4 results for author: David Korten
EARTH IS WARNING US WE MUST CHANGE
WILL WE LISTEN?
(This was written on July 30, 2020, Korten’s 83rd birthday. This article is published with permission from YES! Magazine.)
Our present course puts humans on track to be among the species that expire in Earth’s ongoing sixth mass extinction. In my conversations with thoughtful people, I am finding increasing acceptance of this horrific premise.
The COVID-19 pandemic, along with climate change, drives home the lesson that we must honor and care for Earth. The increasing frequency of the appearance of deadly viruses reminds us of the consequences of disrupting the natural systems by which life on Earth organizes to ...
FROM EMERGENCY TO EMERGENCE
(This article is reprinted from YES magazine under the Creative Commons License.)
The COVID-19 emergency has exposed our societies’ failure to address the needs of billions of people. Simultaneously, we are witnessing a fundamental truth about human nature: There are those among us eager to exploit the suffering of others for personal gain. We can be reassured, however, by how few of them there are. Their actions contrast starkly with the far greater numbers at all levels of society demonstrating their willingness, even eagerness, to cooperate, share, and sacrifice for the well-being of all.
The pandemic has also exposed ...
WHY CORONAVIRUS IS HUMANITY’S WAKE UP CALL
(This article is reprinted from YES website under the Creative Commons agreement.)
The rapid spread of novel coronavirus has prompted government, business, and civil society to take dramatic action—canceling events large and small, restricting travel, and shutting down major segments of the economy on which nearly all of us depend. It is a demonstration of our ability, when the imperative is clear, for deep and rapid global cooperation and change at a previously unimaginable speed and scale
There is an obvious desire to protect ourselves and our loved ones. But we are also seeing something more as communities mobilize to address the ...
WANT NATIONAL SECURITY? DISMANTLE THE FOREVER WAR MACHINE
(printed by permission from Yes! Magazine (9/21/16)
The recent 15th anniversary of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the World Trade towers was a reminder of the terrible consequences when a nation ignores the lessons of history—including its own recent history. The U.S. military budget is a tragic example.
We currently spend roughly $598 billion on defense, which is more than the next seven biggest military spenders combined: China, Saudi Arabia, Russia, the United Kingdom, India, France, and Japan. This represents 54 percent of federal discretionary spending. In return, we get an ability to rapidly deploy conventional military ...