This is an excellent and very rich book that should be a foundational text of any course on international relations (challenging the dominant narrative of great power politics) and environmental security, or (more broadly) a brilliant book for anyone with an interest in sustainability and safeguarding the future.
Politics has become increasingly short term, and more and more decisions are being made within the timetable of an election. Over the past few weeks, we have seen decisions being made on one day that are then overturned the next; nobody is looking after the interest of the future. So how do you offer hope and opportunity to people who have no vote? Who might not yet be born? And who have no say in how decisions are made? The inimitable Jane Davidson (who served as Minister for Environment, Sustainability and Housing in Wales) shares her insightful expertise and provides some solutions to these questions in this terrific book.
She reveals how Wales is still the only country in the world that has taken the step to protect both current and future generations in law; and the only country in the world to put the Brundtland Definition into law, despite being the most popular definition of sustainability, used millions of times since 1987. Where there is often a dislocation between what people want to do and what they are able to do, we should take our hat off to the Welsh National Assembly members who voted for the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015, and who held their own feet to the pyre. It is a ground-breaking model we should be encouraging all our governments to follow, and once inscribed into law, we should be knocking on the doors of our officials to hold them to account to actually deliver on the principles of the Act.
The book is a clear, sharp and engaging read, which draws on a staggering 140 contributors. Perhaps one of my favourite contributions comes from Satish Kumar (pages 141-143), the founder of the ecologically focused Schumacher College, who explains how ecology and economy share the same Greek root word ‘oikos’ – meaning home. ‘Logos’ means the knowledge of our planet home, whilst ‘nomos’ means the management. So, where our world is very focused on the economy, we need to challenge the narrative that the environment is to be exploited for the service of humans; rather, we need to protect, conserve and preserve our natural wealth for future generations. A strong theme of the book is that we have not achieved, anywhere in the world, the biodiversity targets set by the UN, and as a human race we cannot survive unless we have clear air, clear water and nature working with us. Without those things, there will be no economy. Hence, we need an ecology first approach.
This is but one of the striking and powerful messages in this book, which I encourage everybody to read. It will change your way of thinking and reveals just how much we can learn from the flexible, adaptable and innovative approaches of small countries to face the greatest challenges of our future.
Populäraste recensionerna från andra länder
Hillary Briffa
Ground-breaking legislation from a small country to safeguard our future
Granskad i Storbritannien den 1 augusti 2020
Hillary Briffa
Granskad i Storbritannien den 1 augusti 2020
Politics has become increasingly short term, and more and more decisions are being made within the timetable of an election. Over the past few weeks, we have seen decisions being made on one day that are then overturned the next; nobody is looking after the interest of the future. So how do you offer hope and opportunity to people who have no vote? Who might not yet be born? And who have no say in how decisions are made? The inimitable Jane Davidson (who served as Minister for Environment, Sustainability and Housing in Wales) shares her insightful expertise and provides some solutions to these questions in this terrific book.
She reveals how Wales is still the only country in the world that has taken the step to protect both current and future generations in law; and the only country in the world to put the Brundtland Definition into law, despite being the most popular definition of sustainability, used millions of times since 1987. Where there is often a dislocation between what people want to do and what they are able to do, we should take our hat off to the Welsh National Assembly members who voted for the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015, and who held their own feet to the pyre. It is a ground-breaking model we should be encouraging all our governments to follow, and once inscribed into law, we should be knocking on the doors of our officials to hold them to account to actually deliver on the principles of the Act.
The book is a clear, sharp and engaging read, which draws on a staggering 140 contributors. Perhaps one of my favourite contributions comes from Satish Kumar (pages 141-143), the founder of the ecologically focused Schumacher College, who explains how ecology and economy share the same Greek root word ‘oikos’ – meaning home. ‘Logos’ means the knowledge of our planet home, whilst ‘nomos’ means the management. So, where our world is very focused on the economy, we need to challenge the narrative that the environment is to be exploited for the service of humans; rather, we need to protect, conserve and preserve our natural wealth for future generations. A strong theme of the book is that we have not achieved, anywhere in the world, the biodiversity targets set by the UN, and as a human race we cannot survive unless we have clear air, clear water and nature working with us. Without those things, there will be no economy. Hence, we need an ecology first approach.
This is but one of the striking and powerful messages in this book, which I encourage everybody to read. It will change your way of thinking and reveals just how much we can learn from the flexible, adaptable and innovative approaches of small countries to face the greatest challenges of our future.
Bilder i den här recensionen
Miss C Bishop
A must-read for any leader in government, education or business
Granskad i Storbritannien den 16 maj 2023Virginia Isaac
A timely reminder of the importance of longer-term thinking
Granskad i Storbritannien den 6 augusti 2020
K. Petersen
England is Falling Behind the Rest of the UK
Granskad i Storbritannien den 15 januari 2021