Proops, John L.R., Malte Faber, Reiner Manstetten and Frank Jost. 1996. "Achieving a sustainable world." Ecological Economics 17(1996): 133-135.

Thesis:

Sustainable development can be achieved by the State, through public consensus, leading market activity in ways that place greater emphasis on the dimension of demand (consumption).

Summary:

The authors, in a brief article identify the role of the State in leading the market toward sustainable development in conjunction with the informed consensus of the public. They diagnose asymmetries in the State's current market influence, where the emphasis has been on the supply dimension, and has virtually ignored the demand (consumption) dimension (p.134).

Proops et al contend that the present focus of academic work, while useful, is not sufficient for formulating policies for economic and social development that is ecologically sustainable. Work today tends to be conceptual in focus, with the aim of defining what is meant by 'sustainability', or it focuses on economic and physical indicators of sustainable behavior. The authors argue that what is needed is "the use of imagination to formulate a state of the world in the (quite distant) future, which we can take as a goal or telos" (p.134). Work on sustainability should help us to develop a "vision of the state of the world towards which we wish to progress" (ibid).

They argue that achieving sustainable development will require three levels consensus in the goal to formulate long-range policy (p.134):

The Overall Goal of Sustainability, which is the ethical consensus and vision that sustainability should be achieved.

The Operational Goal of Sustainability, which is a particular target-sustainable state for the distant future.

The Goal Towards the Immediate Target, which is a state on a chosen path towards the Operational Goal of Sustainability within a short time-frame and used to formulate specific policy.

The authors then offer intermediate steps in the process of diagnosing our present state of affairs, how it differs from our desired vision, and how to proceed toward developing a consensual vision and immediate objectives. Two balancing precautions are necessary in pursuing these goals: (1) to recognize that the Operational Goal is not immutable, and should be open for review and revision if necessary, and (2) "[s]trenuous efforts must be made to insulate the sustainability policy from short-run political expediency" (p.135).

Keywords: consensus, telos, sustainability