State of the World Forum

"This is the earth, a pale blue dot. Think of that, that’s us, that’s here, that’s home…Every hopeful child, every inventor, every explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every superstar, every supreme leader, every saint and sinner in the history of our world live there on a mote dust suspended in a sunbeam. The earth is a very small stage in a very vast cosmic arena.”

Carl Sagan

Professor of Astronomy; Author

The First Five Years: 1995-1999

The first State of the World Forum was held in San Francisco in October 1995 at the historic Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco where in 1945 the UN Charter was negotiated. Convened by Mikhail Gorbachev and fellow Co-Chairs Oscar Arias, Ruud Lubbers, Thabo Mbeke, George Schultz, Rigoberta Menchu Tum, Maurice Strong and Ted Turner, more than 500 innovative leaders from 50 nations came together.

Through 1999, the Forum convened its annual conferences in San Francisco to explore the multi-dimensionality of the ‘state of the world’. Major portions of these conferences have been broadcast to worldwide audiences through partnerships with CNN and BBC World Television.

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