Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
formally constituted strategies and institutions are often quite constrained and limited
with issues of implementation often remaining problematic to say the least. Sometimes
top-down and sometimes bottom-up approaches to sustainable development are
advocated, but their value will depend on many things - time, culture, geography,
learning, resources, politics, the economy, and so on. Economic interests and
sustainability demands may (or may not) be opposed, but it is clear that many major
and minor changes too are needed in the way that we live, work and produce.
Genuinely transformative changes to thinking and behaviour are required and
leadership is needed to help discover what these are. For American leadership expert
Benjamin Redekop (2011), a major issue to overcome is human short-sightedness.
Applying an integrative psychologically based personality model known as the CFC
or 'Consideration of Future Consequences', Redekop notes that those people low
in CFC focus on the immediate consequences of their behaviour while those high
in CFC are able to look more constructively into the future. It is therefore incumbent
on leaders 'to induce positive emotional states if constituents are to engage in future-
orientated behaviours' (Redekop, 2011: 57). When people are less hopeful they
become more short-sighted. Future-orientated behaviour is a sign of hope. Good
communication is essential in this context. It must not be perceived as manipulative.
It must elicit co-operation and must be realistic rather than pessimistic about the
resources at hand to initiate change. Thus, Redekop writes using a current debate
as an example of our leadership which may come into conflict with 'environmentalism'
(Redekop's quotation marks):
[M]any environmentalists are opposed to nuclear power as an alternative to
carbon-intensive forms of power generation. Nuclear waste is just another form
of pollution to be avoided and nuclear accidents are potentially very dangerous.
Yet, it may be necessary for those wanting to exercise leadership on global
warming, for example, to let their constituents decide if they are willing to accept
the risks of nuclear power in order to avoid the severe disruptions that will
likely be the result of unchecked climate change. If not, then they are going to
need to be very good at explaining why nuclear power is unacceptable, and they
are going to need to demonstrate clear and practical alternative pathways towards
independence from fossil fuels.
Recognizing alternatively, seeing them modeled in practice such as with the
Transition movement leads to a sense of self-efficacy which can be further
enhanced if clearly associated with issues of equity and social justice.
(2011: 61)
For green activist and co-founder of Forum for the Future, Sara Parkin (2010),
unsustainable development has been produced by too many people making too many
wrong decisions every day. For her, the true sustainability leader is a 'positive deviant'
- that is, someone who brings together different types of leadership ideas and skills
in an effective and generative manner. This may involve systems thinking, asking
the right questions, having a moral compass, resilience, the capacity for self-reflection
and criticism, and the ability to communicate across disciplines, cultures and
professions well. Everyone in this sense can be a leader in some way and to some
degree. As Hamdouch and Zuindeau write:
