Download or read book The Tao of Sustainable Development written by Alasdair Lord and published by . This book was released on 2017-10 with total page 317 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What is The Tao of Sustainable Development?The purpose of Sustainable Development must be to deliver a framework whereby every human has ready access to all basic necessities - clean air, water, food, sanitation, sustainable housing, health care, and energy - whilst simultaneously remaining below the carrying capacity of the natural environment both locally and globally. Additionally, it must provide bodily and mental freedom as well as delivering quality educational opportunities to allow all humans to develop a broad range of skills and inculcate reciprocity as the cornerstone of human interactions. Moreover, it must seek to raise the consciousness of all humans so that negative emotional and mental-health issues are a fraction of the levels we see today. It must also maximise opportunities for leisure time and for activities which lead to the flow-state.Humans must evolve so that we might step into the cosmos and (hypothetically) greet our extra-terrestrial brothers and sisters as a peace-loving race. Sustainable Development is thus synonymous with a quest for Utopia, defined here as, Technologically Advanced Effective Compassionate Egalitarian Systems.The Tao of Sustainable Development presents a workable radical alternative paradigm to the current failing global neo-liberal capitalist socio-economic paradigm. The Tao of Sustainable Development is a paradigm change of philosophy, education, psychology, values, organisation and technology that is essentially Utopian in nature. A continuation along the destructive linear path of the arms-trade walking hand in hand with neo-liberalist capitalist 'free' market economics is no longer fit for purpose; only a paradigm change of socio-economic political philosophy can deliver long term environmental sustainability and social justice. Furthermore, The Tao of Sustainable Development proposes that there are five minimum characteristics to achieve sustainable societies both locally and globally. These characteristics are;1. Sustainable Agriculture & Animal Husbandry2. Cyclical Resource Use (C2C) and Advanced Technology3. Individual and Collective Psychological Freedom4. Effective & Egalitarian State Forms and Non-State Forms (NSFs)5. Holistic, Compassionate and Research-Based Education SystemsThese five parts; Sustainable systems of Agriculture and Animal Husbandry; Cyclical Resource use and Advanced Technology; Individual and Collective Psychological Freedom; Effective & Egalitarian State Forms and Non-State Forms (NSFs): Holistic, Compassionate and Research-Based Education Systems are the essence of The Tao of Sustainable Development and all five are necessary.The primary aim of this work is to reframe the debate around Sustainability, to facilitate a questioning of the assumptions that we have about human organisation and investigate alternatives to the prevailing global economic paradigm of neo-liberal capitalism; to look at the world with new eyes. Secondly it is to empower groups & individuals with a simultaneously realistic and glorious vision of the human future. Thirdly it is to suggest some possible starting actions to bring about the transformations required for our thriving human future.Authors website: alasdairlord.co.ukTwitter: @alasdair_lord