Commencement Address to the Class of 2009\nUniversity of Portland, May 3rd, 2009\nPaul Hawken\n\nWhen I was invited to give this speech, I was asked if I could give a simple short talk that was direct, naked, taut, honest, passionate, lean, shivering, startling, and graceful. Boy, no pressure there.\n\nBut let’s begin with the startling part. Hey, Class of 2009: you are going to have to figure out what it means to be a human being on earth at a time when every living system is declining, and the rate of decline is accelerating. Kind of a mind-boggling situation but not onepeer-reviewed paper published in the lastt thirty years can refute that statement. \n\nBasically, the earth needs a new operating system, you are the programmers, and we need it within a few decades.\n\nThis planet came with a set of operating instructions, but we seem to have misplaced them. Important rules like don’t poison the water, soil, or air, and don’t let the earth get overcrowded, and don’t touch the thermostat have been broken. Buckminster Fuller said that spaceship earth was so ingeniously designed that no one has a clue that we are on one, flying through the universe at a million miles per hour, with no need for seatbelts, lots of room in coach, and really good food but all that is changing. Continue reading
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