The Future Begins in Our Encounters
Johannes Kronenberg has been researching and working on sustainable development and its spiritual and anthroposophical dimensions for seven years. Now, he’s establishing a field of work for this within the Section for Agriculture. Wolfgang Held joined him for a conversation.
Wolfgang Held: What does sustainability mean?
Johannes Kronenberg: Sustainability or sustainable development is a young discipline that has been institutionalized worldwide over the last forty to fifty years. Initially, it meant using “resources” in a way that preserves their natural, regenerative capacities. The classic example is forestry or fishing: only cut down as many trees as will grow back; only catch as many fish as the population can replenish. These activities have an eye towards the future, so we also say they create a future fit for our grandchildren. In the classic model, sustainable development spans three main areas: the ecological, social, and economic dimensions. Climate change, for example, has ecological and social dimensions because many people living on the coasts will have to leave their homes. Of course, there are also economic consequences. So, it’s clear that these three areas are closely interconnected. Our actions become “worth living for” when they are social and ecological, they become “viable” when they are ecological and economical, and they become “fair” when they are social and economic. If all three apply: fair, viable, and worth living for, then it’s sustainable.
This can hardly be said of today.
That’s why it’s about a transformation of the economy, social life, and ecological life. There are many possible solutions, many models, and well-developed technologies. So, we could actually overcome poverty or malnutrition; we could stop climate disruption and the extinction of species—but it’s not happening. There’s a fundamental gap in our actions, a “mind-behavior gap.” Our behavior does not correspond to our conscious awareness. Understanding something and recognizing it does not yet bring us to act. This has led sustainability researchers to speak about an interior dimension of sustainability, which includes our values, beliefs, etc. This is where a transformation must take place.
Even the pioneers of sustainability, the Club of Rome—a worldwide association founded near the beginning of the 1970s whose members are focused on ecology and guiding entrepreneurs—recently emphasized the idea that we need more than technical solutions. We need to see the spiritual dimension of human beings—as is becoming more and more clear today—if we want to understand why we don’t change our actions despite becoming aware of the need. More environmental activists have come to this conclusion. Paul Kingsnorth, for example, in 2018, said that he never thought he’d find himself declaring publicly that the ecological crisis is ultimately a spiritual crisis and that everything else is only a symptom of this deeper reality. I would say it’s a crisis of “Know thyself,” where the relationship to the self, to others, and the world and environment should be built up and revitalized instead of being broken down and called into question.
This text is an excerpt from an article published in the (online exclusive) Goetheanum Weekly. You can read the full article on the website. If you are not yet a subscriber, you can get to know the Goetheanum Weekly for 1 CHF./€.
read moreImage Johannes Kronenberg. Foto: Xue Li