Sustainability: The Global Perspective
Sir Crispin Tickell
- Chancellor, University of Kent, Canterbury
- Director, Green College Centre for Environmental Policy and Understanding, University of Oxford
- Chairman, International Council of Scientific Unions' Advisory Committee on the Environment
- Chairman,
The idea that human society might not last—in short, not be sustainable—is relatively new. Of course, individual societies have collapsed in the past, but that society itself could be in danger is something different. The sooner we can begin the necessary shift towards sustainability in thinking, policy, and behavior, the easier and less painful it will be. Here the Chinese have been pioneers in thought, if not always in action. We are all involved, whether government, industry, academe, or civil society. Our target should be a society with population, resources, and environment in broad balance. Our long-term survival is at stake.
Wednesday, September 28, 2005