SAVE THE PLANET

"If we do not change lifestyle now
the human race may not survive"

The recently launched SAVE THE PLANET program driven by the international environmental organizations calls for adoption of short and medium-term measures to save the earth’s natural resources and the human race.

The organizations behind the initiative – the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), the World Conservation Union (IUCN) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) – say that although implementation of the proposed measures will not come cheaply, the cost would bear no relation to the vast expense of trying to repair the damage that will result from pursuing present wasteful policies.

The Nine Basic Principles

Not only a message, SAVE THE PLANET also delivers guidelines for recommended action:

1. respecting the lives of others, now and in the future;
    

2.  improving the quality of life ;
    

3. conserving the earth’s life forms and their diversity ;
    

4. stopping the depletion of the earth’s supply of non-renewable resources ;
    

5. taking account of the planet’s limited capacity ;
    

6. changing personal behavior ;
    

7. motivating societies ;
    

8. integrating development and conservation policies into national frameworks ;
    

9. establishing a global alliance.
    

A Planetary Constitution

The WWF would obviously like to see this program became a planetary constitution on which national constitutions would be based. SAVE THE PLANET is in fact the expression of a universal ethic based in the preservation of life.

 Changing Behavior

SAVE THE PLANET also suggests measures with regard to the protection of the earth and its biological diversity, agriculture, water resources, demographics, recognition of local communities and international trade. According to United Nations forecasts, world population is expected to exceed 10 billion inhabitants in 2050 and could even reach figures of 11 or 12 billion! It is clear that overpopulation of such a magnitude would be well nigh unmanageable – indeed untenable – unless there were fundamental changes in lifestyle, less waste, and more solidarity.

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Korean artist JEONG-AE JU, inspired by the initiative, and wishing to help increase awareness of the threat to our planet and the survival of mankind, has created an installation based on the SAVE THE PLANET theme. It makes no pretense of dealing with the issue in its full complexity and leaves it up to each individual to find his or her own interpretation of her message.

A society’s decline begins when people ask: “What’s going to happen?” instead of:
“How can I help?” 

Denis de Rougemont.