Rotary Alumni Celebration to address world's probl
In the classic Western film High Noon , Gary Cooper faces an imminent showdown in a tense community. To Jean-François Rischard, author of High Noon: 20 Global Problems, 20 Years to Solve Them , it's a perfect metaphor to convey the urgency of the global challenges we currently face.
"We must take the best minds in the world and help them become agents for global problem-solving," says Rischard, who will be the keynote speaker at the Rotary Alumni Celebration taking place 20 June in Birmingham, England.
As an Ambassadorial Scholar at Harvard Business School in 1974-75, Rischard had one primary goal: to obtain a position at the World Bank. "I could think of no better spot to be, because it was so central and so influential" in helping 150 countries improve their standard of living, he explains. His multidisciplinary background and international experience helped prompt Rischard to write High Noon , a short, highly accessible book that has since been translated into 15 languages.
In the book, Rischard describes 20 critical global problems that he believes cannot be solved by individual nations or existing international institutions alone. He groups these problems into three categories: Issues involving the earth's resources, such as global warming and water shortages; humanitarian issues such as disease and poverty reduction; and regulatory issues involving trade and labor. Since the book's 2002 publication, Rischard says, "the problems have all gotten worse."
To solve them, Rischard proposes a model of global issue networks involving experts from governments, nongovernmental organizations, and the business world working together on a specific issue. What these networks might look like and how they could operate will be a subject for discussion at the Rotary Alumni Celebration. Attendees are encouraged to read High Noon in advance in order to fully participate in roundtable discussions and a question-and-answer session with Rischard; the first 50 Ambassadorial Scholar and Group Study Exchange team member alumni to register for the celebration will receive a free copy of the book.