Joseph Kruth
© 1999
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I first heard the term sustainable development described in 1987 at the Fourth World Wilderness Congress by Gro Harlem Bruntland, Prime Minister of Norway and Chair of the World Commission on the Environment and Development, convened by the United Nations to assess the state of humanity. As she described the concept, it immediately resonated with me from my own observations about the state of the environment and human systems in the many places I had visited around the world. It made perfect sense to me as the central organizing principle for our present actions and the future we are creating together.
Since then, the meaning of sustainability has been debated in international commissions and individual communities working on action plans described in Agenda 21 from the Rio Earth Summit in 1992. Whatever the exact definition, and desired goals, one thing is clear. The pursuit of a sustainable future for humanity is a one way street. An increasing global population, with increasing intensity of resource use as the globe industrializes, requires visionary leadership willing to acknowledge the limitations of planet Earth and what we consume. Widely quoted calculations indicate that if the rest of the planet consumed energy and other resources at the same per capita rate as the United States, three or four planets like Earth would be required to meet resource needs. The Earth is finite, yet our collective desires to consume its resources show no present limitation. For example, China's admission to the World Trade Organization is based on an illusion it can be part of the same consumption patterns, creating a collision ahead with the expectation and reality. Acknowledging these limitations is analogous to acknowledging the law of gravity; neither is dependent on human recognition for its operation or consequences, but prudence and effectiveness require that recognition.
Becoming aware of our impact on Earth's life support systems that sustain human existence is more than logistical. We also ask, "who are we?" and "why are we here?" Is it only to consume ever more exotic goods and services, or is there a higher purpose grounded in our common spirituality as human beings, however we individually choose to express it? Consuming ever more takes us on a path of direct conflict with the limitations of the planet’s resources. Acknowledging our interrelationships and common spirituality allows us to think differently about who we are and what we want from the experience of being here for a short, but important, moment in history.
There are hopeful signs as a rapidly expanding global network of tens of thousands of organizations and millions of individuals concerned about the future grows in strength and power. From community-based consensus processes to the Internet, a new democracy of citizen action is creating a civil society. People are becoming connected in emerging meta networks that will offer unparalleled opportunities to communicate ideas and make choices based on common human values as people, not consumers. As examples, after decades of deforestation in Indonesia, in the past 20 years more than 2,000 environmental organizations now form a network to achieve sustainability. Globally, the number of nonprofit organizations working to protect the environment is over 100,000. The Internet is allowing people who care about the future to link together and create alternatives to the current unsustainable path that is concentrating wealth and power while often decimating communities and natural resources. As they link together with the power of the Internet and Web, the human ingenuity and entrepreneurship they are unleashing will create a new vision and actions for appropriate relationships with the environment and other people. It is a false choice to say we can not live rich, rewarding and comfortable lives without the current western model of consumerism. A substantial body of work is already in place in communities and on the Web offering alternatives. These ideas and ways of being will alter for the better the options we leave our children, and theirs.
As part of this global network, the authors have collaborated in an effort to help define some of our choices and actions to achieve them. This book describes how to empower community-level efforts with new perspectives and emerging capacities. Most importantly perhaps, it allows those who make the choice to do so to understand they are aligned with and supported by millions of others. We offer specific ideas on options, capacities for transformation, and processes to achieve them. We have been guided by an understanding of humanity’s role as integral to the complex, dynamic systems of our natural environment. We believe we can choose to achieve a high quality of life, in harmony with that environment and with each other.
While what follows is complex, particularly the "dynamic" parts which build capacities for the future, we live in a complex world, which is becoming increasingly so because of human interaction with it. The authors attempt to describe this complexity in as straightforward a way as possible and to address how to implement many of the good ideas already available and continuing to emerge. In my personal opinion, there is no absence of good ideas, only a lack of will to apply our abundant human and natural resources to achieve them. The great majority of people want to do the right thing if only they knew what to do. It is the role of leadership to help connect people with good ideas and adopt policies that support their implementation, while acknowledging there will always be uncertainty and risk, requiring experimentation, learning and redirection when necessary.
The authors are primarily practitioners with hands on experience. Together we offer an operational (as opposed to theoretical) framework for the future which creates a four-dimensional matrix (imagine a three dimensional web moving through time, where time is replaced by one of these other elements). Together they provide a "context" that:
1) Includes different levels of geopolitical complexity, e.g. local, regional, state, national and international;
2) Includes institutions/systems, communities, and individual participation and relationships with each other and with each of the levels of complexity in 1);
3) Identifies "content" essential to creating a sustainable future, such as understanding globalization, current power structures and monetary systems; designing and building bioregional economies as viable alternatives to globalization; identifying functions of community systems; acknowledging and developing individual spirituality; identifying and supporting visionary leadership; overcoming the barriers we have constructed to sustainability; and using actual, practical experiences that work. [To achieve sustainability, all of these elements must be sufficiently congruent across all levels of complexity connected to institutions/systems, communities and individuals. If these systemic connections are not made, the web of relationships and connections in our interdependent world will break down, leading eventually to the destruction of the life support systems on which humanity depends.]; and
4) Describes "processes" of empowerment/implementation for institutions/systems, communities and individuals. Over time, these processes have the potential to build capacities for transformation within a "future’s context" that acknowledges rapid change often makes our information and knowledge obsolete before we have completed the "strategic plan" intended to use it. Examples of the tools, resources and policies used in these processes to achieve desired content are collaboration and consensus democracy; applying information technologies at the community level; designing community learning centers; creating and managing knowledge in the 21st Century; and accessing information from and joining with to contribute to the meta networks now forming worldwide).
Forms of societal organization will change from linear systems to the reality of a web-based world of interrelationships. As an example, the Napa Tetrahedron described in Prasad Kaipa’s chapter represents a systemic, three dimensional perspective of some of the authors on elements of a sustainable future, and their relationships. Other issues such as justice and equality were embodied in our intentions, and others who undertake a similar process could provide a different emphasis. The same is true about our organizational choices of institutions/systems, communities and individuals. Why not families some might ask, or organizations? We attempt not to provide definitive answers so much as offer processes by which content can be addressed in actions from the local to the international levels of communities. And, what is both startling and encouraging about these processes is their complementary nature. While no two are exactly the same, as with snowflakes, they are compatible in almost all cases. The conflict comes when the system or process is corrupted, by inappropriate amounts of money or power, fear or greed, control or intolerance.
Being "context" and "process" driven, this book offers specific examples of how to promote community-level actions that link communities "of place" and communities "of interest" into a "whole which is greater than the sum of the parts." If there is one statement about the complexity of the 21st century, it is that "either-or" choices have been replaced by the need to deal with "both-and" choices, such as finding a way to both protect the environment and have a healthy economy.
In addition to this book, a number of the authors have had ongoing collaborative relationships for a decade or more, organizing conferences, collaborating on various projects, writing and other efforts. We have co-evolved our thinking, actions and relationships from that collaboration, developing a respect and alignment to continue that evolution together, and linking with others to add value to our common goals.
We are all engaged in a great experiment to determine if we can create a dynamic, equitable, rewarding and sustainable civilization. We believe such as civilization ban be created and can endure, based on ideals and values in the best of human relationships, hopes, dreams and creativity. As we transcend polarities and biases, we will become aligned towards a clear direction that embraces the female and male, the right and left sides of our brain, equity for all, and most importantly the connection of our heads and our hearts. We will then embrace our sacred place in the universe as part of all creation. We are committed to that process and to a sustainable future for everyone.
Joseph Kruth
Lake Tahoe, Nevada