WE NEED a game-changing relationship with the planet. Our current relationship is not working, either for us or for the planet. We are on track to heat up the earth 10 degrees Fahrenheit by the end of this century as a result of burning fossil fuels. Drought will prevail in many regions. The rising sea level will displace tens of millions of people around the world. Wars will be fought over water, not oil, because there won't be any oil. Our current economic crisis will pale in comparison with what we are queuing up for our children.
The good news is that it doesn't have to play out this way. But to avoid this scenario, we need a new paradigm.
Global warming is not the issue of our time. Sustainability is the issue. Global warming is just one symptom of many unsustainable behaviors. On a shorter time frame, the subprime mortgage crisis, which precipitated the current global economic recession and the loss of millions of jobs in the United States, is another symptom of unsustainable human behavior. Homo sapiens are apparently hell-bent on not living sustainably. With our high intelligence, we can actually consume ourselves out of existence.
For the last 50 years, environmentalists have focused on "saving the environment." The problem with this approach is that we can't save the environment by trying to save the environment; we can't build a large enough force to accomplish that mission. We need a larger army.
The way to build the army is to recast the goal. Instead of focusing on "saving the environment," we need to focus on "sustaining human well-being." Everyone is interested in his or her own well-being. If we can sustain it, the environment will be saved as a consequence.
For some environmentalists it will seem counter-intuitive, or outright heresy, to focus on human well-being instead of the environment. But there is a subtle and critical difference between human greed and well-being. Talk about safe communities, energy security and affordability, human health, safe food, open space, clean water, spiritual enrichment, the welfare of our children, and quality human relationships, and you have everyone's attention. As it turns out, all of these things people value are inextricably dependent on "saving the environment."
Environmentalists have no exclusive rights on sustainability. Sustainability is as much an economic issue as it is environmental. Just as environmentalists have often marginalized people in their quest, our economic systems have drawn down on the natural resources that sustain them. Hence the predicament we are in. Focusing on human well-being will draw environmentalists and business leaders into a common interest.
The point is, they both are dealing with the exact same challenge.
Evidence of this paradigm shift to human well-being is already emerging. Even in this down economy, people are purchasing products that may cost more but take less energy to produce, result in fewer chemicals in the environment, or that are produced within their communities. Many of our nation's leading environmental groups are making sure human economic well-being is integrated into their work. Some of the largest companies (and smallest) in the United States are boldly pushing for climate change legislation because they see that their economic well-being could be fatally compromised by a "hot, flat, and crowded" planet.
The push for tackling climate change is not driven primarily by drowning polar bears but by a concern for human security and the cost of energy. It just so happens that the environment, including polar bears, will be benefactors of our success, if we achieve it.
This is a uniting paradigm. We can either continue to pursue our interests as separate agendas or we can redirect our interests into a common agenda. If we do the former, we are relegated to a fate of grinding the planet down to the detriment of all, including humans and the millions of hapless species not blessed with brains as big as ours. But if we refocus on human well-being - the things we hold dear as humans - it will be a game changer.
John Hagan is president of Manomet Center for Conservation Sciences. 
