How will our actions today affect future generations? What would the effect be if we looked not just 50 or 100, but millions of years ahead? And what role does history play in creating a sustainable future? Researchers and practitioners from different subjects and fields of practice gathered at Karlstad University for a 2-day conference to discuss and consider sustainability from different perspectives and in really long-term trajectories.
Time is an important aspect in order to understand what makes societies sustainable as well as unsustainable. During the conference The Temporality of Sustainability, a wide range of issues related to sustainability were discussed, from the challenges of green transition in industry to social sustainability in terms of free-time activities on equal terms. From the individual’s actions in relation to climate change in the present, to how long geological processes can be detected in the landscape.
Difficult future challenges
Nina Wormbs, professor of history of technology at KTH Royal Institute of Technology, talked about the importance of time in our own day and age.
- I think we need to devote more time to thinking and reflecting on time in the Anthropocene because our actions have such long-term consequences. This in itself is nothing new, but the scope is.
Among other things, she focused on the development over time since the 1950s with population growth, more transport and increased energy use, and how the curves for things like carbon dioxide emissions and deforestation are pointing upwards as a result.
- These are difficult and challenging issues. Sustainability is about the future, says Nina Wormbs. Reaching political consensus and implementing effective measures against fossil emissions on a global level is probably the most difficult challenge. This is difficult even in a rich country like ours and there is a clear divide. It’s important that we insist that the future is open and that we can create it.
The importance of creating a narrative
The conference included numerous conversations and discussions, covering topics such as sustainable place development and the role of culture for inclusion and integration. Moa Tunström, human geographer at Karlstad University and director of the Centre for Research on Sustainable Societal Transformation (CRS), took part in the session on the use of history.
- The most important takeaway for me is the importance of narratives in politics, planning and policy development. Sometimes it can be important to have a common narrative about, for example, a place, an event, or a regional development challenge, but at the same time, there is always a risk of neglecting something or someone’s perspective, a time period or culture.
Collaboration and approaches with a long-term perspective
Richard D G Irvine, anthropologist from the University of St Andrews, held a lecture on the necessity and challenges of considerably widening our time perspectives. We tend to be too short-sighted and find it difficult to imagine a society without fossil fuels or fully understand the effects on future generations of things like cement production and nuclear waste storage.
Nina Wormbs agrees and argues that historical studies can also be part of the process.
- You can always learn from putting the times we’re living in and what we take for granted into a larger context. We’ve lived good lives in the past with fewer resources and we can do so again, says Nina Wormbs.
Positive voices were raised about the importance of collaborating on matters of sustainability and bringing different time perspectives into the discussion. Moa Tunström sums it up:
- There is interest from both academia and industry in sharing experiences. And there is a need in society to be both theoretical, empirical and practice-based in relation to sustainability and green transition. For next time, perhaps we can take Irvine’s words and put them into practice – with people who can help us understand the importance of long-term perspectives even more concretely in terms of regional and spatial development. Perhaps by getting geologists and nuclear waste researchers together with officials who work with regional development?
The Centre for Research on Sustainable Societal Transformation (CRS) organised the conference The Temporality of Sustainability together with the Country Administrative Board and Region Värmland.
