What Will It Take?

As the Chinese proverb says “If we don’t change our direction, we are likely to end up where we are headed” and in humanity’s case where we are headed is clearly some type of ecological and social collapse.

So the question is “what will it take to change our direction?” The conventional wisdom seems to be that humanity can’t be expected to do anything until the effects and pain of the collapse are so intense that we are shocked into action. And so, we wait to be forced to act. However, even in the best case, where we are shocked into action in time, we’ll still be scrambling frantically out of a breakdown in search of a new direction. In the worst case, where we don’t act in time, we’ll go over the edge and into the abyss.

The stakes are too high and the risks from waiting too great. We must act now. As Paul Otellini, CEO of Intel Corporation points out, “It is a lot easier to change when you can than when you have to.” FOUR YEARS. GO. intends that humanity motivates itself and gets into action now, when it can, and thus consciously chooses and participates in the design of its future.

FOUR YEARS. GO. is a global communication and awareness campaign to shift humanity onto a just, fulfilling and sustainable path, by 14 February 2014.

FOUR YEARS. GO. is not just a new organization. Rather, it is a new framework—a rallying call—for all organizations and all individuals to step up, to engage, and to shape a new relationship with one another and the Earth.

Why Four Years?

Why “four years”? Because this is the time within which humanity must radically accelerate its progress toward sustainability or face unacceptable risk of irreversibly damaging the life support systems of this planet. But also, “four years” because it is enough time to act, to make a difference, even to transform ourselves. And “Go”, because we must start now. There is time to act, but no time to waste.

“It always seems impossible until it’s done.”

- Nelson Mandela

At the same time that we humans are facing a seemingly irreconcilable array of mounting crises—profound climate disruption, wide and deep poverty, unsustainable population growth, erosion of democracy, global water shortages, ecological destruction and mass extinction of plant and animal species, economic breakdown—our world is also being reshaped by at least three powerful “transforming” factors: (1) the global communication revolution, which has created vast new possibilities of human relationships and broad sharing of information and ideas and provides the potential beginnings of a global consciousness, (2) a new paradigm of a living, emerging universe which has undermined our historical mindset of separation and a segmented, mechanistic universe and re-establishes a deep sense of connection between humans and the entire community of life, and (3) the image and understanding of our Spaceship Earth , which has restructured our sense of “self” interests and limits and has elevated the concept of sustainability to an everyday concern.

These factors have brought us to a unique moment in history, ripe for an evolutionary shift for humanity. The necessity to deal with the ecological, social and economic crises confronting us is pushing us toward decisive action. At the same time, we are being pulled by the recognition that in resolving these crises lies the possibility of a societal leap that could free humanity from the curses of alienation and injustice.

We are also drawn forward and encouraged by the growing evidence that we already possess all the technology and practical solutions required to resolve these crises. We don’t need to wait for anything. All that is missing is a collective sense of possibility and will to act—urgently, globally.

The Role of FOUR YEARS. GO.

FOUR YEARS. GO. will provide the vehicle and energy for galvanizing that collective will and for channeling it into focused, productive action on a global scale. FOUR YEARS. GO. intends to cause a positive tipping point in unleashing our collective will, and to do it soon, to do it in the next four years.

As a result, a broad array of global projects and initiatives will be fulfilled such that, by 14 February 2014, the probable future for humanity, the most likely case forecast by an overwhelming majority of global futures scenario models, will be one of environmental sustainability, spiritual fulfillment, and social justice—an evolutionary leap forward.

“If I have the belief that I can do it, I shall surely acquire the capacity to do it even if I may not have it at the beginning.”

- Mahatma Gandhi

In the next four years, we can raise global consciousness to influence governments and free markets. We can reverse the trends of deforestation. We can safely capture CO2. We can pay a fair wage. We can rethink the way we use energy and the way we treat our global neighbors. In the next four years, we can stop waiting for someone else to fix it. We can start taking responsibility. We can change ourselves, change the world, and have fun doing it.

It all starts with a simple act. A single step. A personal declaration to start making small choices. A small action taken daily by millions around the world, resonating into a chorus of earth moving thunder.

What’s missing in every projection of the future is the incalculable ability of individuals to collectively answer the call of their generation. To rise to the occasion in ways unforeseen by our predecessors. To set politics and personal ideology aside and collectively create a new vision and foundation for the next 1,000 years of human life on this planet.

The great news is that the largest movement in human history is already coming together and getting underway. With millions of non-governmental organizations (NGOs), countless individuals, and many corporations focusing on sustainability and social well-being, the snowball has already started to roll.

Now it needs a critical mass of millions of individuals taking a visible stand so governments and businesses can confidently move in the right direction. It also needs access to new electronic technologies that empower responsible actions and new social technologies that manage transformational change.

When a reconsideration of human goals is empowered and amplified by these new technologies, an evolutionary shift for humanity to a just and sustainable world is truly possible. FOUR YEARS. GO.