Sustainable Development

• Sustainable Development is not a destination, but a dynamic process of adaptation, learning and action.”

• Sustainability is the capacity of keeping a state, while sustainable development implies a process that is integrative and tries to maintain a state of dynamic balance in the long run

• In the past 40 years, the environment has become a key focus within national and international agenda. This environmental movement lead to the birth of the concept of Sustainable Development

• Continuous growth within finite resources is not surprising and results in a systematic breakdown.

• Aspects that gave birth to SD: 1. Insecurity about global survival, 2. Economic problems and their responsibility for environmental degradation, 3. Ecodevelopment, 4. Environmental conscience

• Anthropocentrism, materialism, radical individualism and alienation from nature are worldviews about nature, which oppose the politics of sustainability.

• One of the main reasons why little has been achieved regarding sustainability is that the power has been concentrated in the hands of those who benefit from unsustainable forms of growth.

• The possible paths into the future do not include continuous growth. The choices are to bring the burden of human activities upon the earth down to a sustainable level through human choice, human technology, and human organisation, or to let nature force the reduction through lack of food, energy or materials, or an increasingly unsound environment.”

• “Ecological democracy” as a way of interacting with nature

• SD consists in making decisions that maximise every human well being through a holistic approach that views quality of life as a system, which ensures that our actions today are consistent with where we want to be by tomorrow

• “When it is all said and done, the only change that will make a difference is the transformation of the human heart.”

• This change requires, the human heart to love, care and prioritize differently.

• A political issue can thus be defined as collective beliefs and inter-related choices that affect people, societies and nations.

• “Culture is what determines the success of a society”.

• SD qualifies as a “supreme political issue” because it is what can best assure a continuous economic growth. We live in a finite world, but are currently treating it as if it was infinite.

• Even though the cost of action seems large, the cost of inaction has proven to be dangerously larger. I believe SD provides people with the best opportunity to choose how they want to live their future.

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