Thinking About Sustainability on a Global Scale

In an opinion piece, noted economist Jeffrey Sachs explores what it will take to achieve the 'triple bottom line' of sustainable development, which the UN puts at the top of the global agenda.

1 minute read

February 1, 2012, 9:00 AM PST

By Jonathan Nettler @nettsj


Taking a new report issued by the UN's Global Sustainability Panel as his jumping off point, Sachs explores the economic, social, and environmental pillars of sustainable development, the foremost global issues of our time. "The GSP rightly notes that sustainable development has three pillars: ending extreme poverty; ensuring that prosperity is shared by all, including women, youth, and minorities; and protecting the natural environment."

Sachs see the promise of technology, coupled with an embrace of common values, as the key to solving our collective challenges.

"The benefits of information and communications technologies can be found in every area of human activity: better farming using GPS and micro-dosing of fertilizers; precision manufacturing; buildings that know how to economize on energy use; and, of course, the transformative, distance-erasing power of the Internet....Yet getting from here to sustainable development will not just be a matter of technology."

Tuesday, January 31, 2012 in Project Syndicate

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I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching. Mary G., Urban Planner

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