We are living in a period of extraordinary change and extraordinary challenges. To get your thinking started, consider the rate of growth of the world economy and the world population. When I was born in 1961, there were 3 billion people on Earth that relied on a global gross domestic product (GDP) of $1.4 trillion (based on current U.S. dollars). Today, in the span of less than my one human lifetime, we have reached a global population of 7.7 billion people who rely on a global GDP of $80 trillion. By 2050, that world population is expected to reach 9.8 billion (United Nations 2004) and global GDP is expected to reach $135 trillion (World Bank 2006). Let these data sink in for a minute.
What does this growth in people and the consumption ...
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