Sustainability: Along Networks and Across Scales

Achieving global sustainable development and sustainability requires a willingness to make significant changes away from current human behaviors and attitudes regarding overconsumption, exploitation and reproduction across all global societies.

To guide us in the right direction in a transition toward a sustainable future scientific research must discover the requisite socioecological goals and innovative technology to help get us there. Governance must implement policy to help support research and innovation into effective action.

The humanities and social sciences must also play key roles in this future by discovering how to most effectively bridge scientific knowledge, innovative technology and supportive policy into action on local, national and global levels. That is, along networks and across different scales from the local to the global.

Conversely, the humanities and social sciences can inform science and technological research as well as governance and policy as to the boundaries of human willingness and the human ability to make significant changes in behavior and attitudes toward sustainable development.

However, as importantly, through the co-development of valid and effective learning systems the humanities and social sciences can also help move those boundaries and change human willingness and ability into valid and effective action for sustainable development.

Research and development of valid and effective learning systems for sustainability for individuals, schools, communities, corporations and nations is what Ecosphere Net is all about.

EJ Wensing

ejwensing@ecosphere.net

US Virgin Islands