Verein zur Foerderung des CIub of Rome - Austrian ChapterApril 19, 2022, by Dr. Friedrich Hinterberger (Vice President of the Club of Rome – Austrian Chapter)
Now, for 50 years, science and civil society have elaborated and published proposals on how to achieve a good life within these limits. In many places, pioneering pilot projects have emerged that show how it can be done. And politics has been following very hesitantly for some years now. But transformation toward sustainability means changes at all levels, so that eventually the system will change – and consistently for the better! Scientists have also shown this time and again since the publication of the Club of Rome report on the “Limits to Growth” in 1972.
Transformation is possible
That systems also transform in real terms has been shown very clearly in the decades after World War II, when virtually everything that surrounds us has become different than we could ever have imagined. From the economic miracle of the 1950s to the awakening of the 1960s, the “energy crises” of 1970 and 1980, the collapse of “communism” at the end of the “Cold War” in the 1990s, the neoliberalism of the noughties of this century, the revolution through artificial intelligence in the last ten years, which, however, also brought new social movements like the Fridays for Future, to the pandemic and war in Europe, which in part also brought us dramatic regressions. What will the 20s still bring? Will everything be all right – or even worse?
There are suggestions
In the German-speaking world, Ernst Ulrich von Weizsäcker, with his books “Factor 4” and “Factor 5”, but also with the report to the Club of Rome “It’s our turn” (English: “Come on!” – with Anders Wijkman and 30 other members of the Club), has made dozens of proposals on how a social and economic transformation can succeed. But what has happened so far is far from enough, as he explains in his new book, which hits bookstores in May. “That’s not enough” is already its title.
“This is not enough” is exactly the core of our anniversary event on “50 Years of Limits to Growth” on May 2, 2022 in Vienna, at which Ernst Ulrich von Weizsäcker will speak about precisely this.
The book content
The book is about “Enlightenment, Foreign Policy and Affront. What we really need now in the climate crisis,” according to the subtitle. The way we live has a global impact – with a dramatic development. Ernst Ulrich von Weizsäcker views the often national measures and ideas of individual countries with great concern and knows that the challenges today are far worse than they were 50 years ago. With seven points in his book, he calls for decisive action for the good of future generations. For him, what is needed now in terms of climate protection is, among other things, a foreign policy, new economics and a new enlightenment.
Outlook
This article was penned by the Vice President of the Austrian Chapter of the Club of Rome, who will attempt to summarize the event together with Second Vice President Angela Köppl on May 2, 2022.
Further material
For further reading, we link to an article from the taz FUTURZWEI (issue 18), published in September 2021: https://taz.de/Ernst-Ulrich-von-Weizsaecker-im-Interview/!5816477/