Leading the world toward a more sustainable future

Leading the world toward a more sustainable future

Patrick Blessinger and Mandla Makhanya

Wide-scale and long-lasting social change is often triggered by major political, economic, social, technological, and environmental forces. When any of these forces are strong enough, they can lead to a revolution of some kind and these revolutions can, in turn, represent a major reset point in human history. Since the late 18th century, the world has experienced several reset points.

For instance, in the 1770s, the Industrial Revolution that started in Great Britain coincided with the Democratic Revolution (for example, the American and French Revolutions). Other reset points that have occurred over the last 250 years include, among others, the American Civil War, World War I, the Great Depression, World War II, the fall of the Berlin Wall, and the Digital Revolution.

The impacts of these major political, economic, social, and technological forces have gradually spread across the world to affect every nation. They created major paradigm shifts in political governance, commerce and trade, social and cultural life, and environmental conditions. Consequently, autocracy has gradually given way to democracy (self-governance) and capitalism (market-based economies) has increasingly replaced mercantilism and communism, and feudalism and colonialism have gradually given way to freedom and self-determination.

In short, the ways and means by which resources are allocated within society have been fundamentally restructured over the past 250 years. Presumably, the fundamental underlying mechanism driving these changes arises from the basic human drive for freedom and self-determination, and concomitantly, the human need for rights and justice.

Whereas the Agriculture Revolution in Britain and the emergence of capitalism were the primary triggers for the rise of the Industrial Revolution, the Democratic Revolution in America and France arose out of a desire for self-rule, political and civil rights, as well as economic and social justice. New technological inventions (weaving, steam engines, electricity), new uses of raw materials (coal and oil), and new production systems (mechanization, factory systems, mass production) sped up industrialization which, in turn, spurred innovation, new product development, and increased the demand for more highly skilled and educated workers.

With respect to the quality of life on the planet, the results of change can be positive or negative, slow or fast. For example, before the Industrial Revolution, gross domestic product (GDP) per capita remained largely flat (unchanged) throughout human history. Since the Industrial and Democratic Revolutions, world GDP has increased dramatically but has brought with it both positive and negative impacts.

The positive impacts include increased rule of law, increased political and civil rights, increased standard of living, increased life expectancy, and continual scientific development, among others. However, mass industrialization has also brought with it negative impacts (unintended consequences) such as increased pollution, increased global climate change, widespread deforestation, and widespread species extinctions.

?Complexity, uncertainty, and risk

It was not until after WWII that the per capita GDP and total economic output of the world began to soar. WWII became a major catalyst for change at all levels. Because of the extreme nature and global impact of WWII, world leaders were compelled to come together after the war to agree on and implement several important developments in human history (for example, the universal declaration of human rights and intergovernmental organizations like the United Nations, the World Bank, and the World Health Organization). Also, the victory of freedom over authoritarianism spurred the development of new democracies around the world.

Furthermore, substantial improvements in the overall quality of life are a relatively recent phenomenon relative to the total span of human history. As little as a hundred years ago, most of the things we take for granted today such as medicine, refrigeration, sanitation, and universal education were not available to the vast majority of people around the world, and things such as digital technology, the internet, and mobile phones, among others, were only imagined. As a result, the speed of change has also increased as new developments leverage previous developments in a virtuous cycle of knowledge development.

For better or worse, as the world becomes more globalized, the world becomes increasingly characterized by interconnectedness, interdependence, complexity, uncertainty, and risk. Greater interconnectedness leads to greater interdependence which leads to greater complexity (of political, economic, social, technological, and environmental systems) which leads to greater uncertainty which leads to greater risk. As a result, the modern era is chiefly characterized by increased complexity, uncertainty, and risk.

Risk management has therefore become one of the most important aspects of modern life at all levels. Insurance, for instance, is a type of risk management, which is used as a hedge against uncertain future events. Thus, basic and higher education (and more broadly, lifelong and lifewide learning) can also be viewed as a type of insurance to help protect individuals and society against uncertain future outcomes.

This is one reason why having a highly educated citizenry is paramount to the proper functioning of a democracy. Education should therefore equip students with the knowledge and skills they need to prepare them for an uncertain future (that is, employability vs employment).

Social development

Since the development of organized human communities thousands of years ago, societies have gradually evolved in many ways. One of the main reasons why humans began to gather into shared communities was because they recognized the advantages of doing so. Communities require humans to establish governments for the proper administration of the community and this inevitably leads to the creation of laws, rules, and social norms to guide human behavior so the community can survive and function properly.

As communities became larger and more diverse, they tend to require more complex governing structures. In the course of their development, societies tend to reach a stage where simplistic top-down autocratic governance becomes less effective and less efficient, and as a result, stifles development of all kinds.

It is perhaps no surprise therefore that the Industrial Revolution and the Democratic Revolution occurred during the same timeframe because they are both based on the same principles of freedom, rights, and justice. The struggle for freedom and justice in the midst of human exploitation and oppression has been a central theme throughout human history.

Since the Industrial and Democratic Revolutions of the eighteenth century, societies have become increasingly complex, characterized by an increasingly educated citizenry, increased specialization of labor and knowledge, as well as increased complexity of trade, communication, and travel, among other characteristics. These characteristics tend to create mutually reinforcing and intertwined systems. As such, the impact of one system, say an economic downturn or a pandemic or a war, in one country or region, will likely impact the entire world.

However, social evolution, as with natural evolution, does not guarantee that humanity will inevitably head toward a utopia or even toward a better future. Mass extinctions of species (for example, dinosaurs) have occurred throughout the life of the planet for different reasons. Today, the planet is confronted with several potential global disasters and crises that are either man-made (for example, irreversible climate change, mass species extinctions, risk of nuclear annihilation) or naturally occurring (for example, volcanic eruptions, asteroid impacts, hurricanes, tsunamis). Nonetheless, the decrease in poverty, for example, especially extreme poverty, over the past two centuries gives hope that humanity is, more or less, moving in the right direction.

Towards a brighter future

Because political, economic, social, technological, and environmental systems are interconnected and interdependent, the greater the interconnectedness and interdependence between those systems (for example, the speed of information exchange, financial transactions, transportation systems, and technological development), the faster the change tends to be diffused across those systems. International cooperation has therefore taken on heightened importance in the modern era.

In addition, it is no surprise that the data on world economic output correlates positively with the development and growth of democracy, rights, and more recently, sustainability. However, the price for this progress is increasing complexity, uncertainty, and risk. Thus, human understanding of the world and human decision-making has become increasingly probabilistic. As quantum physics has revealed, the physical world is fundamentally a probabilistic world, as is the social world.

The increasing risk of climate change and nuclear annihilation, for instance, could wipe out many of the gains that humanity has achieved. Many parts of the world are still plagued by disease, poverty, illiteracy, and tyranny. In spite of the huge advances that humanity has achieved over the centuries, humanity still remains vulnerable to the self-destructive tendencies of human nature: violence, domination, predation, and hate, among others.

By and large, human beliefs, attitudes, and mindsets drive human behaviors and thus may either enhance or constrain human progress. Whether the world continues on the road of progress will ultimately depend on humanity’s ability to cooperate on the most serious and life-threatening issues of our time: pandemics, wars, refugees, climate change, and nuclear proliferation, among others. Within this context, basic and higher education, as a vehicle for economic and social progress, can help lead the world to a more sustainable future.

Patrick Blessinger?is an adjunct professor of education at St John’s University, New York City, United States, and chief research scientist for the International Higher Education Teaching and Learning Association or HETL. Mandla Makhanya is former principal and vice-chancellor of the University of South Africa (UNISA) and is professor emeritus of sociology at UNISA.

Suggested Citation:

Blessinger, P. and Makhanya, M. (2022). Leading the world toward a more sustainable future.?Higher Education Tomorrow, Volume 8, Article 15, https://www.patrickblessinger.com/leading-the-world-toward-a-more-sustainable-future

Copyright ? [2022] Patrick Blessinger and Mandla Makhanya

Disclaimer

Opinions expressed in this article are those of the author, and as such do not necessarily represent the position(s) of other professionals or any institution.