Hope Or Despair

I believe that sustainable development can exemplify both hope and despair. Throughout the class there have been some great examples of sustainability and communities which truly represent this to the fullest extent. I have hope for sustainability because I see a growing trend in it just from the everyday examples I see. For example, I was watching the local news the other night and a story came on about the 2010 Vancouver Olympics and how they were making a goal of being the “greenest” Olympics yet. This was being implemented by a series of sustainability initiatives regarding going greener, providing accessibility and integrating sustainability into the operations for the Olympics. I have kind of kept my mind tunneled with regards to what sustainability can be applied to but ultimately it can be applied to anything, and it is great to see this being incorporated into situations that I would not even consider. Sustainability is on the rise and I am seeing it more and more even in everyday life, which is great. However, a lot more can be done though in order to make sustainability a long term plan for the entire planet this is where I have a sense of despair.

Politicians and the economy are holding us back from the true sustainability that can exist in the world today. The narrow mindedness and clashing between politicians and the whole topic of sustainability are what is preventing this from being a revolution and turning the planet around for the better. All of these projects and developments can continue with their own plans to sustainability but however they must comply with the current system of bull headed politicians while being surrounded by the over consumption of everything by typically the majority of the population. Also, there are far to many opposing views and battling theories on what should/shouldn’t be done. A key example in Chris Turners Geography Of Hope is the simplistic story of the Lorax and the once-ler and how the deforestation of the truffula trees eventually lead to the collapse of the entire community. There is a clash between the lorax, whom believes that the trees are there to stay and are not meant to be harvested and turned into thneeds and the once-ler, whom is like every other businessman and is looking to make a profit. However the third variable in this story is the consumers of the thneeds. Silly I know, but it is a big revolving cycle. The once-ler has overproduced and used up all of this resource due to the overconsumption of the thneeds. This example, simple as it may seem, can be basically applied to the world today. There is to many opposing views and not an overall goal in place in which everyone can adhere do. Another example that I feel like I should mention is how David Suzuki requested a simple meeting with Stephen Harper in order to discuss a sustainability plan in which Harper blatantly refused. More fuel for my fire I guess, not everyone is on the same page!

In conclusion, I do have hope for sustainability but yet I feel despair at the same time. There are some major gains I feel within the small scale of things and there are lots of examples that can show this locally such as developments like dockside green and even how the Olympics have integrated sustainability into their operations. However, it goes back to the big picture and how things are not advancing in this large scale. Politicians, the profit hungry businessman, and the overconsumption of everything is whats hurting us. If these large scale factors can find a common ground with the much smaller environmentalists then perhaps sustainability can truly exist and turn into an actual reality.