One-World Thinking

As some of you may or may not know I have spent the better part of the last 6 months putting together a project dealing with finding a solution to Climate Change. It’s a fairly involved endeavor, something which I hope to share with you in the future. But before I do, I wanted to express to you all my current thoughts on the new world we live in and the idea of One-World Thinking.

With the election of President Obama, the realities of our new world became achingly apparent to me the moment he stepped onto the stage at Grant Park in Chicago to the cheers of thousands. His demeanor was serious and it was evident that he immediately felt the burden of the presidency on his shoulders. It was and continues to be a great day for America that a black man, who a year ago had no chance of wining the highest office in the land, did just that. It had the instant effect of galvanizing the country, waking up from an 8-year nightmare and washing away our collective sins to the rest of the world.

But what is the new world we have inherited? The dawn of a new day brings to light the realities of what our new President and his fellow Americans face. A collapsing economy, two wars with no definitive end, our education and health systems in need of serious overhaul, our infrastructure in ruins, our shattered collective emotional health, our tainted standing as a world leader with Russia (a growing military threat), China (a grown economic threat) and Iran (our ideological enemy) at the gates. And all this with the clanging chime of doom that climate change brings.

I have had the good fortune in the last few months to be able do a fair amount reading and reflection on the state of the world we live in. And though by no means do I claim to be an expert, I feel I have learned a thing or two. And I’d like to share them.

The first comes from an announcement yesterday from England’s Prime Minister Gordon Brown when he called for a new Global Society. He said,

"The alliance between Britain and the U.S. -- and more broadly between Europe and the U.S. -- can and must provide leadership, not in order to make the rules ourselves, but to lead the global effort to build a stronger and more just international order.”

He went on to list 1) terrorism and extremism and the need to reassert faith in democracy 2) the global economy 3) climate change 4) conflict and mechanisms for rebuilding states after conflict and 5) meeting goals on tackling poverty and disease as the great challenges we face.

Worlds away, with a difference in tone, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao proclaimed that,

“rich nations must abandon their "unsustainable lifestyle" to fight global warming and give more help to poor nations...”

And if you didn’t get what he meant by rich nations, he meant the U.S.

The fact of the matter is, we Americans live unsustainable lives. We do this because it’s what we’ve grown up to believe. “The American way of life is not negotiable.” George W.H. Bush said that…at the Earth Summit in 1992 no less. The American way of life is what drives the economy, it’s what creates growth, and it’s what has made us the economic and military power that we are. It’s also the reason why all those challenges face us now.

The ugly truth is this: we are the cause of everything wrong with the world right now.

We and more specifically our consumption and “way of life” are the cause of global warming, the two wars, the failing economy and everything else that ills the world today. Of course, I’m generalizing and certainly other G-8 countries aren’t blameless. But the burden of guilt lies with us. Especially when we represent 4% of the world’s population and use 25% of the world’s resources. The numbers just do not add up.

Still don’t believe me, take Darfur.

You all, by now, I hope, have heard of the atrocities and genocide happening there. It’s an unbelievably complicated situation that seems to have no livable solutions. How can we be complicit in something so far removed from our everyday life? Let’s follow the money. We buy and consume. We demand what we want, when we want it and for cheap. We feel it’s our God-given right. If you don’t believe me, press PAUSE on your iPod for a minute and reread the sentence. So, where do these cheap and wonderful things come from? Well, from far away exotic places like Malaysia and Taiwan and Mainland China. You remember China don’t you? They’re the country of 1.3 billion people with a growing middle class. A middle class we created with our spending. That’s correct, China, as we know it now, would not exist if it weren’t for the “American way of life.” A middle class that threatens to out-buy, out-spend and devour the limited resources that all of us will soon be fighting for. Limited resources like oil. And where does China look to find the much-needed oil to feed their growing economy? Along with other places…the Sudan. And suddenly, the Sudanese government has all the money and weapons it needs to annihilate their age-old enemies. Did we pull the trigger? No. Are we complicit? You tell me.

What about Al-Qaeda and Afghanistan? That can’t be our fault, can it? In a way, yes. Certainly the evils of an Osama Bin Laden or a Mullah Mohammed Omar are present day, horrifying realities that we must forever contend with. They are extremists who spread their hate, call for jihad and a return to 7th Century living that denies the rights of women, freedom and progress. We didn’t breed their hatred towards us, but we had a hand in allowing them to express that hatred. How? By filling our cars with the oil we buy from the Middle East. The money that we use to buy gasoline, in an indirect way, goes to fund the madrasahs that teach Muslim extremism all over the world. Some of these are the same madrasahs in the Peshawar region of Afghanistan that tolerate and even celebrate extremist groups like the Taliban and yes, Al Qaeda. We are, in a very real way, funding both sides of the two wars. Did we spread the hate? No. Are we complicit? You tell me.

But what about the poverty in the Sub-Saharan region of Africa? How is that our fault? If you believe in Climate Change and global warming, then we’re certainly not helping. Our consumptive habits play the biggest part in the world’s climate crisis. The “American way of life” has created a demand for energy and output the world has never seen. By now, I hope we’ve all seen what that energy demand has done to the world. Melting ice-caps, bio-diversity loss, polluted rivers, destruction of pristine rain forest to name but a few effects of our way of life. But more specifically, global warming and climate change hits the poorest of the poor faster and harder than the countries actually creating the problem. Normal weather cycles change. Drought and a limited water supply have devastating effect in the Sub-Sahara. Something as simple as access to clean water prevents starving Africans from drinking and growing their crops. This creates a famine that breeds starvation, malnutrition and, if they’re lucky, death. It breeds contempt for those in power, civil unrest and international crises like Somalia, Ethiopia or Darfur. It devastates families, villages and countries across the Sahel like the plagues of old. Did we take the cup of water away? No. Are we complicit? You tell me.

So, are you depressed you at this point? Don’t be. There’s hope.

His name is Obama. Obama gets it. He understands this new world we’re living in. It’s an idea I am calling ONE-WORLD THINKING. It’s a way of thinking that needs to permeate every corner of our planet. That everything we do has an effect somewhere else. That what we buy here, affects factories in China. That what China builds there, affects an acre of tropical rainforest in Indonesia. That what Indonesia cuts down affects Tanzania. That what happens in Tanzania comes right back to us. We are all, in this world, complicit and have responsibilities to everyone else living on our planet.

And that’s the word we need to focus on, responsibility. What struck me most was what President-Elect Obama spoke of when he said,

“So let us summon a new spirit of patriotism; of service and responsibility where each of us resolves to pitch in and work harder and look after not only ourselves, but each other.”

That’s about as eloquent as it gets.

We all must take responsibility in bringing our country back to greatness. Both Prime Minister Brown and Premier Wen Jiabao were, in essence, saying the same thing…the world is looking to us not for leadership, but to take up the mantle of responsibility. The responsibility for the world’s collapsing economy, the responsibility for the chaos of our two wars and the growing hatred for America, the responsibility for the those 1.6 billion people living in poverty on less than $1 a day, and profoundly, the responsibility for the destruction of our environment. The moment that we accept this responsibility and put into action a clear, decisive plan to fix these problems is the moment when we will achieve greatness.

We will once again become the great shining, beacon that we once were. I believe we can do this with One-World Thinking. That if what we have done creates negative effects for us and the rest of the world, then the reverse is also true, that what we are capable of doing can also have positive effects for us and the rest of the world.

Think about it the next time you buy something made in China or the next time you buy flowers imported from Ecuador, think about it the next time you fill up your gas tank, think about it the next time you feel the urge to replace your iPod. Think about the alternatives instead, do I really need to buy this thing, can I buy it locally, can I use public transportation instead of the car, and can I live with my old iPod?

Let me step off my soapbox for a moment to confess my sins. I am guilty of all these things. I am complicit in the destruction of our environment, the death of innocents and soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan, the collapse of our economy. And please do not mistake me for an Obama disciple. I’d like to remind everyone who doesn’t know me well that I voted for the other guy.

But what I saw on election night inspired me. It crushed my cynicism and gave me that thing that I had heard so much about, tossed around and used as a catch phrase, as an ad campaign, as foreign an idea to us as the possibility of change, the idea of hope.

I am inspired because that’s who we Americans are, not the fat, lazy, stupid, stereotype that the rest of the world make us out to be. That what makes us great is not our military power, our strong dollar (despite the economic crisis), our popular culture, nor even our version of democracy. What makes us great is the IDEA of America. It’s what the rest of the world looks to us for. That somewhere in this world, there is a place where the impossible is possible. That somewhere in this world a black man can become President, that he can stand in front of thousands and tell us,

“…the answer that led those who have been told for so long, by so many to be cynical, and fearful, and doubtful of what we can achieve, to put their hands on the arc of history and bend it once more toward the hope of a better day.”

And so, the greatest of our responsibilities lie in living up to the promise of the idea of America. Let us move forward and follow the lead of our new President. When he calls on us to pitch in and work, do so with pride and a clear vision of the fortune and greatness that await us. When he calls on us to sacrifice, follow the well-trodden path of Americans before us who sacrificed for their country. And if nothing else, spread the word that change can only happen with honest work, self-sacrifice and sharing the burden of responsibility.