{"id":186898,"date":"2021-06-14T12:00:53","date_gmt":"2021-06-14T11:00:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=186898"},"modified":"2021-06-13T10:08:49","modified_gmt":"2021-06-13T09:08:49","slug":"a-critical-decade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2021\/06\/a-critical-decade\/","title":{"rendered":"A Critical Decade"},"content":{"rendered":"

A New Freely Downloadable Book<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

14 Jun 2021 – <\/em>I would like to announce the publication of a book, which discusses the urgent changes that are needed to save our planet and our collective future. The book may be downloaded and circulated free of charge from the following link:<\/p>\n

http:\/\/eacpe.org\/app\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/A-Critical-Decade-by-John-Scales-Avery.pdf<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Humanity Has Reached a Critical Decade<\/strong><\/p>\n

A new report, published on 14 March, 2021 in the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences’ journal Ambio<\/em>, points out that humanity is hurtling towards destruction unless we have the collective wisdom to change course quickly. Here is the link<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Ambio<\/em> article was written as part of the preparation for a meeting of Nobel Prize winners to discuss the state of the planet. The virtual meeting was held on April 26-28, 2021.<\/p>\n

Nobel Prize Laureates and Other Experts Issue Urgent Call for Action<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Here are some quotations from the statement, which was signed by 126 Nobel laureates and other experts:<\/p>\n

…\u201cScience is a global common good on a quest for truth, knowledge, and innovation toward a better life. Now, humankind faces new challenges at unprecedented scale. The first Nobel Prize Summit comes amid a global pandemic, amid a crisis of inequality, amid an ecological crisis, amid a climate crisis, and amid an information crisis. These supranational crises are interlinked and threaten the enormous gains we have made in human progress. It is particularly concerning that the parts of the world projected to experience many of the compounding negative effects from global changes are also home to many of the world’s poorest communities, and to indigenous peoples. The summit also comes amid unprecedented urbanization rates and on the cusp of technological disruption from digitalization, artificial intelligence, ubiquitous sensing and biotechnology and nanotechnology that may transform all aspects of our lives in coming decade…<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201c<\/em>The summit has been convened to promote a transformation to global sustainability for human prosperity and equity. Time is the natural resource in shortest supply. The next decade is crucial: Global greenhouse gas emissions need to be cut by half and destruction of nature halted and reversed. An essential foundation for this transformation is to address destabilizing inequalities in the world. Without transformational action this decade, humanity is taking colossal risks with our common future. Societies risk large-scale, irreversible changes to Earth’s biosphere and our lives as part of it.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201c<\/em>We need to reinvent our relationship with planet Earth. The future of all life on this planet, humans and our societies included, requires us to become effective stewards of the global commons – the climate, ice, land, ocean, freshwater, forests, soils, and rich diversity of life that regulate the state of the planet, and combine to create a unique and harmonious life-support system. There is now an existential need to build economies and societies that support Earth system harmony rather than disrupt it…\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Chapters:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Here is a list of chapters in my new book:<\/em><\/p>\n