The purpose of this writing is to outline a hands-on, work-oriented plan that will heal the planet and save humanity from the ravages of global warming, overpopulation and nuclear disaster. NO! STOP! The forgoing statement does not explain the purpose of this writing. The purpose of this writing is to outline an idea for an entity that will be in charge of administrating a hands-on, work-oriented plan that will heal the planet and save humanity from the ravages of global warming, overpopulation and nuclear disaster. We all spend so much time and energy on what needs to be done that we do not have enough energy to decide on who is going to do the work. This writing is about who is going to do the work.
More often than not, when I bring up the topic of overpopulation among friends and family I am told, “Let the United Nations do it.” The problem is that there is no reason to believe that the United Nations will be able to devise a plan and make it work. The United Nations is too ponderous, too steeped in protocol and too manipulated by the larger, richer countries to make a plan that will work. Even if the United nations came up with a workable plan it would take only one security council country to prevent anything from happening by simply casting a veto.
The United Nations does a lot of good in the world, but it seems to me that sometimes there is more talk than action. The United Nations is essential as a player in any effort to save humanity from overpopulation, global warming and nuclear disaster. The role that the United Nations must play is to encourage and support the colleges and universities worldwide in their effort to take on this noble task.
I have designed and published a framework for an entity that can be put in charge; can order the work that needs to be done; and will see that this work is done. The article I am writing today describes this framework. My framework does not rely on the United Nations. It relies on the colleges and universities of the world. I chose colleges and universities because nearly every nation has colleges and universities. In addition, academia has outstanding talents in every field of endeavor: science, engineering, religion, humanities, law and business.
I want the colleges and universities of the world to begin working together to build the framework that I am proposing, but it is the politicians who will decide the fate of the world. I want the colleges and universities to begin approaching the politicians with a plan for the framework. We have to recognize that these institutions are part of the political commons of the people. The presidents and boards of regents of colleges and universities have standing with politicians. Politicians will listen when universities speak. Think of how much clout colleges and universities will have as they work together and speak with one voice. Think of how much more clout politicians would feel if the United Nations were assisting the colleges and universities.
It is axiomatic to say that if you want to get a job done you put one person in charge. This is the crux of my framework. My plan requires that the nations of the world agree to create a global entity and give that entity the responsibility to reset the carbon dioxide level to two hundred eighty parts per million, reset the population level to about two and a half billion people, and end the use of everything nuclear. My plan will require that the nations of the world agree to provide the support, protection and wherewithal that this entity will need, to do the job.
Who will be in charge of the global entity? What will it look like? How will it function? I have answered all of these questions in a previous blog article entitled A Plan for the Nations and at the following link, Of Population and Pollution: Chapter 12. The global entity, that I have named the Alliance, is a committee of twelve chosen from the science and comparative religion departments of colleges and universities worldwide. I explain how these members will be chosen in the above link to A Plan for the Nations.
The Alliance will determine what work needs to be done, give the orders to do the work and see that the work is done. The Alliance will have two subcommittees, the Committee of the Prominent and the Association. These are the names I have given the three main components of my framework. More descriptive names can be made up by the legal departments of the colleges and universities as they write all of the laws and rules that will make this framework a reality.
Why did I choose members of the science and comparative religion departments as the people who will be the leaders in saving humanity and healing the planet? They are as smart and capable as anyone and they are likely to not have special agendas. I notice a lot of discussion about two types of people; the we people and the me people. Who do I want to be among the twelve-people chosen to serve on the Alliance? I want people who are regarded as trustworthy by their peers.
The watchwords that I have imposed on myself as I consider these global problems are the following two simple sentences. It’s all about the living. It’s all about the future. Arguments become moot under the light of grace. It makes no difference whether the grace is by a God or by a humanistic value; it is by grace that our leaders work purposefully for the good of mankind. No decision should be made that will result in the death of a living person. No decisions should be made that will shorten the lifespan of humanity. The lifespan of the Sun should determine the lifespan of humanity. Saving humanity can happen only if it is all about the living; and only if it is all about the future. Make it so.
The members who serve on the Committee of the Prominent will be appointed by the Alliance and serve at the pleasure of the Alliance. These members will be the most highly regarded people in the world and their emissaries. They will assist the Alliance in maintaining working relations with the nations and in securing money and goodwill from oligarchs and other people of power. How many prominents and emissaries will the Alliance need? Multiple teams of prominents and emissaries may have to be dispatched to and be active in many places of the globe at the same time. Many emissaries may need to be appointed for each prominent.
The Association will be a committee of twelve members. These members will be elected three each from four categories of candidates: science, religion, business and government. The Alliance will set up criteria for each of these categories and the committee members will be chosen by using the same election procedure as was used to elect the members to the Alliance. The association will serve at the pleasure of the Alliance. The Alliance will be in charge.
The Association will be the workhorse for the Alliance. It will be responsible for the completion of the projects the Alliance has ordered done. The Association will have offices all over the world. The Association will make contracts, hire workers, purchase supplies and do the hands-on work that is ordered by the Alliance. The Association can be expected to become large and bureaucratic in its operations. A company hired by the Association to do a single piece of work could be a cooperative, a private company, a not-for profit corporation, a for-profit corporation or a multinational corporation.
How will this global entity be created?
My vision is to have the legal departments of the colleges and universities worldwide draw up nonbinding treaties among nations until a majority of nations are in agreement. The nonbinding agreements will then become binding agreements from which will be constructed a constitution that will govern the relationships among the nations and also between the global entity and the nations. The global entity will thusly be created from that constitution. The legal departments of the colleges and universities are a part of the public domain they will be able to put this all together without being pressured with agendas from outside sources.
In addition to treaties and constitutions, a whole new set of laws and rules will have to be promulgated worldwide with every nation having the exact same laws and rules. The legal departments of colleges and universities can do all this as well.
With regard to global warming, overpopulation and nuclear disaster
If I were to be asked I would suggest that the Alliance decide that the carbon dioxide level of the globe be reset to two hundred eighty parts per million; that the population level be reset to about two and a half billion people; and that the world end the use of everything nuclear.
Ending thoughts
1. Population levels must be in sync with available resources.
2. Advances in medicine have increased the human lifespan, contributing to overpopulation. The Alliance must deal with this conundrum.
3. Properly executed population controls that will be ordered by the Alliance will not be accepted unless they provide balance, stability and happiness.
4. Several years ago, when I first started my elemental thinking about the problems facing humanity and the planet, I began thinking that regardless the conflict between science and religion, i.e. creationism versus evolution, both institutions – education and religion – are so integrated into the population worldwide that any solution must be predicated on these two institutions. I tend to conflate the concept of education with the sciences.
5. It became evident to me that no agreement can be made globally if there is only fundamentalist thinking; therefore, I could not look for religious authority among the leaders of active religious sects. I needed to choose leaders from a place where religions are amalgamated or at least studied together. I chose the more liberal arts categorizations of colleges and universities.
6. This does not mean that publicly known religious leaders do not deserve to be chosen to serve on the Committee of the Prominent.
7. So, upon whom does the saving of humanity depend: the professors and students of the science, engineering, comparative religion, humanities, law, and business departments of colleges and universities worldwide. I am asking the colleges and universities worldwide to break the inertia. They must begin talking to each other to develop a plan that can be used to bring the nations together to authorize a central governmental entity such as the Alliance.
8. The Alliance will be a committee of twelve people, but these twelve will not be acting alone. They will have all of the nations, the colleges and universities, the religious orders and businesses large and small telling them how to decide. Final decisions will be up to the twelve.
9. Once put in place the Alliance will be with us for a very long time if not forever.
10. The committee members will change from time to time depending on term limits and other rules. All of these rules can be part and parcel of the constitution enacted by the nations. Let me suggest that new Alliance members always be elected from science and comparative religion departments as was done in the first election when the Alliance was first set up.
11. The Alliance will decide how to reduce the population and carbon dioxide emissions. But first it is up to the colleges and universities worldwide to decide how to set up the Alliance.
12. So far as I know, this is the first administrative and work oriented plan to be put forward for public consumption. Other plans should be invented and put forward so that humanity will be able to choose among more than one plan. But, humanity will have to choose soon. Time is short.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Arnold J. Byron is the author of a book, Of Population and Pollution – A Global Warming Primer, a worst-case scenario relative to overpopulation, global warming, and nuclear power plants. The book and website attempt to "kick-start an effort to solve the overpopulated, overpolluted, and overnuclearized situation the world is currently in." For more information about this author, visit his website.
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