The Final Generation: Dr. Howard V. Perlmutter Contemplates The Unthinkable And Our Only Hope For Survival
By CSRwire Contributing Writer Francesca Rheannon
Globalization theorist and Wharton scholar Howard V. Perlmutter, Ph.D. says a new global civilization must come into being this century to save humanity.
In the 21st century First Global Civilization, there are major forces of constructive global interdependence in all regions of the world and in all civilizational domains...At the same time, there are often equal and opposite forces for destructive global interdependence in the same areas. --Howard V. Perlmutter, Ph.D.
Do you ever wake up in the middle of the night simply afraid of what the future holds? That's the question author Martin Keogh posed in a post he wrote for CSRwire Talkback earlier this week. Keogh is the editor of the new book, Hope Beneath Our Feet. It explores many answers to that question in a collection of articles by environmental, business and spiritual leaders that pierce to the heart of our civilization's dilemma: how to marshal the hope and energy needed to live in a society that may well see the end of humanity in this century.
Martin Keogh is a young man. His impetus to create Hope Beneath Our Feet came when his first child was born just a few years ago. 85-year-old Dr. Perlmutter is also thinking about the end of human civilization and the ecosystem on which it depends - and he is contemplating it from the standpoint of an elder who can bring his accumulated wisdom to bear on improving the chances that future generations will continue. As a world authority on globalization, he's taught a course at the Wharton School for over a decade, "The First Global Civilization," that has convened a group of young people from all over the world to imagine such a civilization, and how to create it.
If we don't do this, Perlmutter wrote in a 2008 essay (he's working on a book on the same theme), "The Race Between The Forces Leading To A First Or Last Global Civilization," we are likely to be the Last Global Civilization. He shared with CSRwire the disturbing news that nearly all the young scholars he is working with on the First Global Civilization project do not expect to live to see their 40th birthdays "because the world will be over."
The prevalence of that tragic view is spurring his efforts to turn the world to a safer path. The First Global Civilization, Perlmutter says, will transform the institutions of the international sphere, "including the UN, national governments, religious institutions, enterprises, cities and global leadership." The transformation will center around one unifying imperative: calculating the impact of every economic activity on the planet's atmosphere - in terms other than its profitability. All economic actors must ask themselves the question: "Am I contributing to the end of the world or to its survival?"
This is an astonishing statement from a scholar who has advised global political and business leaders for decades - those whose overriding imperative is usually maximizing profits for multinational corporations. Even more surprising, given their obstructionism and inaction, is that those world leaders know very well how high the stakes are for human survival, according to Perlmutter. (Of course, in this post-WikiLeaks world, perhaps we should not be surprised at the lethal hypocrisy of our rulers.)
And they've known it for a very long time. In 1974, Perlmutter posed the same challenge to world leaders at Davos that he is now posing to his young collaborators. "Even in 1974," he told CSRwire, "there was a high level of agreement on the speed of the turn toward a negative future." At the meeting, the potentates agreed the solutions must be global. But, Perlmutter said, they were stuck in a competitive mind-frame.
That mind-frame must go. Perlmutter is joining a growing chorus of voices calling for a partnership, rather than a domination, framework for international relations in all spheres: political, legislative, scientific and technological, economic, environmental, military, and in the development of space exploration and the Internet.
Central to creating cooperation as the reigning paradigm for a First Global Civilization is creating a constituency of stakeholders who can act in unified manner. These stakeholders include all who are affected, locally, regionally and internationally.
The scope is as wide as it is essential. Imagine, for example, the residents of the Gulf working in the fishing and tourism industry serving (with clout!) on the government bodies that will decide how and whether oil exploration will go forward in the Gulf. (Obama recently announced a moratorium, but it is likely to be overturned once the new Congress is seated.) Or the native populations of the Arctic being equals at the table that decide if Obama's decision to proceed with oil exploration in the sensitive ecosystems of the Arctic will stand. Or representatives acting on behalf of endangered species when development decisions are taken?
But before that constituency of stakeholders can be created, Perlmutter told CSRwire, we must cut through the psychological mechanism of denial. "When a consequence is so terrifying, people say, 'let's not talk about it.' But if you begin to get a group of people who believe they will be living during the time the end will occur, this [need for a sustainable global civilization] becomes internalized and you begin to take it seriously."
Perlmutter envisions five potential futures, ranging from "doomsday" to "flourishing." Our individual and collective ability to face down denial and choose cooperation will determine which future comes to pass. "We do have the capacity to change," Perlmutter told CSRwire, "and we have no place to hide."
About Francesca Rheannon
CSRwire Talkback's Managing Editor is Francesca Rheannon. An award-winning journalist, Francesca is co-founder of Sea Change Media. She produces the Sea Change Radio's series, Back to The Future, and co-produces the Interfaith Center of Corporate Responsibility's podcast, The Arc of Change. Francesca's work has appeared at SocialFunds.com, The CRO, and E Magazine, and she is a contributing writer for CSRwire. Francesca hosts the nationally-syndicated radio show, Writers Voice with Francesca Rheannon.
This commentary is written by a valued member of the CSRwire contributing writers' community and expresses this author's views alone.
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