Transform, Reconnect and Survive: Inter-Galaxy review of Humanity on Earth - Discours d’ouverture “Keynote address” par Yuan Tseh Lee

Yuan Tseh Lee, membre du Haut Conseil du Collège d’études mondiales, prix Nobel de chimie, président de l’ICSU

2033 marks the end of human denial and hubris. We’ve just gone past 450ppm CO2 concentration in the atmosphere. Climate change, environmental degradation and resource depletion are all much worse than any expert ever imagined. Humanity now knows the party is over. It just doesn’t know whether it’ll survive the hangover. With options running out, world leaders turn towards extra-terrestrial civilizations for guidance and help (contact was made just 3 years earlier). In response, an Inter-Galaxy Review Task Force visits earth to conduct a Review of Humanity on Earth. Task Force members all hail from alien civilizations that have thrived for at least 10 million years, making them uniquely qualified to evaluate earth and its young master species.

After 3-months of investigation, the Task Force delivered to the United Nations a 1,000-page Review Report of Humanity on Earth. The report lays out in stunning detail the story of human development on earth: How Homo Sapiens arose as the dominant species on earth… but for thousands of years still lived on sunshine and biomass, within the planet’s capacity to support. Then came the Industrial Revolution and the rise of Fossil Energy… which led to… Turning Point #1 – the Great Separation… of humans from sunshine and nature; of people from their resource base and ecological impacts; of rich nations from poor nations, wealthy people from poor people; and of systems into sectors and silos. This led to some Great Paradigm Shifts… seeing nature as property and resource, the frantic pursuit of unlimited growth, profit, material wealth and consumption. And it had Great Consequences… climate change, biodiversity loss and ecosystem decline, resource depletion, social injustice, political conflict, extreme disasters, and the risk of crossing planetary boundaries and triggering disastrous tipping points The Review Report then concluded with an open question: Will there be a Turning Point #2 – the Great (Re) Connection? Will earthlings be able to achieve a sustainability transformation that

• (Re) connects humanity with sunshine (their most powerful energy source)?
• (Re) connects humanity with nature in a harmonious relationship?
• (Re) connects competing nations and the rich and poor into a global community that works together to solve global problems?
• (Re) connects all branches of knowledge into a holistic, integrated, systemic approach for global transformation?

Dire as the situation is on earth, the alien Review Task Force still holds “guarded optimism”. They’ve seen planetary civilizations sink and perish; but they have also seen them right the ship in the nick of time. Humanity has all the right tools – ingenuity and wisdom, science and technology, love and compassion, persistence and courage. But not a second is to be lost in acting to save this remarkable planet and civilization.