Dear Antonio Guterres,
I am writing to you on World Environment Day 2021 to launch a new concept of ‘Universal Aspiration’ which I hope will inspire humanity to strive to reinstate ecological balance in our damaged world. I hope that all nations will see the necessity to choose to voluntarily curb our global consumption until we successfully return 50% of the biocapacity of the Earth for the use of animals other than the human race. The wording that I suggest for this Universal Aspiration is as follows:
“This Universal Aspiration seeks to inspire a new emotional maturity within the human race. This new era will be characterised by increasingly selfless behaviour both individually and collectively in the face of escalating existential threats. To this end it recognises that our environmental impact is a product of our population size and the way that we utilise our affluence and technology. Henceforth we shall collectively and individually aspire to combine our free-choice, affluence and technology to redress the ecological imbalance, which is escalating the sixth mass extinction. All nations will collectively aspire to reduce their ecological footprint to less than 50% of the biocapacity available within their borders, as determined by the Global Footprint Network data. Globally, educational goals will prioritise the symbiotic relationships between ecological footprint, ecological balance, and the need to conserve at least 50% of the planet for sustaining the needs of non-livestock vertebrates. Human intervention in wildlife populations will be discouraged unless an invasive species is deemed to be a serious threat to either local or global eco-systems.”
The new emotional maturity in mankind which is sought within this aspiration will encourage very different expectations and behaviours. Our new collective awareness and maturity should enable us to make decisions which are sympathetic to the world’s ecology. We shall stop striving to dominate our environment and instead endeavour to leave most of it to evolve in the natural way. To achieve this we shall voluntarily embrace strategies to shrink our numbers and consumption habits in the hope that the worst consequences of our past mistakes might be avoided. We shall use our affluence to work towards salvaging what remains of biodiversity.
I firmly believe that this concept of ‘Universal Aspiration’ will afford a greater chance to keep the ecological balance on Earth suitable for mankind and the many other life-forms of our geological epoch for a longer term.
Yours Sincerely
Barbara Williams