Need for “SEA” Change amongst Sustainability & Environmental Activists

Now that the United States President and his First Lady have declared themselves “Activists”, the activist is once again a respectable member of society; and it is from this respectable position that I want to reflect on the relationship between sustainability and environmental activists.

On the radio recently – I think in the context of Severn Barrage Saga – the Chairman of the UK Commission for Sustainable Development (who support a barrage), Sir Jonathon Porritt, distinguished himself from “environmental activist” organisations like the Royal Society for the Protection of the Birds (who oppose a barrage), as, primarily, a “sustainability” activist.

For my own part, I have noticed a great many “sustainability suits” – many of them stuffed ! – in recent years and, I would suggest, quite a number of these work for and with the good Sir Jonathon, although I would not include him amongst them.

The fact is that those of us who are genuinely concerned about the future of the planet – and who are acting locally, as well as thinking globally – need to be both sustainability and environmental activists. A good starting point for this is some understanding of Sustainability Appraisal and Strategic Environmental Assessment or SEA.