unity movement

I have always been a lover of nature. For the last ten years I have gradually come to realise that to protect the natural world and improve the lives of its people we need a new economic and social system. Working with a small team of close friends we will be developing and promoting a new vision for the future based on equality, inclusion, compassion, co-operation and fairness. The money raised will fund the creation of a website to present our thinking and policy ideas.

Where we are

The current system is clearly broken. The UN Secretary General has called a “code red for humanity”. Even Boris Johnson said at the recent climate talks in Glasgow that we are at “one minute to midnight”. The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists who have, since 1945, set their doomsday clock ever closer to midnight now put us at 100 seconds to 12.

Despite the fact that global emissions continue to rise, the UN estimate that around £320 billion is paid out annually in fossil-fuel subsidies. Despite the need for carbon sinks, we continue to destroy out forests, peat bogs and mangrove swamps on an industrial scale. Despite the essential human need for freshwater, we pollute waters with plastics, fertilisers and other chemicals.   In human terms, an estimated 4.7 billion people live on less that USD 10 a day – two thirds of the world’s population. The WHO estimate that 17 million people die each year from infectious diseases.). Meanwhile a select group of 2755 billionaires live in abject luxury. 

Where we need to go

The fundamental problem is an erosion of democracy as wealthy individuals and corporations gain power at the expense of the people.

So what could our new story look like? We look to progressive political parties. But no one is setting out a positive vision of what our world could look like in 10 or 20 years time. We face a perfect storm of challenges from climate breakdown to artificial intelligence, poverty, destruction of natural capital and conflict. How can we address these and make the planet a better place for all in an increasingly polarised world?

The answer lies in governance being devolved to the local level. A local community will vote for policies which directly benefit them. And since most people are, essentially altruistic – this is shown by how we respond to a humanitarian crisis – people will not promote ideas which are to the detriment of planet or people. We urgently need to recalibrate our relationship with the natural world and with each other. 

We advocate for community governance, democratic workplaces and major investment in education and health. Education must be excellent for all without the two-tier system we have. So must health. We need to educate our children to understand the history of colonialism and why developing countries are all too often trapped in poverty. We need to educate our children to think and question, not just pass exams. We need a new focus for criminal justice using community service as a way of rehabilitating all but the most serious offenders. Many crimes are drug-related. We need to support those that misuse drugs and treat it as a public health crisis. And we need a new economy – one which encourages companies to pay their fair share of tax, democratise, look after local communities and become zero carbon by 2030 or soon after. Carers and stay-at-home parents should receive an income. A major change we advocate is the shift to a degrowth economy. Wealthy countries are using earth’s resources faster than they can be replenished and, with an increasing global population, this will only get worse. So we simply can’t maintain endless economic growth. We are robbing resources from our children. Going forward, the progress of a country should be measured in terms of sustainability, health outcomes and wellbeing not GDP. These are just some of the ideas we will be developing. 

Real change can happen when we have a positive story and vision to inspire people. People-led change has happened before whether it was the suffragettes, the American civil rights movement or Ghandi’s struggle in India. 

This country can be a shining example, a foundation on which to build a better world. That would be a truly global Britain. We can build a better nation - and a better world. It won’t be easy. There are entrenched, vested interests in our failed system: media barons, billionaires and multinational corporations. But there is hope if we can tell people another story.