Hope for The Future

Many people have suggested possible steps in developing sustainable communities and ultimately a sustainable globe.  Paul Hawken is one example.  Hawkin along with Hunter and Amory Lovins have developed 12 Steps to Sustainability in their book, Natural Capitalism: Creating the Next Industrial Revolution.  This focuses on changing the current structures in a top down approach and policy changes by: changing the tax system, removing business from the government, voting with your dollars and taking back the charter.

Other idealist such as Peter Joseph, the creator of the Zeitgeist film series, and Jacque Fresco, founder of the Venus Project, focus on creating an image of a sustainable world and what momentum we need to move forward.  Joseph and Fresco focus on remedying social issues that will in turn remedy the environmental issues by creating a resource based economy.  The video above will give you a debriefing of what a resource based economy entails.  In my blog on Powering the Sustainability City, I presented a video speech of Prince Charles who offers a definition of the German word “Zeitgeist”.  He defines zeitgeist as the current realisation and change in the world.  These approaches will be looked at more in depth after discussing “The Natural Step” used in planning sustainability.

The Natural Step involves four components:

·         The funnel,

·         System Conditions,

·         Implementation Strategies and

·         Basic Science.

In order to create sustainable solutions, it is imperative to determine where we are in the funnel.  Are we following the unsustainable direction and how do we get to sustainability?  What are the steps to sustainability?  This funnel visualizes the need for a clear and compelling vision to sustainability as determining the steps to sustainability is more effective if done by backtracking.   I believe this step is where the Venus Project has excelled.  They present an unique and optimistic view of sustainability.  There website is full of computer generated images of what they believe is the future of sustainability and descriptions of what this new world would be like; it’s very easy to jump on board.  A world free of social problems, where technology replaces people in useless jobs and innovation is motivated by social and environmental conditions rather than money. 

Our future cities according to Fresco

Implementation follows the A, B, C, D approach:  Awareness, Baseline mapping, Clear vision and Down to Action.  The Venus project has created baseline mapping and is working on aligning a common understanding through social media (the Zeitgeist film series).  They have also created a clear vision of what they would like to see in global sustainability.  Their progress is limited by the down to action step.  They have not addressed the steps to take to a sustainable future and so the project’s feasibility is hard to understand.  In addition, Fresco’s lack of credentials leaves him unable to be respected by the scientific community.  This leaves the project subject to criticism.  

Fresco believes that the economy creates scarcity, when in actuality the world’s resources are abundant and by removing the monetary economy these resources can be made accessible to all people.  The criticisms lie in the technological solutions, as technology creates an increased detachment from the natural world which increases the destruction of the environment.  The tragedy of the commons may result in a world where natural resources are available equally to everyone.  

The Venus project has its criticisms, but it leaves optimisim for the future.  Following the natural step, sustainable solutions can be created and with the support of the global populations a sustainable globe has the potential to be created.