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by Osvald Bjelland (Author), Óscar Arias Sánchez (Foreword by), Ajaypal Ajay Singh Banga (Author)
Hope for Life on Our Planet: Inspiration for Seven Generations is a powerful reminder of what becomes possible when we come together with a shared purpose. Yes, humankind is vulnerable-but at its best, it is also mighty. When we recognize our deep interconnection and lean into our greatest strength-our ability to unite for a common cause-there is little we cannot overcome.
This is not a book one person could write alone. Hope for Life on Our Planet is a collective testament to human potential: 64 contributors from around the world-activists, artists, scientists, ecologists, philosophers, CEOs, poets, spiritual leaders, and more-have come together to reframe what hope means in the 21st century.
Their messages, drawn from lived experience and bold vision, remind us that true transformation-social, ecological, and economic-must be both personal and collective. Their essays light the way forward in a time clouded by fear, polarization, and a failure of imagination. As Nobel Peace Prize laureate Óscar Arias Sánchez writes in the foreword, "hope is the most powerful force for human progress." This book is committed to nurturing that force-for the sake of the next seven generations and beyond.
Hope appears across the pages in many forms:
- Peace Nobel laureate Narges Mohammadi, writing from prison in Iran, illuminates how to kindle hope in the darkest of places, as does Ukraine's Oleksandra Matviichuk, lawyer and civil society leader, live from the most brutal war front on the planet today.
- Business leaders like Ajay Banga (World Bank), Hans Vestberg (Verizon), and Natarajan Chandrasekaran (Tata Sons) call us to invest in hope through bold, forward-looking leadership.
- Cultural voices like Maria Popova and architect Yasmeen Lari show how hope can shape our imagination, our structures-and our future.
- Science and exploration voices including ethologist and ecologist Dame Jane Goodall and polar explorer Robert Swan extend pathways to global and personal stewardship and discovery that exact our highest humanity yet endow even more in return.
Together, their insights form a mosaic of inspiration. Hope for Life on Our Planet will leave you with a renewed sense of direction- on a personal, organizational, and global level. It is both a call to action and a source of courage in a time when we need it most.
Osvald Bjelland brilliantly twines together essays, reflections and interviews from inspiring leaders around the globe. Hope for Life on Our Planet reminds us of our greatest superpower: imagining positive change, the first step toward making it happen.
- Jean-Christophe Napoléon Bonaparte, Member of the House of Bonaparte
Hope is fundamental to human existence and it can provide us with a roadmap to a better world. Hope for Life on Our Planet brings together a wealth of perspectives on how we can work towards a still open future, united by hope."
- Kristin Clemet, Managing Director of Civita, Member of the Nobel Peace Prize Committee, Former Minister of Education and Research and Former Minister of Labour and Administration in Norway
HOPE FOR LIFE ON OUR PLANET offers an illuminated pathway forward to a brighter perspective-and out of the collective failure of imagination and courage that currently plagues global society and the planet.
- Lyndsay Howard, Senior Advisor for Foreign Policy to Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, BLOOMBERG
