The spread of consumer culture over the last fifty years has
led to a convergence of environmental and social problems around the world.
Thankfully, the transformation to a more sustainable way of living is not only
possible, but has already begun, says a report by the Worldwatch Institute.
For the most part, the wake-up call in
2008 to rethink our economic model went unheeded. Governments must address financial
and ecological sustainability together in order to allow humans to flourish
within the limits of a finite planet, argues Tim Jackson.
The coming year will be crucial in shaping how governments make decisions internationally. Rather than retreating to elite clubs such as the G20, powerful nations should embrace a truly participatory multilateralism through the United Nations, writes Martin Khor.
The Copenhagen summit failed to achieve a meaningful
multilateral commitment to deal with the climate crisis, but all is not lost.
Despite the current impasse between the US and China, pressure from civil
society may still force a binding agreement by 2012, says Mark Hertsgaard.
With seismic shifts in global power relations already underway,
the coming decade is set to reshape the world as we know it. Far more
profound will be changes to the natural world, which will impact humanity in
unpredictable and possibly devastating ways, writes Michael Klare.
The practice of sustainable development has been
mainstreamed to align with the interests of business, government, and
‘economics as usual’. We need to reset the pursuit of sustainability and
demand transformative changes to the predominant global economic system, argues
Alan Atkisson.
One year after Israel’s military offensive on Gaza,
residents are still struggling to reconstruct their lives under a crippling
economic blockade. As recent peace demonstrators declared, a lack of
international support for the Palestinian people is contributing to the ongoing
crisis.
In order to cope with peak oil and climate change, the
Transition movement is nurturing community resilience and low-carbon living
around the world. Can its adherents take it from a minority lifestyle choice to a much bigger force for democratic grassroots change? By Sarah Irving.
The failure of governments to
co-operate multilaterally to deal with the multiple crises in 2009 was a disappointment
for many. But the year also revealed hopeful signs of a new global movement in
support of sharing and the commons, writes Jeremy Adam Smith.
Sustainability is at risk of being abducted by consumerism
and the notion that we can buy our way out of the environmental crisis. We need
to reconceptualise the relationship between society and the environment as an
ethical one, argue Michael P. Nelson and John A. Vucetich.
