If there ever was a time for true adulthood, it is now.

This is difficult to acknowledge, but our collective home is in dire straits. We are in ecological overshoot: there are too many people on the planet consuming too much and producing too much waste for civilization as we know it to continue. We are already seeing increasing numbers of unprecedented storms, floods, fires and droughts around the world as well as conflicts over dwindling resources and masses of refugees driven by all of it. Climate change is but a symptom of the bigger problem of ecological overshoot. Our present economic and political systems have been incapable of correcting the situation.

Young people see this. As just one indicator, a survey in ten countries of 10,000 children and young people found that 75% of them think the future is frightening and 83% think people have failed to take care of the planet. They feel betrayed by the adults.

But how many of the world’s political and business leaders are actually mature adults? Let’s look at the men. How many male leaders are not yet initiated into adult manhood but rather are psychological, spiritual and emotional adolescents in adult male bodies?

To answer this question, a helpful framework comes from psychologists Robert Moore and Douglass Gillette who propose that the adult masculine embodies four key archetypes or energies: the King, the Warrior, the Magician and the Lover.

The mature King or Chief is one who accepts power for the benefit of the community. The immature King or Chief seeks power for the benefit of himself and his personal interests. Recently elected politicians who behave like the immature King are easy to identify. Another sign is that they are the ones who lie instead of telling the truth. It is also easy to see the immature King in the leaders of some companies, such as those who knew about the dangers of climate change years ago but, instead of working for the benefit of the world community, they invested money in deceiving us.

The mature Warrior is well described by a quotation sometimes attributed to the great Lakota warrior Sitting Bull: “Warriors are not what you think of as warriors. The warrior is not someone who fights, because no one has the right to take another life. The warrior, for us, is one who sacrifices himself for the good of others. His task is to take care of the elderly, the defenseless, those who cannot provide for themselves, and above all the children, the future of humanity.” The mature Warrior is a helper and a shield. It is no accident that the word “courage” comes from the old word for “heart.” In contrast, the immature Warrior is a bully. He belittles others, especially the weak and infirm. Again, it is easy to identify recently elected politicians who are immature Warriors.

The mature Magician has done the psychological and spiritual work to find deep insight into himself and others. He is a steward of human wisdom and transformation; and he teaches and initiates the young into the mysteries of life. As one Zen master said, “All our actions should be taken with the spirit of giving life to the overall situation surrounding us.” The immature magician is, instead, a con man — a detached manipulator who uses his understanding for personal gain and ego gratification. Which recently elected leaders act like this?

The mature Lover is one who has harmonized the masculine and feminine energies that we all carry within ourselves. He is capable of intimate, caring relationships with other humans and with the natural world because he is sensitive to others and to beauty and to the powers of life and is able to express emotions. The immature Lover is unable to connect with others in a genuine, generative way, and can potentially be abusive in relationships. Who do we know in public life who is like that?

As a grandfather, I am concerned because we are doubly betraying our children. First, we are not coming together to deal with the most pressing problem for the whole world. And second, the models of male adulthood that we lift up for our boys and young men to emulate are examples of immaturity rather than maturity.

Chris Hoffman is a retired licensed professional counselor and management consultant with 23 years of experience in the electric and gas utility industry. He is the author of “The Hoop and the Tree: A Compass for Finding a Deeper Relationship with All Life.” Hoffman lives in Boulder. www.hoopandtree.org.