How will we do this?
Action is the antidote to despair."~Joan Baez
By working together.
By creating a movement.
By Occupying Earth - with love, intention, and resolve.
And if we don't, maybe the first question should be, "How will we answer our children?"
Will we tell them that we bought an electric car? Installed a heat-pump? Recycled our soda cans? And what about young adults, many of whom are concerned about their own lives, never mind bringing new life to bear?
So we need to do this. Against all the odds, we need to do this. Against strong resistance from the status quo, we still need to do this. And all the while, we should keep in mind that similar things have happened throughout history. Things just as big and just as improbable have happened. Could a serf in medieval times be convinced that the king would be ousted and they'd become a landowner?
Revolutionary change is made by people who don’t accept that change is impossible …or know that it is impossible but do it anyway.
A Movement Most Can Get Behind
Is there anyone (outside the military-industrial complex and the fanatics) who supports war as a means of settling disputes between countries?
And a 2015 study shows that most people are very concerned about the climate crisis. In fact, internationally:
78% (of people) support their country signing an international agreement limiting greenhouse gas emissions from the burning of coal, natural gas and petroleum. ~Pew Research Center
As AI is used increasingly for hyper-sophisticated hacking, misinformation campaigns, and deep-fake videos, the lines between what is real and what is not will become increasingly blurred, convincing more and more people of its imminent dangers. According to another 2023 Pew poll, 52% of US adults have become "more concerned than excited" about AI.
If the majority of people across the planet agree that something needs to be done, then the problem is not with the people. It is with the architecture of the global political system. Even leaders who would want to address the issues are unable to do so without a global system change. So we need to drive that change. And as we know, "when the people lead, the leaders will follow."
Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed individuals can change the world. In fact, it's the only thing that ever has."~Margaret Mead
Let’s Occupy Earth
So, we need to build one of the biggest movements in history and drag the leaders along with us. Not an easy task, but thousands of progressive organizations share our views. Together, they represent hundreds of millions of people. World United's World Federation initiative is consistent with the goals of most of these organizations. Working with these groups will allow us to leap-frog the movement well beyond what it could do on its own. Environmental, anti-war, child advocacy, artificial intelligence, and religious organizations are all potential partners in the movement. Celebrities will take up the cause: everyone from Pope Francis to Taylor Swift to Oprah Winfrey could be potential allies.
Deep down, in our heart of hearts, we know that, under the current political realities, no one is coming to save us. We know that is we, the people, who must act. So we need to mobilize the populations of the earth. We need to create a grassroots movement that is global in scope. We need this movement to pressure nation-state leaders to do the necessary thing. And we need to do this quickly. Because if it’s not already too late, it’s too close to being too late.
Will This Work?
Yes.
How do we know? Because it has always worked - throughout history - when there’s enough support. So perhaps the only real question is, can we get enough support? And how much support is needed? Fortunately, we have some pretty helpful answers to those questions based on the 2011 book “Why Civil Resistance Works” by Erica Chenoweth and Maria J. Stephan. The 2011 book examines both violent and non-violent resistance campaigns around the world spanning the 100 years to 2006. One of the more startling conclusions is that nonviolent protests are twice as likely to succeed as armed conflicts – and those engaging a threshold of 3.5% of the population have never failed to bring about change.
~Erica Chenoweth
Nonviolent protests are twice as likely to succeed as armed conflicts – and those engaging a threshold of 3.5% of the population have never failed to bring about change.”
So Let’s Do This
Let’s create one of the most vital global movements the world has ever seen. Let’s organize regular peaceful rallies strongly urging our government leaders to act. Let’s impress upon our leaders the urgency that this moment demands. This movement must be well-organized, well-funded, and relentless.
Let’s get the citizens of every country to make specific requests of their leaders. Let’s strongly urge them to cede sovereignty - on a strictly limited set of global imperatives - to a World Federation.
And let’s get the people behind us - so that they have no other option. The changes that we need must be demonstrated, with resolve, by the people.
On August 6 of each year, beginning in 2025, let’s organize a full-day rally in front of the houses of power in every nation-state in the world. Let's outline our case well in advance to the public and to our leaders. We are weary of war, we are at risk from fire, heat, and floods and we are rightly afraid of AI development. The status quo present is worsening, and the status quo future looks bleak.
Let’s be organized.
Let’s send concrete, specific requests by letter to government leaders. Let’s have the necessary constitutional amendments already drafted for each country. Let’s use social media, PR and other methods to get the word out and mobilize populations.
Let’s be well-funded.
Let’s fund this ourselves. Let’s get young people involved. Let’s get their parents involved too. Young people have the most to lose. And parents ought to feel responsible. They would never intentionally have done anything that they thought would jeopardize their children’s future. But neither inadvertence nor ignorance relieves us of culpability. So, let’s ask parents to help fund this. Let’s be unabashed about these requests. They are small in comparison to the size of the problem we are tackling, and the problem won’t be solved without them.
Let’s not be deterred by people who say this is impossible.
Indeed, it is only impossible if we accept it as such, and thereby allow it to be, impossible. The irony is that the people who don’t act because they decide (more or less immediately), that the task is “impossible” make it far more difficult than it would otherwise be. Taken to an extreme, if every person on earth got behind the movement, it would be easy! But we don’t need anywhere near that many people. Small percentages of large populations create large crowds and have huge impacts. People in the street are what move government leaders. That is a fact.
Let’s build a Manhattan Project-scale organization.
Let’s set everything up well in advance. Let’s build the infrastructure or partner with existing institutions. Let’s plan the whole thing now. Let’s create a multinational peace force of experts to oversee and execute the dismantling of nuclear weapons and other war munitions. Let’s set legally-binding GHG emission reduction levels for each year, tailored to each country, and let’s set strict controls on AI development. Let’s draft a World Constitution as a framework for the democratic World Parliament to addend, amend, and ratify. Let’s lay the foundations to turn the movement into a democratically constituted World Federation - with the power to make and enforce laws.
Let’s build the movement from thousands to tens of thousands. On August 6, 2026, let’s rally for two full days. Then, continue to build the movement to hundreds of thousands. In 2027, let’s rally for three days. Continue building until millions show up. And so on - in 2028 for four days, and in 2029 for five full days.
Then, on August 6, 2030, 5 years from now, let’s stay for as long as it takes.
What powerholders really fear is resilient, nonviolent, mass rebellion—which exposes as a lie their aura of invincibility while simultaneously removing any excuses for violent crackdowns."~Erica Chenoweth
Let’s not leave until our demands are met. Let’s continue to Occupy Earth until we establish a World Federation for peace, a habitable planet, and a human future.
For the first time in history, we are faced with multiple existential crises that require global action - and a global authority with the power to act. And we must do this together. We don’t have much time. So, if we accept that this plan, this Occupy Earth movement to create a World Federation, is the only way out of the mess we have created, then we must refocus our time, energy, and resources on this project above all others.
Working together, we can build the largest movement in human history
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