By Julia Day
It is 2012 already, and the biggest event in our calendar this year (apologies to Seb Coe and the London 2012 Olympic Organising Committee) is the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, or Rio+20.
While June may seem like a long way away, many people in sustainable development networks have been working hard for months to help make Rio+20 matter. But will the event itself deliver any binding agreements or practical solutions? Or, come July, will stakeholders have to continue self-organising for change without any leadership, guidance or input from the UN process? I have written a blog for the Guardian’s Poverty Matters site, which explores some of the issues in the run-up to Rio+20. Have a read and comment with your views, it would be interesting to hear how others are feeling at this point.
We will post details of our work for Rio+20 on the STEPS website and here on The Crossing blog. Let’s hope 2012 is a productive, positive and peaceful year.
This situation is no longer deniable. During my lifetime, many have understood the Global Predicament we are facing now, but only a few ‘voices in the wilderness’ were willing to speak out loudly and clearly about what everyone can see. It is not a pretty sight. The human community has precipitated a planetary emergency that only humankind is capable of undoing. The present ‘Unsustainable Path’ has to be abandoned in favor of a “road less travelled by”. It is late; there is no time left to waste. Perhaps now we will gather our remarkably abundant, distinctly human resources and respond ably to the daunting, human-induced, global challenges before us, the ones that threaten life as we know it and the integrity of Earth as a fit place for human habitation. Many voices, many more voices are needed for making necessary changes.