Friday, May 27, 2011

"Sustainability is about doing more: more innovation, more good ideas."

We subscribe to Ode Magazine, a publication "for intelligent optimists."

Challenging ideas. Typically contrary to dogma in ways that end up being right.

As a person working in economic development and a lifelong entrepreneur, I agree enthusiastically with the positions Editor Jurriaan Kamp and his writing team have taken in the new issue.

Ode Magazine June 2011

"More is better. Sustainability used to be about doing less. Why the new sustainability is about doing more: more innovation, more good ideas."

- From Mr. Kamp's Letter from the Editor, "The more we share, the more we have":

"There are still many solutions to be found from many problems, old and new. We have yet to implement an economic model that sustains all 6 billion of us in a fair and just manner. Our world has to become clean and sustainable. These are big challenges. In order to overcome those challenges, we can offer nothing better than our creativity, the very same creativity that drove the innovation that has given us all the amazing breakthroughs of the past two centuries."

- From Mr Kamp's essay:

The new sustainability. Why we need more economic growth, not less, to create a truly viable future. (emphasis added)

"The quest for sustainability is the modern variant of the Industrial Revolution, and it offers entire generations the opportunity to do meaningful work and redesign societies. We must take full advantage of that opportunity. But we can only do that if we let go of our defensive, conservative vision of sustainability and adopt a vision in which two aspects are central: people and economic growth."

Ode Magazine June 2011.

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