Chapter 10
"Fundamentally, sustainable development is a notion of discipline. It means humanity must ensure that meeting present needs does not
compromise the ability of future generations to meet their needs"
- Gro Harlem Brundtland
International Sustainable Development
International global sustainable development is the wave of the future.
Sustainable organic agriculture, alternative energy (solar, wind, and anti-gravity), vegetarianism, appropriate technology, reforestation, recycling, water
conservation, alternative transportation, ecological waste management, common
international security, global population control, green values and ethics,
voluntary simplicity, economic decentralization, the sharing of wealth and
resources etc...are all the leading indicators of a movement that will evolve
our world beyond the current dysfunctional, unjust, erratic and highly
destructive system we now have and move us towards one that is sane, advanced, transformed
and viably sustainable, as well as environmentally friendly, for the 21st
century.
At issue now are the global survival prospects for human civilization on Earth
and how best to meet the rapidly growing material and spiritual needs of
humanity, as well as ensure the overall advancement of mankind in terms of
base survival, fullfillment and prosperity for all people (and life) on
Earth in the coming years and decades.
International sustainable development is, in a nutshell, economic and social
development that properly meets the needs of the current generation without
undermining the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.
Contrary to our present developmental system that exploits and destroys for
short-term interest, profit and gain (usually at the expense of the environment and others),
sustainable development focuses on the long-term, on equilibrium, balance,
nuturance, common sense, maturity and harmony with nature. It is a
system that survives and one in which we will have no choice but to adapt in
full in the very near future.
Moving our society towards global sustainable development patterns will require
broad based education, confrontation with traditional corporate and
governmental structures and support for alternative ideas, projects and
businesses that are at the forefront of re-defining and re-inventing our world.
International sustainable development and concern for the global environment
can no longer be considered a single side issue, it is becoming, in fact, the
central organizing and defining element of our lives in the 21st century. How we build,
develop, maintain and sustain our system of wealth creation, housing, food
production, water and resource consumption, transportation and energy use,
waste management and security needs in our communities, towns and cities, will
determine the fate and degree of our collective survival and continuity as a
species at this most critical juncture in human history.
The term "sustainable development" has been around for a long time, but really got its international mainstream boost with the advent of
the annual Earth Summit that began back in the 1970's. The very organization responsible for sponsoring the annual Earth Summit, which happen every 10 years
or so in various countries of the world, is in fact today, the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development. The Earth Summit's primary
objective is, obviously, to create an institutional framework for international sustainable development. The Earth Summit of 2002, held in Johannesburg,
South Africa, was entitled, "The World Summit on Sustainable Development".
Apparently, the two main governing institutions on sustainable development at the global level are the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) and
the Commission on Sustainable Development, the later of which was created in 1992 at the first "Rio" Earth Summit held in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil.
A second Rio Summit- dubbed Rio +20- will be held again in Rio de Janeiro in 2012. More will inevitably follow in the years and decades ahead until
the prime directives of international sustainable development are met and instituted throughout the world.
Sustainable development goes to the heart of tackling many of the world's interrelated crises such as war, poverty, hunger and environmental degradation.
Traditional economic development is coupled with the term 'ecological' or 'environmental' development and becomes "eco-development", which, in theory,
proposes a form of development that is earth-friendly, carbon neutral, equitable, just, fair and, of course, sustainable for society in the long run.
A large part of humanity around the globe still do not have access to the basic necessities of life. The aim of sustainable development is to bridge
these gaps in a way that does not threaten the long term viability and health of the planet's life giving environmental ecosystems. That includes
protecting and conserving the air, water, soil in any particular area so that it can continue to produce the needed
resources necessary for any community to exist ad infinitum.
NGO's, or non-governmental organizations, will continue to play a vital role in complimenting where governments cannot or will not cover,
tread or enter. As such, NGO's are continuing to pop up due to systematic failures in the international arena of politics, economics, environmental protection and
the assurance of basic human rights. Securing the rights of indigenous peoples, the protection of marine mammals, the promotion of solar energy, corporate
social responsibility, the reduction of global greenhouse gases and the advocacy of reforestation and sustainable forestry practices are just some of
the major themes promoted by NGO's across the globe.
In 1970, the developed nations of the rich north agreed to give 0.7% of their gross national income as international development aid to the poor in the
developing nations of the south. Since that time, billions of dollars have been given, but rarely have the rich nations actually met their promised
targets. The USA is often the largest donor in national terms, but ranks amongst the lowest in terms of meeting the official 0.7% target. A major
criticism in the donor program has been the fact that aid does not actually reach the poorest people in any given nation who need it the most.
Often money is embezzled by corrupt government officials and ends up in swiss-type bank accounts scattered throughout the globe. Another criticism
has been that development aid has being used by recipient countries to grow and harvest cash crops (coffee, beef, cocoa etc...) for the markets
and needs of the rich donor nations.
A Millennium Declaration was adopted by all UN member states in 2000. In the millennium development goals, the aim was to halve poverty and world
hunger by 2015. Needless to say, we are woefully behind in meeting these goals as a civilization. In fact, if anything, poverty and world hunger
is drastically on the increase worldwide in 2010. The USA, in particular, has done the most to water down and destroy this declaration and its goals,
rendering itself as the chief perpetrator of hunger, starvation, disease, misery, malnutrition and preventable deaths throughout the world.
The United Nations, by far, is the largest international body involved in sustainable development issues and programs on the planet. Unfortunately,
the body is negatively affected by the countervailing political and economic forces of the rich powerful northern nations who wish only to advance
their own interests and agendas at the expense of everyone and everything else.
As a result, poverty remains the reality for the majority of the world's peoples and nations throughout the world. Fortunately though, the masses of
humanity, thanks to mediums such as the internet, are beginning to educate and inform themselves and others about issues such as biodiversity loss, global
climatic change, deforestation and desertification threats, the specter of overpopulation, the threat of GMO foods, impending water shortages and the
need for free, non-polluting, renewable energy alternatives.
When the UN Brundtland Commission defined sustainable development as development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the
ability of future generations to met their own needs, it also tried to define what an economy in equilibrium with the basic ecological life support systems
of the planet might look like. A UN world summit document released in 2005 refers to the "interdependent and mutually reinforcing pillars" of sustainable
development as economic development, social development and environmental protection. Another landmark document entitled, "Agenda 21" identified
information, integration and participation as key building blocks that serve these interdependent pillars. Agenda 21 urged new approaches to
international development, especially in regards to the integration of social and environmental factors. All things equal, this would translate into
the simultaneous pursuit of economic prosperity, environmental stewardship and social equity in human developmental affairs, rarely seen today, but
growing nonetheless.
Global eugenics policies aside, the path to a global green revolution and the institutionalization of a green world order for mankind in this age
of ecology does, in fact, mirror the vision and prerogatives of these UN documents and conferences. Economic, environmental and social factors
together form a tripartite sustainable development matrix through which the human enterprise can advance and evolve. With the assistance and
support of thousands of NGO's and other independent social and environmental groups and organizations across the globe, we can make international
sustainable development not an exception, but an integral and foundational cornerstone of human and societal development.
Current global eugenics policies fund and promote the exact opposite of what true international sustainable development could achieve for our species.
Nations, institutions, corporations and policies that defund and destroy agendas such as outlined in the millennium development goals of the Millennium
Declaration to halve world poverty and hunger by 2015, have no place in a world that is to survive and prosper on into the 21st century.
As noted, international sustainable development goals and objectives, unfortunately, remain largely unfunded today. As a result, roughly 40 million men,
women and children needlessly and ruthlessly perish on our planet annually. Environmental destruction on all levels, from global carbon emissions
to the rapid clear-cutting of our forest lands, to the overfishing of our oceans, continues on, largely unabated. Social chaos, conflict and war vectors
escalate while trillions of dollars continue to fund the global war machine. Such policies and priorities geared towards dehumanizing and depopulating
the human species, while destroying the global environmental resource base and fomenting chaos, war, death and destruction, are, in essence, the very antithesis
of the spirit, practice and life giving objectives and policiies of green based sustainable developmental goals.
If forests are cut down, for example, they cannot maintain biodiversity, regulate water flow or absorb CO2. Sustainable forestry practices provides
for these amenities, nourishing life, not destroying it. On a planet where 20% of the population consumes nearly 80% of the planet's natural
resources, sustainable development for this 20% is threatening, to say the least. However, the implementation of sustainable developmental goals are
what is exactly required of us if the human family is to collectively survive and successful transit through the most life-threatening planetary
crisis our species has ever experienced.
The swift implementation of sustainable developmental goals, both in the developed and developing nations, will ultimately represent a shift into a
green world order, of this there is no doubt. It will supersede the need for weapons and warfare and a US military-industrial-intelligence-security complex
completely out of control. It will represent a transition to a free energy based economy, the global conservation and protection of water, forest, air,
soil and land resources, a one
child per family population policy designed to scale back the overpopulation crisis, a carbon neutral footprint for every man, woman and child
on Earth, and, most importantly, the opportunity to secure a healthy and vibrant lifestyle both for ourselves and for future generations yet to come.
We cannot and must not continue to languish in dystopia when we have the technology, networking tools and foresight to secure the common human and
ecological utopia we require if we are survive as a species. I believe we have the intelligence, vision and evolutionary mandate to learn to manage
our planet properly. All peoples in all nations have a right to adequate food, shelter and clothing. The UN declaration of human rights-
a magnificent document- ensures and codifies these rights for all mankind. With 7 billion people (as of 2010) and a rapidly deteriorating environment,
now is the time to work diligently to secure these rights for all people now living on the planet. This can be done with an immediate distribution
of wealth, education and knowledge to the world's masses. Secondly, a revolution of collective consciousness needs to form around the mandate to
rapidly shift down into a sustainable world civilization of between 2-3 billion people. Thirdly, this transition must be fully in place and
operational by 2020 at the very latest.
Unsustainable international development is today responsible for the greatest holocaust of human beings on the planet. As mentioned previously,
up to 40 million innocent men, women and children perish annually from hunger, starvation, disease and malnutrition. This is the equivalent of
over 6 jewish holocausts occuring every year. This number is also quantitatively greater than those killed outright in any number of given wars since
the 20th century. The so-called US 'War in Iraq', as horrible and as genocidal as it has been since 2003, has killed only a few million people by comparison.
As devolved as the US military-industrial-intelligence-security complex is, it is the international corporate economic complex ruled by an
international banking cartel based primarily in New York and London, who are responsible for the REAL genocide occuring on our planet today.
The World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Trade Organization (WTO) are some of the economic control levers the global banking
elite use to enforce their eugenics agenda. These institutions, among others, carry out and institute policies of exploitation, debt and unsustainable
development patterns responsible for
the large numbers of deaths that we witness in the developing world.
Yet, even this horrific number has the potential of being trumped by planned future eugenics operations. A global thermonuclear war could take
out between 2-3 billion, minimum. Global climate change, if left to spiral out of control, will take out billions more through elevated
levels of hunger, malnutrition, starvation, famine and pestilence.
The specter and promise of international sustainable development is that it has the potential to eternally shatter this current paradigm of
purposeful death and instead put humanity on a path of life, nuturance and species survival. Ultimately, it represents a change of heart, an
evolution of consciousness and intelligence and a quantum advancement of the human condition on Earth.
SOURCES:
1. Agenda 21/United Nations/Wikipedia
2. World Resources Institute
3. United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development/Earth Summit