Sufficiency and Sustainability

by Dr. John Blewitt

Being based in a former manufacturing and engineering region of the UK where the automotive industry was once one of the largest, if not the largest, employer the industrial restructuring over the previous twenty years and the more recent economic downturn has given sustainability a greater urgency than ever before.

The ecological threats we are all facing such as climate change, resource depletion, biodiversity loss and so on are directly and indirectly our responsibility. These threats are worsening by the day but the very real economic difficulties seem more immediate, more pressing, more real. Infact, both are equally pressing and equally real and it is time for all of us, especially those working or directing big and small businesses, to do things differently. Clearly, it is important that a decent standard and quality of life is important and it doesn’t matter whether you are in Bangladesh, China, the UK, the US or anywhere else these things are important. However, we need to recognise that sustainability, living within the ecological carrying capacity of our planet, is linked to sufficiency. Surely, there is such a thing as enough. We should not just want new and more things because we can see them advertised on bill boards, on TV or on the internet. More does not necessarily mean a better life although for those who do live in poverty more does indeed mean that. We need to address sufficiency and sustainability, quality of life rather than standard of life, well being rather than growth and consumption.

For me, being socially and environmentally responsible is understanding that we are part of nature, that we are all on the planet together – for better or for worse. The important thing is that we need to make things better and Business and Higher Education can contribute immensely to make this happen. The problem is that for too long Business and Higher Education have not been as involved in promoting environmental sustainability and ethical business practices as they should have been. In many ways they have been part of the problem and a cause of our present ecological and economic crises. Hopefully, things are changing. They need to. And, fast.

http://www.greenconduct.com/blog/2010/11/30/sufficency-and-sustainability/