-----Original Message-----
From: BLTJBARR <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
Cc: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Tuesday, November 03, 1998 5:42 AM
Subject: Perceptions of sustainability


>I am a researcher currently working on assessing people's
>perceptions of sustainability and sustainable development. Focus
>groups are being used to assess attitudes and behaviours toward
>the environment and to the concept of sustainability.


I've done focus group research on natural resource issues for years and I
would appreciate a copy of your report when it is available. Please email me
personnally and I'll give you my snail mail address.
>
>So far, even though the actual analysis has not been conducted
>yet, I have had some interesting results. The most interesting
>result is that most people don't want to be sustainable. By using
>the ecological footprint I demonstrated what was actually required
>to achieve sustainability. When the participants realised that
>fundamental changes in society were required, and particularly in
>their own lives the idea of sustainability seemed less attractive.
>In conclusion this has highlighted two main issues which I would
>like people to discuss:-
>
>1. There is a huge gap between attitude and behaviour.
>
>2. We live in a democracy. If "the people" don't want
>sustainbility then we should forget about it. Sustainability seems
>to be becoming more and more a theory for academic discussion. It
>is losing any grip it had on reality.
>
>

It sounds as if you've given emperical evidence to support Garret Hardin's
"Tragedy of the Commons" theory. That in itself is significant because many
economists have said there is no "tragedy" at all.

I've taken part in discussions about sustainability both academically and in
policy formulation. At the policy level, it remains an almost impossible
goal. For one thing, policy wonks, like myself, are faced with the fact the
human social/political conditions change at a much faster rate than natural
resource biological conditions. It is nearly impossible to establish
practical policy at the time scale needed to acheive sustainable goals. Very
few politicans are willing to commit to policy which would obligate them for
more than a couple of years. At the state level in the US we have a lot of
trouble even getting past one year increments in policy setting. The best
example is budget. We have never been able to get the legislature to make
budget commitments for more than one year at a time. Many good sustainablity
projects have been started, then scrapped a year later. Right now the only
one we have been able to establish with some assurance of continued funding
is an inventory project. My fear is that all it will accomplish is how badly
we are doing on other issues.

Steven J. Bissell
http://www.du.edu/~sbissell
http://www.responsivemanagement.com
Most human experience comes through
a narrow window. It opens midway between
molecules and the Milky Way.
                                              Paul Shepard




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