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COMER Columns
Articles published in "Economic Reform"
the Journal of the 'Committee on Monetary and Economic Reform'COMER Column #6 Vol. 13, No. 2, February 2001.
A Systems View of Sustainability (1)
The problems of society which impact on long term development and sustainability are systemic problems. The complexity of such problems cannot be grasped, much less managed, in the absence of a systems approach and strategy.
A growing world population becomes ever more difficult to feed as water and arable lands decrease, food production begins to decrease, and supplies of fuel and fertilisers diminish. Greenhouse gases exceed the absorption potential of the global ecology, and climate change leads to disastrous weather. Activities governed by criteria of financial exploitation damage regional ecological systems, and place increasing stress on social systems as well as economies. Politicians who are unable to grasp and manage such issues erode trust and promote public cynicism.
These larger problems are recognised but too seldom acknowledged by politicians, too many of whom are "developmentally challenged"! By default, and in the absence of more competent leadership, business and other special interests seek opportunities for credit and profit through partial and technological "solutions" - which too often add new problems.
We are fortunate to have a few wise guides. For example, methods and scenarios have been well laid out by Hartmut Bossel (1). He utlizes approaches laid out by Donella Meadows (2) and many others, which build on what Bossel describes as "the desire to apply rational thinking to the solution of problems that humankind has created for itself, and which now threaten the globe and our common future." These methods do not isolate and subordinate problems to techniques, but are developed to address the real needs to be met.
Only a few alternative are even possible. A variety of conditions - e.g. varied constraints, limited resources, and peculiarities of individuals and societies - limit future development to what Bossel terms "riverbeds", or scenarios of possibilities.
We are presently in a riverbed of unsustainable development, maintained by the currently dominant ethical frameworks of unbridled competition. Available technological fixes may make some temporary improvements possible, but such fixes alone cannot move us out of this riverbed. To reach sustainability, future paths must follow a different course, a set of possibilities that build on partnerships. Unfortunately this alternative path cannot be reached through simple modifications to present habits. What is required begins with a change in dominant values and world view, and then some determined digging and building to create new channels of opportunity..
The need is for an "ethics of sufficiency" to support a reduction in the unsustainable levels of material consumption in the rich countries of the North. To hold such adaptations to be impossible would be a self-fulfilling prophecy, leading to disaster. The required changes would clearly be very major, but they are real and feasible if taken in time. Moreover, it is likely that the required changes would bring gains in the quality of life. So we have a responsibility to understand the alternatives rather than rejecting them out of hand.
Bossel holds that the path to sustainable development will be determined by three important factors: technology, globalisation and the market, all of which require adequate reevaluation. All have implications for necessary economic reform. And a primary requirement will be that no persons, no regions, and no groups of people take disproportionate and unfair advantage of life-sustaining functions of the earth. How to navigate the shift to such governing values will be the major challenge.
Technology now refers to the current processes of production and consumption of everything that can be invented, made and sold at a profit, with little regard to social and environmental costs. What is required of a new technology is a shift in direction, with more focus on efficient use of materials and energy, for coverage of human needs that is sufficient rather than excessive and inequitable, with minimum damage to the environment, society and future prospects.
Globalisation need not be equated with the exploitation of environments and societies by transnational economic interests for the benefit of insiders and a relatively few lucky investors. Instead and more properly, globalisation can mean a sharing of knowledge and culture and the innovative potential of diversity. Global electronic networks will greatly assist in such development.
Markets can come to mean more than exploitation of resources and people for profits, made possible by the neglect of "external" costs to the environment, society and the future. The new market will be open to the competition of open and free information and innovation for the benefit of continuous evolution of society, in a riverbed of sustainable development, even if unpredictable in matters of detail.
The study of possible scenarios and anticipatory decisions are desirable, possible and necessary for the survival of human civilisation. Of these it can be truly said: "There is no alternative (TINA)". . But the challenges are immense, and require honesty, knowledge, generosity and wisdom in dealing with ignorance and fear.
These views are consistent with the suggestions of the recently affirmed Earth Charter (3), which attempts to address the perils and the promise of the future. Fundamental changes are needed in our values, institutions, and ways of living if we would form a global partnership to care for Earth and one another.
Of course values and goals are not enough, and directed action is essential. We need useful ideas about how to proceed. Any feasible path will involve a systems strategy and include economic reform as a prerequisite. Unfortunately, cook book recipes for simple changes in specific behaviours cannot meet the needs. The challenges involve patterns of behaviour integrated in terms of values and attitudes.
An adequate vision of the future must consider a number of components and relationships, viz: (1) infrastructure i.e. realities of human settlements, goods and services; (2) economic system; (3) social system; (4) government; (5) environment and resources; and (6) educational and other subsystems which support the development of individual human potentialities, on which much of our hope depends. Our world consists of all these systems in dynamic change, interacting and changing one another.
Now we cannot manage these systems if we do not understand how they operate. And all these subsystems have characteristic behaviours and effects, influenced by their own structures. Many such effects are independent of any management inputs, and such subtleties unfortunately elude many political leaders. Moreover, to place exclusive importance on any one subsystem, such as the economy and business interests, vital though each of these may be, is to jeopardise the health of the whole. Any element can hold a veto power over the whole.
Key to developing the creative initiatives for social organisation are the devising of indicators, guidelines for assessing progress and providing essential feedback. The vital role of appropriate indicators is too often unrecognised in practice. Those who see sustainability as a buffet of opportunities to be exploited to serve their special needs and interests will not be interested in indicators which track benefits for the complex interests of the larger whole.
What we as citizens can and must do is insist that our political leaders make use of the knowledge and methods now available. We can and must insist on standards of performance which meet adequate levels of knowledge and competence, as we now judge these in engineering, medicine and other professions. We can and must reject false prophets armed with simplicities that betray the public trust.
References
(1) Bossel, Hartmut. Earth at a Crossroads: Paths to a Sustainable Future.
Cambridge University Press (1998).
(2) Meadows, Donella, "Which Future?" in Context - http://www.context.org/ICLIB/IC43/Meadows.htm
(2) Earth Charter - http://www.earthcharter.org/