The evolution of human societies en route to today’s globalized world, has been fraught with suffering: wars, genocide, slavery and oppression, ecological/climate destabilization, species extinction.
Martin Luther King Jr often repeated the quote, that ” the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”
The drafting of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and their 169 targets was a long and difficult exercise among the ambassadors of the 193 UN member states. What emerged from this process was an agreed upon plan of action: ” Transforming our World, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.”
This was another aspirational moment in the difficult journey of human consciousness wedded to national interest, yet,in Lincoln’s phrase, it did seem that the better Angels of our nature were calling on governments to create the conditions for full human development in a flourishing Earth community.
The challenge for non egoistic evolutionary leaders Is to develop the competencies to actually make a difference in in the policy debates for the much needed evolutionary transition.
Feature Image: SDG TL Circle member Ken Kitatani, President Emeritus, NGO Committee on Spirituality, Values and Global Concerns hosts breakout group on Sustainability projects worldwide at the UN. UN agency representatives are in the background, in the foreground SGD TL Circle member Dr. Richard Clugston of the Earth Charter Initiative.