The SDGs in the anthropocene : A Gandhian critique

Today, many people worldwide wear a 17‐color badge to support the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Their goodwill can certainly not be denied, as the badge expresses their compassion for others on the planet. Governments, NGOs, and corporations are so eager to promote the SDGs that these appear to have become the entire humanity's agenda. To that end, however, are we not transgressing the planetary boundary and causing the Anthropocene, a geological era in which humans have completely transformed the earth into an unlivable place for all species? Mahatma Gandhi considered a village‐based India as ideal and asserted that we need to willingly reduce our material wants instead of increasing them. From that viewpoint, in the argument of the SDGs, it may be insufficient for us to only invite people, both in the present and future, to participate in global development; we would also have to question the material abundance monopolized by a handful of people in today's society. It is indeed the rich who need to fundamentally reduce their material wants if we are to enhance the living standards of the poor. Thus, in this article, I would like to present a brief critique of the SDGs from a Gandhian viewpoint.