A world-renowned humanitarian has warned high school students not to make the mistakes of the older generation and pursue a path of greed and selfishness.

Lord Michael Hastings of Scarisbrick, Global Head of Citizenship and Diversity with KPMG, addressed the assembly of CedarBridge Academy yesterday with an inspirational speech on civic responsibility.

The UK peer, who received a UNICEF award in 2005 for his 'outstanding contribution to understanding and effecting solutions for Africa's children', is visiting the Island this week to speak at a conference by The Centre on Philanthropy. Yesterday however, he also had a message for the younger generation.

Lord Hastings told students that in the global financial crisis, up to $5 trillion has been lost to the world economy in the past six months.

"It's gone because groups of individuals in their own homes and businesses made decisions over the course of the last two years that were unbelievably selfish," he said.

"People borrowed for things they could not pay for, and businesses then sold on the debts, and nobody was responsible."

Lord Hastings said having two young daughters, aged 15 and 22, and a 12-year-old son made him aware that it was difficult to "have a sense of your purpose in life" at this age, but that he wanted to inspire students to think beyond the "trivial".

Quoting a speech by US President Barack Obama to Congress this week, Lord Hastings said: "The President warned us of being consumed by the 'trivial'."

He presented a short film to the CedarBridge assembly entitled 'Miniature Earth', which revealed the statistics of what the world would look like with just 100 people.

The figures showed 43 would be without basic sanitation while six people would own 59 percent of the wealth of the community. Meanwhile, 13 would go hungry and 53 would struggle on $2 a day or less.

"Appreciate what you have," Lord Hastings told the teenagers. In Bermuda he said, they were "unbelievably lucky".

"Thirty thousand children and men and women will die today because of malnutrition and Aids, and most of those will be accompanied by another 30,000 tomorrow and 30,000 the next day, and most of us think nothing of it at all."

Lord Hastings then spoke of Leonard Abess Jr., a banker who sold his majority stake in City National Bancshares and gave his $60 million proceeds to his workers, and of explorer Bertrand Piccard, who hopes to fly a solar-powered aircraft around the world. He said they were examples of the aspiration of the human spirit.

In contrast, he presented Robert Mugabe as an example of someone who was "morally corrupt". Lord Hastings described Zimbabwe as "a country in total collapse" and said that while thousands were dying of cholera, his wife had just bought a $40 million apartment in Hong Kong.

Lord Hastings said: "At the moment all over the world, but mainly in the US and Europe, panic is setting in, people are losing their jobs in the hundreds of thousands every day and the whole economic system is in meltdown.

"Nobody is insulated from this problem."

He said this was the result of "greed and irresponsibility".

"The trivial thing that gets hold of us, which tells us what we must have to get hold of, whether that is money, power, position, a look, or bling, it will make you shallow.

"When you have the opportunity for power, give it away. When you can be corrupt, ask somebody else to hold you accountable. When you think you have the ability to possess, learn to sacrifice.

"This banker Leonard Abess chose not to keep it or possess it. He chose to begift it and be generous, and to learn what it is to inspire and aspire. He decided to make his world a more coherent place, and everyone can do the same."

Lord Hastings said: "The challenge for everyone of you growing up is what kind of man or woman will you be selfish, blingy, obsessed, pathetic, weak-minded, or will you inspire to be aspirational, sacrificial, generous? You make the choice."

l See Monday's The Royal Gazette for an interview with Lord Hastings.