Inside-out sustainability: The neglect of inner worlds

Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

Authors

In the context of continuing ecosystem degradation and deepening socio-economic inequality, sustainability scientists must question the adequacy of current scholarship and practice. We argue that pre-occupation with external phenomena and collective social structures has led to the neglect of people’s ‘inner worlds’—their emotions, thoughts, identities and beliefs. These lie at the heart of actions for sustainability, and have powerful transformative capacity for system change. The condition of people’s inner worlds ought to also be considered a dimension of sustainability itself. Compassion, empathy and generosity, for example, are personal characteristics that mark individual expressions of sustainability. Sustainability science must take inner life more seriously by considering how language shapes and is shaped by paradigms about the world, prioritising enquiry into how spirituality, contemplation and sustainability transformation relate, and encouraging scholars and practitioners to intentionally cultivate their inner worlds to strengthen inner resources necessary for addressing sustainability challenges.

Original languageEnglish
JournalAmbio
Volume49
Issue number1
Pages (from-to)208-217
Number of pages10
ISSN0044-7447
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 01.01.2020

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2019, The Author(s).

Documents

DOI

Recently viewed

Publications

  1. Management of change
  2. Mobbing im Arbeitsleben und in der Schule
  3. Digitale Musikproduktion
  4. Harmonising biodiversity conservation and food security in southwestern Ethiopia
  5. "Green-ness" Can Be Measured
  6. Biocultural approaches to sustainability
  7. The Quality of the KombiFiD-Sample of Enterprises from Manufacturing Industries: Evidence from a Replication Study
  8. Wie der pädagogische Eros erfunden wurde
  9. Teacher Education for Sustainable Development
  10. Professionspfade in der Gesundheitsförderung.
  11. Agriculturally productive yet biodiverse
  12. Carnivores’ contributions to people in Europe
  13. "So was gibt's vielleicht, wenn's um die Todesstrafe geht"
  14. Lehrerqualität zwischen Kompetenz und Ethos
  15. Palaeogeography and palaeoecology of Carabus auronitens (Coleoptera)
  16. Research on the social perception of invasive species
  17. Woody plant species diversity as a predictor of ecosystem services in a social–ecological system of southwestern Ethiopia
  18. Das neue tschechische Kartellrecht
  19. Lehrerqualität zwischen Kompetenz und Ethos
  20. Erziehungssystem
  21. Vergleichende Politikwissenschaft
  22. Werkstattheft - Mit Parkettierungen, Formen und Symmetrien experimentieren
  23. The artistic spirit of cities
  24. Life cycle assessment (LCA) of a novel solid-state recycling process for aluminum alloy AA6063 chips via direct hot rolling
  25. Von der Präsenzmasse zur statistischen Masse
  26. Do Nonprofessional Investors Value the Assurance of Integrated Reports?
  27. Jobmotor Mittelstand?
  28. Non-material contributions of nature expressed by former tourists of Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania
  29. Community Energy in Germany
  30. Peter H. Reid. 2020. Every Hill a Burial Place