Human Creativity and Environmental Sustainability

Over-exploitation and over-consumption of the earth's non-renewable assets are not only undermining the ecosystem, but also threatening our collective survival and the future of our only Planet. Contrary to the conventional wisdom, however, the real problem is not over-consumption and the attendant unsustainable pattern of exploitation of the earth's natural resources. As such, neither the problem of environmental damage is likely going be solved, nor the goal of sustainable development likely going to be achieved by many of the methods and strategies that are currently being advocated.

Higher taxes, for example, are not likely going to reduce consumption on a permanent basis. Nor are environmental literacy campaigns likely going to permanently reverse the reckless exploitation of the earth's non-renewable assets. Environmental laws and enforcement, however strict; detection of environmental crime, however certain; penalties and punishment, however severe, are not viable solutions to the long-term goal of environmental sustainability.

The apparent ineffectiveness of widely advocated environmental protection measures is not because of inadequacies in those measures; it is because the real cause of the global ecological crises lies somewhere else -- far deeper than the level at which many conservation measures are targeted. The data by which the Global Creativity Network has been prompted suggest that over-consumption, over-exploitation of the earth's resources, and the resultant damage to the ecosystem are symptoms of a fundamental lack of meaning in people's lives -- a vitally important need that will have to be addressed if we are to achieve a sustainable system of production and consumption.

By way of a simplified logical explanation:

• Inability to develop and to beneficially engage one's creative potential generates personal sense of "futility," "emptiness," "meaninglessness," "unfulfillment," and, ultimately, "existential unhappiness."
• Personal sense of futility, emptiness, and unfulfillment gives rise to an inordinate desire for material possession, resulting in a "net-worth-equals-self-worth" value system.
• Net-worth-equals-self-worth value system gives rise to an unsustainable pattern of production and consumption and, resultantly, ecological devastation.

More than anything else, strategies for stemming the present unsustainable pattern of production and consumption must address the global epidemic of meaninglessness i.e., must seek to provide people with both "the means to live and the meaning to live for." Broken into Personal and Societal, strategies for stemming the spreading epidemic of meaninglessness include:

Personal

• Awakening to our authentic sense of self-worth: Who we are and what we have to contribute to the world, rather than what we own and consume, or our status in society.
• The realization that the aim of life and the real reason for human existence is the development and beneficial engagement of one's unique set of abilities, with consumption and material well-being as the means to that end.
• Participating in productive and meaningful work (i.e., identifying things that one believes in and really loves to see happen, doing something to bring those things about and, of course, making a living from one's contributions.

Societal

• Rethinking human affairs in light of the new and authentic understanding of human nature.
• Aligning everyday social, economic, and political decisions and actions with our creative essence and our defining quality as humans.
• Opportunities for every person to develop and to contribute his or her natural abilities in the urgent task of preserving the integrity of Planet Earth and all life.
• A system of reward and social recognition that is based on contribution to the survival and flourishing of all life.
• Official and popular recognition of ecological well-being as a fundamental value against which everything else has to be measured.
• Consolidating the tremendous economic, social, and technological progress that mankind has made while, at the same time, repairing the damage that has been done.