9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 (Applause) 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Give me 30 seconds, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And I can give you a list of [br]30 terrifying challenges 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 facing humanity and the planet [br]at this point in history. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And we wouldn't sleep tonight. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 There are so many of them, [br]and they seem to be so frightening 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 It's not really surprising 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 that many of us are feeling [br]a little bit disheartened, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and a little bit anxious at the moment. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 But the way I see it - 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 There are really only two things 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 stopping the world working at the moment 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 The first one is the fact that [br]the countries don't collaborate enough. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 We know the solutions [br]to most of those challenges. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 But we don't implement them[br]because we don't work together. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And the second thing [br]that stopping the world working properly 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 is the fact that every single [br]one of those challenges 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 has been caused by the behaviour[br]of human beings. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And if we can change that[br]we can change everything. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Now those sound like [br]big tasks and they are. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 But I'm optimistic. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 For the last 10 years, I've been working[br]on projects and plans and policies. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 to try and attack those two barriers[br]to making the world work better. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Some of them I tried to encourage[br]countries to implement. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 But the coolest ones, I keep[br]and I try to do them myself. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 So I'd like to tell you about two of those[br]in the few minutes that I've got today. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 The first one is more of an update. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 It's a project called The Good Country Index,[br]which I launched back in 2014. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I haven't spoken about it for a while,[br]but it's been through 4 different editions. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And I thought it would be good[br]to give an update. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 So The Good Country Index is an attempt[br]to measure what every country on earth 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 gives to the rest of the world 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 outside of its own borders, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 a kind of balance sheet[br]for the world if you like. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 A lot of people, when I [br]originally launched it said 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 not another country index, surely [br]there are enough of those around already. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 But the interesting thing is that[br]almost all of the others look inwards. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 They treat countries as if they were little islands 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 inhabiting their own private oceans. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 But surely that doesn't really make sense. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Because everything everybody does[br]has an impact on all of us, always. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 If one country pollutes the air or water,[br]that's our air and our water. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 If they go to war, [br]drags other countries in 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and the refugees pour out. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 There is really nothing[br]you can do any more 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 that only impacts the domestic population. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 So what The Good Country Index[br]attempts to do 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 is to make a start towards [br]helping people to understand 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 that this is an interconnected system, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 by measuring what each country[br]contributes to the rest of the world. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Now, it's not my opinion which countries[br]rank higher and which ones rank lower. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 It's formed from a set of 35 [br]large databases, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 which mostly come from the UN system. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And what they do is they simply measure[br]the positive and negative effects 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 that the countries have. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 It's always been a tiny bit controversial. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 But that's kind of good, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 because it helps to start[br]a new kind of argument. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 In fact, it works really well. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Within hours of me releasing the first[br]edition of The Good Country Index 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I started receiving thousands of [br]beautiful hate mails from trolls 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 all over the world, demanding to know [br]why the country they hate ranks so high. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and the country they love ranks so low,[br]and how I cooked up the entire thing 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 just to produce that specific result[br]and annoy them personally. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And we have conversations about[br]these things and we argue about it, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and at the end I'd always say [br]the same thing, "Look, it's working." 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I don't know if I am right. [br]I don't know if you are right. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 But in the end, we are [br]discussing the right thing. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 We are talking about [br]not how well is your country, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 but how much is your country doing. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And that's what it was supposed to achieve. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 So by pushing the direction of[br]the argument, the conversation, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 towards a new way of looking at countries, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 then I think that [br]it's pushing the agenda forward 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 So, my colleague Robert Govers and I 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 just released the latest edition[br]of The Good Country Index. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And I'll just give you a very quick glimpse[br]of what's going on there. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Finland came first. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 One of these days, somebody is going to[br]invent a country ranking 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 that does not have [br]a nordic country in the top ten. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 (Laughter) 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 An index of modesty perhaps. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Anyway well done Finland, seriously![br]It's absolutely great. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And another rather interesting thing[br]happened in this latest edition 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 of The Good Country Index, [br]and that was 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 what you can see if you go to the [br]slightly lower in the Index, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 the USA has various reasons sunk[br]quite a long way since the last edition, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and Russia for various reasons has risen. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And we now have this peculiar situation[br]where the USA and Russia 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 relative to the size of their economies, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 are neck and neck, [br]quite a long way down the Index. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 It's like two mean kids holding hands[br]at the edge of the playground 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and refusing to join the others. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 (Laughter) (Cheering) (Applause) 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 But hey, it's an interesting result, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 but in the end, I'm afraid to say that[br]the world hasn't changed very much 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 since the first one came out in 2014. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 It's still America first, Britain first,[br]Russia first, Germany first. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And in a way I understand that. [br]I don't have a problem with it. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I mean after all, if you are elected[br]to run a country, it's pretty obvious 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 you put that country's interest first. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 But what I find rather demoralising [br]about those kinds of sentiments 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 is the implication that[br]everybody else has to come last. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And this is what I dispute. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I think we can all come first. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And one of the nice things about[br]the job I have been doing 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 for the last 20 years or so[br]advising governments around the world 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and trying out real policies[br]in the real world, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 is that it's perfectly[br]possible to harmonise 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 your domestic and your[br]international responsibilities. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 You can do the right thing[br]for your own people, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and you can do the right thing[br]for humanity at the same time 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 without sacrificing yourself. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And the funny thing is, [br]it makes better policies. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 This is something that most[br]governments have simply never tried. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 So on to the second thing[br]that's stopping the world working 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 the slightly more complicated issue[br]of the behaviour of us humans. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Well, to get started on this. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I thought it would be interesting to try[br]to find out how many people in the world 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 already agree with [br]some of these basic principles, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 the ones outlined behind [br]The Good Country Index. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 So Robert and I did some research 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and we discovered that no less than[br]10% of the world's population 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 appears to fully share[br]the principles of The Good Country, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 the idea that countries should collaborate[br]and cooperate a great deal more, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and compete a tiny bit less. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 This is great news. 10 percent,[br]that's 760 million people. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 If that were a nation, that would be[br]the third largest nation on the planet 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 after China and India. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And I have to admit when [br]those numbers came out, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I got very excited. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 But then on mature reflection,[br]I realised that actually 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 the counterpart of that is that[br]90% of the people in the world 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 don't agree with that proposition. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And I think if one was going to[br]take this challenge seriously, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 one has to focus on the 90%. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 It's not enough just to sell messages[br]to the people who already agree with you, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and try to make them make tiny tweaks[br]in their behaviour because 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 frankly, it's too late for that. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 We are in too much of a hurry. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 We need big change,[br]we need it very soon. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 In fact, we need it right now. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 So how can we deeply educate[br]the majority of the world's population 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 to behave in a way which is more [br]friendly to the world that we live in 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and more friendly to each other? 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Because by the way, when I was speaking[br]of trolls, of course it reminded me 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 of this strange idea that emerged recently[br]and I don't know where it came from 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 that the people who [br]care more about local things 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and people like me who[br]care more about global things 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 should be enemies. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Who thought of this idea? 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I think this is the most dangerous idea[br]in the world at the moment, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and I think we should all look out for it[br]and challenge it whenever we hear it. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 The people who care more [br]about local things 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and the people who care more[br]about global things shouldn't be enemies. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 They should be working together. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 We should be glad that each other exists. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 There isn't time for this kind of[br]childish tribalism. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 We need to get on and fix things. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 While anyway as I was saying 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 the 90% need to be fundamentally [br]educated in a different way. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And I started looking at some [br]of the websites of the NGOs, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and the campaigning [br]organisations and the charities, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and I began to notice there was[br]a common theme emerging. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 There was a sentence, which in[br]one form or another 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 kept on cropping up. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And the sentence was something like this, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 "And we should leave the world[br]in a better state for our children." 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And I've tried to read this sentence[br]about 93 times in different places. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I began thinking to myself, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 "you know that's pretty arrogant really." 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 The idea you can take something huge 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 like climate change, huge systemic problem[br]or conflict or migration 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 that's taken billions of people [br]centuries to perpetrate, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and you are gonna fix it [br]before you check out? 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 (Laughter) 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 It's this kind of arrogance and impatience[br]that causes more problems than it solves. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 If we only have the nerve,[br]if we only have the courage 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 to give it one generation, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 we can fix everything and [br]we can fix it for good. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Because every single day that passes[br]humanity has an opportunity to start again. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Because every single day that passes[br]new children are born, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and they can learn in new ways. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 So there is a solution to every[br]single challenge facing humanity. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 It's called education. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 But we need to do it in a new way[br]and a different way 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and a much more ambitious way[br]than we've done it before. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Imagine if you wield a test tube rack 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 of the sort that you probably had[br]when you studied science at school. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And in this test tube rack made of wood[br]there are 7, 8, 10 I don't know 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 little glass test tubes, and each one [br]contains a different coloured liquid. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And each one of those liquids[br]is a vaccine, an educational vaccine 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 against the behaviours that cause[br]climate change, conflicts, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 human right abuses, terrorism, migration[br]pandemic and all the rest of it. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And if we administer these educational[br]vaccines to all of our children, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 in the next generation, they will be[br]incapable of continuing the behaviours 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 that we have indulged in for so long. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 If we teach our children [br]cultural anthropology at the age of 6, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 it's a wonderful subject for 6 year olds. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 They grow up taking a scientific pride[br]in understanding cultural differences. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 They are immunised [br]against the kind of ignorance 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 that leads to prejudice and intolerance. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I know that one works, because [br]I experimented on my own children 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and it works a charm. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 (Laughter) 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 If we want to lessen [br]the speed of climate change, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 we need to teach our children [br]oceanography and meteorology, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and then maybe one day[br]they will switch off the damn light 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 when they leave the bedroom. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 (Laugher) 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 We need to teach our children hygiene[br]so that there is less disease. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 We need to teach them to meditate [br]so there is less mental illness, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and they learn to have more empathy [br]and more understanding and more kindness 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 towards everybody else. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 There are so many subjects. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I can't decide which ones they should be. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 What I think we need to do is [br]we need to have a big global discussion 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 on the internet 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 where everybody puts in their own idea 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 about what should be [br]the next set of values 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 that we are going to teach the next[br]generation of children 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 so they can run towards[br]the global challenges 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 instead of running away [br]from them as we've done. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And we can do this. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Next year, it will be my aim, my ambition[br]to have one hundred ministers of education 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 signing up to this new global compact[br]of educational values. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 UNESCO has already signed a letter saying[br]that they would like to support this 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 if we can get it going. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And if you have any doubts[br]about whether it's possible 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 for humanity to engage[br]in such a big common project 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 despite all of that cultural differences, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 we'll just have a think about[br]the United National's charter 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 or the human rights documentation. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Have a read if you [br]haven't read it for a while. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 These are the most beautiful documents[br]ever produced by humanity, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and they really give you faith,[br]because they remind you as you read them 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 that we are capable of [br]behaving like a single species 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 inhabiting a single planet. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 We can do it if we really want to[br]and if we do it at scale. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 The good news is that [br]it's more about joining up the dots 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 than starting from scratch. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Because there are of course hundreds [br]and hundreds if not thousands of projects 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 around the world at the moment,[br]finding and experimenting different ways 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 of educating children so they[br]behave better in the future. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 The trouble is they are mostly[br]single topics and in single countries. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 There's no time for doing it [br]that slowly now. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 We need to do it big,[br]and we need to do it in one go. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Greta Thunberg, the 16 year old [br]Swedish climate activist 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 is beginning to discover and beginning [br]to show us how very difficult it is 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 to persuade grown-ups[br]to change their behaviour. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 But the simple fact to the matter is 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 that we can see that a lot of children[br]have got the right attitude, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 but they don't have the solutions. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Some adults have the solutions but they[br]definitely don't have the right attitude. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And so guess what, it's another [br]necessity for collaboration, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 the children and the grown-ups[br]working together. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 We all have to think very hard now[br]about being better human beings. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And that's about being better citizens,[br]both locally and globally. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 But it's also perhaps mainly[br]about being better ancestors. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 If we can do that,[br]we can make the world work. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Thank you. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 (Applause) (Cheering)