One of the main challenges in our society today is putting the world in a sustainable trajectory. As Jared Diamond wrote parodying Winston Churchill, sustainability is the most unlikely future, except for all the other options. However, it is hard to be an optimist these days. The wealth of the richest 1% has overcome the wealth of the remaining 99% according to OXFAM. We have become a more unequal society.
Besides, in 2015 the overshoot day, or the day on which we have consumed all the natural resources our planet is capable of renewing in the period of one year, was reached in August (Global Footprint Network). To make things worse, we are 7 billion people now, but the World Population Prospects say we’ll have to feed 9.6 billion people in 2050. Not to say that only a small fraction of human beings today have consumption patterns of “first world” in an already over exploited planet, but we all desire this life style in the future. The challenge is even bigger.
Is there any good news? Well, in December 2015 I had the privilege of being picked from 150 young people from around the world to be part of a workshop, the Youth in Landscapes Initiative, together with 49 great human-beings. We were called the 50 youth innovators. The idea was to give us the opportunity to solve real-world problems together with different organizations committed, in a broad way, to a more sustainable development.
We came from different cultures, countries and backgrounds and we spoke many different languages. But we also had a lot in common. We all believed in some point that the business as usual scenario is not good enough and that we had to take part on a hard but necessary change to a new society paradigm. I was surrounded by students, businessmen, researchers, entrepreneurs, really brilliant people.
By listening to them I could appreciate the wonderful perspectives about what they are doing in their regions or places of work. It was impossible not to get thrilled about the potential those people had to actually change their environment in different direction.
To be honest, I never really had deeply reflected about statements such as “the future is in the hands of our next generations” and it always seemed to me like a vague idea. But, I have to confess that those days, last December, were a breath of fresh air and I got convinced once more that there is nothing wrong in being an idealist and why not, a skeptical optimist.
So, answering the question if there is any good news, I would say there is. Different from past societies that succumbed due to environmental problems, we are very much aware of things we have been doing wrong (maybe not all of them, let’s not be arrogant). Moreover, lots of great initiatives are being carried out worldwide, with youth taking part in the action. That said I would like to end by thanking all participants. You guys inspire me.
Francisco Carvalho is one of the 10 young champions who worked on the “ Measuring success ” Landscape challenge with Youth program’s partner: UNEP-DHI.
Learn more about the Global Landscapes Forum Youth program, meet our 50 youth champions, discover the 5 Landscapes challenges they took up and the solutions they developed and pitched at the Dragon’s Den on 6th December 2015, in Paris.
