The University of Cambridge has been running a series of lectures related to sustainable development for the past 10 years. I attended my first one of these yesterday which was titled ‘Making progress toward sustainable societies in the context of global climate change’. It was delivered by the well known academic Professor Don Huisingh, from the University of Tennessee.
It might seem a bit jumpy and rather bitty but I want to convey a few nuggets that I picked up from the lecture.
- The Chinese word for crisis (reflecting the state of the physical environment, poverty and other global issues) is made up of two symbols; the first meaning danger and the second meaning opportunity. There are risks and perils in all sorts of areas but simultaneously there are opportunities for us to seek out and take.
- Albert Einstein said, “A new type of thinking is essential if mankind is to survive and move toward higher levels”. Note the use of the word ‘if’.
- There are a number of happiness indices available as research has shown that (after a certain point of comfort and provision of essentials) having more material things (and therefore continuous growth in the traditional GDP sense) does not result in the society becoming happier, in fact the opposite can be demonstrated. Is there a mutual rivalry of piling things up?
- We are in the UNESCO Decade of Education for Sustainable Development [2]. Institutions of education have an opportunity to change curricula and the whole way the issues our society faces is taught. “What if every person benefited from an education promoting development that is environmentally sound, socially equitable, culturally sensitive and economically just?”
The development of sustainable education
The last point in particular can be extended to training and development and for any organisation the most important resource is the people. Maybe what we need more of is sustainability professionals from business and industry becoming an integrated part of learning in schools, colleges and universities, not just a special lecture or a guest slot but a real long term commitment from all parties.
If you are interested in attending the next lecture with Jonathon Porritt on 29 February just turn up; it will be a packed audience no doubt. My thanks to the folk at Cambridge and Don Huisingh for an open event that gets people thinking, talking and hopefully acting.