User:Viriditas/Planetary responsibility

Planetary responsibility refers to the shared responsibility humans have to the planet Earth. Swiss Catholic priest Hans Küng called it the "key concept for our strategy for the future".

To merge
Homo sapiens (Latin: "wise man" or "knowing man"). Are we worthy of the name?
 * Huxley (1962) argues that unless we are able to address what it means to be human, we will continue to be misled by ideologies, political machinations, nationalism, and war mongering. Ideally science should promote democracy, but in practice it does not need or require it, and more than often enough serves the interests of the few rather than the many.(Military–industrial complex)  Most people want to live, not die, and are by their very nature peaceful, not aggressive and warlike as we are often led to believe.  War serves the interests of the state, and nationalism and ideology are its motivators (cf. Jiddu Krishnamurti).  For Huxley, planetary responsibility (ecological consciousness, ecocentrism?) is the answer to the question, and provides humanity with a purpose that transcends political borders and tribal loyalties.


 * Lovelock (2008): "In human civilization, the planet has a precious resource. We are not merely a disease.  We are through our intelligence and communication, a planetary equivalent of a nervous system.  We should be the heart and mind of the Earth."


 * Tremblay (2009): "Proclaim the natural dignity and inherent worth of all human beings; Respect the life and property of others; Practice tolerance and open-mindedness towards the choices and life styles of others; Share with those who are less fortunate and mutually assist those who are in need of help; Use neither lies, nor spiritual doctrine, nor temporal power to dominate and exploit others; Rely on reason, logic and science to understand the Universe and to solve life's problems; Conserve and improve the Earth's natural environment—land, soil, water, air and space—as humankind's common heritage; Resolve differences and conflicts cooperatively without resorting to violence or to wars; Organize public affairs according to individual freedom and responsibility, through political and economic democracy; Develop one's intelligence and talents through education and effort."

Tasks

 * 1) Planetary defense
 * 2) Disaster risk reduction
 * 3) Solving the Ten Threats
 * 4) Poverty
 * 5) Infectious disease
 * 6) Environmental degradation
 * 7) Inter-state war
 * 8) Civil war
 * 9) Genocide
 * 10) Other atrocities (e.g., trade in women and children for sexual slavery, or kidnapping for body parts)
 * 11) Weapons of mass destruction (nuclear proliferation, chemical weapon proliferation, biological weapon proliferation)
 * 12) Terrorism
 * 13) Transnational organized crime
 * 14) Maintaining world energy resources and consumption
 * 15) Controlling population growth
 * 16) Extraterrestrial Imperative, duplicating the biosphere for space colonization requires understanding how to preserve and protect it

Solution

 * Unicursal: "The way in is the way out. We have fallen into a hole, now we must fall out." (Tim O'Brien)

Implementation

 * Common heritage of mankind
 * Land ethic
 * Moral universalism
 * Responsibility to protect
 * Towards a Global Ethic: An Initial Declaration
 * Universal Declaration of Human Rights
 * Universal Declaration of Human Planetary Responsibility
 * Universal Declaration of Responsibilities of Human Intercourse