Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
1
Experimentation should always be undertaken cautiously and on a small scale.
2
Experiments whose effects might be long lasting, e.g. disposal of nuclear waste,
should be avoided.
3
Without cultural and biological diversity co-evolution is prone to stagnate.
4
All things are interconnected so change tends to be evolutionary rather than
abrupt or revolutionary.
5
The significant exploitation of hydrocarbons has disconnected cultural evolution
from the ecosystems so that the main priority of sustainable development must
be to restore this connective relationship.
Working from a similar perspective, Cairns (2003, 2004) sees sustainability as
being too complex to allow scientific uncertainties to be reduced to a level that many
decision makers and managers would prefer. Strategies for sustainability need to be
both top down and bottom up, ethically grounded in a language and literacy
comprehensible to whatever the organizational level or geographical locality people
find themselves living and working in. This will enable effective communication,
social learning and leadership to emerge, hopefully effecting the paradigm shift in
thought and action required. Cairns writes:
The complex interactions of biology/ecology, economics, and technological and
social factors must be understood and coped with in an ethical, sustainable way
to save both natural systems and humankind. Ethical views must not alienate
humankind from the natural world. Science has documented much of what is
at risk and some of the actions needed to reduce risk. Instead of denigrating the
knowledge (e.g. global warming) and placing undue emphasis on the uncertainties
(which always exist in science), leaders and citizens should give attention to
those areas upon which mainstream science has reached a consensus. Unsustain-
able practices can be halted, but, even though remedies are known, they are not
acted upon. It is not too late for a paradigm shift to occur.
(2004: 2)
For Ignacy Sachs, development is akin to liberation and transformation, particularly
if understood as a self-organizing and intentional process freeing people from poverty
and exploitation. Sachs, like the World Bank, recognizes that trade-offs will occur
but some are totally, ethically, unacceptable. He writes:
Thus, for example, whole development is incompatible with economic growth
achieved through increased social inequality, and/or violation of democracy,
even if its environmental impacts are kept under control. Environmental prudence,
commendable as it is cannot act as a substitute for social equity. Concern for
the environment should not become a diversion from the paramount imperatives
of social justice and full democracy, the two basic values of whole development.
(1999: 33)
Sustainable development is therefore multidimensional, encompassing social,
ecological and economic goals and perspectives, and this breadth has led some critics
to view the concept as vague, self-contradictory and incoherent, incapable of being
put into practice. Consequently, Johnston
et al
. (2007: 61) want to 'reclaim' the
