Planetary consciousness is the idea that human beings are members of a planetary society of

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surfa ...

as much as they are members of their nations, provinces, districts, islands, cities or villages.

History

In his 1906 book ''American Character'', author

Brander Matthews James Brander Matthews (February 21, 1852 – March 31, 1929) was an American academic, writer and literary critic. He was the first full-time professor of dramatic literature at Columbia University in New York and played a significant role in est ...

mentions the idea of a "league of nations" and a "planetary consciousness", believing it would be created by American politicians in the coming centuries. Key planetary consciousness events of the 20th century include the creation of the

League of Nations The League of Nations (french: link=no, Société des Nations ) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference that ...

, the signing of Kellogg-Briand Pact, the creation of the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

, and the creation of the

Bretton Woods system The Bretton Woods system of monetary management established the rules for commercial and financial relations among the United States, Canada, Western European countries, Australia, and Japan after the 1944 Bretton Woods Agreement. The Bretto ...

Democratic globalization Democratic globalization is a social movement towards an institutional system of global democracy. One of its proponents is the British political thinker David Held. In the last decade, Held published a dozen books regarding the spread of democracy ...

advocate

Abhay Kumar Abhay Kumar

en Name Abhay K. En or EN may refer to: Businesses * Bouygues (stock symbol EN) * Esquimalt and Nanaimo Railway (reporting mark EN, but now known as Southern Railway of Vancouver Island) * Euronews, a news television and internet channel Language and writing * ...

(born 1980) is an Indian poet-diplomat and currently serves as the Deputy Director General of Indian Council of Cultural Relations (ICCR), New Delhi. He served as India's 21st Ambassador to Madagascar and Comoros ...

points to the International Corporation of Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) board of directors election in 2000, which were conducted globally, as the first example of global democracy. In September 2001,

Ervin László Ervin László (; born 12 June 1932) is a Hungarian philosopher of science, systems theorist, integral theorist, originally a classical pianist. He is an advocate of the theory of quantum consciousness. Early life and education László wa ...

and the

Dalai Lama Dalai Lama (, ; ) is a title given by the Tibetan people to the foremost spiritual leader of the Gelug or "Yellow Hat" school of Tibetan Buddhism, the newest and most dominant of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism. The 14th and current Dal ...

wrote an essay titled "Manifesto on Planetary Consciousness", which was adopted at a meeting at the

Hungarian Academy of Sciences The Hungarian Academy of Sciences ( hu, Magyar Tudományos Akadémia, MTA) is the most important and prestigious learned society of Hungary. Its seat is at the bank of the Danube in Budapest, between Széchenyi rakpart and Akadémia utca. Its ma ...

in Budapest. Its introduction begins:

Andreas Bummel Andreas Bummel (*9. February 1976 in Cape Town) is co-founder and Director of Democracy Without Borders and of the international campaign for a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly. From 1998 to 2008 he was coordinator for UN reform issues of th ...

, CEO of the Committee for a Democratic UN, says, "The first step into the direction of a world parliament would be the establishment of a Parliamentary Assembly at the United Nations".

Concept

Advocacy for the idea of planetary consciousness is based on the technological advancements made by the mankind in the fields of transport and telecommunications during the 20th century and in the first decade of the 21st century. Kumar claims that these technological advancements have turned the whole planet into an interdependent economic, political and communication community. He specifically cites the invention of the Internet and the mobile phones as key technological achievements of the 20th century which brought humans into more continuous interconnected communication. He believes that these inventions will lead to a second

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...

and global democracy, just as the

Gutenberg press A printing press is a mechanical device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a print medium (such as paper or cloth), thereby transferring the ink. It marked a dramatic improvement on earlier printing methods in which the c ...

in 1439 led to the first Renaissance, the

Age of Enlightenment The Age of Enlightenment or the Enlightenment; german: Aufklärung, "Enlightenment"; it, L'Illuminismo, "Enlightenment"; pl, Oświecenie, "Enlightenment"; pt, Iluminismo, "Enlightenment"; es, La Ilustración, "Enlightenment" was an intel ...

, and

Nation state A nation state is a political unit where the state and nation are congruent. It is a more precise concept than "country", since a country does not need to have a predominant ethnic group. A nation, in the sense of a common ethnicity, may inc ...

s. Bummel describes planetary consciousness as integral, insofar as it does not conflict with other levels of

social identity Identity is the qualities, beliefs, personality traits, appearance, and/or expressions that characterize a person or group.Compare ''Collins Dictionary of Sociology'', quoted in In sociology, emphasis is placed on collective identity, in which ...

, but instead is a holistic perspective on humanity and the planet as a whole. Steven Kull writes that while nation states are reluctant to work cooperatively, individuals seem more willing. Author

Shashi Tharoor Shashi Tharoor (; ; born 9 March 1956 in London, England ) is an Indian former international civil servant, diplomat, bureaucrat and politician, writer and public intellectual who has been serving as Member of Parliament for Thiruvananthapuram, ...

argues that an Earth Anthem sung by people across the world can inspire planetary consciousness and

global citizenship Global citizenship is the idea that one's identity transcends geography or political borders and that responsibilities or rights are derived from membership in a broader class: "humanity". This does not mean that such a person denounces or waives ...

among people.Indian diplomat pens anthem for earth
The New Indian Express 5 June 2013

References

{{Reflist Consciousness Society Global politics Political movements Globalism Global citizenship Futures studies Theories of history

History

Concept

See also

References