People, despite their ethnic, gender and profession,
all yearn for sustainability in their life. This yearning slowly caused for a parallel
vision of the future to emerge in the minds of everyone. From political leaders
to activists in the streets are talking about sustainable development and how
to achieve it. Everyone desire for a world that provides permanent prosperity
within the Earth’s biophysical constraints in a fair and equitable way of all
humanity, to other species, and to future generations (Costanza & Kubiszewski, 2014) . For two decades people
have indefinitely debated over the possibilities of building a sustainable
world. All agreed and acknowledged the complications nevertheless nobody believed
it to be an impossible task. The recent phenomena of development of new
technologies and activities, further confirmed by many researchers have
undoubtedly indicated the possibilities of sustainable world.
A shared vision of a sustainable and desirable future
is prerequisite to build a sustainable world. To succeed, it is necessary to
first eradicate any unsustainable factors that causes grief and unhappiness. Unsustainability
was identified by scientists in areas such as ecologically, socially,
economically, ethically, culturally and environmentally. As rightly asserted by
Tony Blair, “we know the problems….. and we know the solution; sustainable
development. The issue is the political will.” It would have been impossible to
build a sustainable world if we were unaware of the problems and the solutions,
however, we know the way all we need now is will to do it. It may seem as an
impossible task and the result may not be immediate, yet, it will definitely
bring a good change. Slowly that change will make our dream come true.
While some people may disagree with this idea, creating communities and societies that are
ecologically sustainable has become significantly indispensable (Wals, 2009) . I agree with
Daisaku Ikeda, who said, “no matter how complex global problems may seem, it is
we ourselves who have given rise to them. They cannot be beyond our power to
resolve.” People can be made to understand that what can be sustained in a
sustainable world is not materialistic developments, but the foundation of life itself. We do not need to start from zilch to design these society,
but can model them on nature’s ecosystems, which are sustainable communities of
plants, animals, and microorganisms. We can take advantage of outstanding characteristic
of the biosphere, that is, its inherent ability to sustain life. Then a
sustainable society can be designed in such a way that its ways of life,
businesses, economy, physical structures, and technologies honour, support, and
collaborate with nature’s inherent ability to sustain life (Wals, 2009) .
Those who disagree claim that building a sustainable
world is an impossible task just by skimming through the problems and not
considering the solutions. The world population is estimated to increase to 9.2
billion people in 2050, while agricultural productivity increase has been
slowing down over the last decades. At the same time, resource constraints and
climate change severely limit the world’s capacity to expand food production
causing a serious threat that food demand will not be met in 2050, leading to
more hunger and political instability (Costanza & Kubiszewski, 2014) . However, these
problems can be surmounted and therefore, cannot obstruct the building of
sustainable world. Those who disagree need to understand that these are
approximation and not definite numbers. This means that the world population
will not reach 9.2 billion in 2050 if countermeasure is used. The unsustainable
human population growth can be easily controlled through adequate and effective
family planning (WHO, 2013; UN, 2001) . I strongly believe
that this intervention is strictly followed; the world population can be
effectively reduced.
When it comes to agricultural productivity, recent
science discoveries attest the potentiality of science to develop technologies
that can boost productivity whilst addressing resource scarcities and
environmental problems (Freibauer, et al., 2011; IAASTD, 2008) . Scientific approach
such as genetic modification to create varieties of plants and animals with better
characteristics or increased yields can help meet the growing demand for food
and reduce poverty (IAASTD, 2008) . It was noted that
food production has increased in recent decades through use of agricultural
science and technology (IAASTD, 2008) . This can be further
improved if political leaders invest in agricultural research in speeding up
the technology adoption by farmers (Freibauer, et al., 2011) . Attempt can be also
made to mitigate waste and over consumption of food through behavioural change
and structural changes in food systems and supply chains (Freibauer, et al., 2011) .
Another approach to accomplish sustainable world is
through adoption of education. In the last century we have seen an evolution in
education from nature conservation to environmental education to education for
sustainability (Wals, 2009) . For instance, with
the intention to make four pillars of GNH realistic, Bhutan made mandatory for
all schools to incorporate GNH values in their lesson. GNH is an inclusive,
equitable and balanced approach to economic development that promotes
environmental sustainability, well-being, and happiness as overarching goals (RGoB, 2012) . As reported by
UNESCO in 1997, “education is humanity’s best hope and most effective means in
the quest to achieve sustainable development (as cited in (Samuelsson & Kaga, 2008) , integration of GNH
values in Bhutanese education curriculum aims to do the same. We have witnessed
Bhutanese coming up with environmental activities such as Lodan Entrepreneur
and Greener Way (2013 Global Environment Entrepreneur winner (BBS, 2013) ), which improved our
living standard. Bhutan also has policy and programmatic framework such as
Biodiversity Action Plans, National Biosafety Framework, National Adaptation
Programmes of Action for Climate Change and National Action Programme to Combat
Land Degradation to pursue sustainable development goals and objectives (RGoB, 2012) . If such activities
are continued, and if we encourage every nation and people to do same or more,
we will not be far from achieving a sustainable world. It is important to have leadership in a
sustainable learning community. To a large extent, leadership consists of
continually facilitating the emergence of new structures and incorporating the best of them in the organization’s design. This type of
systemic leadership is not limited to a single individual, but can be shared,
and responsibility then becomes a capacity of the whole.
Others may still remain persistent on the idea of
impossibilities of a sustainable world because of unsustainability caused by climate
change also known as global warning. In actual fact, this unsustainability is another
attribution to human activities in the past 50 years such as greenhouse gases,
aerosols and land use change such as deforestation (WMO, 2014; Canada, 2014; ACIA, 2004) . Nonetheless, the science propose that only two sets of actions are required to
confront it: one, called mitigation, to slow the speed and amount of future climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions; and the other, called adaptation, to attempt to limit adverse impacts by becoming more
resilient to the climate changes that will occur while society pursues the
first set of actions (ACIA, 2004) . In addition, activities such as getting a global
climate deal, changing how we live and using renewable energy and low-carbon
transport (WWF, 2014) can be also helpful.
Another reason for my confidence in a
sustainable world is there
is a growing body of knowledge about renewable energy technologies and policies
that can be used to limit the magnitude of future climate change (National Academy of Sciences, 2010) . These technologies
were found effective and efficient in United States (Arent, 2010) .
While I
have shown that it is possible to build a sustainable world, other may say that the term ‘sustainability’ has become nothing more
than a marketing tool. Contrary to what they
might think, marketing is important to
create awareness among the people and to share the vision. Marketing is an
effective tool to help to simplify the task and to speed up the process. To
create a diverse and resilient community, we need to first create a vibrant network
of relationships and if there is a free flow of information through all the
links of the network, diversity becomes an advantage instead of a hindrance. If
there is fragmentation, if there are subgroups in the network, or individuals
who are not really part of the network, then diversity can generate prejudice,
friction, or even destructive conflict (Wals, 2009) . Consequently, marketing
of sustainability become essential.
Moreover, internalisation of
environmental externalities in markets through appropriate governance
structures that addresses the disruptive effect of unregulated trade is another
approach to prevent the unsustainability of nature and resources (Freibauer, et al., 2011) .
Earth is suffering from so many instabilities threatening to
devour it as the years pass by. Nevertheless, there is a strong, credible body
of evidence, based on multiple lines of research, documenting that science and
technologies developed can conquer these instabilities. After seeing all the evidences, it is impossible to agree with what they
say. The evidences affirm the certainty of not just one
approach but many approaches that will confidently help us to realise our goal.
It is apparent that to break deeply entrenched, unsustainable patterns, a new
kind of thinking inspired and informed by powerful learning processes that
simultaneously lead to individual and collaborative active and transformation
is required (Wals, 2009) . Yet, if
some still believe it to be impossible, it is simply because they lack the
will. As said by Robert Swan, “the greatest
threat to our planet is the belief that someone else will save it.”
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