THE CRISIS OF OUR PLANET AND THE SHAPING OF A SUSTAINABLE SOCIETY:1 Toward a New Humanistic Agenda

Norwegian Government, which has been asked to prepare statements for the 20th anniversary of the seminal document by the Brundtland Commission to the United Nations in 1987. Our initiative is oriented to the transformation of contemporary society-- its institutions and cultural formations – in order to realize sustainability and social justice.The Initiative has organized a series of workshops and has made presentations at sustainability conferences in a number of countries. One report of the Initiative has been presented at the UN Conference on Sustainability in New York, May 8, 2007. The presentations and workshops are expected to continue until the end of 2008. A book is planned on "Beyond the Brundtland Report". 2 The point of departure of this article is the continuing massive destruction of the planet earth environment. Reversal of this tragic development and the achievement of sustainability cannot be accomplished without major changes in the institutions and cultural formations of modern society. The paper stresses the need to redirect and transform economic, political, scientific and educational systems in order to protect planet earth and to accomplish sustainable development. In the spirit of the Brundtland report (1987), the article singles out not only the profoun