2009 State of the Future

“Although the future has been getting better for most of the world over the past 20 years, the global recession has lowered the State of the Future Index for the next 10 years. The global financial crisis and climate change planning may be helping humanity to re-think its assumptions and move from its often self-centered adolescence to a more globally responsible adulthood, states the report. “This year’s annual State of the Future is an extraordinarily rich distillation of information for those who care about the world and its future. It describes in non-technical language what the educated person should know about the world and what to do to improve it'' says co-author and Millennium Project Director. Jerome C. Glenn.

The website provides a 100 page executive summary that can be downloaded free, as well as table of contents and selected figures from the report. The full report can be purchased in digital form.

Comment: Jerome Glenn provides a great service producing updates of this important report periodically. JAD

This year's report was the subject of an article by Jonathan Owen in The Independent (U.K.). The article begins:

An effort on the scale of the Apollo mission that sent men to the Moon is needed if humanity is to have a fighting chance of surviving the ravages of climate change. The stakes are high, as, without sustainable growth, "billions of people will be condemned to poverty and much of civilisation will collapse".

This is the stark warning from the biggest single report to look at the future of the planet – obtained by The Independent on Sunday ahead of its official publication next month. Backed by a diverse range of leading organisations such as Unesco, the World Bank, the US army and the Rockefeller Foundation, the 2009 State of the Future report runs to 6,700 pages and draws on contributions from 2,700 experts around the globe. Its findings are described by Ban Ki-moon, Secretary-General of the UN, as providing "invaluable insights into the future for the United Nations, its member states, and civil society".