Utopianism and the equity path to sustainability
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RESEARCH ARTICLE
Utopianism and the equity path to sustainability Thomas G. Schrand 1
# AESS 2020
Abstract By adding social equity to its goals of ecological and economic viability, the sustainability project runs the risk of being dismissed as wishful utopian thinking. Like the socialist movements that preceded it, the sustainability movement must grapple with the pitfalls of utopianism and chart a path forward that acknowledges the current social, political, and economic realities that seek to thwart it. To use references from the history of nineteenth and twentieth century socialism, sustainability, like Marxism, will need to distinguish itself from “utopian” thinking by promoting a “scientific” strategy that identifies and engages key historical dynamics and political agents that will promote an ecological transition. This article argues that the most promising strategy for sustainability progress centers, paradoxically, on the most neglected element of the sustainability equation: equity. Recent research indicates that the promotion of greater economic and political democracy is correlated with improved environmental performance. These findings suggest that an indirect approach to sustainability—prioritizing efforts to increase social equity— might be the most pragmatic and direct strategy for building a sustainable future. Keywords Sustainability . Equity . utopianism . Gender . Socialism . Eco-feminism
Introduction The notion of sustainability begins with thoughts of the future and of future generations. Defining sustainability is virtually impossible without reference to the future and, implicitly or explicitly, to the needs and rights of generations to come. The quest for sustainability is inspired typically by a concern that our current practices will have unfair consequences for our children and grandchildren: we worry that our environmental impact will leave them with fewer resources or opportunities than we currently have, and perhaps even without the bare minimum necessary for survival. Sustainability is an attempt to avoid this kind of decline of general human welfare, which, in the worst-case scenario, could initiate a vicious cycle that threatens the existence of human civilization and the ecosystems on which it depends. The goal of maintaining some kind of balance between the assets and opportunities available to the human population today and the assets and opportunities that will be available * Thomas G. Schrand [email protected] 1
Thomas Jefferson University, Ravenhill Mansion, 4201 Henry Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19144, USA
to our descendants in the future is sometimes referred to as intergenerational equity. This concept features prominently in “Our Common Future,” the report from the Brundtland Commission that provides the most widely cited definition of sustainable development: “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” (1987). Accepting this definition of sustainable development requires u
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