Development and Sustainability - Fritjof Capra

by Fritjof Capra

In an essay just posted on the CEL (Center for Ecoliteracy) website, Fritjof Capra uses an ecological perspective to examine "development" as defined in the life sciences and by economists and politicians. The differences in their definitions have profound implications for discussions of sustainable development.

Fritjof Capra: “The alternative view of development proposed by the global civil society sees development as a creative process, characteristic of all life, a process of increasing capability, in which the most important thing one needs is control over local resources….Because people are different and the places in which they live are different, we can expect development to produce cultural diversity of all kinds. The process whereby it will happen will be very different from the current global trading system. It will be based on the mobilization of local resources to satisfy local needs, and it will be informed by the values of human dignity and ecological sustainability.”

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