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| back to environmental sustainability | Keep the World Alive By James Moody United Nations Environment Program It is about using products which don't jeopardize the needs of future generations. The Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering met in Brisbane recently to talk about sustainability, a topic that will become more and more important over the next decade. Sometimes it is unclear as to what the ultimate goal is and how best to get there; should we be 'limiting growth' or 'growing the limits'. Should the focus be on consuming less, or consuming smarter. The answer is, of course, both. We are now consuming more than 10 times as much as Earth can sustain. In other words, we would need 10 planets to sustain our present rate of consumption, and most of this comes from the 'developed' countries. We are already starting to see the consequences of this, from climate change to salinity. It has been said that young people herald change; revolutions are started by students. When we consider the sustainability debate, it is also important to include young people. The young have many of the solutions to sustainability through their fresh perspective, and have the power to implement change through passion, enthusiasm and 'constructive naivety'. Moreover, many have a vision for a sustainable world, as this is the world that they will inherit. As the United Nations Environment Program Youth Adviser from Australia, I recently completed a survey of 191 young Australians as to what they thought about sustainability and consumption. In many cases the results were encouraging; an over-whelming majority of them realised that all of their actions affected the environment, from travel to food to free time. Many also said that the eco-friendliness of a product was more important to them than present trends (although less important than price or quality), and felt that they knew very little about. However, although there was a good level of awareness about the effect that we have on the environment, what was painfully clear was that the young people in the survey were not acting on this information. The United Nations, the government, and even 'young people' were rated as mainly responsible for doing something about the environment, far more than 'myself'. As young people we are asking for more education, more information about products and services and more choices. We need to take this intention to the next step and turn it into action. In this next century we will have the chance to save the world, or to destroy it. By involving young people in the solution, the dream of sustainability may be one step closer to reality. James Moody, Australia's Young Professional Engineer of the Year, is a PhD student at the Australia Management Centre, doing research related to the planned launch of an Australian satellite. from GENI Foundation Ltd. WHO WE ARE & WHAT WE DO GENI - Global Energy Network Institute - is an international non government, non profit organisation accredited with the United Nations and affiliated
throughout the world. Predominantly serviced by enthusiastic and committed
volunteers. Recent rapid advances in technology have made a global grid achievable and affordable right now, and GENI seeks to educate and inform citizens of the world about the potential for peace and prosperity in a clean and sustainable environment, so that those with the power to make it happen will acknowledge the need to act decisively and do it, quickly! OUR MISSION To build awareness and powerful support, in the shortest possible time, for the integration of electrical energy grids around the world into a single interconnected grid that spans the globe. This global energy network will generate and distribute power from the Earth's naturally abundant renewable resources - an initiative that will improve the quality of life and for everyone without damage to the planet. OUR INSPIRATION GENI was founded upon the visionary work of Dr. R. Buckminster Fuller (1895-1983), often referred to as 'the DaVinci of our time', and known to his supporters throughout the world as 'Bucky'. A brilliant thinker and inventor, Bucky created the concept of 'Spaceship Earth', likening the predicament of our fragile planet and its inhabitants to that of a spaceship and its crew. This unique view of world clearly shows us how dependent we are upon Earth's constantly-recycling ecology, and we very quickly recognise how unlikely we are to survive if the crew continues to fight amongst itself and neglect the maintenance of our life support systems. Bucky also developed The World Game (TM), a challenging interactive process which simulates world concentrations of population and resources and sets out to explore: "How can we make the world work for 100% of humanity in the shortest possible time through spontaneous co-operation without ecological damage or disadvantage to anyone?" Unanimous endorsement of the global energy grid is the highest priority of the World Game, but time and again consensus is blocked by politics and powerful vested interests, even when it becomes apparent that it is the quickest, simplest and most obvious strategy to achieve the game's objective. GENI Foundation Ltd. INTERNET ADDRESS: www.geni.org | |||