Sustainable Development Essay Research Paper Sustainable development

Sustainable Development Essay, Research Paper

Sustainable development is arguably the currently dominant environmental discourse, especially at the global level. Should environmentalists accept the terms of the discourse and make the best of it, or push for more radical alternatives to sustainable development.

The concept of sustainability reflects the widespread acknowledgment that present levels of per capita resource consumption in the richer countries cannot possibly be generalized to people living in the rest of the world and cannot be continued into the future. The concern for sustainability has become global, reflecting the serious deterioration in the quality of life in even the most affluent of societies, as the present design of productive systems and consumption patterns threaten the continuity of the existing social organization. Sustainable development is often hailed as the only credible solution, and has accumulated a huge global support base from wealthy nations around the world. In the period around the Earth Summit in 1992, discussion of sustainable development evolved along a trajectory which soon brought it into alignment with market capitalism. When the UN established its Commission in the wake of the Summit, their constitution assumed from the beginning that solutions to sustainability could be found within the context of multinational business and markets. The economy and ecology, in the worlds of the Trilateral Commission, could be meshed .

The process of drawing up international treaties, like those of the Earth Summit in Rio, has established new standards for global politics in the area. Although environmentalists remain largely skeptical of the methods proposed by sustainable development, such criticism fails to recognise the finer points of the post-industrial discourse. The strengths of sustainable development lie in it s conservative and realistic manner. The discourse, being open to input from scientific experts and environmental activists, has established a network for discussion and political implementation. Although we have achieved little from an ecological perspective, we must not underestimate the capacity for social and political evolution. Environmentalists must work within the broad framework established by sustainable development and redefine the human relationship with planet Earth.

Numerous attacks have been leveled at sustainable development, as opponents maintain that first and foremost capitalism must be abolished in order to solve the large-scale environmental problems that it created in the first place. Many criticise economists for not understanding the severity of environmental problems, and having a blind faith in scientific and technological solutions. Taking it a step further, Herman Daly, in an essay titled, Sustainable Growth: An Impossibility Theorem , writes that it is impossible for the world economy to grow its way out of poverty and environmental degradation. He argues that, as the economy grows, it incorporates an ever greater proportion of the ecosystem into itself and is therefore, inherently limited.

Such critique of the concept has clearly not been groundless. Admittedly, the entire concept of sustainable development lies within its rhetoric. But there has been a general lack of willingness, particularly on the part of environmental activists and the academic supporters, to give the concept its due in an ideological and ethical context. As William Lafferty explains, Perhaps it has to do with the fact that the idea was launched at a time when environmental concern was peaking in the West, and there was a feeling that the gradualist, managerial approach was inadequate. Or maybe it has to do with the fact that the idea emerged from an official United Nations commission, and commissions are hardly popular sources of ideology. Whatever the reason, the idea has clearly not been adopted as a focal symbol for political change. Its potential remains largely within the realm of rhetoric, and the follow-up from the Earth summit is less impressive that anticipated in Rio. Much of this comes from a lack of analytic attention to the concept s ethical and political possibilities.

Sustainable development establishes standards for environment-and-development which have been given specific expression in numerous treaties, documents, declarations, and plans of action. The idea provides a core set of values, norms and goals which has the potential of engaging and mobilising citizens, at the same time that there are specific programmes for integrated action at the local, national, and global levels. Though there may be clear differences in opinion as to the internal ordering of sustainable development, the importance of the discourse lies in its ability to engage and evolve. This is the basis for viewing sustainable development as a new standard for political action and change.

The international support for sustainable development suggests clear moral support for the discourse as a consensual norm. There can be no doubt that a social and political ideology must be discussed through rational argument, and any sanctions to be implemented should de democratic; the stronger the potential for consensus the better. It is clear that the concept of sustainable development has been the subject of very real and widespread agreement. Regardless of differences of interpretation, the worldwide a