A quest for sustainable development.

As I already mentioned in one of my blogs, last year I had a fortune to study a subject called Natural Economics; my lovely instructor was explaining us that we should value the Environment around us. Because of resource over-exploitation, poor policy & management or simply because of people’s approach to using finite resources the humanity is currently close to resource extinction. Moreover, the resulting pollution triggers environmental disasters and crises, which create threat to life … Clearly understanding the true meaning of mentioned, I started to listen to Paul Gilding’s podcast about the earth and our unsustainable approach to the scarce resources. 

Spending 35 years of his life trying to change the world Paul Gilding has a lot of things to teach people. He is an independent writer, activist and adviser on a sustainable economy. Gilding (2012) notes that the earth is full; it is full of the staff that we, the brilliant and creative species ever, have created. According to the Global Footprint Network (2012) we need 50% more Earth to sustain at our current operating level. In financial terms, as Gilding interprets, this means spending 50% more than we earn. The issue is that if we are short of money, we can borrow from our friends, but in this case we cannot borrow natural resources, or maybe we should borrow from our future generation. Nevertheless, we can use resources as long as the interests of future generations are protected. It is impossible to have an infinite growth in a finite planet. So, Gilding advocates taking an action now, because the economy is breaking down and we do not have time to wait – the crisis is inevitable.

In terms of the most important issue and facts discussed Gilding is fair. He precisely defines the problem and highlights the negative consequences of our unaccountable behavior. We indeed need to direct the market forces towards sustainable development in environmentally sound manner. But what I would like to hear is the road that we should pass or possible actions that we need to undertake in order to overcome this situation. While listening to him I did not find an answer to the question of how can transition from present development trends be made towards sustainable development, how can the present life routine be changed to seek a different way? However I liked Gilding's talk very much; it will be great if we could at least acknowledge that we have a problem, which is a common problem, thus needs a worldwide response to be given in order to bravely face the threat.