Sustainable Development Insights, No. 1, October 2009

Pushing “Reset” on Sustainable Development
By Alan AtKisson

October 2009 (8 pages)
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This issue explores how to continue accelerating sustainable development in an era of financial collapse and if sustainable development requires a “reset”. The paper concludes, “Perhaps the word ‘reset’ – a return to an original state, in this case the origins of our understanding of sustainable development, in terms of both systems science and social change – is the right metaphor after all.”

Sustainable Development Insights is a series of short policy essays supporting the  Sustainable Development Knowledge Partnership (SDKP) and edited by Boston University’s Frederick S. Pardee Center for the study of the Longer-Range Future. The series seeks to promote a broad interdisciplinary dialogue on how to accelerate sustainable development at all levels.

Alan AtKisson is president of the AtKisson Group, a global sustainability consultancy, and co-president of the International Network of Resource Information Centers, aka “The Balaton Group.” He has worked at the leading edge of sustainability innovation and practice since 1988. His firm’s clinents include global companies, governments, cities, and other organizations committed to sustainability leadership. His most recent book is The ISIS Agreement: How sustainability can improve organizational performance and transform the world (Earthscan, 2008).