Sustainable development is a discussion that has become an icon for many discussions in our world today due to the fact that there are a lot of issues mushrooming in this generation which have never been thought about.
It has hence become important for everyone involved in decision-making, leadership and protection of citizenly interests to redefine the real meaning and components of sustainable development even as it is to be viewed in a relatively different and complex manner.
The article “Sustainable development: Conventional versus Emergent Alternative Wisdom” by Korten provides a clear view of the main contrasts between the already existing school of thought about sustainable development and the emerging alternative of that school of thought.
The conventional wisdom views sustainable development as a state in which the government is able to meet with the needs of its citizens as well as improving their living standards.
However, the alternative form of wisdom views it as attainment of a position at which every citizen has access to basic facilities and necessities in an equitable manner and where there is a balance between inputs and wastes from human activities as well as having enough and sustainable resources to cater for environmental well being (Korten 1).
On the other side, while the conventional school of thought considers sustainable lifestyle as a continuously improving form of lifestyle in terms of the standards of living of the citizens, it is clear that improvement of standards of living naturally result to misuse of resources and interference with the environment in such a manner that it poses a danger to the future generations, a factor that may lead to poor quality lifestyle in the future.
The alternative school of thought hence views sustainable lifestyle as the form of lifestyle that allows the society to cut down on its consumption so as to reduce the effects of overexploitation of resources from the environment as well as reducing the effects of wastes from the environment through utilizing recycling methods.
There has been a lot of disagreement on the actual cause of environmental degradation and how to overcome them. On one side are the conventional believers who wish to blame the problem on poverty citing that the poor are the ones who get forced into over-exploiting resources in search for their livelihood.
They hence advocate for policies to be put into place so as to reduce poverty so as to ensure environmental consumption. On the other side, however, the emerging alternative believers blame inequality of resource allocations as the main cause of environmental degradation.
They argue that the wealthy usually are the ones who undertake a large amount of consumption as well as over-exploitation of the environment while, unfortunately, the poor are the ones who first feel the effects of such environmental degradation.
In addition, as the poor are forced into high and unaffordable standards of living, they have no option rather than to exploit the environment as they seek for their livelihood. They hence argue that ensuring equitable distribution of resources is key to avoiding over-exploitation of the environment and ensuring its conservation.
The conventional wisdom also prefers to base its arguments on proven facts and science as well as well-documented information concerning markets, the economy, employment and trade. It claims that all the definitions of the different aspects of sustainability should be based on the facts that have already been observed and their solutions should be in the same line.
However, I agree with the emerging alternative wisdom which claims that the main issues that are prevalent in the society are as a result of inequity, a factor that has led to over-exploitation of the environment and resources to a level that the whole society will be able to enjoy them equally also and hence reducing effects of over-exploitation of the environment.
There is therefore a need for everyone to change their mindset and embrace the emerging alternative wisdom so as to be able to aid in formulation and implementation of policies that will ensure equal distribution of resources hence paving a way to long term sustainable development (Korten 1).
Works Cited
Korten, David. SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: Conventional versus Emergent Alternative Wisdom. Web.