Sustainable development

photo credits Rodrigo C. de Souza

When we talk, our words are often best understood not only by the meaning itself, but also by the tone of voice we use. I believe, it occurs the same thing to the written words, depending on who writes.

It reminds me a couple just married gazing the horizon. The bride commented:” Oh, those clouds covered the moon!” And then the groom replied: “No, it was ashamed of your beauty and hid itself!”

Thirty years later, the same couple, beneath the same moon…Hey, dear look, the moon has hidden itself…

“Don’t be stupid! Can’t you see it is going to rain!!?”

Thus the term "sustainability" when written by someone of the capitalist system means you can dispose of land and resources to continue shameless to serve the consumer market, to the profit without measures and to the technological development for palliative solutions.
In order to maintain this cycle, they should avoid by all means, that new emerging countries rapidly deplete the assets of the land and threaten the level of consumption of the richest nations.
Imagine if Africa with its millions of people entering the wave of consumerism. The cake of global wealth will have to be shared into smaller slices to serve everybody. Sustainability in this sense means restricting new consumer markets in order that the feast of the rich countries is extended.

On the other hand over the viewpoint of a writer from a developing country, sustainability takes on a tone to share with more justice, restraining wasting in rich countries, especially with the surplus, avoiding excessive consumption, restraining the arms industry and using oil for individual transport.
Those can only accept a development that is present for all humanity and ensure the future of new generations; because the leftovers from the tables of the rich people are in lack on the tables from the poor ones.

Maybe the groom should have known better and if instead of the first answer just have replied: “Let’s get inside” He could still use the same answer thirty years later without any problems.

Will we be able to enjoy our natural resources in thirty years, being kind in our answer to the situation we’ve been facing in our planet today?

Remember that nothing lasts forever and we should face the reality without romantics’ feelings that lead us to disappointments in the future.