I pledge allegiance to Humanity,
and to the World that gives us life,
one People, united in diversity, and
one World, united in peace, with
freedom and dignity for all.
The inspiration for this pledge came from social critic Marya Mannes (1904-1990), who wrote, "I pledge allegiance to my fellows, and to the world that gives me life...." To the best of my knowledge, she did not publish a complete pledge. I know that the idea of a World Pledge or a Pledge to Humanity has been thought of independently by many people, and that there are similar texts floating around. I welcome the efforts of others to write a better pledge and to translate this one into other languages. I note the potential criticism that if humanity colonizes Mars and, as envisioned by the late Carl Sagan (1934-1996), becomes a biplanetary species, then obvious textual revisions will be required. But let's cross that bridge when we come to it. The challenge now is to get people to think in life-affirming planetary terms. Please feel free to reproduce the World Pledge and encourage its use.
