Why are the sceptics and nay-sayers so firmly holding onto their industrial growth-is-always-best thinking in the face of evidence of the damaging effect of population growth, excessive industrialisation, and over-consumption? Market capitalism has brought massive benefits for the development of society, but at huge and excessive cost. So, why is it so entrenched when a better life is the indisputable goal for everyone? When will the "great transformation" reach tipping point?
Posted with Blogsy
An important set of points that will greatly affect the path to sustainability, and I’m of the opinion that society will go backwards before it goes forwards. While I think that ‘positive sustainability’ is plausible by 2100 (in accordance with the paradigm shift theory), I suspect that it will be a severely uncomfortable journey for mankind, with a sharp decline in global well-being needed to action the necessary technological and social revolutions. A significant, global focus on sustainability-based R&D could be demanded by a change in consumer consciousness, and from a political perspective this would be helped if nations switched to a greater reliance on global governance organisations, i.e. eroding domestic state power.
ReplyDeleteIt also concerns me that academic literature does tend to reflect the nature and goodwill of the author(s), especially in papers where it is stated that societies around the world are pushing for greater sustainability and demanding ‘green’ products in a substantial way. As you have pointed out, there is much resistance, and in fact I believe that the majority of society is working against sustainability, typical of our human nature. This does increase the risk of the world moving into ‘miserable sustainability’ - one without the needed social/political/economic/technological paradigm shifts, the result of which would be a catastrophic situation with no replacement for fossil fuels. Sustainability will be achieved one way or another, but whether our quality of life increases or plummets will be up to us.