Making sustainable develoment ideas operational

Deposite dwith permission of the author. © 2004 Quentin George Farmer-BowersThe purpose of the thesis is to develop a General Technique (GT) for use by investigators as a template to help devise investigation programs applying sustainable development ideas (SDIs) to presenting-issues, in order to create ideas for sustainable development actions (SDAs). SDIs are the ‘ideals’, of behaviour for relations amongst people (people-matters) and between people and the environment of the planet (planet-matters) having ancient origins yet being constantly reinterpreted. SDAs are actions that synergistically deliver SDIs in both people-matters and planet-matters concomitantly. The GT was devised in a learning cycle involving theory development and practical experience. The theory of the GT uses a systems-thinking approach to set out the blocks of information necessary to apply SDIs to a presenting issue. The mental model used in the GT is based on the concepts that people are dependent on the planet and that every individual and their actions count. The GT has a Preliminary Step and four Tasks. The Preliminary Step establishes the relationships between the roles of stakeholders and the presenting-issue using a ‘4-group-stakeholder theory’;; group 1 are agents/individuals, groups 2 and 3 are organisations that operate in planet-matters and people-matters respectively, and group 4 are the general public/future generations. Everybody has group 1 and 4 roles and employed people play roles 2 and 3. Task 1 investigates the actions and agents that are fundamental in the presenting issue.Task 2 investigates the agents’; motivations to take up opportunities in both people and planet-matters. Motivations are based on the agents’; desire to satisfy the fundamental human needs (FHNs) of their family. Task 3 investigates: (a) the opportunities in people-matters and planet-matters, using a theory that posits that critical resources and critical arrangements are required for the delivery of FHNs in the very long-term. (b) The involvement stakeholders’; groups have in these opportunities.Task 4 reviews: (a) the success of groups 1 and 4 stakeholders in getting their FHNs met in the long-term and how successful stakeholder groups 3 and 4 are in helping them and why. (b) The maintenance of critical resources compared to the level needed to maintain all life forms and life system on the planet. (For complete abstract open document