* 1 million names needed worldwide by Dec. 31, 2000 *
[We, the people of Earth, in view of its global
environmental crisis, hereby petition the UNITED NATIONS GENERAL
ASSEMBLY to vote towards a U.N. RESOLUTION for all nations to each
reduce its own annual military budget by 10% of its 1999 spending, thus
collectively reducing the $1.6-trillion annual global arms expenditure
by $160-billion per annum. The funds thus liberated shall be placed into
a U.N.-administered Global HOPE Fund - to heal our planet Earth.]
To sign this petition and/or download the petition
forms, please or go to:
http://www.HOPE-GEO.org.
To distribute this petition, please forward this
invitation-letter to your friends and colleagues worldwide, and link
http://www.HOPE-GEO.org to your website, thank you. HOPE-GEO will do
likewise.
So, why the HOPE World Petition?
For a deep philosophical view, please read �Earth�s
Shining Destiny � a New Millennium Vision� (see http://www.HOPE-GEO.org
- New Articles section). This article has been published in newspapers
globally.
For a short, direct answer, please read on.
This is a crucial time for our Earth. The term �Global
Environmental Crisis� is serious, true and real. 1500 of the world�s
leading scientists are giving us 10 years �before the chance to avert
the threats we now confront will be lost and the prospects for humanity
are immeasurably diminished.� (The World Scientist - Warning to
Humanity) And yet, how many worthy and needed environmental projects are
gathering dust on shelves due to lack of funding? How many people in
shopping malls, who vote and ultimately determine the future course of
history, are not walking in a state of blissful denial? Tell us that our
loved ones have fallen seriously ill, and we�d rush to their aid, but
tell us that our beloved Earth has not one, not two, not three, but six
serious illnesses, and what would we do?
Consider the following analogy of the Six Planetary
Ailments:
1. Planetary Fever - global warming, caused by excessive
emission of greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere.
2. Planetary Auto-Immune Deficiency Syndrome (P-AIDS) -
damage to the ozone shield - Earth's own auto-immune system (protecting
her biosphere from harmful solar UV radiation) - caused by releasing
CFCs and other ozone-depleting gasses into the atmosphere.
3. Planetary Cancer - human and cattle populations
multiplying unchecked, corrupting and destroying natural ecosystems.
(Some say that the only difference between us humans and cancer cells is
that we have a choice.)
4. Planetary Wasting Disease - unsustainable consumption
of Earth's resources, resulting in rapid loss of biomass (trees, fish,
etc.), biodiversity (extinction of 6 species per hour) and soil (50,000
super-tanker-loads per year from India alone).
5. Planetary Blood-Poisoning - no aliens are dumping
pollutants and toxic waste into our atmosphere, hydrosphere and
biosphere; we are doing a good enough job ourselves.
6. Planetary Suicidal Tendency - no aliens are going to
nuke us, but we may nuke ourselves.
Those who are still with us will begin to ponder the
�planetary medical bill� - How much? - which basically is to calculate
the incalculable. To save just one species, say the tiger, will cost
millions, and this is but one tiny part of just one out of six planetary
ailments - the Wasting Disease. To research and develop alternative
energies enough to replace fossil-fuels technology - to just alleviate
the Planetary Fever a little - will cost billions. To cure all six
Planetary Ailments simultaneously - trillions, just for starters.
When must we pay? The Global Environmental Crisis says,
�Now or never.�
What with? THIS is the question. One thing we do know.
Our Earth has no medical insurance, and full-scale treatment must
commence without delay. Grants and donation are needed and always
appreciated, but they are but a spoonful in the bucket, enough perhaps
to barely keep the dedicated planet-healers from starvation. So, does
this planet-healing fund exist at all?
Thankfully, yes. Where is it? Finally, we�re in a little
luck, for there is a clue, and this clue, ironically, is in one of the
planetary ailments.
While doing recent tiger conservation work in India (see
the Tigers Forever Campaign section of http://www.HOPE-GEO.org ), I
found at least 6 tigers poached in one year at Bandhavgarh National Park
from a supposed population of only 40, and witnessed what little left of
wild India besieged on all sides, losing ground on most fronts. At the
same time, I saw desperately needed work, such as anti-poaching,
anti-smuggling, anti-poverty, species preservation, habitat protection,
birth control and techno-change (e.g. solar cooking and biogas to
displace wood burning) not being done or done inadequately due to
shortage of government funding, while reportedly, the government was
spending US$1.8 billion (Times of India, March 1997) to develop a new
Star Wars system, in addition to their nuclear weapons program. In India
at least, the answer is glaringly obvious: her tiger conservation funds
should come from a reduction of her military budget.
Look to other nations and what do we see? Parallel
scenarios in various ways, to various degrees. The result is that
worldwide, the global military expenditure stands at an atrocious $1.6
TRILLION PER ANNUM, and to what civilized end? Just 10% of this colossal
waste can fund thousands of much needed environmental projects
worldwide, towards the healing of our Earth.
To facilitate this Third Millennium
swords-to-ploughshares process � to free two birds with one key, as it
were - a possible first step is for all concerned citizens of the world
to exert their collective will by means of an international,
multilingual petition. The HOPE World Petition is the realization of
this possibility:
To answer several main objections:
1. No nation will suffer any weakening of military
strength relative to any other, since all will be set back by the same
proportion. There will be no significant disturbance of the current
balance of power. Rather, the resulting multilateral international
treaty will be a document of trust amongst nations, by which global
security will be strengthened.
2. No nation need suffer financial drain since all
nations (their GOs and NGOs) can reclaim their portion of the HOPE Fund
to solve their own environmen tal problems.
3. No military personnel need be laid off, since they
can be retrained for environmental projects and conservation operations,
such as anti-poach ing, anti-smuggling, reforestation, remediation and
restoration.
4. No arms manufacturers need lose business, since their
technical capabilities can be channeled towards making high-tech
conservation tools and environmental instruments.
5. Some say that the arms race spurs technological
advancement. But we say, a �peace race� can do the same or better.
6. Regarding the UN's internal workings as well as those
of the various national governments, the HOPE World Petition will
doubtless encounter a bureaucratic nightmare of unprecedented
proportions. But all dreams, good and bad, big and small, must end each
in its new dawn.
A petition is worth little more than its weight in
paper, unless it can generate a media wave in its wake. The HOPE World
Petition has the potential to generate a global media tsunami. To
achieve this, HOPE-GEO will deliver the first million signatures by
means of a 5-month, 70-city, media-oriented road tour from Vancouver via
California and the Great Lakes to the UN HQ in New York for formal
presentation (see Road Tour Itinerary section of
http://www.HOPE-GEO.org). Meanwhile, the HOPE World
Petition will keep on growing, until its critical mass is surpassed, and
its aim achieved.
Some say, �It is possible, but difficult.� We say, �It
is difficult, but possible.� And further, that given blood, sweat and
tears, and global solidarity and commitment, and time, it is inevitable.
Again, please sign the petition, link our websites, and
forward this letter to your friends worldwide. Together, speaking out in
diverse languages yet in one voice, we can make it happen.
For Earth�s sake,
Anthony Marr, Founding Director
Heal Our Planet Earth Global Environmental Organization
(HOPE-GEO)
4118 West 11th Ave., Vancouver, BC, Canada V6R 2L6
tel: (604) 222-1169, fax: 604-682-4107,
[email protected]
http://www.HOPE-GEO.org,
Go on to Animal
Sacrifice In Christian Churches
Return to 2 April 2000 Issue
Return to Newsletters
** Fair Use Notice**
This document may contain copyrighted material, use of which has not been
specifically authorized by the copyright owners. I believe that this
not-for-profit, educational use on the Web constitutes a fair use of the
copyrighted material (as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright
Law). If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your
own that go beyond fair use, you must obtain permission from the copyright
owner.
