In his excellent book \u201cFall of Giants\u201d, Ken Follett chronicles the period immediately before, during, and after WWI. In a nutshell, there was no reason for the war except for the egos of some royal families in Europe. There were 22 million deaths, 23 million wounded, and absolutely nothing significant or good came out of it.\u00a0The current war in Ukraine was started and will likely end in much the same way.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The League of Nations was the first worldwide intergovernmental organization<\/span><\/a> whose principal mission was to maintain world peace<\/span><\/a>. It was proposed by US <\/strong>President Woodrow Wilson and founded on January 10, 1920, at the Paris Peace Conference that ended WWI<\/span><\/a>. In 1945, after WWII, the League of Nations was expanded to become the United Nations. The 1948 Marshall Plan to rebuild the economies of western Europe, named after US Secretary of State George Marshall, is one of history’s most enlightened pieces of foreign policy (Reference 1). It led to decades without a global conflict. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Given that Climate Change is now the world\u2019s # 1 existential threat, and given that war is the most environmentally destructive and economically wasteful human activity, it is time for all nations to review and re-commit to the excellent principles of the United Nations Charter they once agreed to. <\/p>\n\n\n\n UN Article<\/strong> 1<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe Purposes of the United Nations are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n 1. To maintain international peace and security, and to that end: to take effective collective measures for the prevention and removal of threats to the peace, and for the suppression of acts of aggression or other breaches of the peace, and to bring about by peaceful means, and in conformity with the principles of justice and international law, adjustment or settlement of international disputes or situations which might lead to a breach of the peace;<\/p>\n\n\n\n 2. To develop friendly relations among nations based on respect for the principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples, and to take other appropriate measures to strengthen universal peace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 3. To achieve international cooperation in solving international problems of an economic, social, cultural, or humanitarian character, and in promoting and encouraging respect for human rights and for fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion; and<\/p>\n\n\n\n 4. To be a center for harmonizing the actions of nations in the attainment of these common ends.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe Organization and its Members, in pursuit of the Purposes stated in Article 1, shall act in accordance with the following Principles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 1. The Organization is based on the principle of the sovereign equality of all its members.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 2. All Members, in order to ensure to all of them the rights and benefits resulting from membership, shall fulfill in good faith the obligations assumed by them in accordance with the present Charter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 3. All Members shall settle their international disputes by peaceful means in such a manner that international peace and security, and justice, are not endangered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 4. All Members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state, or in any other manner inconsistent with the Purposes of the United Nations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 5. All Members shall give the United Nations every assistance in any action it takes in accordance with the present Charter, and shall refrain from giving assistance to any state against which the United Nations is taking preventive or enforcement action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Article 2-4 is a key principle.<\/strong> As an example, today\u2019s maps of every continent bear little resemblance to the maps of five centuries or even one century ago. Most of today\u2019s tensions and conflicts have their roots in actions taken decades if not centuries ago. Not even the most learned historians could tell you who threw the first stone at every stage of evolution. Who was the chicken and who was the egg? Today\u2019s global population has tripled since Taiwan became an independent state during China\u2019s civil war of 1949.<\/strong> Six countries could claim a piece of Ukraine that was formalized by referendum as an independent state with the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. <\/strong>If nations are determined to re-establish old borders, there will never be peace. Gross economic inequality and the ravages of climate change will never be mitigated. Our grandchildren will ask what we were thinking, or if we were thinking at all. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The continuous ratcheting up of NATO military spending, as pushed recently by Donald Trump, was a provocation to non-NATO members to respond, especially Putin and Xi.\u00a0If we continue this path of madness, we are unlikely to achieve any of the UN goals of world peace, net-zero emissions, and reasonable equality, and by 2050 we will leave the world\u2019s nine billion people in a terrible mess.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n World GDP for 2022 is estimated to be close to $100 trillion. The world has been spending 2.4% of GDP or $2.4 trillion annually on the military. A recent analysis by McKinsey global management consulting estimated that the cost of getting to net zero emissions is an additional $3.5 trillion (3.5% of GDP) every year until 2050, over and above what is already being spent. The cost of not spending the $3.5 trillion will be much higher. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Which countries can adequately fund their fair share of ever-escalating costs to repair the current damage caused by climate change (estimated at $360 billion for 2022 with only 40% covered by insurance), plus extra costs of mitigating and adapting to future climate change (estimated at $3.5 t per year), plus military costs ($2.4 t per year), plus the expected government services to maintain domestic health and stability? None! <\/p>\n\n\n\n There are 3 basic ways this war could end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Then after that, perhaps it is time for all countries to reset the annual goal for military spending from 2.4% to 1 % and put the other 1.4% or $1.4 trillion toward the mitigation of climate change. That would give the world twice the bang for the buck, and still leave $1 trillion for military spending to deal with rogue nations.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Eighty-five per cent of proven global oil and gas reserves reside in only 15 of 200 UN member countries. That mismatch has kept the world in turmoil for over 100 years. The technologies now available for the production and use of zero-emission energy offer the possibility of every country becoming self-sufficient in clean energy over the next 30 years. That is the other key step to ending the vicious spiraling up of climate change, conflict over energy, unaffordable military costs, growing social unrest, and mass migration.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Where are the Woodrow Wilsons and George Marshalls of today?\u00a0 Today\u2019s population of 8 billion people is at least 4 times as complicated as Woodrow Wilson\u2019s world of 2 billion in 1920.\u00a0So the need for bold creative thinking is even more urgent. The above suggestions may sound impossible, but there is an urgent and growing need for bold creative thinking. Is there really another viable alternative, or do we just continue to grind 9 billion people into oblivion by 2050?\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n References <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n In summary, some key points are worth repeating. There are three very good reasons for this energy revolution. And there is still time to mitigate these three reasons, provided there is not too much resistance to the needed changes. But fear of the inevitable is emanating from oil and gas-producing states and provinces and is a major cause of short-sighted thinking, misinformation, conspiracy theories, and vitriol infecting today\u2019s public discourse. Our federal government can and is helping to turn the energy revolution into a positive force for the oil and gas-producing provinces as well as the entire country. Like old energy, each new type of energy has its strengths and weaknesses. But we need them all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hugh Holland is a retired engineering and manufacturing executive now living in Huntsville, Ontario.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\nUN Article<\/strong> 2<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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