"Think of it. We are blessed with technology that would be indescribable to our forefathers. We have the wherewithal, the know-it-all to feed everybody, clothe everybody, and give every human on Earth a chance. We know now what we could never have known before-that we now have the option for all humanity to "make it" successfully on this planet in this lifetime. Whether it is to be Utopia or Oblivion will b a touch-and-go relay race right up to the final moment."?
— R. Buckminster Fuller 1980
Humanity has the option to succeed...
Civilization has been in the midst of a design revolution which is continuing to accelerate the efficiency of technological performance,
resource utilization and communication. Research over the last 25 years suggests that, as a result of this trend, humanity now has the historically unprecedented option to produce a high standard
of living for all people on an ecologically sustainable basis.
The existence of such a profound possibility remains largely obscured and on the outer-most fringe of public dialogue. Given humanity’s enormous impact on the Earth’s natural systems, compounded by the prospect of our population doubling within the next fifty years, well-informed debate concerning this unparalleled opportunity for comprehensive planetary success must take a place on center stage.
BFI believes that the success of the human experiment on-board Spaceship Earth depends greatly upon individuals having access to tools which empower them to see the Big Picture and take strategic action. The decisive challenge is to generate a critical mass of awareness, matched by cohesive effort, focused on implementing our option for success before it expires.
We are in the process of developing this site to be a provider of comprehensive access to resources and information relevant to humanity’s success. Our intention is to develop this site to serve an expanding global constituency actively working to solve problems both on a local and global scale. This highly decentralized audience is rapidly being connected by the Internet which has become the fastest growing medium for efficiently mobilizing grassroots support and building critical mass in specialized fields.
"Humanity is moving ever deeper into crisis - a crisis without precedent.
First, it is a crisis brought about by cosmic evolution irrevocably intent upon completely transforming omnidisintegrated humanity from a complex of around-the-world, remotely-deployed-from-one-another, differently colored, differently credoed, differently cultured, differently communicating, and differently competing entities into a completely integrated, comprehensively interconsiderate, harmonious whole.
Second, we are in an unprecedented crisis because cosmic evolution is also irrevocably intent upon making omni-integrated humanity omnisuccessful, able to live sustainingly at an unprecedentedly higher standard of living for all Earthians than has ever been experienced by any; able to live entirely within its cosmic-energy income instead of spending its cosmic energy savings account (i.e., the fossil fuels) or spending its cosmic-capital plant and equipment account (i.e., atomic energy)-the atoms with which our Spaceship Earth and its biosphere are structured and equipped-a spending folly no less illogical than burning your house-and-home to keep the family warm on an unprecedentedly cold midwinter night.
Humanity's cosmic-energy income account consists entirely of our gravity-and star (99 percent Sun)-distributed cosmic dividends of water power, tidal power, wave power, wind power, vegetation-produced alcohols, methane gas, vulcanism, and so on. Humanity's present rate of total energy consumption amounts to only one four-millionth of one percent of the rate of its energy income.
...Ninety-nine percent of humanity does not know that we have the option to "make it" economically on this planet and in the Universe. We do."?
— Buckminster Fuller, from the introduction to Critical Path
See also:
Articles by R. Buckminster Fuller related to Humanity's Option for Success
Articles by Hardin Tibbs:
- Towards an Optimistic Future by Hardin Tibbs. Addresses scenario planning as a way to chart our critical path toward planetary success. (PDF - will open in a new window)
- Sustainablity by Hardin Tibbs. If current environmental deterioration continues, Earth could become as inhospitable to human life as the barren planet Mars. This paper explores the risks, the scenarios and the options. By Hardin Tibbs a leading scenario strategists, industrial ecologist and Alliance Member of the Global Business Network. (PDF - will open in a new window)
- Industrial Ecology: An Environmental Agenda for Industry by Hardin Tibbs. This paper focuses on industrial ecology, a distinct discipline showing promise as an effective framework for addressing environmental issues facing both business and government today. (PDF - will open in a new window)
The Global Green Deal by Mark Hertsgaard. The bad news is that we have to change our ways -- and fast. Here's the good news: it could be a hugely profitable enterprise.
--- get Adobe Acrobat reader to view PDF files
Bookmark/Search this post with:
