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Alternative definition for Sustainable Progress
The current and most widely used definition for sustainable development dates from 1987 (Brundtland) and is totally useless for sustainable progress. It says:
“sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”
This statement is not sustainable itself as it cannot pinpoint individual responsibility to anyone or current generations let alone future generations. Consider for instance what the definition of needs is of today? Needs of who? The material wealthy or the poor in Africa or Asia? Your needs? My needs? Do they refer to the needs of business or political economies, luxury or primary needs? Business needs maybe?
How about the needs of future generations? How would we know what these future generations will need? They might for all we know require massive amounts of oil for medical purposes, yet we burn it all up right now. How can we take responsibility for the abilities of future generations if they are not just dependent on our left overs but also on important other variables that have nothing to do with human behavior, s.a. climat changes for instance. Do we blame the human who killed the last Dodo because he was hungry? Or do we blame ourselves for not creating responsible alternatives for nutrician before the Dodos were made extinct in the first place. How many species have to perrish before we take responsibility for the current generation?
In fact, who would control what we use, how we use it and determine if it affects future generations at all? Is this control our individual responsibility? How can we measure this? Who is to blame if we judge incorrectly and who judges? And how can I worry about compromising future generations if we already compromise current generation around our globe? In fact, this most popular definition is a open letter that allows us and anyone to do what we please without taking any responsibility. As it stands it has been insignificant since the definition appeared and introduced a green washing wisdom in industrial and government policies around the world. It may have made us a little more aware but certainly not more sustainable in development or progress, on the contrary, and not at all responsible towards future generations as we wouldn’t know how. And really, who in command cares?
In my own foundation we work on the development of workable cooperative organizations around projects that address sustainable progress of humanity itself, segmented into key issues. Interestingly we could do absolutely nothing with the definition. We found it perfectly viable to introduce some basic environment awareness in capitalist industries but totally useless when projected onto the complexity of current humanity itself.
This motivated me to come up with one of my own, just like probably hundreds of other responsible people around me over the years. My definition for sustainable progress is:
“Sustainable progress is the development that continuously improves human health, vitality, safety and dynamic progression in optimal relationship with the constantly changing environment in which we live and act.”
I found that this definition places the responsibility with each and everyone of us, as individuals as well as business and public entities, in the here and now. It became the basis of the cooperative innovative business identities that are being developped by us around real issues that concern us today, s.a. energy, quality of life, education, smart mobility, air quality and polution, food, water, etc…
The definition helps us to define our visions away from material goals and determine specific higher purposes that matter and have a positive effect on our selves, our current generations and our environment. We feel it contributes to true sustainable progress in a measurable and accountable way with the satisfaction that whatever we do in this context it will always serve also generations to come.
The end of the humanoid factory
Recently I decided never to work anymore. Why? Work is antiquated! It stems from the times of industrialization. Work is a modern way of slavery. One submits one’s existance to the demands of some human organization that decides what you have to do. In industrial processes humans became robotized to particular functions in a chain of processes. As technology developed those humans were often indeed substituted by automated robots and processes that did not complain, group themselves in demanding associations or get sick.
Those who had work could exist, those who had no work would live in poverty. At one time people thought this was unfare, not because of nobility but because of the aggression of groups of poor people against the institutions. Solutions developed. People with work were asked to help fill a pot of money that would be divided among those who had no work allowing them to survive a little too and shut up meanwhile.
After a while the factories themselves were moved to places where there were less pots of money to be filled for other purposes than those in the industrial processes. The labor was hence cheaper there allowing the industries to compete better in a global world that was growing more and more complex.
After time the amount of reserves that had developed opened up the doors for the organization of new institutions, those that offer “services”. These services were primarily ment to serve the industrial processes. Education for instance needed to supply the factories with people who already had a level of knowledge that would save the owners time to insert the individual into the industrial processes. Health care was organized to assure that people were fit enough to keep performing and police was introduced to avoid aggression to affect the continuation of industries.
The entire world of services had been copied by the way the factories were organized. People went to work too in the services. They work from 9 to 5, in shifts, perform by the clock and regard the people and processes they serve as numbers that can be optimalized. The industry of services was working to allow industrialized work to continu, even though the industries were moved far away, even up to China and India now. Globalization started with the obligation to accept work in industrialized processes, robotizing the human beings into a humanoid species enslaved to a system. The services industry was introduced to repare and assure optimum availability of humanoids in the processes. In fact, over 300 years we created one big global humanoid factory.
That is why I decided never to work again. I do not want to be subordinated to these processes. I don’t want to be robotized. I want to decide for myself. In fact I want to be truly servant to me, my family and my surroundings and not limited to 9 to 5 in my drive for a signficant life. My life is lived 24/7/365, with purpose of my own, not someone else. I am not a robot, I am a human being.
Interestingly I am meeting more and more people who cut loose from modern slavery and unite to create a new human order away from the economy of money. They unite through the development of the economy of true human values. We introduce the ending of the humanoid factory.
6. Higher purpose
We have now briefly dealt with the true strength of being, safety, equality, cooperation and trust, in that order. With such solid individual foundation one is able to connect with other people who have like wise developed their column of values, connecting on the level of authentic identity and zipping up towards trust.
But this is not enough. Cooperation and trust needs a genuin purpose to get to high level sustainable interaction. Such purpose has to be large enough that the individuals cannot do it by themselves, that they need each other to be able to address the common drive. A couple that joins into a relationship or marriage may have such higher purpose, like the creation of a family. If the column of values that glues the identities together is strongly in place the marriage will last for ever. When it shows break ups or mishaps on any of the levels the relationship will only last out of self interest, greed or fear, not out of a common quest.
What we see in family life we see in any human organization, being a business, a society, a foundation or whatever. In any hierarchical organization for instance equality (level above safety) is not in place due to levels of authority and power. The identities go to work but hardly contribute to the organization. They go their for the safety of a salary and a position but not our of high level cooperation or trust.
We now see that corporate organizations challenge their hierarchies and develop their own authentic identity around a true purpose. People then change attitude when asked to contribute. When done well the people involved give often more than is asked for as they identify them selves with the higher purpose, not the job it self. When that occurs you can ask people to take responsibility too.
When the organization lacks the true drive, the authentic purpose, people will come to work but will not take responsibility. Responsibility is placed in the structure and system of the organization leading to bureaucracy to control all involved. Bureaucracy on itself is a sign of distrust in an organization or society that causes people to act with apathy and reluctance.
The current world issues evolve around the true individual identities that become aware of them selves in freedom, demanding safety and equality. Cooperation and trust can then develop if a common higher purpose is defined. Since 99% of the human world has been deprived of their true identity the world has entered into chaos.
The highest purpose that should unite humanity as a species is a healthy, safe, vital and progressively sustainable civilization. Any other purpose, such as wealth, money or power, will drive us apart and make the species vulnerable as a whole.