Nothing unites like a common enemy. People who have trouble getting along will often stand shoulder to shoulder when there’s a threat. Of course when the threat is gone the old rivalries return, but the unity persists long as the threat persists.
Imagine what would happen if there was a worldwide threat, a threat so severe that all of humanity had to stand together in order to face it and survive. Kind of like the ‘man vs. the machines’ theme of the Terminator movie franchise, only real. We might be able to overcome our differences for awhile. Not to go all John Lennon on you, but political, social, economic, and religious rivals might actually get along, resulting in an unprecedented renaissance.
The bad news is that the threat is here right now. The even badder news is that we aren’t uniting. Some of us don’t believe the threat is real and I guess some others just haven’t gotten the news or are burying their heads in the sand.
Human population growth is out of control, plants and animals are going extinct several hundred times faster than they ever have in Earth’s history, the planet is warming at an unheard of rate, and worldwide demand for fossil fuels will exceed production around the year 2020.
Is that a big enough threat for you?