Eighteenth International Conference on Environmental, Cultural, Economic & Social Sustainability

Abstract

“Sustainability” is generally considered to be a value on which we can all agree. In this inter-disciplinary study (which includes both a lecture and a live dance performance), I challenge the role that sustainability plays in thinking about our future by tracing its origins within imperialist ideology. I argue that “sustainability” is a term invented by the ruling class with the hope of keeping their current way of life with as few changes as possible. Sustainability conceptually begins with the assumption that we keep the values of dominant Western society today, but just find a way to make that lifestyle more stable so that it can spread, thrive, and last. This ignores the fundamental problem that it is precisely such values that have led to our current crises—from the pandemic to global warming and beyond. The values championed by the status quo (e.g., radical individualism, endless growth, a view of tools as value-neutral, a conception of prosperity based on consumption, etc.) are those that stand in direct opposition to our true mutual flourishing. Along the way I discuss the way in which a phenomenology of technology and an historical tracing of the concept of “energy” help shed light on the problem. And I conclude by pointing to the limits that rational discourse face when up against these problems compared to thinking “with” art. The review concludes with a live Javanese dance performance meant to help us think beyond sustainability as we imagine a radically better future.