Davos 2012: Reasons to be optimistic(?)

There shall be transformation, or so goes the dictum of this year’s World Economic Forum – the annual meeting of the powerful, the smart and the wealthy in Davos, Switzerland. Never, it seems, were times as dire as now, resources that scarce and solutions so urgently needed. Even in the darkest of times, however, there is a glimpse of light – i.e. room for optimism, at least according to Aron Cramer, a sustainability practitioner reporting from the meeting for the Guardian Sustainable Business pages. In his view, “if Davos can marry the 21st century innovation models to the 20th century institutions that remain crucial to our well-being, it will prove to be a great success”. Considering that the general public’s confidence in its political leaders is at a historic low in the developed world, few would expect answers to seep through top-down hierarchies. Rather, “the dynamic pace of change from the bottom up will generate new models that will redefine economic vitality and well-being, and help us jump-start a sustainable growth model”, he writes.

“The dynamic pace of change from the bottom up will generate new models that will redefine economic vitality and well-being, and help us jump-start a sustainable growth model.”

Likewise, holding politicians and business leaders accountable for the climate and resource mess that we increasingly find ourselves in would be ignoring the power of our all purchasing decisions and consumption habits. Too much food (check this blog post for more), electricity and water are wasted due to unsustainable behavior or – in case of the later – outdated infrastructure. Hence, becoming more resource efficient (food, energy, water,…) might end up being the easiest, best (and probably only) option to prepare for a world where the very same resources will become more and more expensive and sought-after.

In the meantime, the World Economic Forum has come to an end. Despite economic sustainability having been an important part of the agenda, radical new thinking was missing, as Chandran Nair, founder and CEO of the Global Institute For Tomorrow, laments in his summary of the event for the Guardian. All-too busy were conference participants discussing the ongoing Euro crisis, leaving little room for looking at the systemic root of the issue. With two billion Asian and African people striving for European like middle class comfort in the near future, who will pay what for the natural resources available? No doubt, there is no shortage of questions for the World Economic Forums to come.

Picture credit: World Economic Forum, creative commons, Flickr

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• Davos 2012: IMF issues austerity warning (direcmood.wordpress.com)
• Cameron tells Davos: Germany must be bold over eurozone crisis | Politics | The Guardian (dralfoldman.wordpress.com)
• Kumi Naidoo: Davos Failed to Address Fundamentals — Will the Next Earth Summit in Rio? (huffingtonpost.com)