‘Awakening of society must start now’

“Which is worse – a planet that is too hot or one that is too cold?” my youngest son, who will be eight in May, asked.

Clearly, he is concerned about the state of the world, and he is thinking about it.We went on to discuss how both situations are detrimental to mankind as I continued to reflect on our collective responsibility to pass on a sustainable world for his generation to inherit.

My generation enjoyed a very special world – one which was built upon thousands of generations of cultural, technological and economic assets.

But with the good, we also inherited a legacy of existential challenges like social injustice and environmental pollution.

Our vast ambition, unbounded curiosity, and limitless yearning to know and to control both our destiny and the world around us fuelled our civilisation and drove discoveries, explorations and inventions, but they also triggered conflicts, wars and calamities.

As we required more resources to satisfy our needs, our civilisation progressed further and became more materialistic.

Humans increasingly viewed nature as a resource to be harnessed, tamed and manipulated, rather than a living system to be treasured and treated with care.

This approach was intertwined with – and enabled by – the scientific revolution and the industrial revolution.

The levels of environmental pollution, and social and economic injustice we face today are simply unsustainable.

Even though billions of people are still living in poverty, with no access to running water, sanitation, healthcare, and quality education, scientists have warned that we are already operating at one and a half the carrying capacity of our planet.

Failure to keep global warming below 1.5°C is expected to have dire consequences for current and future generations. This is a time for contemplation and introspection.

We must embark on urgent, collaborative, and comprehensive action. There is a dire need to cut back on our use of resources as populations grow.

Getting ourselves out of this morass requires a holistic and integrated reflection on the condition of the natural world, our systems and institutions, and the human condition.

To fix this, we need to appreciate that we are an integral part of the world’s ecosystem.

Goethe said: “Man knows himself only to the extent that he knows the world; he becomes aware of himself only within the world, and aware of the world only within himself.”

Shaping a sustainable future will require long-term coordinated action plans, and a new way of feeling, thinking, communicating, doing business, and collaborating to deliver and implement those plans.

To set our world on a journey towards becoming sustainable, just and enjoyable, we can start by:

• Evolving our education system so that it does not only produce technically competent professionals, but also purpose-driven leaders who are able to deal with the complexities and uncertainties of the future.

• Educating engineers, architects, accountants and actuaries to be fully fluent in the language and the methods of calculating carbon and other green gas emissions.

• Encouraging investment in green alternatives as a sound moral and business choice.

• Empowering youths to have a bigger voice in guiding the development of their communities as such projects may result in long-term environmental impact.

• Developing international institutions to encourage collaboration and enforce agreements in climate change matters.

Making decisions and choices – that are good for the entire ecosystem and for future generations, and not only for our immediate needs and wants – is not easy but we owe it to our children and grandchildren.

An awakening of society and more mature leadership must start now.

PROF MUSHTAK AL-ATABI

Provost and chief executive officer

Heriot-Watt University Malaysia;

Deputy chairman

Vice-Chancellors’ Council for Private Universities