Logic

I left my last post saying that sustainable development must be seen as the logical thing to do. Sustainable development is logic. And logic is what will define our actions. The idea of logic has come across me whilst I ponder our current global challenges, which has consequently led me to some philosophical and psychological knowledge. Most notably, Aristotle's views on logic (which I admit I do not know enough) and Freud's views of the impact of civilization on an individuals mindset. Similarly, psychology has also lead me to seek knowledge from conformity, cognitive processes and evolutionary changes (which I briefly mentioned in my post about our current zeitgeist). 

So, ironically I would like to add this philosophical comment: Why are we not committing to live completely sustainable lives? Who are we as humans and why do we behave in the way we do?

In my opinion, logic cannot be taught but is rather the ideology of our minds, collectively. For this reason, I feel that one of our major logical processes is simply to survive. The next is most probably to reproduce, and in being so we can see that we share the same logic as all animals on earth. So where does sustainability fit into our logic? This is perhaps mankind's greatest challenge, because in my opinion living a sustainable life is far down the list on many peoples mind and logical processes. 

Let me take our fundamental logical process and apply it to sustainability. Our desire to survive means that we will seek comfort and food to ensure we remain alive for as long as possible. If this trend is to continue, then theoretically we shall carry on providing ourselves with the 'best' comfort (i.e. housing, cars, clothing) and the best food (i.e. large, luxurious and tasty meals). Unfortunately, the best comforts and foods happen to cause devastating environmental damage and social inequalities. In fact, most of the worlds problems can be attributed to our two main logical processes, the desire to survive and the desire to reproduce. Unless our immediate survival is challenged, I fear we will not act. Unfortunately, when environmental disasters occur it will already be too late to act, posing an enormous challenge for humans to act now despite not being directly threatened. 

I am grateful that there are signs of greater intelligence and logic coming from certain individuals. We are beginning to see a bigger picture outside of our immediate proximity, and we are beginning to see that our ability to survive is enhanced by nature, and not just simply separate from nature. I believe that the intelligence of humanity will be stretched by the sustainability challenge, because it tackles the very core of animal nature. Whether this intelligence and logic will be displayed through a new generation, or simply by an 'awakening' is yet to be seen, but it must happen soon if sustainable development is to be achieved.