Saad Khan – Islamabad, Pakistan EN Member Profile

The world can seem like a big place, with problems that can be overwhelming in complexity, and that seem to further isolate us from each other.

Out of this complexity, however, regardless of religion or culture, age or gender and from within the midst of poverty, social and political unrest, and, often at some amount of personal risk, leaders are emerging.

They are adaptive network leaders, social entrepreneurs, positive deviants, leaders for world benefit, CSR leaders, boundary managers and transition managers.

What do these leaders all have in common?

They are all change agents for a better global future.

A future of sustainability and sustainable development for everyone.

They are in action at the community level, at the global level and busy linking those two together both directly and indirectly.

They are, as one author recently put it, engaged in “intentional behaviors that depart from the norms of a referent group in honorable ways”

They are the levers and drivers of cross-cultural positive individual and social change.

Saad Khan - Islamabad, Pakistan

Ecosphere Net (EN) member Saad Khan is exactly such a leader for positive change.

Saad was an integral part of the highly successful internet-based social science research initiative in Pakistan called Social Bridges that explored the interface between corporate social responsibility and sustainable development at both the domestic and international levels.

More recently he has started a blog called Socially Responsible Pakistan in which he continues to pursue a sustainable future for his country and our world.

Most recently Saad has begun writing for the Huffington Post in which he seeks to provide unique insights into the political and social forces emergent in Pakistan.

A sustainable global future is exactly that. A global future for us all.

One connected through a network of collaborative action communities and driven forward by powerful change leaders like Saad Khan.

EJ Wensing

USVI

ejwensing@ecosphere.net

Review of Harvard Business Review

Last month’s Harvard Business Review (HBR) included several really great articles and commentaries about business, sustainability, and “being green”.

Several of the authors suggest that instead of simply complying with environmental standards “organizations can turn sustainability into innovation’s new frontier – achieving competitive advantage and influencing economic recovery in much the same way that the breakthrough products and business models of computer companies led the way out of previous recessions.” (HBR, 10/09, p.55)

For example, Ram Nidumolu, C.K. Prahalad, and M.R. Rangaswami describe how their research of 30 corporations indicates that smart companies that view sustainability as innovation’s new frontier are yielding both significant bottom-line and top-line returns (p.56).

Other articles highlight how consumers can shape business strategies and how business actions through corporate social responsibility can shape consumer behavior and community action.

All in all it seems like things are starting to go in the direction of a transition toward global sustainability.

EJ Wensing

USVI

ejwensing@ecosphere.net

Sustainability Science and Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit

In a 2003 paper published in the newly formed “Sustainability Science” subject category of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA (PNAS, USA) scholars Robert Kates and Thomas Parris wrote,

“…Perhaps the most powerful lever of change is the concerted willingness of governments, business, and civil society to press ahead with the well understood actions needed to achieve the current 2015 goals of the Millennium Declaration and the World Summit for Sustainable Development.”

More recently, articles have been published in PNAS-USA Sustainability Science that corroborate the need for willingness citing that the effects of innovation of science and technology as well as governance and policy while essential, are not enough (limited in validity and efficacy).

The research is also showing that multi-scale collaborative community networks are the best way to implement innovation in science and technology toward a global sustainable future.

It comes down to an individual willingness to take action and be part of collaborative communities for sustainability.

These are not really new research discoveries nor new ideas.

From Harvard to Nunavut Arctic College.

Pelagie Owlijoot at Nunavut Arctic College, Canada recently published a document on Inuit traditional knowledge that is passed along by community elders. These are summarized as: 

Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit (traditional knowledge) 

Innuqatigiitsiarniq: respecting others, relationships and caring for people.

Tunnganarniq: fostering good spirit by being open, welcoming and inclusive.

Pijitsirniq: concept of serving is central to the Inuit style of leadership; each person has a contribution to make and is a valued contributor to his/her community

Aajiiqatigiingniq: consensus decision making. The concept of consensus decision making relies on strong communication skills and a strong belief in shared goals.

Pilimmaksarniq: concept of skills and knowledge acquisition.

Piliriqatigiingniq: working together for a common cause. The concept of developing collaborative relationships and working together for a common purpose. The essential Inuit belief that stresses the importance of the group over the individual.

Qanuqtuurniq: being innovative and resourceful in seeking solutions. The concept of being resourceful to solve problems, through innovative and creative use of resources and demonstrating adaptability and flexibility in response to a rapidly changing world

Avatittingnik kamatsiarniq: respect and care for the land, animals and the environment. The concept of environmental stewardship stresses the key relationships Inuit have with their environment and with the world in which they live.

These eight principles of Qaujimajatuqangit describe old traditions of community living and individual conduct. They are not grounded in any religious beliefs, but rather in the often harsh difficulty of sustainability in its most rudimentary form. They are traditions that we can learn and take guidance from and apply to our shared future.

EJ Wensing

US Virgin Islands

ejwensing@ecosphere.net

End Poverty Now – October 16th to 18th – Take Action!

Join the global movement to end poverty.

Join the network of events taking place all over the world October 16 -18^th 

To learn more visit the website (click here).

Get involved in your community.

EJ Wensing

ejwensing@ecosphere.net

The “Environmental Space”

Achieving global sustainability and sustainable development refers to the task of meeting fundamental human needs worldwide while preserving the life supporting ecosystems of the planet at the same time

To survive, we have to balance what is developed (such as economic growth) with what is to be sustained (life-supporting ecosystems).

Joachim Spangenberg, one of the founders of the Sustainable Europe Research Institute (click here), called this differential the “environmental space”.

Climate change, pollution, environmental exploitation, overpopulation, poverty, equality, freedom, human rights, peace.

The goal is to balance the maximum permitted use of our environment with the minimum necessary for human development across all global societies.

Policies and individual human actions influence both sides of the space.

While effective policies are essential, they are not enough.

It comes down to the choices we each make every day.

EJ Wensing

US Virgin Islands

ejwensing@ecosphere.net