What began as a speech and blog post by author and futurist Metzl six weeks ago has now grown into a broadly inclusive worldwide movement. This global community released today a collectively derived Declaration of Interdependence, available in Arabic, Chinese (simplified and traditional), Dutch, English, German, Hindi, Italian, and Spanish.
Today, OneShared.World:
• Calls on all people of the world to sign the Pledge of Interdependence located at OneShared.World;
• Announces the launch of emergency action agendas to strengthen global public health infrastructure (expert advisory committee chaired by Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health Dean Michelle Williams) and support the most vulnerable populations in the Southern Hemisphere (expert advisory committee chaired by Ambassador Rick Barton);
• Issues a call to artists around the world to share all forms of creative expression celebrating our shared humanity and launched the Instagram site and hashtag #onesharedworld;
• Demands that world leaders in the upcoming June G7 and November G20 meetings place its concerns at the top of their agenda; and
• Declares May 6 Global Interdependence Day.
“With our global launch today, we invite all of our fellow 7.7 billion humans to sign our pledge and join our moment to save our species and our world,” said Professor Paula Rayman, a lead organizer of the movement and former director of the Harvard Radcliffe Public Policy Center. “The evidence is in: we can’t wait for leaders to save us. It’s now time for all of us to step forward together to collectively save ourselves.”
In addition to Metzl and Rayman, members of the leadership team include former Asia Society President Vishakha Desai, Age Wave CEO and author Ken Dychtwald, philanthropy professional Betsy Fader, social activist Vanessa Gotthainer, Family Office Exchange executive Miguel Lopez de Silanes, Professor and Dean Luchen Li, university president Mary Papazian, and Risk Global executive Klaus Thalmann. Other notable participants include journalist Isha Sesay, former UN Chief Counsel Hans Correl, percussionist and composer Susie Ibarra, former Missouri Governor Bob Holden, leading conservationist Enric Sala, and many others around the world of all ages, backgrounds, and orientations.
“Once we realize we are all interdependent, that our collective and individual security and well-being resides in the ecosystem we share, we’ll realize that helping others is not charity but one of the best investments we can make in helping ourselves,” said Metzl. “All big ideas start sounding impossible, but the best impossible ideas can be realized when the right idea meets the right people at the right time. Shame on us if we don’t collectively seize this chance to make our world a better place.”
More on the movement, text of the declaration and pledge, and essential links are at www.OneShared.World.