Sustainable Development

Global Politics by Steven Lamy et al., pp. 364-397

Of all the things that come from this process [of a visionquest], perhaps the greatest, is the ability to determine how little we actually need to survive. Through forsaking food and feeling the bite of hunger, assuaging it with water and patience, we see how controlled we are by the need to consume. This ceremony shows us that we actually need very little to flourish and that the planet can support us all. There always was and there always will be enough if we return to and obey the original instructions - walk gently upon the Earth and do each other no harm.

One of the greatest fears we carry as a species is the fear of lack, of not having enough. Many people who were adults as I was growing up had lived through the Great Depression of the 1930s. That experience instilled in them the lurking fear of lack and hunger. What this fear engendered in return was a need to work hard and to deliberately stave off that eventuality. When you are always afraid that there will never be enough you act out of fearful energy and there can be no harmony. The fact that there are hundreds of millions of people in our world who chronically don't have enough to eat is testimony to the present of disharmony. People fear. When that energy is pervasive, people suffer. We become so attached to protecting and enhancing our own little corner of the world that we allow ourselves to forget that we are all connected, that we are all part of creative energy and that everything we do or choose affects someone or something else. That’s just how it works. So when we fear lack, we create it. Maybe not in our own lives but certainly in the lives of others. Somewhere on the planet. If fear perpetuates itself then fearful energy perpetuates itself as well, and fearful energy creates disharmony (Richard Wagamese, 2020, One Drum, pp. 147–148). 

Barack Obama from A Promised Land (2020) on why we don’t actually do anything substantive about the environment 

The BP Oil Pipeline Disaster in the Gulf of Mexico - April 2010

The only way to truly guarantee that we didn’t have another catastrophic oil spill in the future was to stop drilling entirely. But that wasn’t going to happen because at the end of the day we Americans love our cheap gas and big cars more than we cared about the environment, except when a complete disaster was staring us in the face; and in the absence of such a disaster, the media rarely covered efforts to shift America off fossil fuels or pass climate legislation, since actually educating the public on long-term energy policy would be boring and bad for ratings; and the one thing I could be certain of was that for all the outrage being expressed at the moment about wetlands and sea turtles and pelicans, what the majority of us were really interested in was having the problem go away, for me to clear up yet one more mess decades in the making with some quick and easy fix, so that we could all go back to our carbon-spewing, energy wasting ways without have to feel guilty about it. 

I didn’t say any of that. Instead, I somberly took responsibility and said it was my job to “get this fixed” (p. 571).

Examining the Tragedy of the Commons:

Choose zero, two or six points to be added to your Paper 2. If more than 10 percent of you choose six points, no one will receive any points. If you choose zero points you will cancel out one of the six point choosers, who will receive zero points. 

This unit focuses on what development means, how it can be pursued and what may help or stand in the way of people, communities and countries becoming better off in a comprehensive sense. Debates surrounding development are examined.

In this lesson we will be discussing material related to the following pieces of prescribed content from the Global Politics Guide:

• Sustainable development: role of politics

• Factors that may promote or inhibit development: Environmental factors

• Different definitions of development, including sustainable development

There are two options to complete this activity. The Sustainable Development Report is put together by Jeffrey Sachs and his team and it has a really clean interface once you click on "dashboard". The next option is the Sustainable Development Goals Tracker created by the "Our World In Data" team. 

Steps:

1. Take a look at the overall rankings. Who were you surprised to see doing well? Why? Who were you surprised to see doing poorly? Why? 

2. Choose the country you are most interested in digging into how they are doing. Click on the "go to country profile" or "download profile" to answer the questions below.

   • Which Global Goals seems to be their area of strength? Why do you think this is the case? By exploring some of the specific indicators for these goals, why do you think this is the case?

   • Where are they performing poorly? By exploring some of the specific indicators for these goals, why do you think this is the case?

3. Present your findings in a group of 3.

Exploring sustainability as a Human Right (see Human Rights Unit)

The Four Possible Futures

Many citizens are now coming to the realization that there are real environmental costs associated with humankind's goal to achieve the good life. Citizens and leaders alike are also now recognizing the potential challenges posed by continuing policies that abuse the delicate ecological balance. These challenges to economic and political scarcity and the good life are explored in this exercise. 

Review the different elements of "The Four Possible Futures" on pages 396-397 of the Lamy text. 

1. Which future would be most beneficial to you and your family?

2. Would this future create a world society within which all people could benefit? Why or why not?

3. Which future would result in the following conditions: 

   • Full employment 

   • Less air pollution

   • More time for recreational activities

   • Less government

   • Greater equality

   • More citizen participation

   • Exploration and use of alternative energy sources

   • A world economy that encourages equitable and balanced growth

   • A reduction of waste and overconsumption

   • Less spending on military 

   • More economic opportunities

   • Increased conflict

4. What image of the future is challenged by a more balanced ecological view?

5. How do these images correspond to the international relations theories we have studied?

6. Why are environmental issues becoming so significant in international politics?

7. Is a sustainable development strategy a  possibility for the future? Note: sustainable development is usually defined as a process of development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.