5. The Global Cube

Is it possible for the world to become one as the UN World Commission on Environment and Development suggests in the very first sentence of its report? As statesmen begin to declare that ‘our country is the planet’ and economic and political systems become metanational, a global perspective enters the agenda of the human race. Yet it is still not clear whether such a change will lead to a more balanced world or one fraught with environmental hazards and fragmented into islands of wealth in seas of poverty both between North and South and within nations. Will it be driven by conscious, collective action of humankind, or impelled by short term, destructive processes? The way in which it goes will depend, partly, on how quickly and accurately science is able to cope with the challenge of thinking and analysing phenomena from a global perspective.