From the page to practise: shaping a sustainable world

How would you describe ‘sustainability’? Many would mention something like ‘living in harmony with the planet’. Yet often, the distance between this grand narrative and daily life is a big one. Among other tools, ‘nudging’ (1) (positive influences on decision making, derived from the field of behavioural economics) is increasingly being utilised to bridge this gap. Looking back, I’ve certainly been ‘nudged’ towards studying the Sustainability track in the University of London Project Management programme, especially through the recommendation of a few stand-out books on the theme that have become personal favourites.

“Given time—time not in years but in millennia—life adjusts, and a balance has been reached. For time is the essential ingredient; but in the modern world there is no time.” Rachel Carson, Silent Spring

Climate data is stored in research labs, but our effects on the environment are also written into the permanent record of the planet, defining an era now called the ‘anthropocene’ (2). When American conservationist Rachel Carson wrote ‘Silent Spring’ in the early 1960s, these effects were becoming difficult to ignore, especially where the complex, interdependent network of the natural world was being artificially manipulated with little thought to unintended consequences.

The book centres on the case of DDT (3) (dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane), a chemical sprayed widely into the environment in the United States for pest control in the early-to-mid 20th century. Tragically, it soon became clear that DDT was also acting as a general poison in the ecosystem, including in the human food chain. DDT has since been banned in most countries, but the thinking that produced it persists. Now more than ever, we need to be educated employees, consumers and electorates, always demanding better from corporations and institutions.

“If we want to rewrite economics, we need to redraw its pictures too, because we stand little chance of telling a new story if we stick to the old illustrations.” Kate Raworth, Doughnut Economics: seven ways to think like a 21st century economist

For decades, variation in economic growth (and the charts that track it) have been the guiding framework for governments across the world. Yet, in a world of depleting resources and rising economic inequality, we must ask if this 20th century measure, driving the increased production of products and services fits the 21st? In ‘Doughnut Economics, Kate Raworth goes further, to propose a striking new way of charting economic development.

The ‘doughnut’ of the title is the unlikely shape that fits this new vision, where the outer ‘ring’ represents the limited resources of the planet to support human civilization, and the inner ‘ring’ is the social foundation that current and future generations will require. How then, to stay safely within the ‘dough’ of the doughnut? A fundamental shift in attitudes to all aspects of the economy is proposed, like Rachel Carson seeing nature and our interactions with it as a complex, interconnected network, providing opportunities to transform through a radical approach to waste and the reuse of materials in manufacturing. (4).

“There are two numbers you need to know about climate change. The first is 52 billion. The other is zero.” Bill Gates, `How to Avoid a Climate Disaster`

Microsoft was founded far from Silicon Valley. Bill Gates remembers the heat of a small, stuffy office in Albuquerque, New Mexico in the mid-1970s, climbing to over 30 degrees Celsius, 36 days a year on average. Annual global emission of 52 billion tonnes of greenhouse gases (on an increasing trend) is expected to double that average in Albuquerque, and other cities across the planet, by the year 2050. In ‘How to Avoid a Climate Disaster’ he shares a vision of how that date could mark zero greenhouse emissions, and not a point of no return for civilization as we know it.

When challenges of this size can seem overwhelming, clarity is the key benefit of this book. It`s organised into thematic areas addressing practical solutions, with some I found particularly inspiring. ‘Making things’ outlines an exciting future where waste plastic can be turned into a benefit, used to store excess ‘captured carbon’ (5) emitted from industry. ‘Keeping warm and cool’ details how more climate-intelligent approaches can result in immediate benefits while tackling these basic human needs, and ‘growing things’ highlights that changing our attitudes to food waste can make a huge impact on greenhouse gas emissions.

As you might expect, a strong political theme runs through ‘How to Avoid a Climate Disaster’ and is also found in the other books. Continuing to build alignment on sustainability - from local, to national, to international - will be a major challenge of the 21st century. The key to a sustainable future lies as much in our hands locally as it does in boardrooms and international conferences, and empowerment through fact-based narratives, in media of all types, is sure to play an important role.

Brian studies MSc Project Management in Switzerland.

References:

1. https://hbr.org/2024/02/nudging-employees-to-make-more-sustainable-choices
2. https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/anthropocene/
3. https://www.britannica.com/science/DDT
4. https://www.europarl.europa.eu/topics/en/article/20151201STO05603/circular-economy-definition-importance-and-benefits
5. https://www.nationalgrid.com/stories/energy-explained/what-is-ccs-how-does-it-work
6. `The Doughnut of social and planetary boundaries.`
   Credit: Kate Raworth and Christian Guthier. CC-BY-SA 4.0. Available online: https://doughnuteconomics.org/tools/what-is-the-doughnut. Derived from: Raworth, K. (2017), Doughnut Economics: seven ways to think like a 21st century economist. London: Penguin Random House.