Why We Need Global Mindsets
In three days I will make my way to Denmark to join a group of 1000 individuals from all over the world to unleash new ideas. Here is why:
Today we live in a globalised world. But globalisation can be a tricky thing.
We chat or email with friends on the other side of the world. We take flights to visit interesting places our ancestors just knew about through tales (okay, I am a bit extreme here maybe). It’s a beautiful thing and can, indeed, be hugely useful. On the other hand, we now have supply chains that often involve multiple countries across different continents. Resources are easily accessed virtually from everywhere. Products are developed in one country, assembled in another, and often consumed and used in yet another. All this led us to even mark the Earth Overshoot Day which is basically the day of the year when we consume all renewable resources available on the day. Not surprisingly, that day is each year a bit earlier. In addition, resulting emissions contribute to climate change that doesn’t stop at a border but affects us all. We humans have such a vast impact on our planet that scientists now believe that we reached what has been coined by Dutch chemist Paul Crutzen as the Anthropocene, a new geological epoch determined by human actions (see e.g. here).
The above examples are just a few of the results among many others of an increasingly globalised world we live in. These can be both beneficial and hugely damaging. Unfortunately, the number of current challenges seems to outnumber the opportunities for many people on Earth.
A major approach to tackle global challenges are the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The SDGs are a set of 17 “Global Goals” with 169 targets between them spearheaded by the UN and involving its 193 Member States
The goals aim to ensure that a sustainable future is given for generations to come. It is clear that if we want to succeed, the SDGs will need a joint-up approach (see also SDG #17) that brings together individuals, groups and entire countries.
While one might think that in a highly-connected, globalised world this shouldn’t be a great problem, a recent progress report by the UN argues that the pace of progress must accelerate to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.
So, why is it that we are struggling to achieve these global goals? And how can we accelerate change?
Human nature: blessing or curse?
As a social scientist my main research interest focuses on human behaviour, the determining factors influencing it and how to change it for the better. And while there are certainly many different potential reasons and explanations for why we are still not living on a sustainable planet, it is beyond the purpose of this short article to cover them all. But I thought I list some of the suggested reasons to make my point clearer.
Whereas a great number of social scientists believe that a mix of habitual behaviours , norms and values, and attitudes are a key determining factor of our behaviours, others appoint more importance and influence to culture and external factors. Some suggest that our current challenges are even more difficutl to overcome since we now live in increasingly individualistic and competitive cultures and societies which have become typical for Western lifestyles. For example, already in 1985 Berkley sociologist Robert Bellah and his colleagues concluded that there is now an individualist ideology prevalent in especially what is today described as the ‘developed world’ or ‘global north’. In his point of view this focus on the individual rather than the wider society or the global community infers with the development of commitment at many levels which can hinder the development of sustainable solutions for our planet. In a globalised world it seems possible that this can spread in all corners of the world now.
In a slightly different vein, an influential paper by the social psychologist Vlad Griskevicius et al (2012) argues that our human tendencies are not always prone to embrace sustainable behaviours. In fact, the authors suggest that effective strategies must work with, rather than against, evolved human tendencies. Yet others argue that we are inherently selfish and will always favour ourselves and our immediate environment (see e.g. here).
One might think that in this view we are, put simply, not equipped to overcome global issues and achieve goals such as the SDGs.
I find all these possible explanations intriguing and there is certainly some truth in all of them but I also believe in the adaptability, deep-rooted curiosity and ingenuity of us humans.
However, no matter if we live in a globalised, highly-connected world or not, we won’t be able to embrace global challenges without a global mindset.
Global challenges need global mindsets.
An often used quote that is referred to Albert Einstein states that “[w]e cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them”. So how do we harness this ingenuity that we humans have proved to possess so often in human history for goals worth pursuing such as the SDGs, and contribute to a more joint-up approach that will allow us to create a more sustainable world?’ I believe that one of keys lies in experience and collaboration.
During my time studying in Latin America I was able to travel this beautiful continent. I experienced first-hand what impact we already have on our planet which eventually motivated me to work in sustainable development. In the years that followed I explored different avenues on how to collaborate with others and to drive change for sustainable development.
I had, and still have, the great privilege to work with people from all around the world on a common course: the determination to leave the planet a bit better than we found it. One of the main findings for me is that there is a strong need for interdisciplinarity and inter-sectoral collaborations which can be best pursued if one possesses some level of system thinking and a global mindset. This mindset can be nurtured through experiences with other people that might not share the same nationality, language, skin colour, background and approach, but an open mind to embrace opportunities, to learn, to unleash potential, and to pursue together a common goal. Or, in the case of the SDGs, 17 goals.
The famous American anthropologist Clifford Geertz wrote in his 1983 book Local Knowledge that “to see ourselves as others see us can be eye-opening. To see others as sharing a nature with ourselves is the merest decency. But it is a far more difficult achievement to see ourselves amongst others, as a local example of the forms human life has locally taken, a case among cases, a world among worlds”.
In three days the #UNLEASHLAB will start with 1000 #SDGTalents from all over the world to work on #EDUCATION & #ICT issues, #ENERGY, #FOOD; #HEALTH, on #SUSTAINABLECONSUMPTION & #SUSTAINABLEPRODUCTION; on #URBANSUSTAINABILITY and #WATER challenges.
It is a massive opportunity to collaborate, to learn, to share, to exchange and to nurture global mindsets that have the potential to change the world for the better.
I can’t wait!
