It was exactly one week ago that Hurricane Sandy blew into the Eastern USA, sweeping away houses, uprooting majestic trees, displacing loved ones, and plunging millions of citizens into a very cold November filled with darkness, homelessness, and hunger. The … Continue reading
Contrary to the expectations that might have arisen while reading our blog title, this blog does not ponder the intricacies of sexual awakening. (hope you are not too disappointed…)
This is essentially a blog about lifestyles and sustainability.
This is not (only) a blog about climate change, although climate change is a definite proof that our economic models of production are unsustainable for our planet.
Let us consider societies, which we could figure as systems of three components :
People, or : consumers, producers, employers, workers, investors, citizens, politicians, public opinion, media… In a nutshell, individuals, us, them, you, me, her,… well you get it.
Politics, for the definition of which I’ll refer to two scholars who really know their stuff :
Caporaso & Levine (1998)Politics are “ the activities and institutions that relate to the making of authoritative public decisions for society as a whole.”
Thanks guys, that’s a lot clearer! In a nutshell, rules and processes of collective decision.
Planet, although I won’t insult you by defining that one, it is important to consider the two roles that nature plays for human societies, as highlighted by Thampapillai (2003).
Nature is a source, from which we extract the resources necessary to the functioning of our societies.
Nature is a sink, into which we dispose of our waste.
Sustainable development was defined by the Brundtland Commission in 1987 as that which “meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”.
Sustainability entails considering the long-lasting consequences of our daily actions.
For the people, it entails questioning the decisions we make as consumers, producers, citizens, individuals. It means trying to unfold the unintended consequences of these decisions, good or bad, on ourselves and others. While this does not sound a priori very appealing, (who has time and energy for that? → Hence the very existence of this blog!) I will here advocate that informed discipline is a form of personal empowerment, and can yield significant satisfaction and happiness. As someone once said…
Socrates (long time ago), “The unexamined life is not worth living”.
For politics, sustainability entails creating a regulative arena favourable to sustainable lifestyles and environmental sustainability. The task is all the more complicated that interests are highly divergent. We could also consider political systems in terms of their own sustainability, or their ability to remain in place over time.
For the planet, sustainability is first and foremost environmental sustainability. How can we utilise natural resources at a rate that, on the one hand, allows us to live comfortably and, on the other hand, does not deplete irremediably these resources? How can we minimize the effect of waste disposal on nature, so that its source function is not compromised?
Leading sustainable lifestyles is part of the response. It is the initiative of concerned citizens, us, to try and live more meaningful lives, in respect and harmony with our environment.
So, let’s get started!
The End of Innocence 