Sustainability is 'drivel'

A month or so ago, I was in Geneva at a conference, organised by Richard Allaway and colleagues at the International School of Toulouse. I blogged about it at the time.
Here's me on the conference panel, in the middle. Second left is the Guardian journalist Leo Hickman. He was keynoting the event. The evening before the conference we went out for a meal and some local wine, and he mentioned that the day before he had been interviewing the legend that is James Lovelock.
I remember reading 'Gaia' over twenty five years ago, when I first started teaching. I have a heavily-annotated copy on my shelves.
The interview was published this weekend, and can be read HERE. Lovelock makes a useful point about the city of Singapore, and the issue with 'sustainable development'.
If you are still interested in teaching about the idea of sustainability despite that, there is a useful game that is available as a free download from the site of the EDF or Environmental Defense Fund.

It's called GO FISH, NO FISH. You can download the game, and associated resources in PDF format from the link.

Comments

Carl Lee said…
Interesting article but it only goes to highlight the essential 'other worldliness' of Lovelock. His grasp of socio-political context is extremely limited. His is the world view of the detached biologist who sees humans as meer components (dominant components mind) in a complex global eco-system. His narrowness of view is a major weakness in his analysis.
Alan Parkinson said…
Thanks for the comment Carl. A useful additional 'angle' on the article. If more cities were like Singapore would that be a good thing or not ? Discuss...