Sustainability has become a wide-ranging term that can be applied to almost every facet of life on Earth. For humans, it’s the potential for long-term wellbeing, which in turn depends on the wellbeing of the natural world and the responsible use of its resources.

As populations have grown, use of resources across the globe has becoming increasingly unsustainable.  There is abundant evidence that our footprint is having a negative impact on the planet, but also plenty of scientists that claim the cause of global warming is the sun!  However, it is undeniable that our way of life cannot continue unrestrained without serious repercussions.  Returning our use of natural resources to within sustainable limits will require a major collective effort.  Our cities need to be reorganised to cope with increased populations, we need to reduce pollution and destruction of land, and we need to adopt new technologies and services, such as renewable energy.

As Australians we value our way of life, our backyards and our relatively uncluttered cities.  We want to protect valued aspects of our way of life, the foremost being our sense of safety at home, the amount of green space and our laid-back lifestyle.

While we grasp the fundamental need for change in terms of the way we live and access services given the predicted population growth for our country, there is still great resistance for personal change, particularly in terms of housing styles. There is a clear preference for maintaining current levels of green space by increasing density in already developed areas, which is in complete contrast to the preference of living on a larger property even if it means moving further out of the city! Herein lies the challenge for government at all levels for the next couple of years – to move opinion and actions to one of acceptance of change at a local and personal level.

The challenge we face in reorganising into sustainable cities comes back to the ‘not in my backyard’ mentality.  The majority of Australians (60%) believe that population growth will be positive for the nation as a whole, but we have little willingness to forgo unsustainable living preferences.  We understand it needs to be a collective effort and that individuals as well as government and business have a role to play, but we are looking for leadership.  We are looking to government for guidance on what initiatives to adopt and where to prioritise our efforts.  We need some certainty on where to start. 

This however, will be particularly challenging given the very low ratings all levels of Government have received by the Australian community for their management of population to date – two-thirds of Australians feel that all levels of government have done a poor job in managing growth to date. 

Popularity: 3% [?]