0:00:03.958,0:00:09.467
(Applause)

0:00:11.737,0:00:13.920
Give me 30 seconds,

0:00:15.875,0:00:20.030
And I can give you a list of [br]30 terrifying challenges

0:00:20.030,0:00:24.255
facing humanity and the planet [br]at this point in history.

0:00:25.091,0:00:27.416
And we wouldn't sleep tonight.

0:00:29.243,0:00:31.924
There are so many of them, [br]and they seem so frightening

0:00:31.924,0:00:34.122
It's not really surprising

0:00:34.122,0:00:37.074
that many of us are feeling [br]a little bit disheartened,

0:00:37.585,0:00:39.674
and a little bit anxious at the moment.

0:00:39.674,0:00:41.567
But the way I see it -

0:00:41.567,0:00:43.570
There are really only two things

0:00:43.570,0:00:46.161
stopping the world working at the moment

0:00:47.000,0:00:51.788
The first one is the fact that [br]the countries don't collaborate enough.

0:00:52.582,0:00:55.755
We know the solutions [br]to most of those challenges.

0:00:56.151,0:00:59.263
But we don't implement them[br]because we don't work together.

0:00:59.898,0:01:03.013
And the second thing that's [br]stopping the world working properly

0:01:03.013,0:01:06.058
is the fact that every single [br]one of those challenges

0:01:06.058,0:01:09.549
has been caused by the behaviour[br]of human beings.

0:01:10.089,0:01:13.769
And if we can change that[br]we can change everything.

0:01:14.394,0:01:18.403
Now, those sound like [br]very big tasks and they are.

0:01:18.813,0:01:20.184
But I'm optimistic.

0:01:21.212,0:01:27.061
For the last 10 years, I've been working[br]on projects and plans and policies.

0:01:27.491,0:01:31.755
to try and attack those two barriers[br]to making the world work better.

0:01:32.396,0:01:35.936
Some of them I tried to encourage[br]countries to implement.

0:01:36.560,0:01:41.624
But the coolest ones, I keep[br]and I try to do them myself.

0:01:42.992,0:01:48.115
So I'd like to tell you about two of those[br]in the few minutes that I've got today.

0:01:49.511,0:01:51.314
The first one is more of an update.

0:01:51.618,0:01:56.305
It's a project called The Good Country[br]Index which I launched back in 2014.

0:01:56.714,0:02:01.752
I haven't spoken about it for a while, but[br]it's been through 4 different editions.

0:02:01.892,0:02:04.411
And I thought it would be good[br]to give an update.

0:02:04.961,0:02:09.312
So The Good Country Index is an attempt[br]to measure what every country on earth

0:02:09.725,0:02:11.495
gives to the rest of the world

0:02:11.495,0:02:13.535
outside of its own borders,

0:02:13.535,0:02:16.064
a kind of balance sheet[br]for the world if you like.

0:02:16.288,0:02:18.455
A lot of people when I [br]originally launched it

0:02:18.455,0:02:22.208
said not another country index. Surely [br]there're enough of those around already.

0:02:22.208,0:02:26.603
But the interesting thing is that[br]almost all of the others look inwards.

0:02:26.603,0:02:29.513
They treat countries [br]as if they were little islands

0:02:29.513,0:02:32.095
inhabiting their own private oceans.

0:02:32.095,0:02:34.855
But surely that doesn't really make sense.

0:02:34.855,0:02:39.647
Because everything everybody does[br]has an impact on all of us, always.

0:02:39.927,0:02:44.666
If one country pollutes the air or water,[br]that's our air and our water.

0:02:44.866,0:02:48.810
If they go to war, [br]drags other countries in

0:02:48.810,0:02:50.920
and the refugees pour out.

0:02:51.926,0:02:53.938
There's really nothing you can do any more

0:02:53.938,0:02:56.718
that only impacts the domestic population.

0:02:56.718,0:02:59.351
So what The Good Country Index[br]attempts to do

0:02:59.351,0:03:02.836
is to make a start towards [br]helping people to understand

0:03:02.836,0:03:05.464
that this is an interconnected system,

0:03:05.464,0:03:09.240
by measuring what each country[br]contributes to the rest of the world.

0:03:10.410,0:03:14.927
Now, it's not my opinion which countries[br]rank higher and which ones rank lower.

0:03:15.330,0:03:19.293
It's formed from a set of 35 [br]large databases,

0:03:19.293,0:03:21.940
which mostly come from the UN system.

0:03:21.940,0:03:25.063
And what they do is they measure[br]the positive and negative effects

0:03:25.073,0:03:27.205
that the countries have.

0:03:27.205,0:03:30.291
It's always been a tiny bit controversial.

0:03:30.291,0:03:31.714
But that's kind of good,

0:03:31.714,0:03:34.864
because it helps to start[br]a new kind of argument.

0:03:35.709,0:03:38.191
In fact, it works really well.

0:03:38.191,0:03:42.374
Within hours of me releasing the first[br]edition of The Good Country Index

0:03:42.374,0:03:47.186
I started receiving thousands of [br]beautiful hate mails from trolls

0:03:47.186,0:03:52.547
all over the world, demanding to know [br]why the country they hate ranks so high.

0:03:52.547,0:03:57.512
and the country they love ranks so low,[br]and how I cooked up the entire thing

0:03:57.512,0:04:01.342
just to produce that specific result[br]and annoy them personally.

0:04:01.342,0:04:02.842
(Laughter)

0:04:02.938,0:04:06.093
And we have conversations about[br]these things and we argue about it,

0:04:06.093,0:04:10.413
and at the end I'd always say [br]the same thing, "Look, it's working."

0:04:10.685,0:04:11.693
I don't know if I'm right

0:04:11.693,0:04:12.693
or you're right.

0:04:12.693,0:04:15.343
But in the end, we are [br]discussing the right thing.

0:04:15.343,0:04:18.795
We are talking about not [br]how well is your country doing,

0:04:18.795,0:04:21.136
but how much is your country doing.

0:04:21.506,0:04:23.870
And that's what it was [br]supposed to achieve.

0:04:24.043,0:04:28.695
So by pushing the direction of[br]the argument, the conversation,

0:04:28.695,0:04:31.039
towards a new way of looking at countries,

0:04:31.039,0:04:33.390
then I think that it's pushing[br]the agenda forward.

0:04:33.827,0:04:35.928
So, my colleague Robert Govers and I

0:04:35.928,0:04:39.061
just released the latest edition[br]of The Good Country Index.

0:04:39.242,0:04:43.068
I'll just give you a very quick glimpse[br]of what's going on there.

0:04:44.258,0:04:46.172
Finland came first.

0:04:47.705,0:04:51.142
One of these days, somebody is going to[br]invent a country ranking

0:04:51.142,0:04:53.760
that does not have [br]a nordic country in the top ten.

0:04:53.760,0:04:56.330
(Laughter)

0:04:56.584,0:04:59.014
An index of modesty perhaps.

0:04:59.907,0:05:03.177
Anyway well done Finland, seriously![br]It's absolutely great.

0:05:03.379,0:05:06.839
And another rather interesting thing[br]happened in this latest edition

0:05:06.839,0:05:08.951
of The Good Country Index, [br]and that was

0:05:08.951,0:05:12.932
what you can see if you go to the [br]slightly lower in the Index,

0:05:12.932,0:05:20.332
that the USA has various reasons sunk[br]quite a long way since the last edition,

0:05:20.332,0:05:23.315
and Russia for various reasons has risen.

0:05:23.315,0:05:27.535
And we now have this peculiar situation[br]where the USA and Russia

0:05:27.535,0:05:29.579
relative to the size of their economies,

0:05:29.579,0:05:33.675
are neck and neck, [br]quite a long way down the Index.

0:05:33.675,0:05:37.474
It's like two mean kids holding hands[br]at the edge of the playground

0:05:37.474,0:05:39.433
and refusing to join the others.

0:05:39.433,0:05:44.283
(Laughter) (Cheering) (Applause)

0:05:47.993,0:05:50.566
But hey, it's an interesting result,

0:05:50.566,0:05:54.299
but in the end, I'm afraid to say that[br]the world hasn't changed very much

0:05:54.299,0:05:57.452
since the first one came out in 2014.

0:05:57.452,0:06:01.612
It's still America first, Britain first,[br]Russia first, Germany first.

0:06:03.137,0:06:06.176
And in a way I understand that. [br]I don't have a problem with it.

0:06:06.184,0:06:09.978
I mean after all, if you are elected[br]to run a country, it's pretty obvious

0:06:09.978,0:06:12.856
that you put that [br]country's interest first.

0:06:12.856,0:06:16.706
But what I find rather demoralising [br]about those kinds of sentiments

0:06:16.706,0:06:20.418
is the implication that[br]everybody else has to come last.

0:06:20.418,0:06:22.136
And this is what I dispute.

0:06:22.136,0:06:24.223
I think we can all come first.

0:06:25.153,0:06:27.137
A nice thing about[br]the job I've been doing

0:06:27.137,0:06:30.392
for the last 20 years or so[br]advising governments around the world

0:06:30.392,0:06:33.322
and trying out real policies[br]in the real world,

0:06:33.322,0:06:36.141
is that it's perfectly[br]possible to harmonise

0:06:36.141,0:06:39.103
your domestic and your[br]international responsibilities.

0:06:39.103,0:06:41.301
You can do the right thing[br]for your own people,

0:06:41.301,0:06:44.560
and you can do the right thing[br]for humanity at the same time

0:06:44.560,0:06:46.472
without sacrificing yourself.

0:06:46.472,0:06:49.341
And the funny thing is, [br]it makes better policies.

0:06:49.341,0:06:52.348
This is something that most[br]governments have simply never tried.

0:06:53.463,0:06:57.155
So on to the second thing[br]that's stopping the world working

0:06:57.155,0:07:01.576
the slightly more complicated issue[br]of the behaviour of us humans.

0:07:01.975,0:07:03.890
Well, to get started on this.

0:07:03.890,0:07:07.673
I thought it'd be interesting to try[br]to find out how many people in the world

0:07:07.673,0:07:10.654
already agree with [br]some of these basic principles,

0:07:10.654,0:07:14.361
the ones outlined behind [br]The Good Country Index.

0:07:14.361,0:07:16.225
So Robert and I did some research

0:07:16.225,0:07:20.153
and we discovered that no less than[br]10% of the world's population

0:07:20.153,0:07:23.716
appears to fully share[br]the principles of The Good Country,

0:07:23.716,0:07:28.436
the idea that countries should collaborate[br]and cooperate a great deal more,

0:07:28.436,0:07:30.930
and compete a tiny bit less.

0:07:30.930,0:07:35.925
This is great news. 10 percent,[br]that's 760 million people.

0:07:36.295,0:07:39.832
If that were a nation, that would be[br]the third largest nation on the planet

0:07:39.832,0:07:41.564
after China and India.

0:07:42.149,0:07:45.086
And I have to admit when [br]those numbers came out,

0:07:45.086,0:07:46.786
I got very excited.

0:07:47.234,0:07:50.411
But then on mature reflection,[br]I realised that actually

0:07:50.411,0:07:54.285
the counterpart of that is that[br]90% of the people in the world

0:07:54.285,0:07:56.179
don't agree with that proposition.

0:07:56.371,0:07:59.102
I think if one was going to[br]take this challenge seriously,

0:07:59.102,0:08:01.624
one has to focus on the 90%.

0:08:01.894,0:08:06.274
It's not enough just to sell messages[br]to the people who already agree with you,

0:08:06.274,0:08:09.688
and try to make them make[br]tiny tweaks in their behaviour

0:08:09.688,0:08:12.493
because frankly, it's too late for that.

0:08:12.493,0:08:14.214
We are in too much of a hurry.

0:08:14.227,0:08:16.919
We need big change,[br]we need it very soon.

0:08:16.919,0:08:18.984
In fact, we need it right now.

0:08:19.571,0:08:24.311
So how can we deeply educate[br]the majority of the world's population

0:08:24.311,0:08:27.515
to behave in a way which is more [br]friendly to the world we live in

0:08:27.515,0:08:29.474
and more friendly to each other?

0:08:29.707,0:08:33.980
Because by the way, when I was speaking[br]of trolls, of course it reminded me

0:08:33.980,0:08:38.652
of this strange idea that emerged recently[br]and I don't know where it came from

0:08:38.918,0:08:41.857
that the people who [br]care more about local things

0:08:41.857,0:08:44.592
and people like me who[br]care more about global things

0:08:44.592,0:08:46.174
should be enemies.

0:08:46.186,0:08:48.217
Who thought of this idea?

0:08:48.217,0:08:51.314
This is the most dangerous idea[br]in the world at the moment,

0:08:51.314,0:08:55.024
and I think we should all look out for it[br]and challenge it whenever we hear it.

0:08:55.035,0:08:57.194
The people who care more [br]about local things

0:08:57.194,0:09:00.584
and the people who care more[br]about global things shouldn't be enemies.

0:09:00.584,0:09:02.392
They should be working together.

0:09:02.392,0:09:04.941
We should be glad that each other exists.

0:09:04.941,0:09:08.397
There isn't time for this kind of[br]childish tribalism.

0:09:08.397,0:09:10.913
We need to get on and fix things.

0:09:11.488,0:09:13.395
While anyway as I was saying

0:09:14.008,0:09:18.128
the 90% need to be fundamentally [br]educated in a different way.

0:09:19.092,0:09:21.883
And I started looking at some [br]of the websites of the NGOs,

0:09:21.883,0:09:24.637
and the campaigning [br]organisations and the charities,

0:09:24.637,0:09:27.721
and I began to notice there was[br]a common theme emerging.

0:09:27.891,0:09:30.960
There was a sentence, which in[br]one form or another

0:09:30.960,0:09:32.346
kept on cropping up.

0:09:32.346,0:09:34.494
And the sentence was something like this,

0:09:35.073,0:09:39.333
"And we should leave the world[br]in a better state for our children."

0:09:40.679,0:09:44.622
And I've tried to read this sentence[br]about 93 times in different places.

0:09:44.622,0:09:46.587
I began thinking to myself,

0:09:47.550,0:09:49.969
"you know that's pretty arrogant really."

0:09:49.969,0:09:51.835
The idea you could [br]take something huge

0:09:51.835,0:09:56.172
like climate change, huge systemic problem[br]or conflict or migration

0:09:56.172,0:10:00.212
that's taken billions of people [br]centuries to perpetrate,

0:10:00.212,0:10:02.352
you are gonna fix it [br]before you check out?

0:10:02.352,0:10:03.488
(Laughter)

0:10:03.488,0:10:07.971
It's this kind of arrogance and impatience[br]that causes more problems than it solves.

0:10:08.621,0:10:12.193
If we only have the nerve,[br]if we only have the courage

0:10:12.193,0:10:13.850
to give it one generation,

0:10:13.850,0:10:17.360
we can fix everything and [br]we can fix it for good.

0:10:17.976,0:10:22.996
Because every single day that passes[br]humanity has opportunity to start again.

0:10:23.938,0:10:27.695
Because every single day that passes[br]new children are born,

0:10:27.695,0:10:30.105
and they can learn in new ways.

0:10:30.105,0:10:33.272
So there is a solution to every[br]single challenge facing humanity.

0:10:33.272,0:10:34.745
It's called education.

0:10:34.745,0:10:37.365
But we need to do it in a new way[br]and a different way

0:10:37.366,0:10:40.836
and a much more ambitious way[br]than we've done it before.

0:10:40.836,0:10:43.769
Imagine if you wield a test tube rack

0:10:43.769,0:10:46.957
of the sort you probably had[br]when you studied science at school.

0:10:47.422,0:10:51.834
And in this test tube rack made of wood[br]there are 7, 8, 10 I don't know

0:10:51.834,0:10:55.861
little glass test tubes, and each one [br]contains a different coloured liquid.

0:10:55.861,0:11:00.646
And each one of those liquids[br]is a vaccine, an educational vaccine

0:11:00.646,0:11:04.083
against the behaviours that cause[br]climate change, conflicts,

0:11:04.083,0:11:08.498
human right abuses, terrorism, migration[br]pandemic and all the rest of it.

0:11:08.498,0:11:12.390
And if we administer these educational[br]vaccines to all of our children,

0:11:12.390,0:11:16.696
in the next generation, they will be[br]incapable of continuing the behaviours

0:11:16.696,0:11:19.081
that we have indulged in for so long.

0:11:19.802,0:11:23.149
If we teach our children [br]cultural anthropology at the age of 6,

0:11:23.149,0:11:25.935
it's a wonderful subject for 6 year olds.

0:11:25.935,0:11:30.385
They grow up taking a scientific pride[br]in understanding cultural differences.

0:11:30.817,0:11:32.894
They are immunised [br]against the ignorance

0:11:32.894,0:11:35.096
leads to prejudice and intolerance.

0:11:35.096,0:11:37.899
I know that one works because [br]I experimented on my children

0:11:37.899,0:11:39.403
and it works a charm.

0:11:39.403,0:11:40.894
(Laughter)

0:11:41.571,0:11:44.687
If we want to lessen [br]the speed of climate change,

0:11:44.687,0:11:47.692
we need to teach our children [br]oceanography and meteorology,

0:11:47.692,0:11:49.722
maybe one day they'll [br]switch off the light

0:11:49.722,0:11:50.844
when they leave the bedroom.

0:11:50.844,0:11:52.344
(Laugher)

0:11:52.344,0:11:56.202
We need to teach our children hygiene[br]so that there is less disease.

0:11:56.202,0:11:59.568
We need to teach them to meditate [br]so there is less mental illness,

0:11:59.568,0:12:02.680
they learn to have more empathy[br]more understanding and kindness

0:12:02.680,0:12:04.647
towards everybody else.

0:12:04.647,0:12:06.121
There are so many subjects.

0:12:06.121,0:12:08.166
I can't decide which ones they should be.

0:12:08.166,0:12:11.238
What I think we need to do is[br]to have a big global discussion

0:12:11.238,0:12:12.325
on the internet

0:12:12.325,0:12:14.556
where everybody puts in their own idea

0:12:14.556,0:12:17.184
about what should be [br]the next set of values

0:12:17.184,0:12:19.784
we are going to teach the next[br]generation of children

0:12:19.784,0:12:22.261
so they can run towards[br]the global challenges

0:12:22.261,0:12:24.769
instead of running away [br]from them as we've done.

0:12:26.862,0:12:28.658
And we can do this.

0:12:29.253,0:12:34.895
Next year, it will be my aim, my ambition[br]to have one hundred ministers of education

0:12:34.895,0:12:38.632
signing up to this new global compact[br]of educational values.

0:12:38.932,0:12:42.268
UNESCO has already signed a letter[br]that they would like to support this

0:12:42.268,0:12:44.181
if we can get it going.

0:12:44.688,0:12:48.077
And if you have any doubts[br]about whether it's possible

0:12:48.078,0:12:52.072
for humanity to engage[br]in such a big common project

0:12:52.072,0:12:54.496
despite all of that cultural differences,

0:12:54.496,0:12:58.540
we'll just have a think about[br]the United National's charter

0:12:59.613,0:13:03.285
or the human rights documentation.

0:13:03.285,0:13:06.045
Have a read if you [br]haven't read it for a while.

0:13:06.045,0:13:09.427
These are the most beautiful documents[br]ever produced by humanity,

0:13:09.429,0:13:13.429
and they really give you faith,[br]because they remind you as you read them

0:13:13.429,0:13:16.948
that we are capable of [br]behaving like a single species

0:13:16.948,0:13:19.033
inhabiting a single planet.

0:13:19.428,0:13:22.682
We can do it if we really want to[br]and if we do it at scale.

0:13:22.682,0:13:25.427
The good news is that it's more [br]about joining up the dots than

0:13:25.427,0:13:26.638
starting from scratch.

0:13:26.638,0:13:30.054
Because there're hundreds and [br]hundreds if not thousands of projects

0:13:30.054,0:13:34.209
around the world at the moment,[br]finding and experimenting different ways

0:13:34.209,0:13:36.994
of educating children so they[br]behave better in the future.

0:13:36.994,0:13:41.390
The trouble is they are mostly[br]single topics and in single countries.

0:13:42.000,0:13:43.981
There's no time for doing it slowly now.

0:13:43.981,0:13:47.381
We need to do it big,[br]and we need to do it in one go.

0:13:48.850,0:13:52.177
Greta Thunberg, the 16 year old [br]Swedish climate activist

0:13:52.177,0:13:56.220
is beginning to discover and beginning [br]to show us how very difficult it is

0:13:56.744,0:13:59.481
to persuade grown-ups[br]to change their behaviour.

0:14:00.183,0:14:01.947
But the simple fact to the matter is

0:14:02.420,0:14:07.453
that we can see that a lot of children[br]have got the right attitude,

0:14:07.453,0:14:09.614
but they don't have the solutions.

0:14:09.839,0:14:14.638
Some adults have the solutions but they[br]definitely don't have the right attitude.

0:14:15.163,0:14:19.601
And so guess what, it's another [br]necessity for collaboration,

0:14:19.601,0:14:22.472
the children and the grown-ups[br]working together.

0:14:23.873,0:14:28.233
We all have to think very hard now[br]about being better human beings.

0:14:29.033,0:14:33.863
And that's about being better citizens,[br]both locally and globally.

0:14:34.771,0:14:38.971
But it's also perhaps mainly[br]about being better ancestors.

0:14:39.379,0:14:42.940
If we can do that,[br]we can make the world work.

0:14:44.027,0:14:45.024
Thank you.

0:14:45.024,0:14:49.284
(Applause) (Cheering)