The Baha’i Community of Charlotte and Park Road Baptist Church
invite you and your friends to a special Earth Week presentation
OUR ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT: DOES HUMANITY HAVE A FUTURE?
Paul Hanley, author of ELEVEN
Sunday, April 24, 2016
3:00 pm – 4:30 pm
Park Road Baptist Church, 3900 Park Rd, Charlotte, NC 28209
Presentation and Discussion 3:00 – 4:00
Reception and Refreshments Following the Presentation
UN projections show global population reaching 11 billion—and the world economy growing by 500%—by the end of this century. Can the planet accommodate 3.7 billion more people when our current ecological footprint already exceeds Earth's biocapacity by 60%? This question will preoccupy humanity throughout this century, affecting everything we do, from designing buildings and cities to producing and using energy. Our mission is daunting: Somehow, we have to support 50% more people and raise billions out of poverty and reduce our ecological footprint to the sustainable level last found in 1976, when we were just 4 billion. Clearly, we have to change direction. Yet every facet of our social-economic-political order—indeed the totality of the dominant global culture--programs us to maintain the status quo: perpetual material growth. ELEVEN considers how we got into this predicament and maps a way forward.