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Our world is populated with living beings consisting of millions of different life forms in different ecosystems interacting with each other to survive. The interaction and interdependence between land, water, the atmosphere, plants, and life forms are the driving force that creates and maintains an ecological, environmental equilibrium that has sustained life on Earth for millions of years enabling it to evolve, flourish and diversify. Global Civilization values Earth’s diversity in all its forms, the non-human as well as the human. Global citizens truly want to protect this wonderful diversity of life that human activities are aimed to destroy.

It's time for us to come to terms with reality. We need ways of organizing ourselves to help us live in a world with less energy and fewer material goods. We are exploiting our natural resources, minerals and fuels faster than we are gaining access to alternative sources. We are polluting the natural environment faster than the environment can regenerate itself to reach the level suitable for human needs.

We are changing the global climate dangerously. Our attitude and way of life show a moral degradation toward the existing forms of life on the planet. It's time for us to protect what is left to protect: life itself on Earth. Our ways of doing business and trade are certainly the major areas to change in our lives. Let us have a quick look at trade.

An international trade agreement usually involves an exchange of capital, goods and services from country to country, and represents a significant share of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). There is always a money flow: inflow and outflow. Trading globally gives consumers and countries the opportunity to be exposed to goods and services not available in their own countries. A multiple of products can be found on the international markets: food, clothes, oil and gas, wine, spare parts, jewelry, water, stocks, currencies, war industry products ...etc. Multiple services are also traded: banking, tourism, consulting, investments, travel, transportation services, a range of business and professional services referred to as commercial services, and government services...etc.

The argument for 'free trade' insists on that countries should specialize in certain products that they are good at producing and buy from other countries what they are not good at producing, so that the economy is more efficient. What kind of efficiency is it, when the pieces of a product are sent half way around the world to be assembled in a country with cheap labour, then shipped back to be sold? It may be profitable to some businesses, but it is a waste of time and energy as well as resources, and moving products this way is not environmentally friendly and is a threat to the global life-support systems. What kind of efficiency is that? Huge amounts of money are spent on marketing to get people to buy things that they don't need. Where is the efficiency in that? Perceiving and understanding the human population in its role as a consumer is very important because consumers collectively spend two thirds of a country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). They buy and influence the purchase of an increasingly wide array of products.

Despite the fact that we are making consumer decisions in an emerging Global Civilization, people are still being taught how to be "good consumers", when actually the word consume means, "to destroy, use or expend". The enormous productive capacities and market forces of the planet have been committed to satisfying human needs and desires with little overall regard to the short-term or long-term future of life on the planet, or life in other nations or in future generations.

There are many different types of consumers, and they all need to be taken into account separately: teen, young adult, elderly, low income, disabled, illiterate, and ethnic. Each type of consumers need to be understood from the point of view of global sustainability; that is a global perspective that challenges materialism and promotes ecological responsibility, humanitarianism, well-being, consumer ethics and Global Civilization concepts. These concepts were developed to sustain Earth and they include world conditions, global problems and issues, global citizenship, stewardship of the ecosystem of the Earth, a moral and a spiritual community, universal values, and global interconnections.

Consumption in developed and developing countries has risen much faster over the past decades than in the industrialized countries due to their high rate of population growth, fast urban development, increased motorization and industrialization. Global Civilization is concerned with the sustainability of current levels and patterns of consumption and with the economic, political, personal, environmental, availability of resources, societal and spiritual impact of excessive, run-away consumption. About 20% of Earth’s population account for 80% of the world's total consumption. Global Civilization has assigned itself the task of finding ways to make consumption, consumer rights and responsibilities:

* Fair to the well-being of others;
* Socially responsible and sustainable to future generations;
* In line with the universal values of Global Civilization; and
* In line with human rights and responsibilities.

Consumers' rights impinge on the rights of other people living in the world. The right to choice is the consumer right that refers to the right to have a range and variety of goods and services at competitive, fair prices and variable, satisfactory quality.

In order to assure choice in the developed country markets, governments have implemented trade laws to facilitate cross border transactions and transnational corporations (TNCs) have set up business off shore so they can lessen the cost of the production process. The goods that are available in the developed country markets are provided by slave labour, child labour, sweatshops or in countries that allow the TNCs to forego adhering to pollution or ecological concerns and global rights in pursuit of profit. Labour rights are abused in efforts to earn more profits. This leads to abhorrent working conditions, job insecurity and low living standards (all global rights). Consumers in developed countries have been socialized to want more and more things to consume but have not been socialized to appreciate the impact of their consumption choices on the human rights of other people; that is, they are not being responsible for their decisions.

Responsible consumption within Global Civilization means being aware of:

* global dynamics, the state of the planet, and the differences of other cultures;
* the impact of consumption and production on the environment;
* notions of voluntary simplicity and conservation;
* the consequences of resource management decisions;
* a sustainable life style;
* the impacts of new and different technologies;
* the impacts of economic development on the integrity of both developed and developing local indigenous communities, infrastructures and natural environments;
* the impacts on human rights, political stability, societal well-being, cultural sustainability, familial well-being, quality of life and standards of living of other nations; and
* the impacts of a decision made by a family living in developed country to consume a particular good on the household subsistence, production and community activity of a family living in a developing country; and be aware if that decision would affect poverty, potable water, food diversity, arable land, security from war, education, communications.

Consumers operate in an impersonal market economy where they make choices unburdened by guilt or social obligations; they just have to be able to pay. But a typical global community consumer see himself/herself as part of a larger whole that is affected by a collectivity of individual consumption decisions and has to question the global integrity of purchasing a product, and will decide not to purchase at all if the integrity is being challenged. Free trade encourages countries to change their economic infrastructures to be in line with the free trade policies of the World Trade Organization(WTO). Many member countries have already prioritised economic growth over social, environmental and human rights aspects. The WTO, foreign corporations and world business leaders claim that free trade brings sweeping democracy to all. They claim trade globalization is a forerunner of democracy in nations where it is non-existent. Global Civilization does not believe that democracy will automatically succeed in a global free market. In fact, free trade is itself a flagrant abuse of democracy.

In the Vision of Earth in Year 2024, Global Civilization has shown that global energy consumption will rise by 60% due to population growth, urbanization, and economic and industrial expansion. To meet demand, conventional fuels and technologies will impact badly on an already degraded environment, public health and welfare, and global stability. World energy demand can be largely fulfilled by renewable energy technologies. There is however a strong opposition to change arising from the fossil fuel industry and from governments of most oil-producing nations and major fossil fuel users. There are significant advantages of shifting away from fossil fuels and nuclear energy and toward greater reliance on renewables. Decreasing the impacts of global warming is certainly the most significant advantage. Global carbon emissions must be reduced at least 70% over the next hundred years to stabilize atmospheric CO2 concentrations at 450 parts per million (ppm).

The sooner societies begin to make the transition from fossil fuels to renewables, the lower will be the impacts and the associated costs of both climate change and emissions reductions. Other costs of conventional energy production and use are:

1. degradation of the environment through resource extraction;
2. air, soil, and water pollution;
3. acid rain;
4. biodiversity loss;
5. fuelling of the war industry, and therefore a threat to peace and Earth security and, in consequences, a threat to the global life-support systems;
6. global economic losses due to natural disasters are in line with events anticipated as a result of global warming;
7. nuclear power is one of the most expensive means of generating electricity and is responsible for nuclear accidents, weapons proliferation, and nuclear waste problems;
8. political, economic and military conflicts over limited resources such as oil and fresh water become more important as demand increases;
9. reliance on fossil fuels create less jobs; renewables create four times more jobs; and
10. fossil fuels do not bring electricity in many developing countries but renewables can; no electricity means no access to education, clean water, improved health care, communications, and entertainment.

Global Civilization is interested to enact renewable energy policies that:

a) are consistent and long-term to allow industries and markets to adjust;
b) provide access to the electric grid ;
c) educate and inform the public;
d) encourage individual and cooperative ownership of projects;
e) establish standards; and
f) incorporate all costs in the price of energy sources.

Global consumption is a very important aspect of sustainable development. Consumers should be concerned with the impact of their decisions on the environment but also on the lives, human rights and well-being of other people. Since one of the key functions of families as a social institution is to engage in production (selling their labour in return for wages) and consumption (using those wages to buy goods and services), then the role of families has impacts on sustainable consumption and development.Just as corporations have social responsibilities and so do consumers in societies. Consumers are socialized to improve the quality of their lives.

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We are the first species on Earth that will have to limit itself for its own survival and that of all life.

This picture was designed in 1985 by Germain Dufour, and represented at the time the vision of the world in 2024. The picture was all made of symbols. At the back is "the wall" where a group of people are making sure those coming in have been properly check out before being let in. Many of the requirements for being let in have already been defined and described over time in many of the monthly Newsletters published by Global Civilization. In the middle is a couple with a child actually going through the screening process. At the front people from all over the world are waiting to be checked in as global citizens. The 2 star like objects that seem to be flying above the people are actually drone-like objects keeping peace and security.

Note: We do not have any funds to pay anyone and for anything. We work strictly on a volunteer basis .

Global Dialogue 2017 Proceedings (September 1st 2016 to August 31st 2017).

Global Peace Earth.

Global Community days of celebration or remembering throughout the year.

Authors of research papers and articles on global issues for this month.

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