BEYOND EDUCATING ABOUT THE SCIENCE OF SUSTAINABILITY, WHAT'S NEEDED?

Widespread understanding of the science of sustainability will be essential in societies that achieve long term success. To achieve that understanding of the great breadth and complexity of sustainability science will require unprecedented success in educating students at all levels, in communicating with the public, in informing and gaining the participation of the media in the educational effort, and in enabling policymakers to follow closely, if not lead, in transforming the world view of societies from “In Growth We Trust” to “Enough Is Sufficient”. Understanding of the science and the development of technologies to support sustainable policies and behaviors will be necessary but alone cannot be sufficient. If the dominant world view continues to encourage increased per capita consumption for an increasing world population, the support systems, both natural and social, will be undermined and societies will not be successfully sustained. A world view that is bound to fail is not practical. A profound change in what people want, that is, what they are taught to strive for, is necessary. A practical world view, one that has a chance of long-term success, that supports the goal of sustainable global stewardship, recognizing the embedded role of humans in an interconnected and interdependent geoecosystem, can be found in all of the world’s religions as well as in environmental philosophies, especially Deep Ecology. Widespread recognition and adoption of the necessity of this kind of world view, together with the best contributions that the sciences and technologies can make, are the hope for a cooperative successfully sustainable future for the world’s societies.