Risk, sustainability and time: sociological perspectives
Other Publication ResearchOnline@JCUAbstract
[Extract] Sustainability is an inherently temporal concept. It is as much about the tempo of social and environmental change and the rights of future generations as it is about the magnitude of change and its implications for human well-being. We do not expect our communities, envi¬ronments or economic systems to remain unchanged over time, but we do want to maintain or improve their ability to keep on delivering the things we value well into the future. Of course, moving from general agreement about the importance of long-term sustain¬ability to concrete decisions in the here-and-now about resource use, conservation, pollu¬tion standards, spatial planning, infrastructure investment etc. presents several challenges. Not least among these are the challenges of accounting for uncertainty and ignorance. Sustainability is also about risk. It is about accepting that things may not turn out as planned. It is about understanding and managing the potential for things to go wrong, and it is about preparing, despite our best efforts, for things to go wrong in ways that are cur¬rently unknowable or unforeseen.
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Social Science and Sustainability
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978-1-4863-0640-4
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12
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CSIRO Publishing
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Melbourne, VIC, Australia
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