What a Future That Would Be!

Practical possibilities for a better world through the sharing economy

Imagine a world without hunger. A world in which everyone has access to clean drinking water, adequate sanitation and other basic necessities. A world in which people receive timely assistance when droughts, earthquakes or floods strike. A world in which illness does not plunge a family into poverty, and suitable housing is within reach of young people. A world in which technological progress means more time for family, socialising, learning and rest. A world in which we treat natural resources as humanity’s common heritage. The sharing economy offers a direction and practical possibilities for such a future.

When we talk about sharing, we often think of transferring surplus goods to places where they are in short supply. This is certainly important, but the sharing economy encompasses much more: diverse ways to ensure that everyone, at local, national and global levels, has access to the goods and services needed to meet their basic needs and live well. Caring for the environment is inseparable from caring for people.

The central aim of the sharing economy can be expressed simply: we do not all need to have the same amount, but everyone must have enough to meet their basic human needs.

An economy that serves people

Humanity possesses extraordinary knowledge, technologies and productive capacities. Yet development loses much of its purpose if its benefits fail to reach those who need food, drinking water, shelter, healthcare or education. When the benefits of development remain confined to a privileged part of humanity, inequalities deepen and tensions grow, potentially leading to conflict. Alongside the question of what and how much we produce, we must therefore ask: who benefits from the wealth we create?

The focus of the economy must therefore shift from constantly increasing production and consumption towards a fairer sharing of resources and goods. Growing automation opens up new possibilities for using the benefits of technological progress to meet everyone’s basic needs and support humanity’s well-being.

The sharing economy places the fulfilment of everyone’s basic needs and humanity’s well-being at its heart. Its fundamental principles are sharing and cooperation. An important starting point is Article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which recognises everyone’s right to a standard of living adequate for health and well-being. Article 26 establishes the right to education.

We need businesses, agriculture, trade, banks and public institutions that support these goals. Their success must also be judged by how much they contribute to people’s ability to live with dignity and to protecting the environment. Economic growth alone does not ensure everyone’s well-being. What we create, how we create it and how fairly we share the benefits of the resulting wealth are equally crucial.

Global sharing for well-being and security

The first task of the sharing economy is to provide help wherever human lives are at risk. Working with international and humanitarian organisations, countries could undertake a large-scale programme to provide food, drinking water, essential medicines and shelter. Such a global Marshall Plan would bring together funding, expertise, transport and logistical capacities to address the most severe deprivation.

For a more lasting arrangement, the United Nations could establish an agency to coordinate the global sharing of essential goods. Countries would report their surpluses and needs, and the agency would help direct essential supplies to places where they were lacking. Countries would jointly agree on contributions and distribution, guided by transparent rules and the actual needs of their populations.

This would be complemented by regional emergency response centres that would hold and regularly replenish stocks of food, medicines, water purification equipment and temporary shelters. When floods, earthquakes, droughts or other circumstances caused shortages of basic necessities, assistance would be ready for immediate deployment. When needs were greater, several centres could pool their supplies and capacities.

A sharing system must also strengthen communities’ ability to provide for themselves and set their own priorities. Wherever possible, food and other goods, including supplies for global sharing and the reserves of emergency response centres, should be purchased from local or regional growers and producers. This supports local economies, whereas a sudden influx of free goods can undermine local suppliers’ sales and incomes.

The sharing economy therefore also includes building and maintaining water supply networks, irrigation systems, health centres, schools and infrastructure for affordable energy; supporting the establishment and development of local businesses; and sharing knowledge and technologies.

The state as a community of mutual care

We are already familiar with important forms of the sharing economy at the national level. Through taxes and social contributions, we pool part of the wealth we create to provide public healthcare, education, social security and infrastructure. We contribute and receive different amounts at different stages of life, while shared public systems give us greater security.

We can strengthen this principle through more accessible public services, long-term care, free public transport and housing solutions such as public rental housing and housing cooperatives. Other possibilities include a universal basic income (UBI) and universal basic services (UBS), ensuring that everyone has access to services that meet their basic needs. Each society can choose and develop approaches suited to its needs, circumstances, traditions and culture.

Fairer sharing also requires fairer rules governing economic activity within and between countries. These include measures to tackle tax avoidance and the concealment of wealth in tax havens, as well as fairer taxation of high incomes and substantial wealth.

At the international level, cancelling or restructuring the unsustainable debts of poorer countries is also important, alongside fairer trading relationships, including easier access for their products to markets in wealthier countries. Such changes would support the development of their economies, allowing them to devote more resources to meeting their populations’ needs and strengthening their capacity to secure well-being through their own efforts.

Local communities are already sharing

Public libraries have long shown us how much we can gain from sharing goods. Lending schemes for tools, toys, sports equipment and other items we need only occasionally can work in a similar way. Community workshops, repair centres and reuse centres help keep items in use for longer.

Community gardens, cooperatives and closer connections between producers and consumers can improve access to good-quality food. Energy communities enable people to cooperate in generating and using energy. We can also share knowledge, time and skills: one person helps with learning, another with using a computer, and someone else with everyday tasks.

Such initiatives are most valuable when they also include people with less money, limited mobility or weaker social connections. Well-designed sharing initiatives reduce barriers to participation and strengthen a sense of belonging.

Economic development for greater well-being and a lighter environmental impact

Technological development makes it possible to do necessary work with less effort. We could share its benefits more fairly through better public services, employee participation in company profits and ownership, and a gradual reduction in working hours. Some of the wealth created could be devoted to strengthening childcare, education, care services and environmental protection, and to creating new jobs in these areas. We could also support global forms of sharing and contribute to the well-being of the entire human community.

At the same time, we must change our approach to consumption. Durable, repairable products, shared use and reuse can reduce the need for new raw materials and the amount of waste we generate. The resources and funds saved in this way can be directed towards improving people’s living conditions and restoring the environment. Where people lack basic necessities, we must improve access; where excessive consumption prevails, we should encourage mindful consumption and reduce wasteful use.

From the principle of sharing to a common future

The sharing economy is an open field of practical solutions that we adapt to each community’s needs, culture and circumstances. Some are already working; others have yet to be developed and tested. When they no longer serve their purpose, we must reshape them. All share a clear goal: to enable everyone to meet their basic needs and enjoy well-being in a healthy environment.

Charity remains valuable, especially in times of immediate hardship. Lasting access to basic necessities, however, must become a shared responsibility and part of a just social order. This also requires an active public that demands that its representatives put the principles of sharing and cooperation into practice through concrete decisions for the benefit of all.

We can begin in our own communities while supporting changes at national and global levels. Every public library, accessible public service and successful example of cooperation between communities already demonstrates what we can achieve together. We know the principle of sharing from everyday life. We can now extend it to the entire human family.

The gifts of the Earth and humanity’s achievements offer us extraordinary possibilities. Through sharing, we can ensure that every person lives in security and dignity, with opportunities to develop their abilities and fulfil their potential. In such a future, we could all create, cooperate and contribute to the common good.

What a future that would be!

Sources and further reading

• Rok Kralj: The Sharing Economy: Implementing Article 25 in the 21st Century.

• Rok Kralj: Meditations on the Sharing Economy.

• Share The World’s Resources: Sharing the world’s resources – an introduction.

• Share The World’s Resources: A primer on global economic sharing.

Inconvenient Data

It is difficult to describe data as inherently inconvenient. They are simply facts and figures, expressed in numbers, percentages or dry descriptions. What can be uncomfortable, however, is how we respond to them. When confronted with something unpleasant, we generally have two choices: we can try to change the situation or put it out of our minds, as though it did not exist.

The figures on hunger, poverty and the lack of life's most basic necessities are deeply troubling. We would rather they did not exist at all. But they do. Behind every number are people, their life stories, their hardships and, all too often, their suffering.

Hunger

According to the latest report by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), 645 million people worldwide experienced hunger in 2025, representing 7.8 per cent of the global population. An even larger number, about 2.1 billion people, experienced moderate or severe food insecurity, meaning they lacked reliable access to sufficient, nutritious food. (FAO, The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2026)

Poverty

According to World Bank data from October 2026, approximately 811 million people live in extreme poverty. That is roughly one in ten people worldwide. Their daily consumption is less than $3.00 in international dollars, adjusted for purchasing power parity to account for differences in the cost of living between countries.

Yet poverty is far more widespread. As many as 3.7 billion people, nearly half the world's population, live on less than $8.30 a day, the poverty threshold used for upper-middle-income countries. (World Bank, Poverty, Prosperity, and Planet Report 2026)

Drinking Water

According to the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF, approximately 2.1 billion people lacked access to safely managed drinking water in 2024. Among them, 106 million people relied directly on surface water from rivers, lakes and other unprotected sources for drinking. (WHO and UNICEF, Progress on Household Drinking Water, Sanitation and Hygiene 2000–2024)

Sanitation and Hygiene

In 2024, approximately 3.4 billion people lacked access to safely managed sanitation, meaning they did not have access to adequate toilet facilities and the safe management of human waste. (WHO and UNICEF, Progress on Household Drinking Water, Sanitation and Hygiene 2000–2024)

Healthcare

According to a December 2025 report by the World Health Organization and the World Bank, approximately 4.6 billion people lacked full access to essential health services in 2023. (WHO and World Bank, Tracking Universal Health Coverage, 2025)

Education

According to a March 2026 report by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), approximately 273 million children and young people were out of school in 2024. That is roughly one in six children and young people of school age. (UNESCO, Global Education Monitoring Report 2026)

Adequate Housing

According to the 2026 report by the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat), up to 3.4 billion people lack access to safe and adequate housing. More than 1.1 billion people live in informal settlements and slums, often in overcrowded homes without adequate infrastructure and basic services. (UN-Habitat, World Cities Report 2026)

From Facts to Action

Of course, statistics cannot fully capture how people live around the world. Some lack several basic necessities at once, while others may lack only one. Yet each such deprivation can be tragic in itself. And this is without mentioning the many others who may not fall into any of these categories but are nevertheless denied the opportunity to live a decent life.

The question, then, is not simply how many people suffer from deprivation, but above all, what we are going to do about them. Will we accept them as an inevitable fact of the modern world, or will we see them as a call for change?

Will we finally recognise that things cannot go on like this? We cannot speak of progress when so many people have almost nothing. Nor can we speak of our own humanity while allowing such inhumanity to persist.

Why do we fail to recognise that these problems can only be solved through a fairer sharing of resources and greater cooperation? The world will not become a better place simply because we have electric cars, the latest mobile phones or robots. It will become a better place when no one has to suffer from a lack of life's most basic necessities.

That is why the sharing economy offers such a simple yet achievable path towards a better future.

The Foundations of the Sharing Economy

Let us explore some fundamental ideas that can help us better understand the sharing economy.

We all live on one planet, which means that we inherently share a common environment and its natural resources. Natural resources are humanity's common heritage, or the commons of humankind. No one, therefore, should have exclusive rights to use these resources in ways that prevent others from meeting their basic needs. Everyone has the right to a fair share of the natural resources that make human survival and development possible. These resources form the foundation for producing the goods that enable us to meet human needs and live a decent life.

We all belong to one biological species, Homo sapiens (meaning "wise human"), and can therefore speak of one humanity, or one great human family. Despite differences in appearance, language, culture, and ways of life, we are also remarkably similar genetically. Our membership in a common human family therefore calls on us to show mutual solidarity and care for everyone's well-being. No one should be deprived of the goods needed to meet basic human needs.

All human beings have the same basic needs. To live a decent life, we need food and drinking water, clothing and housing, healthcare and social protection, and education. These are fundamental to our survival and development. Meeting these needs must therefore not be a privilege but must be guaranteed to everyone, as set out in Articles 25 and 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The economic system's task is to transform natural and social resources into goods that meet human needs. Beyond extracting resources and producing goods, the economic system also encompasses their distribution and allocation, which determine who has access to these goods and to what extent. Society, particularly its political institutions, has a responsibility to establish an economic system that ensures everyone has access to the goods needed to meet their basic needs.

As individuals, we share responsibility for how both political and economic systems function. By voting, participating in public discussions, and engaging in other forms of civic activity, we help shape political decisions and, consequently, economic decisions. At the same time, as employees, producers, consumers, and other participants in the economic system, we influence its direction and development. Our responsibility, however, does not end with concern for our own well-being or that of our community and country. As members of one human family, we also share responsibility for ensuring that all people, wherever they live, have the opportunity to meet their basic needs and live a decent life.

When relentless competition, selfishness, greed, and the unlimited accumulation of goods and wealth dominate society, we create conditions that contribute to hunger, poverty, conflict, forced migration, and climate change. But when we act on the principles of cooperation, solidarity, compassion, and the sharing of goods, we create conditions for prosperity for all, mutual trust, genuine and sustainable development, and peace.

The sharing economy is an economic system based on cooperation, solidarity, compassion, and the sharing of goods. We have the political and economic power to establish such a system, one that benefits everyone. We do not all need the same amount of goods, but everyone must have access to enough to meet their basic human needs. In this way, we will put into practice a simple truth: we are all part of one human family, sharing a common home, the Earth.

An Organisation That Represents and Speaks for the Human Family

On 24 October, we celebrate United Nations Day. On this day in 1945, the UN Charter entered into force, officially bringing the organisation into existence. The United Nations was born out of the terrible experience of two world wars and the hope that, by working together, countries could spare future generations similar suffering. Eighty-one years later, the question remains: how far have we fulfilled that promise? United Nations Day is also an opportunity to reflect on a world where peace, human dignity, and access to necessities are still not guaranteed for everyone.

Can you imagine the blue flags of the United Nations, bearing its emblem of the Earth, flying on 24 October from flagpoles outside government buildings, along streets, from apartment balconies and from the windows of homes? Newspapers, television channels, and online media would report on the organisation, while schools would dedicate the day to the values the UN symbolises: peace, cooperation, friendship, and mutual assistance. National, international and local celebrations would take place. Speakers would highlight the importance of the UN Charter, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other significant documents. We would sing songs from different nations, perform dances from around the world, and discover the richness of our cultures and what unites us. It would be a true celebration of humanity.

Why not? Why do we still hold borders between countries in such reverence? They are not unimportant; they mark the administrative boundaries between states. But why not see the Earth as a whole – as it appears from space? Why not see all people as members of one human family, and all nations as the united nations of humanity?

Then we could give the United Nations the mandate it deserves: to coordinate global cooperation, ensure the well-being of everyone on Earth, preserve peace, and collectively care for the environment. We would still be Slovenians, Croatians, Germans, Italians, Cubans, Chinese, Russians, Brazilians, Kenyans, Malaysians, Australians, Spaniards, Ukrainians and so on. But first and foremost, we are people of the Earth – members of one human family sharing a common planet.

We can share the planet’s resources, which belong to everyone, along with knowledge and technologies that can benefit us all. In this way, we can embark on a path of true development that benefits both humanity and the other beings with whom we share this beautiful planet.

Happy United Nations Day, my brothers and sisters!




AI-generated image

Food and Poverty

Every year, when we talk about poverty and its most extreme form—hunger—we should feel ashamed—ashamed that we allow this state of affairs to continue. Today, 645 million people face hunger, even though we know there is enough food for everyone. It seems as though this has nothing to do with us. But it does. The world is interconnected, and other people’s suffering affects us in ways we may not even realise. We are not an island in the middle of the ocean. But even if we were, the ocean would remind us of its presence, one way or another.

On 16 October, we mark World Food Day, followed a day later by the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty. On these days, let us reflect on the profoundly unjust world we live in. Can we imagine what hunger really means? What does it mean to be unable to provide your own child with a decent meal?

Access to food and drinking water, their distribution, and poverty are closely interconnected issues. Food, drinking water, a safe home, healthcare and education meet basic human needs and form the foundation of a dignified life. As long as a large part of humanity lives in extreme poverty and faces hunger, inadequate housing and limited access to healthcare and education, the world will remain troubled, unsafe and scarred by conflict. Without addressing these injustices, we will struggle to tackle environmental problems effectively, address the causes of forced migration and secure lasting peace.

This year’s World Food Day theme is “Innovate today. Nourish tomorrow.” The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) emphasises the importance of combining new solutions with traditional knowledge and community participation. As it points out: “The world already produces enough food to nourish everyone”. Yet 645 million people still face hunger. The central challenge, therefore, is ensuring everyone has access to nutritious food while safeguarding natural resources for future generations.

This year, the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty focuses on “Safe Homes for All”, under the broader theme “United for Peace and Human Rights”. A safe, affordable home is the foundation of a dignified life and makes it easier to access healthcare, education, and employment. As UN Secretary-General António Guterres stressed in his 2025 message: “Poverty is not a personal failure; it is a systemic failure – a denial of dignity and human rights.” Both days thus remind us of our shared responsibility to build a world in which everyone can meet their basic needs and live with dignity.

There Is Enough Food

If the world already produces enough food for everyone, what are we doing wrong? Food undoubtedly plays a central role in meeting basic human needs. Why, then, are so many people hungry? We have cutting-edge technologies and extraordinary transport capabilities—we can have fresh fruit from thousands of kilometres away on our plates almost the very next day. Why, then, do we allow so much suffering, such a dark stain on humanity's “soul”? Do we really not care about our brothers and sisters—our fellow human beings, with whom we share this beautiful planet as one family?

Can we not see the simplest solution: ensuring a fairer sharing of the world’s resources? We can build the sharing economy on this principle. The starting point is simple: ensure food reaches the people who need it. We can redirect surpluses to where they are urgently needed, rather than throw them away. At the same time, we must create conditions in which everyone has reliable access to food and other necessities.

As we mark World Food Day and the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, let us reflect on this and take steps in the right direction. Ending hunger and poverty is not impossible—the first step is to recognise that it is possible.

How Can You Watch These People Die

“Throughout the world there are men, women and little children who have not even the essentials to stay alive; they crowd the cities of many of the poorest countries in the world. This crime fills Me with shame. My brothers, how can you watch these people die before your eyes and call yourselves men?” (Maitreya, Message No. 11, 5 January 1978)

According to the latest comprehensive United Nations estimates, approximately 645 million people experienced hunger in 2025, representing 7.8 per cent of the world’s population. Although this was a slight improvement on the previous two years, hunger continued to increase in much of Africa and western Asia.

An even broader measure reveals the true scale of the problem. Approximately 2.1 billion people, or 25.8 per cent of the global population, experienced moderate or severe food insecurity in 2025. This means that they did not have regular access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food. (FAO)

These figures are all the more difficult to comprehend because the world already produces enough food to feed everyone. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations has stated that sufficient food is produced to feed the global population, while emphasising that the central problems are access to and the availability of nutritious food.

An often-cited article published in the Journal of Sustainable Agriculture estimated that global agriculture was already producing enough food to feed approximately ten billion people. Yet hunger persists because access to food is profoundly unequal, large quantities are lost or wasted, and millions of people lack sufficient income or other means to obtain adequate and nutritious food. This contradiction is especially striking when we remember that the world’s population stood at approximately 8.3 billion people as of July 2026.

The figures for drinking water, sanitation, and hygiene are similarly alarming. According to the latest joint report by the World Health Organization and UNICEF, published in August 2025 and based on data for 2024:

• 2.1 billion people, or approximately one person in four, lacked access to safely managed drinking water;
• 3.4 billion people lacked safely managed sanitation services;
• 1.7 billion people lacked basic hygiene services at home.

Among those without access to safely managed drinking water were 106 million people who still obtained their drinking water directly from untreated surface sources.

In a world where sufficient basic goods exist to meet everyone’s needs, the fact that billions of people lack reliable access to food, clean water, and sanitation represents a profound social, political, and moral failure. In this sense, we can understand why Maitreya calls it a crime.

The deliberate denial of food or water can, under certain circumstances, constitute a violation of national or international law. More broadly, when people are systematically deprived of the basic conditions required for life and dignity, their fundamental human rights are being violated.


The Right to Food and Water

The right to food is recognised in Article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1948. The article recognises everyone’s right to a standard of living adequate for their health and well-being, including food, clothing, housing, medical care, and necessary social services.

The Declaration itself is not a treaty and is therefore not legally binding in the same manner as an international convention. Nevertheless, it has become the foundation of modern international human rights law, and many of its principles have been incorporated into legally binding agreements and national constitutions.

One of the most important of these agreements is the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. It was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 16 December 1966 and entered into force on 3 January 1976.

Article 11 of the Covenant recognises:

• the right of everyone to an adequate standard of living, including adequate food, clothing, and housing;
• the right to the continuous improvement of living conditions;
• the fundamental right of everyone to be free from hunger;
• and the need “to ensure an equitable distribution of world food supplies in relation to need”.

This final provision is particularly significant for the idea of the sharing economy. It recognises that freedom from hunger cannot be guaranteed solely through action within individual states. It also requires international cooperation and a fairer distribution of available food supplies according to human need. In this sense, Article 11 provides an important legal foundation for a global system of sharing essential goods, beginning with food.

The meaning of the right to adequate food was further clarified by the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in General Comment No. 12, adopted on 12 May 1999. It is also summarised and explained in the United Nations publication The Right to Adequate Food, Fact Sheet No. 34.

States that are parties to the Covenant are legally obliged to respect, protect, and fulfil the right to adequate food. They must not interfere with existing access to food, must protect people against actions by companies or other third parties that threaten such access, and must take concrete steps towards ensuring that everyone can obtain adequate food. Although the full realisation of this right may be achieved progressively, states have immediate obligations to take action, guarantee its exercise without discrimination, and adopt the measures necessary to prevent and alleviate hunger. 

As of August 2026, 173 states were parties to the Covenant and were therefore legally bound by its provisions.

The right to water was further explained by the Committee in General Comment No. 15, adopted in 2002. It defines the right to water as the right of everyone to sufficient, safe, acceptable, physically accessible, and affordable water for personal and domestic use.

On 28 July 2010, the United Nations General Assembly explicitly recognised the right to safe and clean drinking water and sanitation as a human right essential for the full enjoyment of life and all other human rights.


A Question of Our Humanity

Access to food and clean water is therefore not an act of charity. It is a fundamental human right and an essential condition of human dignity. Yet laws and international agreements express only one aspect of the issue. There is also an ethical and moral dimension: the question of our humanity.

How can we accept a world in which hundreds of millions of people are hungry, more than two billion lack safely managed drinking water, and billions lack adequate sanitation, even though humanity possesses sufficient knowledge, productive capacity, resources, and technology to meet these needs?

The persistence of hunger is not simply the result of an absolute global shortage of food. It is closely connected with poverty, inequality, armed conflict, climate disruption, economic instability, inadequate public services, and the failure to share available resources more equitably.

We should therefore remember Maitreya’s words:

“My brothers, how can you watch these people die before your eyes and call yourselves men?”

These words are not merely an accusation. They are also a call to awaken our compassion, recognise our shared responsibility, and organise the world’s resources so that every human being may live in dignity.

Source: THE SHARING ECONOMY: Implementing Article 25 in the Twenty-First Century

Why Share?

The world we live in undoubtedly requires profound change. However, these changes cannot be addressed in isolation. It is not enough to tackle only one problem, such as the environmental crisis, while neglecting global inequality. Likewise, economic reforms cannot succeed if they fail to take account of the environment and the limits of our planet.

We must therefore address these problems in a comprehensive and interconnected way, since they are closely intertwined and often intensify one another. Poverty, for example, cannot be separated from climate change, migration, political instability, or the lack of access to essential goods.

Is there a solution that could address several complex and interconnected global problems at the same time?

Perhaps the sharing economy offers such a solution. Let us explore why and how.

The sharing economy is an umbrella term for a range of measures and economic models at the local, national, and global levels that, through a fairer distribution of goods and resources, ensure that every person on Earth has access to the necessities required for a dignified life.

Why is this important?

When every person is provided with at least the necessities of life, their life and health are no longer under immediate threat. This means fewer social and economic conflicts, less forced migration, and reduced pressure on the environment. At the same time, it creates greater opportunities for the development of poor, neglected, and degraded communities and regions.

For such a system to become possible, countries must cooperate. Above all, they must share natural resources, food, medicines, scientific knowledge, and technologies more fairly. Such cooperation reduces the likelihood of conflict and encourages the joint resolution of other problems, including the climate and environmental crises.

When countries share resources and goods instead of hoarding or appropriating them, they also gradually move away from the logic of unlimited wealth accumulation and perpetual economic growth. The purpose of the economy is then no longer primarily to generate profit, but to meet human needs and protect our shared planetary home.

Nor should we overlook human dignity, which is often denied to people living in extreme poverty. A fairer distribution of goods strengthens mutual trust, solidarity, and the sense of belonging to one human family. In this way, it increases the prospects for peace, genuine development, and the well-being of the entire world.

These are only a few of the advantages that the sharing economy offers in comparison with today’s inadequate economic models, which are largely based on selfishness, greed, competition, and accumulation.

Why, then, should we not give the sharing economy a chance?

Unnecessary Hunger in a World of Abundance

A new report, The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2026 (SOFI 2026), was published recently, on 21 July 2026. This year’s report is subtitled Understanding and Addressing the High Cost of a Healthy Diet.

SOFI is the United Nations’ flagship annual report on hunger, food security and the various forms of malnutrition around the world. It is jointly prepared by five United Nations agencies: the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the World Food Programme (WFP) and the World Health Organisation (WHO).

 
Progress That Must Not Obscure the Reality

At first glance, this year’s report contains some encouraging figures. Global hunger declined in 2025 for the third consecutive year. Approximately 645 million people, or 7.8 per cent of the world’s population, faced hunger, understood in the report as chronic undernourishment. The proportion was 8.1 per cent in 2024 and 8.6 per cent in 2022.

Despite this improvement, 645 million people suffering from hunger are still 645 million too many. To put this into perspective, the European Union, comprising 27 countries, had a population of approximately 452 million on 1 January 2026. The number of people facing hunger worldwide therefore exceeds the entire population of the European Union by approximately 193 million.

 
2.1 Billion People Lack Reliable Access to Food

Hunger is the most severe form of food deprivation, but it does not include everyone who experiences difficulties in accessing food.

In 2025, approximately 2.1 billion people, or 25.8 per cent of the world’s population, experienced moderate or severe food insecurity. This means that they did not have consistent and reliable access to sufficient quantities of quality food and were sometimes forced to reduce the amount of food they consumed or forgo nutritious foods.

 
One-Third of Humanity Cannot Afford a Healthy Diet

In 2025, approximately 2.69 billion people, or 32.7 per cent of the world’s population, were unable to afford a healthy diet. This means that almost one person in three worldwide did not have sufficient income to afford a diverse, balanced and nutritionally adequate diet.

A healthy diet does not simply provide sufficient calories. It must also be diverse and contain adequate amounts of protein, vitamins, minerals and other nutrients. A person may therefore consume a relatively sufficient number of calories and still suffer from malnutrition because their diet lacks diversity.

The report also highlights the consequences for children. Approximately 150 million children under five years of age are affected by stunting as a result of long-term undernutrition. Only 30.8 per cent of children aged between 6 and 23 months receive a minimum dietary diversity. More than two-thirds of the youngest children therefore do not consume a sufficiently diverse diet to support healthy physical and cognitive development.

 
Healthy Diets Are Becoming Increasingly Expensive

The global average cost of a healthy diet reached 4.28 purchasing power parity dollars per person per day in 2025. It stood at $ 3.44 in 2021 and $ 2.94 in 2017.

Purchasing power parity makes it possible to compare the actual purchasing power of money across countries. It is therefore not a simple conversion of amounts into United States dollars, but an estimate of how much local currency is required in each country to purchase a comparable basket of goods.

The final price of food is not determined by agricultural production alone. Post-farm-gate activities account for between 70 and 75 per cent of the price paid by consumers. Processing, logistics and wholesale activities may account for up to 40 per cent of total costs. Reducing the cost of a healthy diet therefore also requires investment in transport infrastructure, storage facilities, cold chains, irrigation, research and more efficient agrifood value chains.

 
Hunger and Other Global Crises

Hunger and food insecurity cannot be considered separately from other global problems.

When people lack access to food, water, land, employment and basic social protection, poverty, despair and social tensions increase. A lack of food and opportunities for a decent life may be among the factors that force people to leave their homes. FAO identifies food insecurity, poverty, a lack of decent employment, conflict, inequality, environmental degradation and the consequences of climate change as important drivers of migration.

Hunger is often a consequence of war, but it can also intensify conflict. The World Food Programme warns of a vicious cycle in which conflict causes hunger, while hunger can deepen instability and contribute to further conflict. Wars displace people from their land, destroy crops and infrastructure, disrupt trade and increase food prices.

The same applies to climate change. Droughts, floods, heatwaves and other weather extremes reduce agricultural production, destroy livelihoods and increase food insecurity and forced displacement.

The SOFI 2026 report warns that conflicts, weather extremes and reductions in official development assistance and humanitarian aid threaten the progress achieved. It particularly highlights the consequences of conflict in the Middle East, which may further raise food prices due to higher energy and fertiliser costs. According to current projections, between 510 million and 520 million people could still be facing hunger in 2030. The potential effects of weather events, such as El Niño, in 2026 and 2027 are not yet included in these estimates.

 
Sharing of Food

In a world with extraordinary knowledge, technology, productive capacity and wealth, hunger is not simply the result of a shortage of food. It is primarily the result of poverty, conflict, unequal access to land and other resources, climate shocks, high prices, and political and economic decisions.

At the same time, vast quantities of food are lost or wasted. According to FAO, approximately 13 per cent of food is lost during production, transport, storage and processing, before it reaches retail markets. A further 19 per cent is wasted in households, food services and retail.

Reducing food loss and waste is important, but it will not eliminate hunger on its own. Food must also be distributed more efficiently and equitably, while people must have sufficient income and social protection to afford it. Support for small-scale farmers, investment in local production and infrastructure, more accessible markets, adequate social protection, humanitarian assistance and closer international cooperation are all essential.

When food surpluses are produced in some parts of the world while people elsewhere are starving, the international community should establish more effective mechanisms for sharing food and other essential resources. Food is not merely an ordinary market commodity; it is a basic necessity of life and a human right. Access to it should not depend solely on an individual’s purchasing power or place of birth.

Hunger is therefore not merely a statistical, economic or humanitarian problem. It is a moral failure of the international community. The fact that hundreds of millions of people still do not have enough food in an age of extraordinary technological progress, immense productive capacity and almost unimaginable wealth is one of the greatest contradictions of the modern world.

The latest figures show that progress is possible. Yet a slow decline in hunger is no reason for complacency. A world without hunger does not require a miracle. It requires political will, cooperation and a sharing of food and other essential global resources.

 

Sources

• The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2026, a joint report by FAO, IFAD, UNICEF, WFP and WHO. (FAOHome)
• FAO: UN Report: Global Hunger Levels Ease for Third Consecutive Year as Regional Disparities Persist, 21 July 2026. (FAOHome)
• United Nations: Sustainable Development Goal 2 – Zero Hunger. (Sustainable Development Goals)
• Eurostat: EU Population Continued to Grow in 2025, 10 July 2026. (European Commission)
• FAO: data and explanations concerning food insecurity, migration, food loss and food waste. (FAOHome)
• World Food Programme: information on the links between hunger and armed conflict. (WFP)

Greed Arises from Fear

What truly drives us to desire more than we need? Not merely more, but much more.

Behind greed, there is often not so much a desire for wealth as fear: fear that tomorrow, a month from now, or a year from now, we may be living in deprivation and poverty. And so we accumulate possessions.

Yet the more we have, the more afraid we become of losing it. We therefore seek to protect ourselves and separate ourselves from others. We want even more because we believe that greater wealth also provides greater security. We buy security systems, build high fences, while nations accumulate weapons in much the same way.

The more we have, the less happy we may actually become. We grow increasingly fearful, distrustful, and convinced that others pose a threat to us. We begin to see danger in those who have almost nothing. The poor, migrants, foreigners, and those who are different become threats in our eyes.

At the root of greed, then, lies fear: fear of deprivation, of the future, of loss, and of other people. Yet accumulation will not free us from fear and insecurity. On the contrary, it will only deepen them.

Trust and Prosperity

How can we break out of this vicious cycle?

If we ensured a fairer distribution of goods, not only within our local communities but also globally, people would feel safer and more content. They would trust others more, while the fear of deprivation would diminish. There would consequently be less need to accumulate wealth.

If goods were shared more fairly, we would not have to strive so relentlessly for wealth, because even in difficult times we could rely on others' support. We would know that we would not be left alone in times of need.

Our mutual trust would also grow. We would no longer view others primarily as competitors, but as fellow human beings, friends, and members of a community who help one another.

When everyone has enough, we are all truly wealthy.

The Sharing Economy Is Already Familiar to Us All

The economy often seems very complicated, understood only by highly educated economists. It also seems that there are many different economic approaches worldwide. And yet we may ask ourselves: what is the economy, really?

The word economy is, in its very origin, connected with the home, the family and the community. It comes from the ancient Greek word oikonomia: oikos means home, family and the goods needed for life, while nomos means law or management. The economy, therefore, originally means the careful management of goods for the well-being of a family or community.

So let us look at how the economy works within the family or household, the smallest socio-economic community.

In families around the world, regardless of origin, religion, political system, culture or tradition, we can observe a common economic characteristic: the sharing of goods.

Family members do not compete with one another; they share goods. By this we also mean extended families and households. It is hard to imagine parents not sharing goods with their children, grandparents or sick family members. Without sharing, humanity could not have survived at all, since in the first years of life the human being is among the most helpless creatures on Earth.

Economists often teach us that competition and competitiveness are good. But let us look at the consequences within our broadest family – humanity. Hundreds of millions of people are hungry, and a large part of humanity is, in one way or another, deprived of the most basic goods. Is this really a successful economic system?

What if we took what we have known how to do in families for thousands of years and applied it to broader communities – local, national and global? This means: sharing goods.

In this way, we could live side by side, in peace and prosperity.

The sharing economy has therefore long been familiar to us, since we live it every day at home, in the family. Now let us begin to put it into practice in our planetary home as well, within our great family – humanity.

Heat and Sharing

The unbearable heat of recent days will soon pass. At least for a while, we will be able to breathe a sigh of relief. But for how long? What will follow? A catastrophic drought, a violent storm, another heatwave — or all of these one after another?

The worst thing would be for all of us simply to shrug it off and continue as if nothing had happened, or as if nothing were happening. We could call this indifference. Or complacency.

It is never too late to act. It is too late only if we fail to act.

But what can we do? Is it enough to drive electric cars and install solar panels on our roofs? Is the so-called green transition enough to save the world from the devastating consequences of global warming?

Undoubtedly, the green transition — a set of measures that lead us away from fossil fuels — is the right path. The question, however, is whether the climate crisis can be addressed primarily by developed countries, which have the resources for such a transition.

If, for example, everyone in Europe drove electric cars and used only green energy sources, would that save the global climate? No. The climate is a global, interconnected whole.

The so-called Third World, or the poorer part of humanity — and poor people also live within the richest countries — has neither the economic capacity nor any real incentive to move towards green energy sources. People who struggle every day to survive can hardly think about solar panels, electric cars, and the energy renovation of buildings.

How many people are we talking about?

“In 2024, approximately 673 million people were chronically hungry, while around 2.3 billion people experienced moderate or severe food insecurity. In addition, 2.6 billion people could not afford a healthy diet in 2024. In 2025, approximately 808 million people are expected to live in extreme poverty, meaning people living on less than 3 US dollars a day.

The situation is similarly alarming across healthcare, housing and education. Approximately 4.6 billion people lack full access to essential health services, 2.8 billion people live in inadequate housing, and around 273 million children and young people are not enrolled in school.

We can therefore conclude that more than half of the approximately 8.1 billion people currently living on Earth are deprived of one or more basic goods, on which not only quality of life and human dignity depend, but often survival itself.” (Deprivation and Inequality)

Thus, more than half of the world’s population — perhaps many more — mostly has no real possibility of making a significant contribution to climate protection. Moreover, many are forced by poverty to use the dirtiest and most outdated energy sources to cook a meal, heat tea, warm their homes, or travel to a neighbouring town: kerosene, coal, firewood, and other forms of biomass.

That is why the climate crisis cannot be solved solely through technological solutions in the richest part of the world. As long as billions of people do not have access to reliable, clean and affordable energy, the green transition will remain incomplete, unjust and insufficiently effective. But even before that, they need food, drinking water, adequate housing, healthcare and everything else that makes survival and human dignity possible.

This is precisely where the importance of sharing becomes clear. If we truly want to reduce emissions and protect the climate, we must share knowledge, technologies, financial resources and essential goods with countries and people who do not have enough power to make such a transition on their own. Climate justice means that no one should remain trapped in poverty and dirty energy simply because they were born in a poorer part of the world — or in a poorer part of a wealthy country.

The practical realisation of the principle of sharing is the sharing economy.

Three People in the Society of the Future

To help us imagine the society of the future described in the previous article, a society based on sharing, cooperation and sufficiency, let us picture one day in the lives of three people. They live in different parts of the world: in Slovenia, Palestine and Sudan. Their cultures, languages, customs and landscapes are different, yet they are connected by something fundamental: none of them lives in fear of hunger, poverty, war or insecurity. All have access to the basic goods that make a dignified life possible.

 
Maja, Slovenia

Maja lives in Kamnik, in a small apartment near the town centre. It is not luxurious, but it is bright, pleasant and energy-efficient. The building has shared spaces and a small rooftop garden. In the neighbourhood, there is a small workshop where residents repair and exchange bicycles, household appliances, tools and other useful items. Sometimes it seems strange to her that people once simply threw away most things rather than repair or share them.

Maja works three days a week as a teacher at a local education centre. She teaches the economy of the common good, the basics of cooperative entrepreneurship and practical skills for living in community. Her students learn not only about markets, money and production, but also about how to distribute goods fairly, how local cooperatives work, how to make collective decisions and why sufficiency is more important than endless accumulation.

Today is her day off. In the morning, she cycles to the market. Most of the food comes from local farms, while some also comes from the wider European system of goods exchange. The prices of basic food are no longer subject to speculation and commercial pressures, because food is recognised as a fundamental good.

After lunch, Maja visits the community centre. A music workshop is taking place there; in the room next door, an Arabic course is held, while in the large hall, young people are preparing an exhibition on rivers as a commons and part of humanity’s shared heritage. Public transport is free, so people can easily get around. Cities are no longer overcrowded with cars, the air is cleaner, and the streets are quieter.

In the evening, Maja reads a report from the International Agency for the Sharing of Goods. This year, parts of Africa have had poor harvests, so grain surpluses from several regions will be directed to where they are needed. This is not presented as charity, but as something self-evident. Just as no one in a family questions the need to help a hungry child, humanity, too, is slowly coming to understand that the Earth is the common home of the human family, and that sharing is therefore something entirely natural.

Before going to sleep, Maja thinks about how differently her parents lived. They worked almost the whole week; they worried about expenses, health, housing, pensions and their children’s future. Today, life is not perfect, but the fundamental fears have receded. People have more time for one another. And to her, this seems the greatest change of all.

 
Jusuf, Palestine

Jusuf lives in Gaza, in a restored coastal city where a good quality of life is slowly but steadily returning. Long decades of war, blockades, destruction and humiliation have left deep wounds. No one denies them. In schools, children learn history, including the difficult and painful parts, but not so that hatred may be passed on. They learn it so that it may never be repeated.

Jusuf is an architect. Three days a week, he helps rebuild residential neighbourhoods. Construction is no longer based on quick profit and expensive private projects, but on the needs of the community. Every family has the right to safe housing, clean water, electricity, green spaces and access to school and healthcare. A large share of energy comes from solar panels installed on rooftops, along roads and in community energy parks.

His work is not only technical. Together with residents, he designs courtyards, playgrounds, outdoor classrooms and spaces for people to meet. Older people say where trees once stood, where the shops used to be and where children used to play. Young people add their own wishes: a library, a music studio, a sports field, a place for learning languages. The city is emerging as a shared memory and a shared future.

In the Palestine of the future, no one lives behind walls or checkpoints. International security is ensured by strengthened United Nations forces, whose task is not to control people, but to prevent violence, protect human rights and assist in the peaceful resolution of disputes. The police are local, accountable to the community and trained to protect people, not to oppress them.

In the afternoon, Jusuf has time for his family. He and his daughter go to the sea. On the beach, people of different nationalities and religions meet. Some speak Arabic, others Hebrew, English or French. This does not mean that all differences have disappeared. Memories are still painful, and distrust does not dissolve overnight. But life has taken a new direction. Children are growing up in an environment where cooperation is an everyday experience, not a distant political ideal.

In the evening, Jusuf participates in an online meeting of cities from the eastern Mediterranean. They discuss water, agriculture, soil restoration and the exchange of knowledge. In the past, states argued over resources; now they try to manage them together. Water is no longer a weapon. Food is no longer a means of pressure. Energy is no longer a reason for war. All these are goods that make life possible, and therefore, they must be accessible to all.

When Jusuf looks at the city glowing in the evening light, he does not think it is paradise. There has been too much suffering for easy words. But he knows that something great has happened: the world has finally recognised that no nation can be free if another lives in humiliation and deprivation.

 
Amira, Sudan

Amira lives in Sudan, in a community beside a restored area with irrigation systems. Her family once had to move several times because of drought, conflict and food shortages. Today, her village is part of a broader African and global system for sharing water, seeds, knowledge, food, technical equipment and medical assistance. This does not mean that problems have disappeared. The climate remains harsh and unpredictable. Droughts, floods and poor harvests still occur. But no community is left to fend for itself anymore.

Amira is a healthcare worker and the coordinator of a local food security centre. She works three days a week, devoting the rest of her time to study, family and caring for the community garden. The health centre has medicines, basic equipment, a telemedicine link with larger hospitals and a team that regularly visits remote settlements. Healthcare does not depend on how much someone can pay.

Every morning, the centre receives data on food stocks, crop conditions, family needs and weather conditions. If a shortage risk arises, a regional support system is activated, followed, if necessary, by a global one. Grain, medicines, pumps, solar panels, or water filters arrive in time to prevent the crisis from turning into famine. The world has learned that preventing suffering is far less costly than responding to disasters after they occur.

In Amira’s community, people often speak about sufficiency. It is not a foreign word, but something very concrete. It means that every family has enough food, clean water, a roof over their heads, and access to a doctor, school and energy. It also means that the land is not exhausted to the limit and that water is used with respect. People know that abundance lies not in endless consumption but in balance.

In the afternoon, Amira visits the school. The children learn English, local languages, mathematics, history, farming, computing and climate literacy. In the schoolyard, trees planted by previous generations of pupils grow. Each tree has a name. The children learn that the future is not distant, but something nurtured every day.

Sometimes Amira listens to the stories of older people who remember times when help came too late, or not at all. When wealthy countries debated, the poor waited. When natural resources were exported, people remained without basic goods. Today, not everything is easy, but the fundamental rule has changed: people’s needs first, then profit. Life first, then trade.

In the evening, Amira joins a community meeting. They discuss a new cooperative, the repair of the road to a neighbouring village and the exchange of seeds with other regions. Decisions are not always easy, but people cooperate because they know that their own security is linked to the security of others. No one is truly safe alone.

As Amira watches the children playing beneath the trees, she thinks that the greatest change is this: the future is no longer a threat. It is no longer something to fear. It has become a space of responsibility, work, trust and hope.

 
One Human Family

Maja, Jusuf and Amira live in different environments. Their stories are not the same. Slovenia, Palestine and Sudan have different historical experiences, different wounds and different paths. Yet in the society of the future, they are connected by a shared principle: the goods of the world are meant for all.

In such a society, no one claims that all problems have disappeared. People are still different, nature is still unpredictable, and communities still face challenges. But the starting point has changed. Instead of asking how much each person can gain for themselves, the central question becomes how all people can live well and with dignity.

This is the essence of sharing and cooperation. It is not an abstract theory, but a very concrete life: a full pantry, an open school, an accessible doctor, safe housing, clean water, shorter working hours, calmer cities, restored nature and the feeling that no one is superfluous.

Perhaps it is precisely in these everyday images that we can most easily understand the future we desire. Not as a perfect world, but as a world finally built on the right foundations: cooperation instead of competition, sufficiency instead of accumulation, sharing instead of greed.

If we can imagine such a future, we can begin to truly build it.

The Society of the Future

Let us imagine the society of the future. Not the dystopian society so often portrayed in films, books, and the media. Not a world of extreme wealth and poverty, scarcity, violence, technological control and hopelessness. Let us imagine a different future: a society in which all people live in peace, prosperity and a healthy environment. A society in which humanity finally embraces a simple yet powerful principle: the goods of the Earth belong to everyone, and therefore we share them; cooperation is a more natural path than competition.

Such a future is not a utopia in the negative sense of the word. It is a possibility that we can already sense today in many ideas, movements, and efforts around the world. Yet it seems distant because we are still guided by old patterns of thought, old habits and entrenched beliefs. These teach us that life is a struggle, that the economy is a competition, that everyone must look after themselves first, and that the accumulation of wealth is a sign of success. But perhaps now is precisely the time to ask ourselves: has this mindset really brought us happiness, peace and security?

A Dignified Life for All

The society of the future would be based on a different understanding of the human being and the world. Its starting point would be that every person has the right to the basic goods necessary for a dignified life. Food, water, adequate housing, healthcare and education would not be privileges dependent on place of birth, country, wealth or market conditions, but fundamental rights of every human being.

This does not mean the same life for everyone in the sense of uniformity, as is often imposed by today’s commercially driven globalisation. On the contrary, such a society would respect the diversity of cultures, languages, customs, ways of living and spiritual paths. Equality does not mean that we are all the same or that we all possess the same wealth, but that everyone has the opportunity to live a dignified, safe and creative life. Only when basic needs are met can a person truly develop their abilities, talents and inner potential.

Work, Technology and the Common Benefit

In such a society, our understanding of work would change as well. Because of automation, robotisation, and artificial intelligence, working time could be reduced. People might work three days a week, while devoting the rest of their time to education, culture, sport, family, volunteering, creativity, spirituality, or simply rest. Work would no longer be primarily a means of survival, but a contribution to the community and a form of personal expression.

Today, we often fear that technology will take our jobs. But the real question is not whether technology will replace part of human work, but to whom the fruits of this progress will belong. If the benefits of automation and robotisation belong only to the owners of capital and a small group of the richest, technology will further deepen inequality. If, however, we understand them as a common achievement of humanity, since they are based on the knowledge, skills and experience of many generations, they can become the foundation for shorter working hours, better public services and a higher quality of life for all.

Democracy, Enterprises and Public Services

In the society of the future, our understanding of democracy would change as well. It would no longer be based primarily on a deep left-right divide, which often separates people and reduces the space for cooperation and long-term planning. Democracy should be based on responsibility, knowledge, experience and service to the common good. Candidates for political office and leadership positions should undergo a thorough pre-selection process that considers their expertise, education, experience, knowledge, prior contributions to society, ethical integrity, absence of criminal convictions, and ability to cooperate. Leading a community should not be a reward for ambition, visibility, or membership in a particular political party, but rather a responsible task entrusted to people who have shown they can act for the good of the whole.

Similarly, enterprise governance should also become more democratic. Companies would no longer be understood merely as private property intended to generate profit for their owners, but as an important part of the wider community. Therefore, employees, the local community and, where appropriate, the state should also have a greater role in their ownership and governance. Representatives of employees, owners, the local community, users or consumers, and the public interest could also participate in making key decisions within companies. Such an arrangement would prevent arbitrary decision-making, encourage accountability toward people and the environment, and ensure that companies serve the life of the community and invest in it, rather than merely accumulate profits.

With such an understanding of the economy, public services, which are the foundation of a dignified life, would also be strengthened. Healthcare, education, kindergartens, and care for the elderly should not depend on an individual’s wealth, the profitability of the market, or austerity measures, but should be universally accessible, of high quality, and well funded. These are not costs that burden society but rather common investments in health, knowledge, security, solidarity, and the future of all generations. A large share of workers who would no longer be needed in the manufacturing sector due to automation and robotisation could be redirected to these activities, where human closeness, care, compassion, and responsibility cannot be replaced by machines.

Cities, Security and Shared Life

The cities of the future would also be designed around people, not cars, profit and endless consumption. Public transport would be accessible, high-quality and free. Streets would be greener, safer, and friendlier for pedestrians, children, the elderly, and people with disabilities. Energy would come from clean sources. Housing policy would follow people’s needs, not market speculation and the spread of tourist accommodation. Cities would not merely be places of work and shopping but spaces for meeting, culture, learning, and shared life.

Security, too, should be understood more broadly. Security is not only the absence of crime or war. Security also means that a person knows they will not be hungry tomorrow; that illness will not push them into poverty; that a child can go to school; that an elderly person is not abandoned; that the community takes care of those in distress. In the narrower, conventional sense, police forces would ensure people’s safety within countries, while international security would be guaranteed by strengthened, truly shared United Nations forces. War would no longer be an acceptable means of resolving disputes.

The United Nations would become a true centre of global cooperation. Not as a global government, but as a forum in which all countries have a voice and can participate in achieving the common goals of humanity: the well-being of all people, the protection of the global environment, security and peace.

The Environment as Humanity’s Common Concern

In the society of the future, the environment would be understood as humanity’s common concern. Forests, the atmosphere, oceans, rivers, lakes, groundwater and fertile soil would not be treated primarily as economic resources to be exploited, but as the foundations of life on Earth. Their protection would not be left to individual countries, market interests or short-term political decisions, but would become the shared responsibility of all nations.

Special care would be devoted to forests, which protect the climate, soil, water and countless forms of life. The atmosphere would be understood as a common good that no one has the right to pollute to the detriment of others. Oceans would no longer be spaces of ruthless extraction, pollution and waste disposal, but a shared living environment on which the balance of the entire planet depends. Similarly, fresh water would become one of the most important common goods, for without clean water there is no health, no food, no dignified life and no peace.

Such an understanding of the environment would also transform the economy. Economic development should no longer mean the destruction of natural systems, but their restoration, protection and responsible use. Humanity should act as the guardian of the Earth, not as its owner. Only when we understand nature as our common home, and not merely as an economic resource, will we be able to speak of a truly secure and dignified future for all.

Global Sharing

One of the key foundations of such a future would be a system of global sharing of goods and resources. The world today has enough food, knowledge, technology and productive capacity for every person to live with dignity. The problem is not scarcity, but unjust distribution, selfish interests, greed and the absence of true cooperation among nations. A global system of sharing would enable surpluses of food, medicines, energy, knowledge, and other key resources to be directed to where they are lacking, especially in the event of natural disasters, droughts, floods, poor harvests, or other crises. Sharing would also take place at other levels: national, regional, local, in cities and communities. Yet global sharing is crucial to the common future of the great human family.

Such a system would not mean charity from the rich to the poor. It would mean the recognition that humanity is one community, one family, and that basic goods are the right of all. The Earth is not the property of individual states, corporations or a single generation. Its gifts are the common heritage of humanity. Common goods such as water, the atmosphere, oceans, seeds, knowledge, energy resources and technological achievements should be managed responsibly and for the benefit of all people and future generations.

Sufficiency Instead of Accumulation

At the heart of such a society would be the concept of sufficiency. Sufficiency means that at some point we can say, “We have enough.” Enough for a good life, though not necessarily for endless accumulation. Enough food, housing, security, health, education, culture, free time and human relationships. Sufficiency is not poverty, nor is it a renunciation of a good life. On the contrary, sufficiency is a condition for true prosperity, because it frees us from constant competition, comparison and fear of scarcity.

A vision of the future based on sharing and cooperation is therefore not an unrealistic utopia. It may be the most realistic response to the crises of our time. Climate change, wars, hunger, migration, inequality and social disintegration are not separate problems. They all arise from a mistaken understanding of our role in the world, of the commons and of humanity’s interdependence. If we continue to compete for resources, accumulate wealth and resolve disputes by force, we will only deepen the crises. But if we accept the principle of sharing, we will begin to heal their causes.

A Future for All

The future is not predetermined. It does not have to be dystopian. It can be more just, peaceful, creative and human. But such a future will not come about on its own. It must begin in our thinking, in our values, in politics, economics, education and everyday life. It must begin with the simple realisation that we are, first and foremost, human beings, members of one human family sharing the same planet.

That is why we may and must imagine a better future. Such a future is possible if, as humanity, we take a decisive step: from accumulation to sufficiency, from competition to cooperation, from greed to sharing. Perhaps this is where the simplest and at the same time the deepest wisdom of the future lies: the goods of the world are meant for all people. Only when we truly accept this will we be able to begin living as humanity.

Meditations on the sharing economy

1. The economy is a domain of society that must create the conditions necessary to meet everyone’s basic needs and ensure the well-being of humanity, including care for the environment. 

2. Basic human needs include food, clothing, housing, medical care, social services, and education. These are fundamental human rights. 

3. The commons of humanity is the foundation for the resources, goods, and services essential to meeting basic human needs and ensuring the well-being of humanity. They must be managed with care, responsibility, and sustainability. 

4. Commercialization, which encourages competitiveness, self-interest, greed, and complacency, dominates modern economic and social thinking. It contributes significantly to widening social disparities and deepening economic inequality. 

5. Global economic inequality lies at the heart of many interconnected crises humanity faces today, including hunger, poverty, migration, war, and the climate crisis. 

6. Sharing and cooperation stand in direct opposition to commercialization and form the foundational principles of the sharing economy. 

7. Charity cannot replace a just economic system. The sharing economy is based on justice, not charity. 

8. The sharing economy encompasses diverse sharing activities at different levels, with a particular focus on the global level. Its purpose is to meet the basic needs of all people, ensure the well-being of humanity, and protect the environment. 

9. Through the sharing economy, humanity can thrive in prosperity, mutual respect, and peace, united as one large family sharing a common home—planet Earth. 

10. The sharing economy marks the beginning of a profound inner and outer transformation of humanity, founded on right human relations. 

From the e-book: Meditations on the Sharing Economy

Above all nations is humanity

“Above all nations is humanity” is a thought associated with the British historian, political thinker and humanist Goldwin Smith (1823–1910), whose life and work were closely connected with Cornell University. Although his legacy is complex, this idea is remembered as a powerful expression of human solidarity beyond national borders. The words are carved into a stone bench in front of Goldwin Smith Hall on Cornell’s campus in the United States. The bench was given to the university by Smith in 1871, while the hall, named in his honour, was dedicated in 1906.

Its meaning is clear and timeless: above the interests of nations, states, and ideologies must stand humanity as the community of all people. It is a simple yet radical statement, emphasising that compassion, justice and responsibility towards all people must not be limited by national borders, but should form the foundation of our thinking and action.

In an age of increasingly self-centred international relations, the idea that humanity stands above all nations is crucial. Today, power and force often replace treaties, agreements and ethical principles. Although the United Nations, founded in 1945, set humanity on a course of cooperation and shared responsibility, these essential values are increasingly under threat.

The United Nations was created from the hard lessons of two world wars, which showed how national power, selfishness and the sense of superiority can lead to conflict and destruction. Today, policies that emphasise national greatness and exceptionalism risk repeating these mistakes. No nation rises above another. What matters most is our shared humanity.

Every person counts. Each is equal to every other. Everyone has the right to health, well-being, peace, justice and a healthy environment.

Today, the rise of selfishness, greed and violence threatens our common future.

Cooperation, sharing, and respect for every human being are essential for our common future, for above all nations stands humanity. We are human beings first, before we are members of any nation, state, religion, ethnic background, political group or other belief.

Sources: Nad vsemi narodi je človeštvo, Cornell Ezra Magazine, Cornell University Library Digital Collections.