can we be sustainable without being utopian?

Tom SchrandPhiladelphia University

sustainabilitythinking

utopian thinking

sustainabilitythinking

utopian thinking

Do we have to create a utopia to achieve sustainability?

If so, is sustainability possible?

or

“social dreaming”

“the desire for a better way of living”

Lyman Tower Sargent

Ruth Levitas

Vital,Useful

Folly,Dangerous

“…practical reforms depend on utopian dreaming.”

-Russell Jacoby

A “plan … whereby harmony, justice and plenty are attained by human engineering is an invitation to despotism.”

-Leszek Kolakowski

Economy

Equity

Environment

plenty

harmony

justice

Economy

Equity

Economy

Equity

Environment

Equity in Ecotopia

• Women lead the political system• All businesses are worker-owned• No support for consumerism or

conspicuous consumption• Public transit for all• Communal living arrangements• Universal reduction of working

hours

Ecotopia = socialism + sustainability

Charles FourierPhalanx communes of 1620 people

Saint-SimonTechnocratic socialism

Robert OwenPaternalistic industrial socialism

“Utopian socialism”

“scientific socialism”

MensheviksLet historical processes unfold naturally

vs.

BolsheviksTransition to socialism can be accelerated

• Can we identify a historical dynamic leading to sustainability?

• Who are the historical agents who can or do drive this dynamic?

“…ever since the abandonment of the assumption that the proletariat would be the agents of revolution, the problem of agency has been acute.”

-Ruth Levitas

Who is the green proletariat?

Utopia of abundance (McDonough and Braungart option)

Utopia of sufficiency (Ecotopia option)

Utopia of austerity (contemporary Cuba option)

2010 2015 2020 2025 2030 20350

100000

200000

95th percentile20th percentile

2010 2015 2020 2025 2030 20350

50000100000150000200000250000

95th percentile20th percentile

2010 2015 2020 2025 2030 20350

100000

200000

95th percentile20th percentile

equity = redistribution of wealth?

• When does it start? (inter-generational vs. intra-generational)

• Is it socialist?• Can it be non-utopian?• Can it be non-violent?

“The idea is that every human is entitled to emit the same amount of CO2. This of course translates into every being on earth using the same amount of energy—and, by inference, having the same income. In other words, C & C is basically a policy for a giant global income redistribution.”

S. Fred Singer (2011) on convergence and contraction (C & C):

Utopian sustainability?

Sustainability “seems to be based on optimism that it is possible to predict or direct the future and that it will be possible to persuade people to act not just rationally, but with altruism towards future generations.”

Simon DresnerThe Principles of Sustainability

?• As sustainability advocates, are we utopian or scientific?• Are we Mensheviks or Bolsheviks?• What is the “historical-materialist” pathway?

Marius de Geus, Ecological Utopias:

Utopian thinking should be viewed as a “navigational compass” rather than a “floor plan model”

Also required:• A map• A means of transportation from point A to

point B

Your thoughts?

What is the role of equity in your thinking about sustainability?

Is it important for sustainability thinking to be non-utopian?

Population growth stabilization

GOAL = zero population growth

INDIRECT PATH =• Lower infant mortality• Better maternal health• Educational and

economic opportunities for women

Sustainability

GOAL = human societies in balance with the environment

INDIRECT PATH = equity?• Higher standards of

living• Reduced poverty• Increased economic

equity• Reduced corporate

power