Nature's prodigious abundance and wonders offer renewable plenty for all in exchange for good will and common sense. To realize this life-saving possibility in this new century is our mission.

The human condition harbors a self destructive tendency. We seem to pay for our intelligence with loss of collective survival instinct. The precious gift of free will opens illusions that have been perennial sources of human error. In the last century alone, humanity -- pursuing power and greed -- killed 150,000,000 of its own kind and extinguished thousands of species. Biodiversity was reduced more in the last 100 years than in the preceding thousand. Short-lived profits for the powerful few set the mindless direction of civilization.

In the face of reckless exploitation it may seem unrealistic to seek unification of competing ecological and economic interests into a positive movement to oppose ignorance and establish a realistic and sustainable economy supportive of healthy environments. However, history shows that the union of reasonable, free people by consensus has occurred in the past. Such a union may not be perfect, but, if enacted in time, it will prevent the fall of contemporary society into chaos.

The seriousness of the global crisis is no longer open to dispute. Illusions have been dispelled by self-evident facts.The frightening consequences of pollution, extinction of species, deforestation, misuse of wilderness, toxic devastation, and disease are shockingly visible everywhere and are undeniable. Governments acknowledge the increasing danger, however, they have not yet faced up to the gravity of the situation because they cannot accept the fact that our civilization does not occupy a privileged position in the history of the world. Unless modern civilization reconsiders its priorities and accepts the primacy of biodiversity, it will become engulfed in major cataclysms in this century.

In light of this undeniable reality, United Eco-action Fund (UNECO) has undertaken the mission of promoting the coalescence of environmental and social organizations into a global movement. UNECO believes that the most persuasive catalyst for cooperation is in funding collaborative programs in essential priorities, such as stopping the war on the poor and rekindling the war on poverty, and permanently protecting ecosystems and the remaining wilderness from devastating exploitation. UNECO believes that ecological and economic problems are still soluble and that humanity still has the means to restore the environment and heal itself through a sustainable economy. Resources for so profound a change of consciousness are plentiful. However, to succeed in such a great goal we must achieve a majority common consent on clear economic and environmental goals. We must converge for protection of resources, social justice, prosperity, and security. The alternative is too dreadful.

While antagonism between economic ambitions and environmental protection produces dangerous struggles, obstructing a multitude of positive environmental and humanitarian programs, collaboration benefits all. Ultimately, economic interests will become sustainable and environmental protection will at last be understood as a necessary priority for general prosperity and ultimate survival because economy and ecology are the two legs upon which the health of our planet stands. Without one, the other falls. To say ecology is to say economy and vice versa. Where there is hunger, environmental degradation follows, and, inversely, where there is environmental degradation, hunger follows.

UNECO is a California nonprofit 501(c)(3) corporation whose primary mission is to fund research, education, and land acquisition aimed at protecting wildlife corridors and wildlife habitats, and to support democratic programs to benefit the quality of human life by integrating work of diverse groups nationally and internationally.

© 1997 UNECO