Developing sustainable attitudes.

• Author: Saunier, Richard E.
• Position: Inter-American Viewpoint

Sustainability: It's not a topic, it's an attitude.

--Terri Meyer Boake Associate Professor of Architecture, Univeristy of Waterloo

The World Summit on Sustainable Developlnent (WSSD) was recently concluded in Johannesburg, South Africa. Held August 26-September 4, it was the latest link in a chain of such meetings that includes the 1972 UN Conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm, the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, and the 2000 Millennium Summit in New York. Although it is much to early to call the meeting either a success or a failure, more than the usual amount of time and effort were spent during the preparatory meetings worrying about its possible collapse. Failure of the WSSD was something a number of negotiators and observers often predicted, it was a prospect that the true believers tried to rebuff, and a result that some groups seemed to prefer. Undiplomatic (and unproductire) bickering appeared to be high on just about everyone's agenda.

However, problems within the "sustainable development movement" are neither new nor peculiar to the WSSD and the usual culprits will be blamed if, in the end, the WSSD is less than what was hoped for. This list of offenses includes a failure of governments to live up to the financial commitments made at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro and elsewhere, as well as North-South distrust and disagreements on the assignment of guilt and responsibility for the problems of our planet and its inhabitants. It also includes doubts concerning sustainable development governance by environmentalists who fear that their view of sustainable development is about to be taken over by an enemy; and, finally, a "lack of political will," the often-used excuse for failure in these circles. The problems of sustainable development, however, are deeper than these.

While often discussed with more passion than precision, the concept of sustainable development has helped to improve both the development process and the push for international environmental governance. Regrettably, though, it is a difficult concept to understand, let alone demonstrate, at a practical level where the landscape is littered with sustainable development projects and programs shown to be unsustainable (including Agenda 21--the action plan agreed to by 180 governments at the Earth Summit).

Take, for example, the three "pillars" that many say represent the concerns of sustainable development: ecological (or environmental), economic, and...