Integral Sustainability and Enlightened Leadership

Hurricanes, tsunamis, drought, global warming, melting icecaps, eradication of biodiversity—to many of us, these events indicate an environmental meltdown in the making. They also seem to signal the need for effective and enforceable global sustainability policies.  What does human development have to do with our ecological crisis?

As one develops, an individual includes wider circles of care: first for the self and family (egocentric); then for the tribe or nation (ethnocentric); then for the world (worldcentric). At worldcentric, the individual begins to value and care for the entire planet. Unfortunately, according to research, over 70% of the world exists at egocentric or ethnocentric levels of development. How, then, can we possibly develop and implement the policies that we so desperately need if we have a good-portion of the electorate that doesn't even recognize it as a problem?  Well, we're going to need some "enlightened leadership" in which an elite body of policy makers, who embody higher levels of human consciousness, are able to solve problems that lower levels of development simply cannot.  Do such leaders actually exist? Maybe not ten years ago, but these days, Ken seems to be humming a slightly more optimistic tune….