CIVIL SOCIETY COMING TOGETHER

As Mahatma Gandhi said, “When the people lead, the leaders will follow.” Contrary to popular belief, policy makers in general follow civil society. Our “leaders” are actually our followers, and there are many ways for each of us to lead, but it takes coordination and strategy to build a movement.

An example of a global problem that brought people together to analyze and solve it occurred when in May of 1985 scientists discovered a hole in the ozone layer caused by human-made chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). Global leaders rapidly came together, and by September 1987 (yes, just 28 months later) The Montreal Protocol on Substances That Deplete the Ozone Layer was ratified. Today, according to National Geographic, the problem appears to be abated, as it reported, “What would the 1980s have been without ‘big hair’ and ice-cold wine coolers? Luckily no one had to find out. Key substitutions in hairsprays and refrigerants allowed such products to exist without CFCs, which were found to beripping a huge ‘hole’ in Earth’s protective ozone layer.”

Corporate action to stop a solution can also happen. Climate change was also identified as a global risk by scientists in the mid-1970s. It has taken the world four decades to come to agreement that there is a problem and develop a plan for action. This is a testament to the power and influence of corporations to stop progress. Many resources were spent to create scientific confusion and block a solution.

The good news is that students, the faith-based community (including the pope, the World Council of Churches, and a conference of Muslim Mullahs), policy makers, litigators, a broad civil society movement, and shareholders have come together to address this global problem. Like South African divestment, there is a huge moral contradiction for shareholders who own companies that continue to dump carbon pollution into the atmosphere, destroying humanity’s shared commons. The difference is that these companies also have unprecedented financial risk. The moral issue plus the fiduciary risk has pushed this issue to the forefront of today’s global consciousness, and there is now a coordinated global movement to demand action.