Introduction

It’s a truism to say that the world is in a state of flux; to an extent, it’s also probably untrue to suggest that this is different to any other time in history. Indeed, as is often cited, change is really the only constant in life. However, there is some evidence to suggest that the pace of change has accelerated—and is continuing to accelerate. This acceleration has occurred in many different sectors: our increasing mastery and reliance upon technology, which has led to increasing opportunities for global trade and communication. While there are advantages to these changes: increased wealth, life expectancy, educational and business opportunities for some, there are also significant challenges that have arisen—for humanity, but also for our ecosystem. The most obvious of these is the increasing risks from climate change. Already, in Australia for example, there are concerns that the increasing severity of weather events such as bushfires, floods and cyclones are a result of climate change and there are countries in the Pacific that are already dealing with the effect of rising sea levels, but there are other challenges too: the mass movement of people (often refugees) fleeing from climate disasters or violence continues to be a reality. The increasing divide between the extremely wealth and the poor is another issue that has global consequences. And globalisation seems to have brought into sharp relief the difficulties related to religious and cultural intolerance.