Jakob von Uexküll, the founder of the “Alternative Nobel Price” (Right Livelihood Award) and the World Future Council couldn´t be with us during our Co-Creation Workshop but sent us this letter:

What does sustainability mean on a human scale?

I send you my best wishes for your discussions and workshops during this exciting forum. The commitment to such projects of hope and innovation as well as their continuation and follow-up is sustainability in action. It requires continual caring support and mentoring of a project, individual or society in need of guidance and leadership.
Fora such as these are an important step in developing a cross-cultural and cross-disciplinary notion of sustainability. We need to adopt this concept into all aspects of our daily lives; in our relationship with others, our relationship with nature and in the way we conduct our business. We are integral parts of a larger meaningful whole, created and entrusted to protect and improve life on earth.
We are currently facing a very inconvenient truth because some have assumed a right to greed and wealth accumulation much beyond what they require, leaving others with nothing and parts of our precious planet a barren and exhausted shadow of itself. Our global commons cannot continue to be exploited until we reach “global peak everything”. We were entrusted as the most gifted and technologically advanced creatures on this planet to co-operate to guard, protect and improve life on earth. In this we have not yet succeeded.
Our leaders from left to right continue to worship GDPism (i.e. growth fetishism) as the magic answer to all problems and protector from all evil. More perceptive thinkers are now asking how well-being and life quality can be secured in the years A.G. (After Growth). What reforms are required to ease the transition to a steady-state economy and ensure that the sectors which continue to grow (while others shrink) protect our common future?
So far responses to this Earth Emergency from politics, business and civil society have been un-coordinated and declamatory. Strong declarations are made again and again, but achieve very little except revealing the growing gap between words and action.
The rehabilitation of strong, impassioned and effective leadership is now required. Passing on a healthy eco-system to future generations requires not just effective management but first and foremost mutual trust, defining common values and directing change. This is where dialogue and collaboration between key players in the field of Green Entrepreneurship and tomorrow’s global young leaders becomes catalytic.
When challenged, the so-called average person is capable of great dedication and heroism. We are all potential leaders and planetary trustees. We need to empower ourselves as global citizens to take responsibility and to participate in public life. The UN International Year of Youth is about “advancing the full and effective participation of youth in all aspects of society”. You are leaders of tomorrow and recipients of a most sacred trust: our common future.
Every civilisatory advance – the abolition of slavery, female suffrage, civil rights etc. – depended on both a large number of active supporters as well as on a minority willing to take greater personal risks. Such risk-taking as well as inspirational leadership is what our current crises demand of us.

With all my best wishes, Jakob von Uexküll.