Open AccessChallenges of Sustainable Development
Author(s) -
Augusto López-Claros
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
the journal of bahá’í studies
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2563-755X
pISSN - 0838-0430
DOI - 10.31581/jbs-22.1-4.2(2012
Subject(s) - prosperity , sustainable development , race (biology) , political science , arms race , development economics , human development (humanity) , environmental ethics , economic system , political economy , economic growth , economics , sociology , law , gender studies , philosophy
This paper examines some of the building blocks of sustainable development. Economic growth is seen as having contributed to global prosperity in the postwar period, but there are emerging concerns that growth may soon conflict with environmental constraints. The role of and the interactions among conservation, technology, international cooperation, and human values are analyzed. Whether we find the collective will to act now to stem the tide of future crises or we wait for catastrophe to force change upon us is seen as the central question of our time. A move toward sustainable development could well usher in a new stage in the evolution of the human race, one likely to involve a quantum leap forward in terms of our collective achievements as a human family.