Is It Time to Shift Our Environmental Thinking? A Perspective on Barriers and Opportunities to Change

Christine Daigle and Liette Vasseur
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Christine Daigle: Philosophy Department, Brock University, 1812 Sir Isaac Brock Way, St Catharines, ON L2S 3A1, Canada
Liette Vasseur: UNESCO Chair in Community Sustainability: From Local to Global, Department of Biological Sciences, Brock University, 1812 Sir Isaac Brock Way, St Catharines, ON L2S 3A1, Canada

Sustainability, 2019, vol. 11, issue 18, 1-8

Abstract: In 2015, the United Nations General Assembly unanimously adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and Sustainable Development Goals. In 2019, the release of the global assessment report of the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services unfortunately demonstrated that our planet may be in more trouble than expected. The main drivers have been identified for many years and relate to human activities such as over-exploitation of natural resources leading to land degradation, deforestation, ocean and atmospheric pollution, and climate change. Despite international agreements and conventions, we are gradually reaching the planet’s boundaries. In this commentary, we present an analysis of the current worldview, discuss the humanist roots of this view, and the barriers to be able to move forward with the transformative changes that are needed for sustainability. We suggest that for these transformative changes to happen, there is a need to reconnect humans with nature, and we propose that some solutions could be devised in areas like education and social media. Changing our mindsets and worldviews are the most urgent courses of action we must undertake to avoid the inevitable.

Keywords: posthumanist worldview; anthropocene; humanist worldview; transformative changes; planetary boundaries; human-nature connection (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

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