I wrote last week about the positive steps being taken by the Marine Stewardship Council to ensure sustainable fishing practices.  Today I saw this article reporting on a study clearly linking declining fish stocks to algal blooms (so-called 'toxic tides').  For me this situation drives home three things about sustainability.

Impact

Issues of sustainability lead through to real impact on people.  We may talk about a single marine ecosystem, but in reality there are no isolated ecosystems. While it is tempting to do so, it is always erroneous to disconnect activity from the impact it will have on us.

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In less than 20 years, the Grand Banks - a marine region off the coast of Canada - went from one of the richest fishing grounds in the world to a marine wasteland as overfishing destroyed the natural abundance (more).

Fishing is certainly one of the starkest examples of humanity's extraordinary proficiency at extracting what it wants from its habitat.  Where no vested interest exists to hold us back, we simply know no limits.

Marine Stewardship Council

I have recently heard about the MSC who are working towards reversing the trend and following the now quite familiar route of certifying products through regular audit and stringent standards.  It is somewhat inspiring to see that the very same characteristic that allows us to overfish - an ability to take control of and affect our situation - will allow us to solve the problem we created.

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Another week, another cringing episode of the Apprentice and another slightly pointless task for the devotees.  This week, they were asked to create a greetings card and a reason to send it.  It is hard to express quite how tragic this episode became as the pit became ever deeper and wider.

The Hypocrite and the Ignoramus

I don't know who was worse.  The team leader - Kevin - seemed only to love himself more than his sports car.  He told one of the buyers that if they didn't buy the cards, they would somehow be ostracised as environmental enemies.  Meanwhile the ginger one who came up with the idea told Clinton cards confidently that she actually buys fewer cards herself because of her concern for the environment but that was a reason to buy this card?!  They even managed to re-invent Earth Day as "Love your Planet Day".  

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Isn't that just political-correctness

I got myself into a real fervour about the flipant nature of the "Gardners' Question Time" contribution to getting people excited about what plants they can grown when our climate warms up.  When our climate warms up! 

Naturally I wanted to shout about it on the Griinu Blog.  Just as I started, I caught myself though.  I'm turning into (already?) an eco-correct whinger.

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So where did our green and fair trade, fair world endeavours begin? Was it with the formation of the United Nations in the post-war world? Was it when President Kennedy lifted us with hope and energy at one of the high points in his inaugural address? to join the “struggle against the common enemies of man: tyranny, poverty, disease and war itself.”

Or did they begin some 30 Years later at Rio, Brazil in 1992, when an unprecedented array of 179 Heads of State and Government (the largest assembly of world leaders ever seen at the time) gathered to agree upon the basis for “Agenda 21”? This was the Earth Summit and Agenda 21 was a comprehensive blueprint for sustainable development into the 21st Century.

Or some 15 years later, do our endeavours begin now? Well I’d like to think so, for those who haven’t commenced their actions already. I’d certainly like to hope so, yet with all the different claims and counterclaims about what’s actually happening to us and our planet, sometimes it seems simpler to just do something else.

There are those of us, who are lost in the jungles of suspicion and scepticism, where our only compass is that of scientific evidence, beyond doubt. We could at the very least begin by first attempting to understand more clearly the meaning of the word sustainability.

There are those of us who recognise the problems yet want the ‘best’ solutions to be implemented. This can often end up being a battle of ideas, for example with the proposition that nuclear power is the only green solution.

If we suppose that the best solutions could be where we act together then why don’t we reassess the consensus position achieved in 1992’s Rio Summit, a position that attempted to fuse ‘sustainability’ with ‘economy’. Why don’t we consider again the solutions placed before us in Agenda 21?

One of the interesting outcomes of Rio was that local councils could produce their own Local Agenda 21. The reasoning being that people in the area who have local knowledge are best suited to make sensible decisions for their future.

Within that local community then, Agenda 21 is a potentially powerful guide for individuals, businesses and governments. This is especially so when making choices and decisions for sustainable progress and development.

Agenda 21 is a huge document, with 40 chapters in 4 sections. It deals with:

Social and economic dimensions;- developing countries; poverty; consumption patterns; population; health; human settlements; integrating environment and development.

Conservation and management of resources:- atmosphere; land; forests; deserts; mountains; agriculture; biodiversity; biotechnology; oceans; fresh water; toxic chemicals; hazardous radioactive and solid waste and sewage.

Strengthening the role of significant stakeholders:- women; children and youth; indigenous peoples; non-governmental organisations; local authorities; workers; business and industry; farmers; scientists and technologists.

Means of implementation:- finance; technology transfer; science; education; capacity-building; international institutions; legal measures; information.

Yes that’s a lot of information. However if it’s our world as much as anyone else’s, then surely it must be our responsibility to be well informed.

That’s all well and good. However, some might say, what if I don’t have the time? What if I’m very busy? What do I do?

Do we need children to shame us? Some might say that problems can also be solved.

A children’s edition of Agenda 21 with contributions from 10,000 children in over 100 countries entitled Rescue Mission Planet Earth is very readable with pretty pictures. However it also focuses our minds towards solutions from a youthful perspective. As a result it’s more relevant, urgent, effective and possibly even more suited for today’s busy adults.

President Kennedy saw the potential of youth. His most successful legacy of the Peace Corps is testament to that. He also saw the value of the United Nations, (who helped publish produced “Rescue Mission”) referring to it as “our last best hope”.

We may feel there's a challenge facing us. Those of us who rise with the challenge then, rise with an emerald dawn.

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