Politics for a Humane, Sustainable Future
By John A. Hoyt, The Humane Society

This challenge seems virtually impossible to meet effectively in a world so thoroughly oriented to materialism and economic growth for their own sake. We must now come to grips with the nexus between this spiritually grounded vision of sustainability and the world of political power and reality.

Four major challenges must be addressed in mustering political support for sustainable societies in the political systems of post-industrial democracies.

The first is the recognition that the task of making society truly humane and sustainable must become of critical importance to the national political agenda. While individual pieces of legislation for the protection of one ecosystem or another, or for taking isolated actions to address the needs of certain segments of society are a part of the current political agenda. Neither the executive branch nor the legislative branch has yet acknowledged that there must be a serious debate of the larger question of how both consumption and economic accountability must be reassessed in order to achieve sustainability in the next century. In the United States, for example, the only mechanism for implementing the mandate of Agenda 21 thus far has been the President's Council on Sustainable Development. And despite the release of a very useful report by that Council, there is substantial doubt that it will have any definitive impact, at least in the short run, on the national political agenda.

Secondly, the political constituency committed to the far-reaching changes required for a sustainable society must be enlarged. The vast majority of citizens remain unaware that such a political issue even exists and would not be prepared to support most of the policies and structural changes that are required.

Thirdly, leaders within most political parties lack any vision whatsoever of a sustainable society, which in turn makes it virtually impossible for this issue to be accorded a significant role in electoral politics. There are, of course, individual exceptions to this generalization. Vice President Al Gore, for example, is an unusually visionary political leader who understands the need for fundamental changes in values and attitudes as prerequisites to a sustainable society. But he, unfortunately, is isolated within the structure of his own party, where short-term political calculations normally override such visionary concerns.

Finally, the mass media, which tend to shape popular values as much as they register them, are, at best, timid about raising fundamental issues of sustainability. At their worst, they reinforce the very values and habits of mind that support the existing system of unsustainable living. They are intimidated and thus constrained in their potential role in reflecting critically on the issue of sustainable societies out of fear of losing advertisers--a fear that has grown rather than diminished in recent years.

What must be done, then, to develop the political support needed to realize our vision of sustainable societies? A successful political strategy for a sustainable society must involve at least three strategies: (1) it must engage children and youth; (2) it must influence the messages that reach society through media of mass communications; and (3) finally, it must build broad coalitions that include major sectors of society.

The first task is to make a breakthrough with regard to children and youth. People are often heard to say they are concerned about the kind of world we will leave to our grandchildren, but equally critical is the kind of grandchildren we shall leave to the earth. The values and attitudes imparted to the children and youth of today are crucial in building the political will for sustainable societies in the next century. Children and youth must be reached with the message that living in harmony with all creation is critical to sustainable societies for their future. In particular, we must find new ways to instill this creed in the hearts and minds of the best and brightest among our children and grandchildren so that they can be a vanguard for their generation. Learning how to make sustainable living relevant to young people is perhaps both the most difficult and the most exciting of the political challenges we face.

The second strategic theme is the importance of the messages that media of mass communications carry with regard to living sustainably. The political arena in post-industrial societies operates within a culture that is saturated by media messages, most of which urge people to consume and live unsustainably. How can we influence these mass media messages, or, at the very least, counterbalance them?

We cannot afford to ignore the role of television, radio, film, and mass circulation commercial publications in shaping attitudes toward the goal of sustainable societies. Indeed, even now we should be trying to hold these institutions accountable for the values they are both promoting and reflecting in their programming--not just in their news coverage but in their entertainment programming as well. We should be asking people of conscience in the news and entertainment industries to convey the values of the movement for sustainable livelihoods rather than the values associated with the old paradigm.

Even at their most effective, however, these efforts to influence television networks and other commercially-run mass media inevitably will be limited by the power of advertisers to determine what the media may or may not convey to the viewing and reading audience. We must, therefore, make more effective use of alternative media to reach both the general public and particular audiences, such as youth and women. We should do more to use independent cable stations, educational print media and other media that are not commercially controlled. But, potentially far more important in the coming decade will be utilizing the programming distribution system offered through direct broadcast satellites (DBS), a system which can be used to compete with commercial television for the minds and hearts of the viewing public.

Making the message of sustainable livelihoods increasingly more prominent and more credible in the marketplace of ideas will require much more energy, time, money, and careful long-term planning than has ever been devoted to this challenge in the past. And because the mass media have become a crucible of struggle over the ethical values that dominate society, finding a way to creatively exploit the media must become a high priority for organizations and individuals committed to transforming our societies.

The third strategic theme is creating new political coalitions that will broaden and enlarge the movement for sustainable living far beyond its core constituency. We must find common ground with organizations and sectors that do not currently see the issue of sustainable living as particularly relevant to their interests. In order to build such broad coalitions, organizations working to promote a transition to a sustainable society will have to establish a whole new set of linkages between entities dedicated to sustainable living and other central social and economic issues.

The Earth Charter process led by the Earth Council and Green Cross International is an excellent example of such coalition building at the international level. Representatives of many sectors--including the world's religions, environmentalists, and animal protection advocates -- must become seriously engaged in seeking to articulate a common ethical framework to promote a sustainable future. It is hoped that these ethical commitments may ultimately be translated into declarations, treaties, and conventions that will provide an agenda toward which political will can be mobilized.

An emerging concern around which protest coalitions can be developed is the growing pressure for even more economically efficient and, consequently, more environmentally exploitative multinational corporations. This pressure, which one author has called "turbo- charged capitalism," is not only accelerating environmental degradation but also creating growing social insecurity throughout the world. This issue is a ticking time bomb that portents the greatest threat imaginable to the realization of sustainable societies.

Those of us promoting sustainable societies will have to join hands with other concerned organizations and institutions to redefine the social and economic goals of post-industrialized societies. Indeed, in the coming decade, post-industrialized societies may well be driven by the sheer magnitude of technological change, to redefine the whole concept of work. It is vital therefore, that the movement for sustainable livelihoods be at the center of that discussion and that it seek to make common cause with a wide range of organizations and sectors sharing our concerns, including such groups as labor as well as those addressing issues central to gender and minority issues.

These suggested strategies for building a strong political movement for sustainable societies all have a common thread: they are aimed at reaching a widening circle of individuals with our message --a message that the new earth community that we seek to create shall not be realized until and unless literally millions of people embrace a new under-standing and appreciation of the sanctity of all life.

Source: Earth Ethics: Evolving Values for an Earth Community. Vol. 8, No. 1. Center for Respect of Life and Environment, Washington, DC, Fall 1996.

Prepared for the Local Libraries: Global Awareness Project, a
partnership of the American Library Association and Global Learning, Inc.,
with support from the U.S. Agency for International Development

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