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CHN at the Globalization for the Common Good Annual Conference

June 12th, 2009

CHN Board Member George Rabb and CHN colleague Kathryn Kintzele took part in the 8th annual international meeting of Globalization for the Common Good – an Interfaith Perspective. This year’s theme was “Globalization: the Challenge to America” and was held at Loyola University in Chicago, Illinois, USA May 31-June 04. Both Dr. Rabb and Dr. Kintzele sat on the final panel of the event, “Ecology, Climate, Sustainability and Globalization.”

Dr. Rabb, President Emeritus of the Chicago Zoological Society, former chair of the IUCN Species Survival Commission (1990-1996) and noted authority on biodiversity and species extinction, spoke on “The Common Good – All of the Natural World”. He discussed how we, a single species, are the cause of the sixth major extinction episode in the history of life on earth, wherein half or more of the ten million species on the planet are likely to go extinct within this century. This is not just a projection related to man-caused climate change, but it is happening now with the coral reefs in the marine realm and the amphibians in the terrestrial realm, and continues the pattern of our recent past with the megafaunas now gone because of us. These are substantial losses to the welfare of our own species and to the integrity and resilience of ecosystems worldwide. In the closing discussion period, he reiterated that equity should be the ethical principle governing our relationships with all life, not just our own kind. He also made the observation that we had to much better understand our own nature if we were to pursue a sustainable relationship with all of the natural world – the ultimate common good.

Dr. Kintzele gave the audience a local-international example of ethics in action, with her background discussion on the Biosphere Ethics Initiative, working toward a code of ethics for biodiversity conservation. She was able to cite examples of how local communities around the world have been translating their personal and public ethics into conservation action. Themes have included the importance of bio-cultural diversity; the danger of commodifying nature; the primacy of native species; and participatory democracy. Conference reports are in progress, but will be available at http://www.gcgchicago2009.org/index.html

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