Business, trade and global resources.

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Business, trade and global resources.

Global Civilization has extended the idea of sustainability to be a moral and ethical state as well as an economic and environmental state. We invite everyone and every organization to participate openly without fear. Paticipate in the process of the Global Dialogue. Again today we ask everyone throughout the world to scrutinize all of their values. No exception! You are asked to create new thoughts that will sustain Earth, humanity and all life.

Moral values can be identified across cultures, even if we do not accept a global understanding of principles: values including integrity, trustworthiness, benevolence, justice, and fairness. These values can be resources for finding common ground between believers and nonbelievers, and for conflicts needing of ethics to resolve their problems.

From now on, building global communities for peace require understanding of global problems this generation is facing. There are several major problems: conflicts and wars, no tolerance and compassion for one another, world overpopulation, overconsumption in developed nations, unemployment, insufficient protection and prevention for global health, scarcity of resources and drinking water, poverty, fauna and flora species disappearing at a fast rate, global warming and global climate change, global pollution, permanent lost of the Earth's genetic heritage, and the destruction of the global life-support systems and the eco-systems of the planet. We need to build global communities that will manage themselves with the understanding of those problems. All aspects are interrelated: global peace, global sustainability, global rights and the environment. Environmental issues become meaningless to the jobless. The jobless are more concerned with ending starvation, finding a proper shelter and employment, and helping their children to survive. In reality, all concerns are interrelated because the ecology of the planet has no boundaries. Obviously, as soon as our environment was destroyed or polluted beyond repair, human suffering is next.

Global Civilization Movement to Help has showed us that humanity needs and wants are so destructive to itself and to all life on Earth that something significant must be done to protect this amazing life heritage, not just for ourselves but the next generations. Over the last Century humanity has been depleting and degrading the natural capital of Earth, rich agricultural soils, its groundwater stored during ice ages, and its biodiversity. Overpopulation and increasing per capita consumption are major reasons for the depleting of resources. Politicians and business executives are under the delusion that such a disastrous end to the modern human enterprise and institutions can be avoided by technological fixes that will allow the population and the economy to grow forever. The event that brought down the American economy a few years ago and the USA astronomical national debt are signals of desperation, a wake-up call, that something has gone very wrong, and we need to make things right. People from Wall Street live a dream life. Our current way of life is unsustainable. We are the first species on Earth that will have to self-consciously impose limits on ourselves in order to survive. Human activities are responsible and accountable of all other life species also threatened of extinction.

Can we really believe this world can go forward indefinitely, a few decades? We are seeing the end of the era of cheap fossil energy, and there is no viable large-scale replacements for that energy.

The health of the planet is not what Wall Street is showing us. The reality is that we see more trends such as :

groundwater contamination,

high levels of toxicity,

topsoil loss,

widening inequality in the world,

the intensity of the violence and social chaos,

war over oil and gas, and water,

extensive and destructive forest fires and weather systems,

floods, and

the desperation that so many feel at every level of society.

Is this a sustainable system? We need to recognize the failure of fundamental systems, and to abandon the notion that what there is to do is recalibrate the institutions that structure our lives today. We need to realize that the way we thought things would work out truly is gone. Capitalism is at the core of this unsustainable system. It gives rise to the high-energy/mass-consumption configuration of privileged societies. We must set-up measures to stop speculators from benefiting from the misery of others, by punishing corrupt politicians, and by collectively understanding that bankers are rich because we have placed our money in their hands. Ultimately, unless we begin to see the world as a whole, in which things are truly interconnected, our governments will continue their hostilities, oil resources will keep on decreasing, and when the time comes for us to complain, we will be faced with the guns of the police whom we have helped to create with the payment of our taxes.

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 need to recover a deep sense of community that has disappeared from many of our lives. The world is in global crisis and a planetary state of emergency. 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. This was the reason for the creation of a planetary biodiversity zone. Global Civilization has shown the benefits of biodiversity to humanity and hope this approach will motivate others to help create the zone.

Global Civilization promotes the formation of several global ministries for the proper governance of Earth.
Over the past decades, Global Civilization has been promoting the formation of several global ministries for the proper governance of Earth. Global ministries are world wide organizations just like the World Trade Organization (WTO) for trade and therefore should have the power to rule on cases as that of the WTO.

The formation of global ministries is the most important event in human history. Humanity sees the need to manage the world affairs in several aspects of our lives: energy, agriculture, environment, health, Earth resources, Earth management, security and safety, emergencies and rescues, trade, banks, speculation on world markets, peace, family and human development, water resources protection, youth, education, justice, science and technology, finance, human resources, ethics, global rights, sustainable development, industry, and the manufacturing and distribution of products. Global ministries will be given power to rule themselves in harmony with each other.

Today, earquakes, cyclones and other natural disasters, as well as human made global destruction and disasters, require a rapid and efficient response from the world to help those in needs. All of this can be effectively accomplished when the organizational structure of the government of each nation-state includes a Global Ministry of Essential Services in government. We can all co-operate together better this way when all people are prepared and able to do so.

There is a need to manage the entire process of using Earth natural resources. Because of the limited quantities of Earth resources to be made available for this generation and the next ones, and because of environmental, climate change, and world population concerns, there is a need to manage the entire process of using Earth natural resources. And we all know that the amount of oil left in the ground in the world has already passed its peak quantity. So why waste the oil on doing things we know are nothing but a waste of energy and often used for destruction and certainly will shorten the life span of the next generations. A Global Trade and Resources Ministry is needed to look after the management of Earth resources and trade at all stages: exploration, production, transportation, manufacturing and distribution.

Business and trade agreements worldwide must be adjusted to reflect the principles of global sustainability promoted here by Global Civilization. There is a multitude of diverse Earth resources being taken from the ground and water, carried away for processing, manufacturing, packaging, or used by consumers. More people with higher incomes worldwide are multiplying humanity's impacts on the environment and on the natural resources that are essential to life. The planet's fresh water, fisheries, forests and atmosphere are already strained to their safe limits for global survival. Based on these trends, it is clear that the 21st century will witness even greater pressures on natural resources. Young people increasingly want to wait to have children and to have smaller families. Policymakers can help ensure that in this 21st century the world's population peaks with be fewer than 8 billion people, simply by committing the financial resources and promoting the new thinking here that will meet the needs of couples who want to have smaller families later in life.

The stewardship of the ecological base has to be given priority before the fulfilment of various economic and social wishes. All families need shelter, food, language, body of knowledge, certain skills, a source of income. Security of the home is an important aspect for any family and Global Civilization it belongs to. Primordial human needs raise the question of interacting universal responsibilities. In terms of parenthood, parents must raised their children mentally and physically healthy. It is a responsibility to do so. Which also means each local community must have an educational system to help parents raise the child. On the Scale of Global Rights primordial human rights and the protection of the global life-support systems and of ecological rights are on top of the Scale. They are the most important aspects on the Scale. And certainly proper education to all new children from the time they are born and throughout their lives is also on top of the Scale.

For instance, the existing and future uses of water are constantly challenged; balancing supply and demand are made even harder to acheive because of the amounts of pollution found in the air, land and waters. A large part of our body is made of water, and we cannot live without water; therefore water is a primordial human right by our very nature. In order to avoid conflicts and wars over drinking (fresh)water, fresh water has been categorized as a primordial human right. Industrial pollution plays a major role in the deterioration of nature but this time the level of pollution is above the carrying capacity of a healthy ecosystem. Pollution also affects significantly human health and all lifeforms on Earth. Every person needs Oxygen to live so clean air is certainly also a primordial human right by our very nature.

Governance and management of Earth resources.
The production of greenhouse gases involves the destruction of the Oxygen in our air, and its replacement by CO2, a chemical causing the global warming and climate change of our planet. Therefore, the control over the amounts of greenhouse gases produced by human activities and let go into our air must be paramount to governance and management of Earth.

The mean CO2 concentration was approximately 316 parts per million by volume (ppmv) in 1958 and increased to approximately 369 ppmv in 1998. In 2013, the concentration was 400 ppmv, and in 2017 it was 407 ppmv. And after all the dirty tars sands oil of Alberta, Canada, has been consumed, the concentration will be over 600 ppmv, i.e. the end of civilization as we know it, and the end of most lifeforms on the planet.

Business, trade and ethics.

Global Civilization ethics for a business are about how we treat others and a commitment to respect every person humanely and with dignity. For this process to work, global citizens learn to forgive, be patient and compassionate, promote acceptance, open theirs hearts to one another, and practice a culture of solidarity and cooperation. Let go narrow differences between us all for the greater good of humanity and future generations.

Morality can be derived from a standard that global citizens believe should be universal such as Global Civilization ethic for a business which include all lifeforms. Global Civilization ethic for a business aims to identify principles of right action that may be used to guide people in their lives. These principles can be used to decide whether particular courses of action, or particular types of action, are right or wrong. Ethics emphasizes respect for persons, and holds that there are certain actions that should never be done.

Wherever there are people, there will be conflicts, and ethics can help to resolve conflicts. Global Civilization proposes that such conflicts be resolved without violence and within a framework of justice. People must commit themselves to the most nonviolent, peaceful solutions possible. This is the pathway to global peace.

Over ancient time to this day, morality in society made its way into our ways of doing business. So the set of behaviors that constitute Global Civilization ethic for a business evolved largely because they provided possible survival benefits to increase evolutionary success. Consequently, Peoples evolved socially to express emotions, such as feelings of empathy or guilt, in response to these moral behaviors. Humans developed truly moral, altruistic instincts. When looking across cultures of geo-cultural areas and across millennia, certain virtues have prevailed in all cultures, the major ones include wisdom, knowledge, courage, justice, love, truth, empathy, kindness, and social intelligence. These virtues were not always incorporated into the ways of doing business because the 1% business world became corrupted, greedy, no longer in line with humanity's survival on the planet, and more interested in keeping most of the wealth, resources and power for themselves keeping the remaining 99% of the world population in poverty. But today we are going to incorporate these virtues and proper behaviors into corporate citizen global ethics.

Global Civilization

Earth Governance

Earth Management

Global Ministries

Global Consumption

Global Civilization

This 21st century is very crucial for humanity as it will determine our survival or not as a species and, consequently, the survival of the next generations. Global Civilization

is proposing to the world a way to achieve our survival. Critical steps to take now for our survival are:

a) the acceptance as inner truth and implementation of the Scale of Global Rights

; and
b) to activate essential global ministries

as the most important action of Global Civilization.

Earth has long been waiting for a truly global governing body based on universal values, human rights, global concepts and democracy. We might as well start this creating process now, there is no longer any reason to wait. But then Global Civilization is already here. As never before in history, common destiny beckons us to seek a new beginning. It requires a new sense of global interdependence and universal responsibility. We must develop and apply the vision of a sustainable way of life locally, nationally, regionally, globally, and within ourselves throughout life. Our cultural diversity is a precious heritage and different cultures will find their own distinctive ways to realize the vision. Global Civilization has now a Vision of the Earth in Year 2024

and a sense of direction.

Global Civilization embarks on a new path in history, the inevitability of global societies living, sharing, and creating symbiotical relationships interactively is, beyond doubt, that which we must confront. Our creativity today may influence tomorrow's socio-economic strategies and contribute to the evolution of human societies - an evolution directed towards a global partnership and cooperation with each other for survival.

In order to build a sustainable global community, each individual, each local community, and national governments of the world must initiate their commitment to Global Civilization.

Global Civilization was defined

as a social, political and environmental movement in the sense of having a broad organizational structure and an ideology aimed at governing. The environmental movement, within Global Civilization, expresses the concerns of groups of people regarding depletion of water, clean air, climate change aspects, degradation of land and other changes in ecosystems affecting traditional patterns of natural resources exploitation

. Global Civilization has taken the role of helping these groups in protecting and managing the environment by coordinating their efforts. Global Civilization is aware that religious beliefs, traditional customs and standards could burden the sustainability of all life on Earth. They could burden Earth society or any society forever, and holds individuals in a straitjacket. We cannot accept that. No one can! There are choices to be made, and we must make them. Cultures can develop and can go on developing. Even religious beliefs may evolve. We are living now, and we are able to create these changes. We are at least as bright, most certainly brighter and more capable than the people who were living thousand of years ago.

As far as Global Civilization is concerned, cultural and religious differences cannot be a reason or an excuse or a pretext for not respecting human rights including and most importantly ecological rights. Quite the contrary, all kinds of cultures may promote human rights and especially cultural rights. They are different in their achievements, but they are equal in dignity where they are expressions of freedom. At any time or in any given place, men, women and children use their culture to invent new ways of making human rights and ecological rights living realities. Diversity enriches us if it respects the dignity of each individual, and if it takes account of human and ecological rights as a whole.

Global Civilization is truly the age of symbiotical relationships and global cooperation, promoting and establishing more new, diversified and meaningful symbiotical relationships between nations, communities, and people of the world. Governance of Earth through global cooperation and symbiotical relationships is the only possible option for a large population such as the Earth's population

. Global Civilization promotes a culture based on respect and care for Global Civilization of Life

and is building democratic societies that are just, participatory, sustainable, and peaceful to:

a. Ensure that communities at all levels are guaranteed global rights and fundamental freedoms and provide everyone an opportunity to realize his or her full potential.
b. Promote social and economic justice, enabling all to achieve a secure and meaningful livelihood that is ecologically responsible.
c. Educate children to understand a broad panorama of human truths ~ all those universal needs and rights every one shares within Global Civilization.
d. Establish the Scale of Global Rights has an inner truth and the benchmark of the millennium in how we see all values.
e. Guarantee that the Earth Court of Justice will bring security, peace and Justice for all. We will no longer fear the unknown as Justice is for everyone and is everywhere, a universal constant.

For the first time in human history, and the first time this millennium, Global Civilization has proposed a benchmark:

* formation of global ministries in all important aspects of our lives;
* the Scale of Global Rights as a replacement to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights ;
* an evolved democracy based on Global Civilization principles and values;
* a central organization for the restoration of the planet and Earth governance: Global Civilization;
* the Earth Court of Justice to deal with all aspects of the governance and mangement of the Earth;
* a new impetus given to the way of doing business and trade ;
* more new, diversified (geographical, economical, political, social, business, religious) symbiotical relationships between nations, communities, businesses, for the good and well-being of all;
* proposal to reform the United Nations, the World Trade Organization, the World Bank, the IMF, NAFTA, FTAA, and to centralize them under Global Civilization, and these organizations will be asked to pay a global tax to be administered by Global Civilization;
* the Peace Movement of Global Civilization and shelving of the war industry from humanity;
* a global regulatory framework for capitals and corporations that emphasizes global corporate ethics , corporate social responsibility, protection of global rights, the environment, community and family aspects, safe working conditions, fair wages and sustainable consumption aspects;
* the ruling by the Earth Court of Justice on the abolishment of the debt of the developing nations as it was really a form of global tax to be paid annually by the rich or industrialized nations to the developing nations; and
* establishing freshwater and clean air as primordial human rights .

Earth Governance

Global Civilization has no intention of changing the status and privileges of state governments. In fact, state governments become primary members of Global Civilization. Global governance can only be effective within the framework of Global Community. There is no such thing as global governance through the work of a few international organizations such as the WTO, the EU, NATO, the USA, or the United Nations dictating to the rest of the world. These organizations are heading in the wrong direction and are causing conflicts between nations, doing away with democracy, increasing the gap between rich and poor, and creating a culture of violence worldwide, terrorism being a small example of what they can do. That is global leadership gone bad, based on greed and non-ethical principles. Global Civilization has put forward a different kind of global leadership, governance and management. As Global Civilization begins to take on a much deeper kind of global leadership, one that earns more respect than envy and more gratitude than hatred, one that can catapult the whole planet forward into a future where war is no longer thinkable between nation-states and a legitimate and beneficial Earth governance is able to cope with today's global problems.

Earth governance does not imply a lost of state sovereignty and territorial integrity. A nation government exists within the framework of an effective Global Civilization protecting common global values and humanity heritage. Earth governance gives a new meaning to the notions of territoriality, and non-intervention in a state way of life, and it is about protecting the cultural heritage of a state. Diversity of cultural and ethnic groups is an important aspect of Earth governance. Earth governance is a balance between the rights of states with rights of people, and the interests of nations with the interests of Global Civilization, the human family, the global civil society. Earth governance is also about the rights of states to self-determination in the global context of Global Civilization rather than the traditional context of a world of separate states.

Effective Earth governance requires a greater understanding of what it means to live in a more crowded, interdependent humanity with finite resources and more pollution threatening the global life-support systems. Global Civilization has no other choice but to work together at all levels. The collective power is needed to create a better world. Let us all work together to build a greater and most trusty Global Civilization. Earth needs urgently a world system of governance. The United Nations failed to satisfy the needs of the people of the 21st Century. It has never improved upon the old 20th Century ways and thinking. Its voting system no longer satisfy the 7 billion people on Earth. The challenges are different and require a world organization up for dealing with the needs of all Peoples.

Earth Management

For the survival of our species on Earth, Earth Environmental Governance

can only be achieved successfully within the larger context of Sustainable Developent and Earth Management

. All aspects are inter-related and affect one another. A healthy environment is essential to long term prosperity and well-being of societies, and global citizens in Global Civilization demand a high level of ecological protection. This is the 'raison d'etre' of the Scale of Global Rights. The Scale is the guiding tool to sustainability, governance and management of the Earth. Global Civilization gives us a 'sense of direction' for future planning and managing of the Earth. We have the responsibility of managing Earth. Earth management

is now well defined and becomes a goal to achieve. We no longer waste energy and resources in things that are absolutely unimportant. Earth management

is about

"a sound balance among the interactions of the impacts (positive and/or negative), or stresses, on the four major quality systems: People, Economic Development, Environment and Availability of Earth Resources"

with the idea that free trade and the planetary trading blocks are serving Global Civilization and not the other way around for self-interests and the benefits of a few people on Earth, and that will bring into being a sound sustainable development within Global Civilization. Earth management includes the entire cycle of doing things. When we do exploration work, develop, manufacture, produce, mine, farm or create a product,

we become legally and morally responsible and accountable of the product from beginning to end (to the point where it actually becomes a waste; we are also responsible for the proper disposable of the waste). This product may be anything and everything from oil & gas, weapons, war products, construction products, transportation and communications products and equipment, to genetically engineered food products. All consumer products! All medical products! All pharmaceutical products! In order words, a person (a person may be an individual, a community, a government, a business, an NGO, or an institution) becomes responsible and accountable for anything and everything in his or her Life.

A corporation will now be required to operate its business within Global Civilization as per global ehtics:

*   Be concerned with issues such as climate change, bio-diversity, pollution prevention and adopt high standards;
*    Minimize environmental degradation and health impacts;
*   Be responsible for the environmental impact of its products and services throughout their cycle;
*    Adopt a wide environmental code, and policies, health and safety practices and procedures aimed at reducing resource and energy use in each stage of a product or service life-cycle;
*    Set up appropriate management systems to implement policies;
*    Conduct annual checks and balances and provide reports to the community;
*    Respect the political jurisdiction of national communities;
*    Respect human rights, social and cultural rights ;
*    Recognize its political and economic impact on local communities;
*    Contribute to the long-term social, cultural, environmental and economic sustainability of the local communities;
*    Respect the rights of indigenous peoples, their culture and land, and their religious and social customs; provide employment and training opportunities ;
*    Ensure that each employee is treated with respect and dignity and is not subjected to any physical, sexual, psychological or verbal harassment or abuse;
*    Respect employees' right to freedom of association, labour organization, and free collective bargaining;
*    Provide equal pay for work of equal value;
*    Recognize the responsibilities of all workers to their families, and provide for maternity leave, and paternity leave;
*    Ensure that their be no barriers to the full participation of women within the company;
*    Participate in the creation of child care centres and centres for the elderly and persons with disabilities where appropriate;
*    Ensure no discrimination on grounds of race, ethnicity, or culture;
*    Ensure that persons with disabilities who apply for jobs with the company receive fair treatment and are considered solely on their ability to do the job; provide resources and facilities which enable them to achieve progression in employment in the company;
*    Provide training to all employees to conduct their activities in an environmentally responsible manner;
*    Work with organizations concerned with children's rights, human rights and labour rights to ensure that young workers are not exploited;
*    Ensure that a mechanism is in place to address ethical issues of concern raised by employees;
*    Make sure that the company's policies balance the interests of managers, shareholders, employees, and other affected parties;
*    Adhere to international standards and protocols relevant to its products and services;
*    Adopt marketing practices which protect consumers and ensure the safety of all products;
*    Conduct or support research on the environmental impacts of raw materials, products, processes, emissions and wastes associates with the company and on the means of minimizing such adverse impacts;
*    Make a sustainable use of renewable natural resources such as water, soils and forests;
*    Conserve non-renewable natural resources through efficient use and careful planning; and
*    Conserve energy and improve energy efficiency of internal operations and of the goods and services being sold.

Global Consumption

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 Global Community

. 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.