Who will change the world? (ID #001)

Date: 10/7/2008 to 10/13/2008
Duration: 1 week
Host: Orion Kriegman
Topic(s): 1

Overview:
Society and nature have always co–evolved in a dynamic process of change. A defining feature of today’s world is that the human transformation of the environment has reached the scale of the planet. Not only that, the rate of change is accelerating. People all over the globe are becoming aware of the impacts they are having on each other and the Earth. This awareness can provoke apprehension about the future and feelings of powerlessness. But it also creates the potential for new forms of global consciousness that can influence our collective destiny.

Topic 1: The Great Transition (week 1)
The Global Scenario Group’s analysis, culminating in the essay (pdf) Great Transition: The Promise and Lure of the Times Ahead , shows that a Great Transition to a just and sustainable global society is possible. The challenge of making that possibility an actuality is immense. The Global Scenario Group concludes that it can only occur if concerned citizens the world over become actively engaged in the project of transition. Transnational corporations, governments, and non–governmental organizations are powerful global actors. But in different ways, they suffer from myopic outlooks, particularism, and fragmented world views. They may one day become agents of a Great Transition but only if they are transformed by an involved citizenry acting with new visions, values, and unity. Will today’s citizens rise to meet this challenge?

Resources:

• 35 Minute Video on the Great Transition
• Great Transition Essay (99 page essay laying out alternative scenarios of the global future)
• World Lines (25 page paper discussing critical factors and forces shaping which scenarios will come to fruition--downloadable pdf listed under "Further Reading.")
• Dawn of the Cosmopolitan (25 page paper on Global Citizens Movement and the role of social movements in shaping the future--scroll to bottom of page; second article from the bottom.)
  

Questions:

1. How do we link the global and the local? What actions can be taken?
2. What would a movement for a Great Transition look like? Is it already here or has it yet to emerge?
3. How would you answer an enthusiastic person who says, “great, sign me up, what should I do first?”