This month, we share two interesting pieces that look at how we can build a future rooted in sustainability, equity, and human rights protection.
“Failure to build a democratic ecological future is likely to be catastrophic not just for democracy but to our civilization and the ecosphere,” writes Roy Morrison on the Wall Street International Magazine.
The global economic crisis, the Covid-19 pandemic, the climate crisis, and growing wealth disparities are putting democracy under threat worldwide. To face these global challenges, writes Morrison, “democracy in the 21st century must succeed in the pursuit of sustainability and ecological democracy. Success means a global system based on peace, justice and fairness.”
Roy Morrison is a solar energy developer, Managing Partner of Renewable Sun Partners, author, social theorist, and activist, with more than 40 years of diverse energy experience. This includes energy efficiency work and technical assistance for businesses, institutions, and governments.
In his op-ed Of Human Family, Culture of Peace & Sustainable Development, Ramu Damodaran discusses the notion of human family. “The Universal Declaration on Human Rights,” he notes, “was the first United Nations mention of the human family in its very opening lines with reference to the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family.”
“When did we lose that phrase, human family, to what we now so snappily call the international community?” Damodaran asks his readers.
Ramu Damodaran is Deputy Director for Partnerships and Public Engagement in the United Nations Department of Public Information’s Outreach Division. He was earlier Chief of its Civil Society Service from November 2002.