UN Video Talks

Bank Ki-moon

EVOLUTIONARY LEADERS AT THE UNITED NATIONS

June Gathering Brings Evolutionary Leaders Together with UN Officials and Public

Twenty-nine members of the Evolutionary Leaders circle came together in New York City this June to address the topic of "Humanity at the Tipping Point: Evolutionary Responses to Global Challenges."

Their deliberations were held in the context of understanding that the human race is in a time that can be called "The Great Transition."

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon noted recently that, "Throughout the ages, people have said that the world is in the midst of big change. But the level and degree of global change that we face today is far more profound than at any other period in my adult lifetime. I call this period the Great Transition." The Secretary-General noted, "I believe we face a unique opportunity. Because the changes we face are so profound – the decisions we make will have a deeper and more lasting impact than perhaps any other set of decisions in recent decades," he said. "We have no time to lose."

At this Great Transition moment, humanity is being called to step into new ways of living that take into account the interconnected nature of our world, across all apparent divisions. The Evolutionary Leaders were drawn to the United Nations as hub of global consciousness that has been pushing the envelope of human process towards a just, sustainable and peaceful world for more than 70 years.

UN Video Presentations by Evolutionary Leaders

View Live "Great Transition" Talks by Jean Houston, Ocean Robbins, Duane Elgin, Lynnaea Lumbard, Jeff Vander Clute, Bruce Lipton, Mark Gerzon, Elza Maalouf, and Terry Patten!

On June 4, 2013, several Evolutionary Leaders offered “TED-style” presentations to the UN diplomatic and NGO community at the Permanent Mission of Nigeria, in a program organized in honor of World Environment Day by the Source of Synergy Foundation and the NGO Committee on Spirituality, Values & Global Concerns-NY.

The program was entitled "The Great Transition," expressing the theme of the Evolutionary Leaders retreat exploring Humanity at the Tipping Point: Evolutionary Responses to Global Challenges.

Sharon Hamilton-Getz, Diane Williams, and James Sniffen

The event opened with a warm greeting by Sharon Hamilton Getz, Chair of the UN NGO Committee on Spirituality, Values and Global Concerns (NY). Sharon introduced Diane Williams, co-director of the Evolutionary Leaders project and then welcomed His Excellency Mr. Usman Sarki, Ambassador and Deputy Permanent Representative, Permanent Mission of Nigeria to the United Nations. Amb. Sarki gave an informative talk on the importance of sustainable development to the future of our planet.

The next speaker was Mr. James Sniffen, Senior Programme Officer at the United Nations Environment Programme and longtime champion of the NGO community at the UN. He discussed World Environment Day with the 2013 theme, Think, Eat, Save: Reduce Your “Foodprint.” Addressing current UNEP initiatives and such pressing issues as climate change and economic justice, Mr. Sniffen said, “Let us consider carefully the actions each one of us must take in our common task of preserving the Earth’s life support systems – systems upon which all species, including the one we represent, are so dependent.”

Deborah Moldow, co-director of the Evolutionary Leaders project, introduced the various talks, many of which were recorded by Alan Steinfeld of New Realities. Each talk offered a fascinating window on an aspect of our evolving consciousness, each in the unique style of its passionate presenter.

Enjoy the following talks by Evolutionary Leaders below:

Duane Elgin: The Great Transition
"We are moving toward a systemic crisis that will either produce breakdown or breakthrough. […] What this circle of Evolutionary Leaders has been doing is exploring prospects for a more promising future of sustainable prosperity."

Jean Houston: The Trim Tab Effect and the Evolution of Communities
"We have barely begun to use the human potential!"

Ocean Robbins: The Food Revolution 
"It’s a revolution we fight not with guns but with our knives and forks."

Lynnaea Lumbard, Duane Elgin and Jeff Vander Clute: Great Transition Stories
"It's all a question of story. We are in trouble right now because we don’t have a good story: we’re in between stories. The old story – the account of how the world came to be and how we fit in it – is no longer functioning properly, and we have not yet learned the new story." –– Thomas Berry

Claire Zammit and Katherine Woodward Thomas: The Role of Feminine Power at the Great Transition

[Video not currently available]

Bruce Lipton: Evolution Beyond Darwin 
"The most overwhelming crisis of all is that science has recognized that we are now deep into the sixth mass extinction of life on this planet." "When the human maximizes its intelligence…it comes together in a multi-cellular community called humanity. We are at the turning point."

Mark Gerzon: The Evolution of Leadership 
"All of us have this precious thing we’re leading – it’s called our life!" "An evolutionary leader is a mediating, boundary-crossing, transformative leader working in service to the evolution of the whole."

Elza S. Maalouf: The Post Revolution Middle East: How MEMEtocracy™ can Design a Functional Model for Governance
"I work in different parts of the Middle East. It just happens that I work with women, because in every project I go into, women rise to the occasion – and especially the millennial generation."

Don Beck: The Momentous Leap: From the League of Nations to the United Nations to the Global
Meshworks: the 21st Century Transformation
[Video not currently available]

Terry Patten: 'You Must Change Your Life," by Peter Sloterdijk (meditative reading) 
"Change your life – otherwise [the global catastrophe's] complete disclosure will demonstrate to you sooner or later what you failed to do in the time of its portent."

 

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