PLEASE FORWARD WIDELY AS APPROPRIATE. While I have been in Australia my message has been honed. Here's my best, shortest version: -- We are living in a time when levels of uncertainty have increased by at least an order of magnitude and will continue to do so. We shall live in the rapids of change for the foreseeable future. The most immediate dynamics will be driven by Y2K but this is just the tip of the iceberg. -- Our problems emerge from our successes, not our failures and therefore if we change what we want we can reasonably hope to achieve it. -- The question is therefore what we want. There are two primary competing visions. One is that if we work even harder at achieving maximum eonomic growth and use all available technologies this will result in good decision-making, increase living standards for all and free up resources for ecological sustainability. -- The other argues that social cohesion, ecological integrity, effective decision making can only be achieved on the basis of a new paradigm. This demands that we pay attention to values, spirituality and the quality of life. It is this view which I have been advancing and which has been accepted widely both among citizens and among those who have the ability to shift the dynamics of their institutions. We shall be using this latter view as the support for a major sattelite and web-based program. I urgently invite you to visit www.resilientcommunities.org to see how you can become involved. It provides an opportunity to become connected to others who see the need for profound, and immediate, change in world affairs. Robert Theobald _________ For people who do not know me and have received this e-mail as a result of a forward, I have been engaged in fundamental change activities for 40 years. More information is available through my web-site which can be reached through the web address given above.