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BACK TO FRONT, UPSIDE DOWN, INSIDE OUT: TOWARDS SUSTAINABLE FUTURE SOCIETY
© R. Bonny
The future of humankind looks bleak
Accelera=ng climate change & loss of biodiversity lead to globally escala=ng spirals of: • uninhabitable land areas; • water, food and energy conflicts; • polarisa=on between the rich and the poor; • displaced people, refugees and
modern slavery; • ex=nc=on of species, including
humans.
A solu:on sugges:on A 3-‐dimensional approach would allow us to create a sustainable future: (1) Back to front: Historical method (2) Upside down: Development studies
methods (3) Inside out: Psychological methods to complement futures studies methods.
Back-‐to-‐front: Historical method
• Assumes that we are approaching the future with our back towards it while facing the past.
• We can see into the past, although, due to our different experiences, we have many interpreta=ons of it.
• We could use our interpreta=ons of the past to learn from the mistakes we made years, decades and centuries ago – and to get inspira=on from the rare historical sustainability successes.
Upside-‐down: Development studies methods • Challenges the poli=cal and economic hegemonies, arguing that
many answers to economic, social, cultural and environmental sustainability problems can be found from the subjugated.
• Grassroots democracy could turn socie=es into small sustainable communi=es that integrate tradi=onal knowledge and new i-‐technology, where people live and work in harmony in self-‐sufficient, renewable energy powered rural and urban villages without having to commute.
• Capitalism like communism, both of which exploit humans and nature, would be failures of the past, not to men=on colonialism, which is s=ll rife in the ways many indigenous peoples are treated.
Inside out: Psychological methods • Forces us to face the reasons
why we have adopted consumerism so eagerly.
• What are the real needs that hoarding material possessions try, but fail, to sa=sfy: safety, love, esteem?
• Once we understand our true psychological needs, we can move from mundane to transcendent fulfilling of them, thereby stopping exhaus=ng the world’s natural resources.
• People in developed and developing countries can meet in the middle, sa=sfying their basic physiological needs of food, water, shelter, health care and educa=on, and fulfilling their safety, love and esteem needs through harmonious rela=onships with other people and nature – like indigenous and other subjugated people have always done.
Two cases that integrate
(1) Back to front: Historical method (2) Upside down: Development studies
methods (3) Inside out: Psychological methods
Case: Vietnamese refugees’ example for future climate change refugees (clirefugees)
• Two million “boat people” fled during the Vietnam War to nearby South-‐east Asian countries flooding their refugee camps in late 1970s-‐early 1990s.
• A\er interna=onal nego=a=ons the chaos was solved and they were rese]led in the USA, Australia, Canada, France, Belgium, Germany, UK and Nordic countries, who have later praised the way in which the Vietnamese integrated themselves into their socie=es.
• This success must have something to do with the Vietnamese and Buddhist culture seeking harmony because the receiving countries did not have any specific integra=on programmes for them at the =me.
• The United Na=ons High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) did set up an Orderly Departure Program (ODP) in 1979 to help the Vietnamese to leave home and rese]le abroad – this is the only =me the interna=onal community has cooperated posi=vely in a refuge issue on a large scale.
• The ODP did not deal with the refugees’ integra=on into their new society. Departure programmes like ODP, but more sophis=cated, will be needed for clirefugees. Moreover, sophis=cated arrival programmes will be needed to turn them into ac=ve climigrants who could integrate themselves into their new society without losing their own cultural heritage.
Chief White Cloud of Talatawi tribe: Ten Indian Commandments
1. Remain close to the Great Spirit. 2. Show great respect for you fellow beings. 3. Give assistance and kindness wherever needed. 4. Be truthful and honest at all =mes. 5. Do what you know to be right. 6. Look a\er the wellbeing of mind and body. 7. Treat the Earth and all that dwell thereon with respect. 8. Take full responsibility for your ac=ons. 9. Dedicate a share of your efforts to the greater good. 10. Work together for the benefit of all mankind.
”Only a\er the last tree has been cut down, Only a\er the last river has been poisoned, Only a\er the last fish has been caught, Only then will you find that money cannot be eaten."
Warning by White Cloud:
Chief White Cloud of Talatawi tribe: extract from Circle of Life
“Man must awake at last, and learn to understand how li]le =me there remains before he will become the cause of his own downfall. And he has so much to learn. To learn to see with the heart. He must learn to respect Mother Earth – she who has given life to everything; to our brothers and sisters, the animals and plants, to the rivers, the lakes, the oceans and the winds.
He must realise that this planet does not belong to him; but that he has to care for and maintain the delicate balance of nature for the sake of the well-‐being of our children and of all future genera=ons. It is the duty of man to preserve the Earth and the Crea=on of the Great Spirit. Mankind being but a grain of sand in the Holy circle which encloses all of life.”
BACK TO FRONT, UPSIDE DOWN, INSIDE OUT: TOWARDS SUSTAINABLE FUTURE SOCIETY
© R. Bonny