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How to save our future from the crises we create
Who has the most at stake in making the world a better place? Young people.
After all, the decisions we make today affect their future more than any other age group.
“Not just the young people who make up half of the world's population today, but the 11 billion people who are yet to be born by the end of this century," asks UN Foundation President Elizabeth Cousens, "what are we leaving to them?”
In a GZERO World interview with Ian Bremmer, Cousens offers some thought on what the youth can do for global development based her experience working with young people.
Watch the GZERO World episode: Inequality isn't inevitable - if global communities cooperate
Food emergency: what to do when people are hungry now
On global issues, the international community must walk and chew gum at the same time. It needs to learn to deal with simultaneous crises that play off each other, says UN Foundation President Elizabeth Cousens.
That's why we dropped the ball on hunger.
Now the needs are huge and growing. We haven't seen a lot of images of starvation yet, but they are coming, Cousens tells Ian Bremmer on GZERO World.
"We have to be able to rise to this challenge, and see it as something that's in both our interest," she says, adding that “we have done heroic things before on the humanitarian front — it's not like we're not collectively capable."
Watch the GZERO World episode: Inequality isn't inevitable - if global communities cooperate
Our unsustainably unequal world
The past is still very much with us.
It's almost the first anniversary of Russia's war in Ukraine. On March 11, it'll be three years since the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic. And 2022 was the sixth warmest year on record since ... 1880.
We are still dealing with the fallout from all three events. But not equally.
Since 2020, the richest 1% of people has accumulated nearly two-thirds of all the new wealth created in the world. Just 10% of the population owns three-quarters of global wealth — and account for nearly half of carbon emissions.
What can we do to turn this around?
Watch the GZERO World episode: Inequality isn't inevitable - if global communities cooperate
Global economy headed to a recession
Most of the global economy is more likely than not headed toward a recession in 2023. But don't only blame it on inflation and Russia's war in Ukraine.
The economic slowdown this year "is an acceleration of already structural problems around growth, that really started before the pandemic," renowned global economist, Dambisa Moyo tells Ian Bremmer on GZERO World.
Moyo says global inflation is not going anywhere, as the likelihood of a worldwide recession looms large.
Although most of the world understands that they need to transition to cleaner energy, in the short term they still rely on “a hundred million barrels of oil every day.” Europe is creating what Moyo calls, an “industrial Band-Aid solution,” rather than long term solutions to rely on energy from other countries. They discuss how these combined threats will affect the world economy this year.
This interview was featured in a GZERO World episode: "Struggling for economic progress as global recession looms in 2023" on January 9, 2023.
Inequality isn't inevitable - if global communities cooperate
Almost three years after COVID, we're still grappling with the geopolitical convulsions that the pandemic unleashed or worsened. They're all wiping out decades of progress on fighting global inequality.
What's more, the world has become more unequal at a time when global cooperation is often an afterthought. So, what can we do about it?
On GZERO World, Ian Bremmer speaks to UN Foundation President and CEO Elizabeth Cousens, who thinks it's the perfect time for institutions backed by the 1 percent to step up even more.
Foundations have traditionally resisted going big on fixing the world's problems because they're in it for the long run. But now the stakes are so high and the crises so urgent that Cousens sees a "window" of opportunity for philanthropy to play a bigger role in global development.
The are real problems, she says, that money can solve immediately.
- The perils of depending on food imports: UN Foundation chief ›
- Podcast: Salvaging the world we leave our kids with innovative philanthropy ›
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- How converging crises lowered education levels & intensified poverty ›
- Podcast: Fix the global debt crisis before it's too late, warns World Bank's David Malpass - GZERO Media ›
Podcast: Salvaging the world we leave our kids with innovative philanthropy
Listen: Global inequality has reached a level we haven’t seen in our lifetimes and recent geopolitical convulsions have only made things worse. The rich have gotten richer while extreme poverty has exploded. UN Foundation President Elizabeth Cousens thinks it's the perfect time for institutions backed by the 1% to step up. She speaks with Ian Bremmer on the GZERO World podcast about the key role that innovative philanthropy could play to address problems exacerbated by the war in Ukraine, economic fallout from the COVID pandemic, and a warming planet.
Why now? The stakes are so high and the crises so urgent that Cousens sees a window of opportunity for philanthropy to take swift action instead of their traditional long-term approach. When it comes to immediate and deadly problems like famine and flooding, an influx of money could start making a huge difference very quickly.
Subscribe to the GZERO World Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or your preferred podcast platform, to receive new episodes as soon as they're published.- Is the world coming apart? Drama at Davos ›
- Global food crisis: when food isn't merely expensive ›
- In a food crisis, export controls are "worst possible" thing to do, says UN Foundation chief ›
- Podcast: The Ukraine war is crippling the world's food supply, says food security expert Ertharin Cousin ›
- Inequality isn't inevitable - if global communities cooperate - GZERO Media ›
- Philanthropy's moment to act - GZERO Media ›
Gustavo Petro: the guerilla-turned-president who wants to "develop capitalism"
Colombia is Latin America’s longest-standing democracy, but it’s never elected a leftist president … until now.
Gustavo Petro swept to power by a slim margin in June, thanks largely to young Colombian voters. What do they want from him? Change.
It won't be easy. Petro wants to provide free university education and health care, to end oil exploration, and to tax the rich. Will he deliver?
On GZERO World, Colombia's new leader sits down with Ian Bremmer in his first American interview to talk about his plans for Colombia's future, his views on the War on Drugs, and how he'll handle relations with Venezuela and the US.
Also in this episode of GZERO World: an update from John Kerry on the Biden administration's climate agenda.
- Colombia's new president Gustavo Petro: Biden team aware the war ... ›
- Will Colombia really elect a leftist? - GZERO Media ›
- Petro at the Pinnacle: Colombia's new president takes office ... ›
- From stunted capitalism to economic growth in Colombia - GZERO Media ›
- Who is Colombia's new president? - GZERO Media ›
- How to solve Colombia's cocaine problem - GZERO Media ›
COVID's impact on education and its long-term geopolitical consequences: Gerald Butts
It's not just kids spending too much time on their screens because they got so used to doing everything remotely during the pandemic.
The impact of COVID-related educational disruption - and the growing inequality gap - could have big geopolitical fallout in the future. Why?
Because with diminished education comes fewer economic opportunities. That will likely exacerbate already deep divisions, says Eurasia Group Vice Chairman Gerald Butts.
As a result, he adds, watch out for more future disrupted politics around the world, both within countries and between countries.
Butts spoke during a Global Stage livestream on September 15, 2022: "Live from the UN General Assembly: Transforming Education"
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- Eurasia Group's Gerald Butts: US climate change debate has moved ... ›
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- 2022 has been rough. Will 2023 be any better? - GZERO Media ›
- Eddie Ndopu: "People with disabilities need to be in leadership" - GZERO Media ›