Critical analysis of ecolocically sustainable development

QUESTION I-II: Describe your ideal sustainable world. How does this relate to the perspectives provided in the readings?

This quote of Wittgenstein deals with the (philosophical-) problem about the connection between language and 'world'. It brings into prominence that the 'world' is revealed to someone through linguistic descriptions, thus the ontological structures are not given per se, but always linguistic interpretations.

Taking this insight seriously, it seems for me particularly important to propose, discuss, and foster language-games that express humans embeddedness and interconnectedness with the more-thanhuman world (e.g. Abram 1996). Furthermore, language games that convey ideas of "globality", "togetherness" (Irwin 2001, p.45), and world-family could be a connecting thread of the world religions and a way to a common world ethos. Such a world ethos could include fundamental values like human rights, social justice, gender equality, democracy, non-violence, and environmental protection (e.g. Jacobs 1999, p. 26; UNEP 2002, p. 21).

As a complement to the global awareness sketched above must come concrete action that relates to topics like population, urbanisation, food production etc. Due to the lack of space and time, only two topics are mentioned in more detail, that is the reshaping of the economy (i) and the energy production (ii).

(i) In order to diminish poverty, hunger, and the gap between poor and rich, the market access of the developing countries has to be improved and fair trade has to be guaranteed. It is crucial that trade organisations like the WTO integrate the sustainable development paradigm into their negotiations, i.e. "lower trade-distorting subsidies" (von Frantzius 2004, p.468-9), internalising environmental and social costs, as well as a tax shifting and revision of GND calculations (Brown 2001, pp. 77-97, 233-253, Milani 2000).

(ii) In order to manage ozone depletion, global warming, and air pollution, it is inevitable to shift from a carbon-based energy system to a hydrogen based one (Brown 2001, pp 97-121). The hydrogen should be produced through a diverse mix of renewable energies that is produced in a decentralized way (e.g. Milani 2000, pp. 115-133).

Topic II: Global Challenges

QUESTION II-I: What opportunities and threats do you see recent economic and so-

cio-cultural processes of globalisation pose for the agenda of sustainable develop-

ment?

Globalisation is a extremely contradictory process that produces i mmense wealth and a

wide of goods on the one hand and at the same time creates a high degree impoverishment and inequality. The economic and socio-cultural effects of globalisation are, accordingly, a topic of academic and political analysis as well as multilateral negotiation. At the latest, with the UN conference for environment and development (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro 1992 global ecological problems became a focus of interest of international negotiations. Based on the realization that the prosperity model of the industrialised countries is not globalisable due to ecological reasons, the notion of "sustainable development" has been created as a conceptual basis for an ecological, social, and economic (re-)shaping of globalisation.

However, after the Johannesburg conference it is clear that sustainable development has neither become the guiding principle of a new world politics nor of a new international justice politic (von Frantzius 2004). International environment and north-south politics are subordina te to economic globalisation and to a great extent dominated by economic interests. The ecological dimension of globalisation shows clearly one basic conflict that each political processing has to face: on the one hand, empirical findings make obvious the limits to the ecological capacity of the earth. On the other hand, one witnesses an unrestricted push towards economical globalisation: the Nation wide politics as well as international regulation (Bretton Woods, GATT/WTO, BIZ, OECD) have created a international system in the last twenty years that aims at a boundless, transnational economy. Wolfgang Sachs calls these two developments ("limitation" and "expansion") the two narratives of globalisation (Sachs 2000, p. 4).

For the necessary rerouting of globalisation, a powerful political framework is required that refers to the most important pillars of economic globalisation (trade, investment, and finance). Economic globalisation needs not only ecological and social barriers but it also needs to be integrated into a political and democratic controllable system of rules of sustainable development in a frame of the UN.

The current international rules of trade promote what can be called "eco-dumping": one has got a competitive advantage that produces cheaper and can externalise environmental and social costs. Thus, there is an urgent need to examine the current and future agreements of the WTO for their environmental and social compatibility and initiate appropriate

renegotioations. Furthermore, the Johannesburg agenda has to be implemented consequently.

QUESTION II-II: Do you think current security tensions between 'the West' (especially UK, USA, and Australia) and 'the East' (especially Iraq, North Korea, and Indonesia) are relevant to sustainable development issues? If so, in what ways?

Yes, the current security tensions between 'the West' and 'the East' are relevant to sustainable development issues in a number of ways. An obvious, but nevertheless decisive point is that these security tensions lead to an increasing expenditure in the military and security. These "international 'arms culture' as creating a 'destructive logic' directly counter to the aims of sustainability". "[T]he reallocation of military budgets towards social and environmental purposes would be of enormous assistance (Irwin 2001, p. 40). Besides, challenges concerning the "global commons" (Irwin 2001, p. 40) need common global action. Nations need to work with each other, not against each other. In a climate of mistrust this is an endeavour that has to fail. Moreover, on a level of the ordinary people this climate creates pictures of good against evil or what is called "the clash of cultures". Due to misinformation in the media or indoctrination by the state and the generated mistrust, even hatred towards whole states, cultures, or religions, one thinks rather of attacks on nuclear power plants than of a shared common global vision. Trust, faith, and hope are the crucial ingredients for the world-family to lead a sustainable life - peace!

Topic III: Community Challenges

QUESTION III-I: What are the key social challenges posed by the ideal of sustainability for wealthy countries and for poor countries? How are these challenges different?

A key social challenge for both the wealthy and the poor countries, is the improvement of social capital. The expression 'social capital' was formulated by Pierre Bourdieu (e.g. 1985) and it designates the wholeness of actual and potential resources that are connected with participating in a network of social relationships with mutual knowing and acknowledgment. In opposite to human capital, social capital does not relate to natural persons, but the relationships between them are bearer of this form of capital.

Robert Putnam (1993) shows that the degree of existence of social capital in a society is involved in the growth or decline of economic prosperity. Moreover, he points out that social capital correlates with human health (2000). In addition to it, Eva Cox (1995, p.17) emphasis the existential importance of social capital for a civil society. "Social capital should be the pre-eminent and most valued form of capital as it provides the basis on which we build a truly civil society. Without our social bases we cannot be fully human".