Portrait of Jerry Schmeer

Welcome, my friend

About Jerry Schmeer

Knowledge Engineer • Creator • Explorer • Optimist

I have spent my life exploring many different worlds—acting, music, art, writing, technology, travel, community, and ideas. To me, they have never been separate interests. They are all ways of learning what it means to be human and how we might build a better future together.

Begin My StoryRead My Vision

One life. Many paths. One purpose.

I believe every experience can teach us something—and every person can help improve the world.

This page is not simply a résumé or a list of accomplishments. It is an attempt to show how the different parts of my life connect: creativity, curiosity, compassion, technology, peace, and a lifelong hope that humanity can become more than it is today.

Where the journey began

My Story

I was born in London. My father was a United States Marine assigned to the American Embassy. He met my mother near Battersea Park, where my grandparents worked, and before long they married. Not long after I was born, our family moved to the United States.

I spent my early years in upstate New York—first Rochester, then Canandaigua. During my teenage years, life became a moving merry-go-round: Miami, Scituate in Massachusetts, Miramar in Florida, and finally Cape Cod.

Those moves taught me how to adapt, observe, meet people, and begin again. They also gave me an appetite for new places, new cultures, and new possibilities. I have never stopped being curious about the world—or about the people who share it.

Over the years, I became an actor, singer, artist, writer, technologist, website builder, traveler, domain collector, community organizer, and founder of projects devoted to creativity and peace. At first glance, that may look like a collection of unrelated lives. I see it differently.

Every part of my life has been another way of asking the same question: how can knowledge, creativity, and human connection help us become better?

What guides me

My Philosophy

I do not claim to have all the answers. I simply believe we have a responsibility to keep asking better questions—and to use what we learn with wisdom and compassion.

Knowledge Should Be Shared

Knowledge becomes more powerful when it is organized, explained clearly, and made useful to others.

Creativity Connects Us

The arts help us feel what facts alone cannot express. They cross borders, languages, generations, and differences.

Technology Should Serve Humanity

Artificial intelligence and robotics should expand human potential, protect dignity, and help us solve problems together.

Compassion Is Practical

A better world is not built by ideals alone. It is built when kindness, fairness, and responsibility guide everyday decisions.

We Share One Future

Whatever our nation, religion, race, age, or politics, we live on one planet and inherit the consequences of one another's choices.

Hope Requires Action

Optimism is not pretending problems do not exist. It is believing they can be addressed—and then doing something about them.

A lifelong mission

The Global Pledge

One of the clearest expressions of my philosophy is the Global Pledge—a voluntary promise to help make Planet Earth a better, healthier, and safer world for all.

The idea began in the late 1980s, when the world felt increasingly divided. I believed that true commitment could not be forced. It had to be chosen. Rather than asking people to pledge allegiance only to one place or one group, the Global Pledge invited people everywhere to recognize their shared responsibility to the whole planet.

At its heart is one belief I have carried for decades:

One child can change the world. Millions of children will.
Visit GlobalPledge.org
Wisdom of the Earth artwork used by the Global Pledge
The 100th Monkey book cover

How Change Begins

Part of the inspiration behind the Global Pledge came from the idea that when enough people adopt a new way of thinking, change can spread far beyond what first seemed possible.

Whether understood as metaphor or social insight, its message remains powerful: meaningful change often begins quietly, one person at a time, until a new possibility becomes shared.

A Vision Preserved

The Global Pledge was shared through newspapers, letters, classrooms, television, and word of mouth long before social media made global communication easy.

This 1993 television interview preserves an early chapter of that journey and shows that the ideas I am discussing today are not new interests—they are part of a mission I have carried for much of my life.

The Power of One — Harmony Productions — 1993

A public record of the journey

Articles, Editorials & Letters

These historic articles and letters show how the Global Pledge—and the wider ideas behind it—were received over the years. Together they reveal much about my values, persistence, and belief that ordinary people can begin extraordinary change.

Selected Articles

Newspaper article thumbnail Profile A Guy Who Makes Things Happen Read on GlobalPledge.org Newspaper article thumbnail Global Vision Cape Man Thinks Globally—and Pupils Act Locally Read on GlobalPledge.org Newspaper article thumbnail Early Work Student Promotes Global Pledge to Combat World Problems Read on GlobalPledge.org Newspaper article thumbnail Community Pledge to Work for a Better World Read on GlobalPledge.org Editorial thumbnail Editorial Stop Buying Children Games of Violence Read on GlobalPledge.org Editorial thumbnail Editorial American Politics Need More Women Read on GlobalPledge.org
View the Complete Global Pledge Archive

Selected Letters of Support

1990 White House letter thumbnail The White House 1990 1993 White House letter thumbnail The White House 1993 Vice President letter thumbnail Office of the Vice President 1995 Commonwealth of Massachusetts letter thumbnail Commonwealth of Massachusetts 1990

Where I am today

Still Learning. Still Creating. Still Trying.

I am now bringing together the many parts of my life through JerrySchmeer.com, the Cape Cod Arts Network, the Global Pledge, Beautiful Robots, my writing, and the many community websites I have created.

I am also working to find a practical balance between vision and financial sustainability. I believe ideals matter—but I have learned that a mission needs a strong foundation if it is going to survive and grow.

My hope is not merely to be remembered for having ideas. It is to turn those ideas into useful projects, meaningful conversations, and positive action.

“The future is not something that simply happens to us. It is something we choose to build together.”

— Jerry Schmeer

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Thank You for Taking the Time to Know Me

Whether you came here through my creative work, the Global Pledge, technology, travel, Cape Cod, or simple curiosity, I am grateful you visited. I hope something on this site encourages you to learn, create, connect, or help leave the world a little better than you found it.

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