The seven key problems we face

First, and above all else, is climate change. Compared to that, none of the others are in the same league. If we do not get this one right, then there is no future – simple as. This fact may not sink into people's heads, but this will not go away; and it has to be tackled collectively and globally. There is no hiding place from it, and there is no opt out from it. So that is why it is number one.

Second is, and very much because of the first, the need for conservation. The conservation of environments, of the eco-systems in them and of the richness of those systems. We are already witnessing a mass-extinction which we ourselves have triggered. If we try very hard, we may stop it getting worse, and perhaps, only perhaps, reverse it. 

The third key problem is the need for sustainability in the light of finite resources. We need to conserve them because once they are gone, they are gone. We need to build sustainability into all that we do. We need to build in resilience into our life styles. We need to make our lives low impact. 

The fourth key problem is globalisation. It is just the one world, and, with modern communications, that is a very small world. Nowhere much is more than twenty-four hours away from anywhere else. Almost everywhere can be contacted instantly. This is one deeply interwoven world. It is the first time in history that the whole planet has been interconnected and interacting. We need to learn how to live with that. Just now in Britain I think we are failing in this – we are erecting barriers, as if we want the rest of the world to go away – which of course it won't. 

The fifth key problem is automation. The impact on jobs is already considerable. It will get worse. As long as we tie income directly to work for the mass of people, then the vanishing of work will create mass poverty. Already our younger people are poorer than the previous generation. This is the first time that has happened for perhaps two hundred years. When large parts of the population are redundant, then what? 

The sixth key problem is inclusion. We cannot have a world where only some – perhaps only a few – enjoy an extravagant life, and where the rest are slowly pauperised – but that is the prospect. A basic economic truth is that we need a balance between consumption and production, between productive work and meaningful life-styles, between consumers and producers. Inclusion is about power and about sharing, about having a say and being listened to; about who benefits from the bounty produced by our amazing technologies; about the balance between communal and private assets. 

And the final key problem is alienation. The less we include, the more we alienate. We need to think carefully about modern life and how it can be enriched, about how well-being can be increased, how life can be made more fulfilling. In this the notion of the Gross National Happiness – as they have in Bhutan – must play an increasing role. Wealth, beyond the point where primary needs are fully met, adds very little: it is a diminishing return. Meaningful occupation, the esteem of others, a sense of community, a sense of purpose – these are what enriches lives and guards against alienation. The alienated turn on the societies that have excluded them, and, ultimately, we all pay the price for that.