN’s Environment Programme brought together nearly 300 scientists to create the Global Environment Outlook (GEO). This is the seventh edition under that endeavour—hence the name GEO-7. The report is 1242 pages long. There are multiple chapters covering food, oceans and coasts, freshwater, land and soil, Indigenous and local knowledge, and the social, ecological and economic goals of the UN Sustainable Development Goals, but also financial systems solutions are explored to underscore solid successes. https://tinyurl.com/unep-geo-7 After assessing present worldwide on-the-ground situations, the report delves deeper into the critical transformations needed for a resilient functioning global society. It even looks at how beneficial a circular economy (as opposed to an economy based on extractivism, like ours) can be by limiting everything from plastic waste to agricultural pollution. GEO-7 tells us: “A global shift to a circular economy is a leading solution to the interconnected environmental crises of climate change, biodiversity loss and land degradation, and pollution and waste… A circular flow of resources in the economy will also contribute positively to socioeconomic development while safeguarding Nature and people.” A Future We Choose: Why investing in Earth now can lead to a trillion-dollar benefit for all is GEO-7’s title for remaking in many instances the global north’s relationship with Indigenous Peoples, the global south and the biosphere. Diversity and inclusiveness are necessary if the tapestry of society is to be equitable, and social and ecological justice to have a fair chance of success. GEO-7’s raison d’être is based on detailing our largest human-created planetary problems and asking the difficult questions regarding the outlook for transformation towards a more just future. It “calls on all actors, governments, nongovernmental and multilateral organizations, the public, including Indigenous Peoples, civil society, academia and professional organizations, as well