Steps for Sustainable Progress

by Andre

Near the end of Jeffrey Sachs’ most recent book “Common Weatlh: Economics for a Crowded Planet“, he goes through a list of things that we can all do to help make the world a cleaner, more sustainable place for future generations. Regardless of what I thought of the book as a whole, I find the piecemeal suggestions below may be beneficial throughout the course of an individuals lifetime:

1. Learn about this generation’s challenges: Become acquainted with the underlying science of sustainable development. Educate yourself in the environment, development economics, climate change, public health and other relevant fields. Keep up to date with weekly and monthly scientific magazines and websites.
2. Travel: Seeing other places and cultures is the best way to understand the common interests, aspirations and challenges that are unique to different parts of the world.
3. Get Involved: Start or join an organization committed to sustainable development. Scale is of lesser importance than any effort given to activism regarding extreme poverty, public health, and environmental threats. Some of the most successful efforts started as tiny grassroots efforts (Grameen Bank, Partners in Health, CIMMYT)
4. Encourage Community Engagement: Your outreach efforts can inspire others to join the cause of global sustainable development.
5. Utilize Modern Technology: Use Social Networking and Bookmarking sites to spread and support social activism as a cost free way of reaching a large number of people.
6. Get Politically Engaged: Demand out of your local politicians that they need to push to honor your government’s commitment to the Millennium Development Goals. They work for you, they just aren’t reminded of this enough!
7. Engage Your Workplace: Every Company can add to global sustainable development. Make sure the company you work for complies with the standards of corporate social responsible by adhering to the standards of the United Nations Global Compact. Going green can make for good business practice.
8. Live personally according to the standards of the Millennium Promises: Seek out contacts across countries, cultures, and class divides to ensure that we can each appreciate the common interests of our generation. Lead among your friends and collegues by acting as an sustainability conscious consumer.

The actual book has examples and a more thorough breakdown on all of these points. Pick it up if you’re at all interested.