Systemic reflections on environmental sustainability

This paper reflects upon the attempts by society to achieve environmental sustainability on the globe. It starts by considering the ways that the relationships between corporations and society are developing in view of the increasing economic power of the former relative to the latter and gives a brief overview of the nature of the perceived environmental crisis we face. Use is made of the metaphor of the ‘tragedy of the commons’ to illustrate this. Using systems thinking, the problem of the apparent conflict between individual self-interest and the needs of the community for long-term sustainability is explored and thoughts from this perspective about structural requirements for sustainability are developed. Concepts from systems thinking such as the need for autonomy to manage complexity, the parallel requirement for cohesion within recursive systems, the derived concept of citizenship to explore relationships with the community and finally levels of performance are all found to be of value in understanding this most pressing of human problems.