Year: 2003
Type: report
Abstract: THE EVIDENCE IS clear. The way we are living is not sustainable. In fact, I believe it does not satisfy any of the main criteria. We are using resources future generations will need, damaging environmental systems, reducing social stability and increasing the gap between rich and poor. Further, there is no prospect of extending the lifestyle of the wealthy world to developing countries. People in the poorer parts of the world are constantly reminded through film and television of the widening gulf between their material deprivation and the wasteful consumption of the rich. If civilisation is to survive, there must be a dramatic transformation in technological capacity, in social institutions and in values: our approach to the natural world and to each other. Both at the local and the global level, some of us still believe we can achieve a transition to a sustainable future. Human systems can change radically almost overnight. Growing recognition of the need for radical change may produce the changes. The serious obstacle is the dominant mind-set of decision-makers who do not even recognise the problems and see potential solutions as threatening their short-term interests.
Source: Griffith Research Online
Author: Lowe, Ian
Language: English
Subfield: Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law
Field: Environmental Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7033380296