Reply To: Reflections by Maria on lecture of 9 June

Response to Ellen´s reflection:
Ellen, you brought up roughly three themes concerning Persson´s lecture: that it is good to get a ”hands-on” view on sustainability as academics, that we have not learned to treat nature good in accordance with an immense increase in financial profit since the 80´s thus damaging nature, and lastly, that it is important to have people who can bridge well between different paradigms and disciplines.

I like your analysing. I fully agree in the importance of getting ”hands-on” understanding of the climate change and how the academic theories work in real life, outside of the academic world. I also found this valuable. Both valuable and somewhat discouraging however. I found it valuable in the sense that one gets a greater understanding on how to actually work in the best way possible according to limitations in the ”real world”, yet the discouraging part was that so many political decisions are still made short-term and financially affected. This makes me wonder, is global change really possible? As much as we need to get into politics, I believe perhaps changing the minds of ordinary people might lead to a greater ”greener” shift in the politics, since they follow the values of their followers, that is, the ordinary people. This might not always be true, but in many aspects I believe it might be.

Before the increasing financial profit globally, perhaps we did not need to think as much about the limits of resources? If this is the case, then people have simply not been bothered about the limits of resources, even as the profit has increased vastly. It is only in the hindsight that the negative consequences are now starting to emerge. In this way, one can say that people are not to blame, until they now know the damages which have been made. However, if they should have thought more carefully in the process of possessing more and more money, the limits of nature would most likely been more taken into account, and thus would we not be where we are today with all the negative aspects of climate change. To be proactive and careful instead of taking quick action – however take the action when it´s needed ofcourse – is always preferable, and this need to get into the politics more.

I truly agree with your point in having people who can bridge between different paradigms. How important is not this! If we don´t have it, we will not be able to understand each other fully and cooperate for change. Even so, all people will not want to cooperate even if they know about the bad consequences of our modern living, but to gather the ones who want to might still cause great change for the better. This is my hope.