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L. Rydén
These approaches were manifested in both dramatic and concrete manners in 1972.
In March that year the publication of the Limits to Growth, a research report from the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology under Prof. Dennis Meadows (Meadows et al.
1972) under the commission of the Club of Rome, clearly demonstrated the ongoing
degradation of the global ecosystems would lead to its eventual collapse, provided
that no change of directions would be done. In June 1972 the first United Nations
conference on the Global Environment
1 was organized in Stockholm, as a Swedish
initiative. The conference dealt with environmental issues, and the understanding that
environmental degradation did not stop at national borders, and had to be addressed
in international cooperation. But many of the delegates fully understood that it was
not only about the environment. Social and economic issues were tightly coupled to
environmental degradation, as expressed most clearly by The Indian Prime Minister
Indira Gandhi and the Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme.
The global approach to the destiny of the Earth was later that year dramatically
demonstrated by the photo of our planet from space, The Blue Marble, taken by the
Apollo 17 mission. The message was clear: The Planet is one and we have to address
its future development together. We are all in it together. It was most succinctly
expressed by Russell Schweighart, astronaut on Apollo 9: “We are not passengers
on space ship Earth. We are the crew.”
It is clear that the origin of SD was management, management of natural resources.
This remains true for every person, organisation or larger system which have adopted
SD as a main concern. But for some of these it is clear that it is not only, even not
mainly, a question of management. It is much deeper and is connected to existential
values and our identity as humans and our role on planet Earth. For example Donella
Meadows, the main author of Limits to Growth expressed this very clearly. I refer
to this as the spiritual roots of sustainable development and have searched for it in
religion, in ethics, in biology and in different forms of civils society organisations.
2 The Role of the Churches—World Council of Churches
The World Council of Churches (WCC), formed in 1948, is an ecumenical community of (presently) 349 Christian churches. It is a main actor in the global agenda on
the role of religion in society. The Catholic Church is not a member but has worked
closely with the Council and has always been an observer at the meetings of World
Council of Churches.
2 It is also relevant to point out that the United Nations, also
formed at a similar time after WWII, had close connections to the WCC from its
formation. WCC main office is found in Geneva, next to the UN main building and
thus the influence these two organisations for global development have had on each
1 The United Nations Conference on the Human Environment. https://sustainabledevelopment.un.
org/milestones/humanenvironment; http://www.un-documents.net/aconf48-14r1.pdf.
2 World Council of Churches. http://www.oikoumene.org/en/.
L. Rydén
These approaches were manifested in both dramatic and concrete manners in 1972.
In March that year the publication of the Limits to Growth, a research report from the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology under Prof. Dennis Meadows (Meadows et al.
1972) under the commission of the Club of Rome, clearly demonstrated the ongoing
degradation of the global ecosystems would lead to its eventual collapse, provided
that no change of directions would be done. In June 1972 the first United Nations
conference on the Global Environment
1 was organized in Stockholm, as a Swedish
initiative. The conference dealt with environmental issues, and the understanding that
environmental degradation did not stop at national borders, and had to be addressed
in international cooperation. But many of the delegates fully understood that it was
not only about the environment. Social and economic issues were tightly coupled to
environmental degradation, as expressed most clearly by The Indian Prime Minister
Indira Gandhi and the Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme.
The global approach to the destiny of the Earth was later that year dramatically
demonstrated by the photo of our planet from space, The Blue Marble, taken by the
Apollo 17 mission. The message was clear: The Planet is one and we have to address
its future development together. We are all in it together. It was most succinctly
expressed by Russell Schweighart, astronaut on Apollo 9: “We are not passengers
on space ship Earth. We are the crew.”
It is clear that the origin of SD was management, management of natural resources.
This remains true for every person, organisation or larger system which have adopted
SD as a main concern. But for some of these it is clear that it is not only, even not
mainly, a question of management. It is much deeper and is connected to existential
values and our identity as humans and our role on planet Earth. For example Donella
Meadows, the main author of Limits to Growth expressed this very clearly. I refer
to this as the spiritual roots of sustainable development and have searched for it in
religion, in ethics, in biology and in different forms of civils society organisations.
2 The Role of the Churches—World Council of Churches
The World Council of Churches (WCC), formed in 1948, is an ecumenical community of (presently) 349 Christian churches. It is a main actor in the global agenda on
the role of religion in society. The Catholic Church is not a member but has worked
closely with the Council and has always been an observer at the meetings of World
Council of Churches.
2 It is also relevant to point out that the United Nations, also
formed at a similar time after WWII, had close connections to the WCC from its
formation. WCC main office is found in Geneva, next to the UN main building and
thus the influence these two organisations for global development have had on each
1 The United Nations Conference on the Human Environment. https://sustainabledevelopment.un.
org/milestones/humanenvironment; http://www.un-documents.net/aconf48-14r1.pdf.
2 World Council of Churches. http://www.oikoumene.org/en/.