Society ́s collective, egotistical thinking

What is, in your opinion, the most pressing problem we are facing in terms of sustainability?

By suggesting that society is the most pressing problem when it comes to sustainability, I am not necessarily talking about the questionable actions behind dozens of people flying in from far away to partake in COP26 and talk about sustainability, which is undeniably questionable, but rather how we as a society have gotten too comfortable and set in our ways to really want change. We ́re all benefiting from the world we live in (I am talking about people who live in the western world). I would even go as far as saying that very passionate climate activists might be unwilling to give up some luxuries of the life they’re currently living. This doesn’t make them bad people, it just makes it clearer that we have lived in this world so comfortably for such a long time, not having to deal with any major repercussions, that it is difficult for us to give these things up.

When it comes to sustainability it is hardly about whether you decide to bring your reusable coffee cup or buy a to-go cup at the coffee shop. It is not just each individual’s job to save the planet, it is about systemic change, organized and put into effect by the leaders of each country, targeting big corporations and companies. As visualized by Donella Meadows, the leverage points on which events are built, are patterns of behaviour, systems structure and mental models and explain how a system can be changed [3].

For real impact on the planet, our lives would have to change drastically. According to Heinberg [1], the Global Footprint Network calculated the world population ́s footprint about 40 percent larger than what the planet can generate, showing that we live way above our means. As mentioned in O'Connor's short film “There ́s no tomorrow” (2012), if we run out of resources such as oil, we might find ourselves living under conditions that people have lived under decades ago. In order to consume less energy, we would be facing harder lives, involving more manual labour, more farm work and the local production of food and services. To sum it up, we would be forced to become more self-reliant and put our comfort aside. As the current pandemic has shown, we are very sensitive when it comes to being restricted in our everyday lives. We don’t like to do without our freedom to do anything at any given time, even if it is for the greater good. Simple restrictions in the face of global suffering were too uncomfortable for us, got us frustrated because most of us in the western world do not know what it is like to not have a choice. A simple example can be the founding of a family. A lot of people want children, a very normal and understandable thought, but not a very sustainable one. We can’t all have families with 3 or 4 children each. I always thought that Chinas one-child policy was extremely radical, but when looking at some facts, I can understand where they are coming from. As mentioned by Heinberg [1] as the second axiom, population growth and the growth in rates of consumption cannot be sustained. The author explains, that even small rates of growth can add up at an unreasonably large scale, which for the planet is simply unsupportable. Especially when being aware of the fact that there are already many children on the earth, without a family, and when having the necessary funds, not going for an alternative like adoption can seem selfish.

Knowing society, the world we live in and including possibly myself I can’t help but wonder if we were presented with a clear solution on how to stop/decrease climate change, that most likely would presuppose us to limit ourselves, would we accept? Or would we rather continue life as we know it and knowingly wait for the expected repercussions to unfold?

References

[1]. Heinberg, R. (2010) What is sustainability?, in The Post Carbon Reader: Managing the 21st Century’s Sustainability Crises, Richard Heinberg and Daniel Lerch, eds. (Healdsburg, CA: Watershed Media, 2010)

[2].O’Connor, D. (Director). (2012). There’s no tomorrow [Film]. Incubate Productions.

[3]. Mentioned by Pella Thiel in lecture 7 of the DM2573 HT21-1 Sustainability and Media Technology course