Sunsets and Sustainability

It is 10 days till Rio +20 (the UN Conference on Sustainable Development), taking place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Much excitement and controversy, I am sure. But check this out, they have this year done a picture amalgamation of people's views of sustainability. Quite literally. They have asked people to send pictures of what they think a sustainable lifestyle looks like.

It's a really interesting of way of seeing people's thoughts on the matter from all across the world. It's not very well set out or easy to look through all the pictures carefully, but just clicking on a few of them shows three major themes in the uploaded pictures.

There's lots of kids. Kids recycling. Kids planting trees. Kids volunteering or taking part in other sustainable activities / events. That make sense; sustainability / sustainable development is about a world where our children are guaranteed the same earthly privileges we have. It also shows kids taking the reigns: they are the future so it's generally a good thing if they're on board!

Animals of all shapes and sizes are also prevalent. Toucans, frogs, reptiles - all the exotic ones.That shows a strong focus on conservation... which links in well with the final theme, which seems to be most evident throughout the pictures: Nature. Islands, beaches, trees, rivers, lakes, and sunsets. Lots and lots of sunsets. All pretty much uninhabited other than perhaps a few huts or people jumping in the air in a very timely manner.

That tells me that people's 'views' on sustainability is focused on conservation, but perhaps more so on a lifestyle without urban settings. You get a sense of people wanting to 'get back to their natural roots'. Which I guess is an important part of sustainable development, but I can't help but feel there is a disappointing lack of pictures to do with sustainability within the 'non-conservation' area. There are a few pictures of solar panels, I even saw BedZed in there somewhere. Other than that, there's nothing very 21st century about it - which sort of defies the point of sustainable "development" doesn't it? Oh well, better to have sunsets than to have coal power stations!

Tell you what though, all those sunset pictures has made me want to go on holiday.