November 20, 2004

The Basis of Peace

Sensing the approach of the Christmas Season

An American of average wealth traveled to Baghdad

To enlist the help of a highly respected Sufi master

On what to do to bring about peace in the world

AI can help,@ said the wise, Abut not before I establish

The very context in which peace can take hold.@

The traveler agreed and it was arranged that he would

Return home, leaving the venerable to work his magic

But no sooner had he arrived back to his community

That a series of calamities befell him in succession

One upon the other, as if he were pursued relentlessly

By an evil demon out to quash the quality of his life

His house deteriorated and looked much older than before

Only one of its six rooms could be lighted with electricity

His telephone, his computer and his car were no more

And his bathroom disappeared, replaced by an out-house

One of his children died, another became malnourished

His wife caught tuberculosis and he himself lost his job

Even the community did not escape this persecution B

Both the doctor and the elementary school moved away

It was in these circumstances that the fakir appeared to him

AThe basis for peace is collegiality and equality among all@

He said. AYou now live in conditions approximating

Those in which most of humanity makes do all the time@

ANext is to dismantle the nuclear warhead yonder B

Though your community consists only of 1000 people

It keeps the equivalent of one Hiroshima bomb

To protect it from whoever might wish it harm@

AThen there is the setting up of a world parliament

To be elected by means of one vote for every adult.

Of its 454 representatives (one per 10,000,000 adults)

23 will serve the United States, Canada and Mexico@ ^*

ARemember, worldwide, oil extraction from the earth

Is at this very moment passing through its peak

It is on the soil of the ferment you are experiencing

That the oil crisis will grip us all in its fierce jaws@

AI will help you all I can B though your country is

Even now bombing mine. Brotherhood must prevail@

AWe have a common fate B

You, I, the Earth and peace

Come, let us take the first step.@

__________________________

^* Constituencies being specifically designed to straddle national borders.

Indicators of Quality of Life B The United States and the World

Category	Indicator	Year	United States	World	Ratio US/World	Ratio World/US
Demographic	Population (millions)	2001	288.0	6,148.1	-	21.4
	Population Growth Rate (percent annually)	2001-2015	1.0	1.1	-	1.1
	Population under Age 15 (percent of total population)	2001	21.7	29.8	-	1.4
	Total Fertility Rate ^(a) (per woman)	2000- 2005	2.1	2.7	-	1.3
	Urban Population (percent of total population)	2001	77.4	47.7	1.6	-
	Population aged 65 and above (percent of total population)	2001	12.3	7.0	1.8	-
Category	Indicator	Year	United States	World	Ratio US/World	Ratio World/US
Economic	Gross Domestic Product (US$ per capita)	2001	35,277	5,133	6.9	-
	Gross Domestic Product Growth Rate per capita (percent annually)	1990-2001	2.1	1.2	1.8	-
	Energy Use per capita [million British Thermal Units (BTU=s) annually]	1999	343	59.7	5.6	-
	Emergy Consumption per capita [trillion (10^12) solar emcalories annually] ^(b)	1980's	8.7	1.1	7.9	-
	Electricity Consumption per capita (kilowatt-hours)	2000	12,331	2,156	5.7	-
	Passenger Cars (per capita)	1999	0.4	0.1	4.0	-
	Telephone Mainlines (per 1,000 people)	2001	667	169	4.0	-
	Cellular Subscribers (per 1000 people)	2001	451	153	3.0	-
	Internet Users (per 1,000 people)	2001	502	80	6.3	-
	Patents granted to Residents (per 1,000,000 people)	1999	298	68	4.4	-
Category	Indicator	Year	United States	World	Ratio US/World	Ratio World/US
Health	Population with Sustainable Access to an Improved Water Source (percent of population)	2000	100	82	1.2	-
	Population with Access to Improved Sanitation (percent of population)	2000	100	61	1.6	-
	Births attended by Skilled Health Personnel (percent of births)	1995-2001	99	60	1.7	-
	Life Expectancy at Birth (years)	2000-2005	77.1	66.6	1.2	-
	Probability at Birth of Surviving to Age 65 (percent of cohort)	2000-2005	86.4 (Female) 78.1 (Male)	72.9 (Female) 64.4 (Male)	1.2 1.2	-
	Infant Mortality Rate (per 1,000 live births)	2001	7	56	-	8.0
	Under-five-year olds Mortality Rate (per 1,000 live births)	2001	8	81	-	10.1
	Under-five-year-olds Under-weight for Age (percent)	1995-2000	1	24	-	24.0
	Under-five-year-olds Under-height for Age (percent)	1995-2000	2	28	-	14.0
	Tuberculosis Cases (per 100,000 people)	2001	2	119	-	59.5
	Adults living with HIV/AIDS (percent of adults age 15-49)	2001	0.6	1.2	-	2.0
Category	Indicator	Year	United States	World	Ratio US/World	Ratio World/US
Education	Net Primary Enrolment Ratio (percent of primary school aged children)	2000-2001	95	84	1.1	-
Armaments	Nuclear Arsenal (Hiroshima bombs equivalents per 1,000 persons)^(c)	1998	1	0.1	10.0	-
	Export of Conventional Arms (US$ per person, 1990 prices)	2002	13.7	2.7	5.1	-
Environment	Carbon Dioxide Emissions per capita (metric tons)	1999	19.7	3.8	5.2	-
(Democracy)	(Theoretical number of representatives in a world representative parliament elected by means of one vote per adult, each representative having a constituency of 10,000,000 adults across national boundaries) ^(d)	(2001)	(23)	(454)	-	(20)

Notes

(a) Total Fertility Rate: Number of children that would be born to each woman, were she to live to the end of her child-bearing years and bear children at each age in accordance with prevailing age-specific fertility rates.

(b) AEmergy@: A term coined by Odum in 1983. On Earth, the most abundant source of energy is sunlight, but because it is spread out in time and space, it is of low quality compared to the many other forms of energy derived from it. Many solar calories are required to make other kinds of more concentrated energy B the kinds that humans need. It is convenient to express all other kinds of energy in terms of the sunlight energy required to produce it, directly and indirectly. AEmergy@ is the energy needed, directly and indirectly, to make a produce or service. The term can be thought of as shorthand for Aembodied energy.@

(c) Hiroshima Bomb Equivalents: On December 31, 1998, the United States had a nuclear arsenal of 15,500 warheads. Assuming each warhead contains a typical 4.5 kilograms of plutonium B that is, the explosive yield of 18.06 Hiroshima bombs B these warheads were the equivalent of 279,930 Hiroshima bombs. In 1999, the United States had a population of 280,400,000 people.

Adult: An adult being defined as a person 15 years or over. The total 4,543,000,000 adults in the world would have 454 representatives. The 226,000,000 adults in the United States would have 23 representatives B 5 percent of the assembly.

Sources

Demographic:

Population: UN 2003, pp. 250 and 253.

Population Growth Rate: UN 2003, pp. 250 and 253.

Population under Age 15: UN 2003, pp. 250 and 253.

Total Fertility Rate: UN 2003, pp. 250 and 253.

Urban Population: UN 2003, pp. 250 and 253.

Population aged 65 and above: UN 2003, pp. 250 and 253.

Economic:

Gross Domestic Product: UN 2003, pp. 278 and 281.

Gross Domestic Product Growth Rate: UN 2003, pp. 278 and 281.

Energy Use per capita: Heinberg p. 123; Odum p. 17; and UN 2001, pp. 154 and 157.

Emergy Consumption per capita: Heinberg, p. 153; and Odum pp. 67 and 95.

Electricity Consumption: UN 2003, pp. 300 and 303.

Passenger Cars: Odum p. 25; and UN 2001, pp. 154 and 157.

Telephone Mainlines: UN 2003, pp. 274 and 277.

Cellular Subscribers: UN 2003, pp. 274 and 277.

Internet Users: UN 2003, pp. 274 and 277.

Patents granted to Residents: UN 2003, pp. 274 and 277.

Health:

Population with Access to Improved Water Source: UN 2003, pp. 254 and 257.

Population with Access to Improved Sanitation: UN 2003, pp. 254 and 257.

Birth attended by Skilled Health Personnel: UN 2003, pp. 254 and 257.

Life Expectancy at Birth: UN 2003, pp. 262 and 265.

Probability at Birth of Surviving to Age 65: UN 2003, pp. 262 and 265.

Infant Mortality Rate: UN 2003, pp. 262 and 265.

Under-five-year-olds Mortality Rate: UN 2003, pp. 262 and 265.

Under-five-year-olds Under-weight for Age: UN 2001, pp. 262 and 265.

Under-five-year-olds Under-height for Age: UN 2001, pp. 262 and 265.

Tuberculosis Cases: UN 2003, pp. 258 and 261.

Adults living with HIV/AIDS: UN 2003, pp. 258 and 261.

Education:

Net Primary Enrolment Ratio: UN 2003, p. 270.

Armaments:

Nuclear Arsenal: Dumas pp. 16-17 and 63; UN 2001, pp. 254 and 257. Also, my summary, ANuclear Power B an Infallible Technology for Infallible Humans?@, May 6, 2004.

Export of Conventional Arms: UN 2003, pp. 250, 253, 304 and 307.

Environment:

Carbon Dioxide Emissions: UN 2003, pp. 300 and 303.

(Democracy)

Theoretical Number of Representatives: Monbiot p. 87; and UN 2003, pp. 250 and 253.

References

Dumas, Lloyd, Lethal Arrogance B Human Fallibility and Dangerous Technologies (St. Martin=s, New York. N.Y.), 1999.

Hall, Francoise, ANuclear Power B an Infallible Technology for Infallible Humans?@, May 6, 2004, 16 pages.

Heinberg, Richard, The Party=s Over B Oil, War and the Fate of Industrial Societies (New Society, Gabriola Island, BC, Canada), 2003.

Monbiot, George, Manifesto for a New World Order (The New Press, New York, N.Y.), 2003.

Odum, Howard and Elizabeth Odum, A Prosperous Way down B Principles and Policies (University of Colorado, Boulder, CO), 2001.

United Nations Human Development Programme, Human Development Report 2001 B Making New Technologies work for Human Development (Oxford University Press, New York, N.Y.), 2001.

United Nations Human Development Programme, Human Development Report 2003 B Millennium Development Goals, A Compact among Nations to end Human Poverty, (Oxford University Press, New York, N.Y.), 2003.

***