We Can Only Do It Together: Addressing Global Sustainability …
243
thinking is key in both teaching and research, which requires us to encourage
diversity and complementarity, as well as a sense of initiative and responsibility,
rather than conformism and obedience to authority.
• Science has long lived on its reputation for integrity. At a time when science
is driven by funding rather than integrity, ethics and trust must again become
our top priority if we are not to lose all credibility (Vogt and Weber 2020). New
ethical codes of conduct for our professions must be developed to address extreme
challenges and new technologies. All activity must be informed by a sense of
responsibility, foresight and understanding the consequences of action or inaction
while prioritising respect for life, social justice and humanity.
Finally, employees and students at all levels need to develop the capacity to collectively resist inadequate decisions and defend basic conditions for life. We must
urgently learn to organise local economies, services and insurance; develop international networks of solidarity and exchange of experience; as well as develop the
capacity to invent new technologies and actions needed in regenerative economies.
4 Knowledge and Policy—Which Knowledge Is Needed
in a Time of Systemic Shifts?
At present, the evaluation of whether a particular policy measure might be suitable
for achieving a desired effect tends to be based on evidence with limited relevance for
future situations. When we are looking at the most important questions for the survival
of our societies, these involve transition and deep-reaching changes in societal and
economic structures. It is therefore problematic that a large portion of the evidence
on which we base decisions is geared to manage business-as-usual within a given
system, rather than considering the issues that arise in transitions between systems.
An important point to remember is that actions that are difficult and costly within
one system may be easy and profitable within another, and vice versa. In other
words, the relationship between action and impact can change depending on the
system. Consequently, any analysis of costs and benefits only applies within the
conditions of a particular system. Evidence-based suppositions about the effects of
any set of policy measures are also constructed using data from past experiences.
The knowledge that we use to drive a certain development is, in other words, valid
only within a particular system. This makes it difficult to assess future developments
that span across a longer period, particularly if we are interested in transitions across
periods with different systemic characteristics, as we are looking at both external
and internal uncertainties.
Developing competences, capacity, experience and know-how for any new technology or societal model takes time. By the time resources are mobilised, needs
may have already changed and proposed solutions may be outdated. If the required
competence and capacity cannot be mobilised sufficiently quickly, countries run the
risk of a permanent gap and mismatch between needs and how they are addressed.
243
thinking is key in both teaching and research, which requires us to encourage
diversity and complementarity, as well as a sense of initiative and responsibility,
rather than conformism and obedience to authority.
• Science has long lived on its reputation for integrity. At a time when science
is driven by funding rather than integrity, ethics and trust must again become
our top priority if we are not to lose all credibility (Vogt and Weber 2020). New
ethical codes of conduct for our professions must be developed to address extreme
challenges and new technologies. All activity must be informed by a sense of
responsibility, foresight and understanding the consequences of action or inaction
while prioritising respect for life, social justice and humanity.
Finally, employees and students at all levels need to develop the capacity to collectively resist inadequate decisions and defend basic conditions for life. We must
urgently learn to organise local economies, services and insurance; develop international networks of solidarity and exchange of experience; as well as develop the
capacity to invent new technologies and actions needed in regenerative economies.
4 Knowledge and Policy—Which Knowledge Is Needed
in a Time of Systemic Shifts?
At present, the evaluation of whether a particular policy measure might be suitable
for achieving a desired effect tends to be based on evidence with limited relevance for
future situations. When we are looking at the most important questions for the survival
of our societies, these involve transition and deep-reaching changes in societal and
economic structures. It is therefore problematic that a large portion of the evidence
on which we base decisions is geared to manage business-as-usual within a given
system, rather than considering the issues that arise in transitions between systems.
An important point to remember is that actions that are difficult and costly within
one system may be easy and profitable within another, and vice versa. In other
words, the relationship between action and impact can change depending on the
system. Consequently, any analysis of costs and benefits only applies within the
conditions of a particular system. Evidence-based suppositions about the effects of
any set of policy measures are also constructed using data from past experiences.
The knowledge that we use to drive a certain development is, in other words, valid
only within a particular system. This makes it difficult to assess future developments
that span across a longer period, particularly if we are interested in transitions across
periods with different systemic characteristics, as we are looking at both external
and internal uncertainties.
Developing competences, capacity, experience and know-how for any new technology or societal model takes time. By the time resources are mobilised, needs
may have already changed and proposed solutions may be outdated. If the required
competence and capacity cannot be mobilised sufficiently quickly, countries run the
risk of a permanent gap and mismatch between needs and how they are addressed.