While I was researching the post on glocalism that I put up earlier today, I discovered the existence of global passports, a discovery that was apparently also a surprise to Slate a couple of years ago. Anyway, an organization called the World Government of World Citizens will issue you a world passport for about what it costs to get a regular passport.

Their idea is “no one has the right to tell you you can’t move freely on your natural birthplace,” also known as Earth. About half a million world passports have been issued in the last 50 years, and 150 countries have accepted one at least once. Although lots of countries, like the US, now deny them as a matter of policy.

The passport looks real and scans like any other passport. It’s even printed in seven languages, including Esperanto. Now, I have a US passport, which seems pretty useful, so I’m not really going to shell out for a world passport, but I have to say, I really like the idea. As I’ve written about before, ever since I was a child, I’ve identified more as a citizen of the world than of the US. The idea of formally renouncing my citizenship in favor of becoming an official global citizen is appeal in some ways, and that’s exactly what Gary Davis the inventor of the world passport did.

Ironically, for the moment it seems being a US citizen allows you to see more of the world and since our time here is short, I’ll take that option. Luckily, I can get my world citizenship fix on English, baby!.