For more and more people, politics is increasingly divorced from the problems it should be addressing and solving. The evidence is all around us, in food safety and other health scares, traffic congestion and decaying infrastructure, rural decline and urban squalor, natural disasters, loss of species and habitats and the threat of climate change to the very systems that support life itself. The list goes on and, despite, or even because of, increased affluence and consumption, there are growing inequalities within and between societies, and more stress and greater insecurity at work, at home and in the community.
This book explains clearly the “joined‐up” approach that must be taken if government commitment to sustainable development is to become a reality. It shows just how large the “sustainability gap” is between rhetoric and action, and what has to be done to begin to close it. It identifies a series of interlocking problems we face, and proposes a radical agenda of reform in national and international politics and economic policy. The concerted attention and action it advocates, from politicians and the electors they answer to, offers a coherent strategy for reversing the current trends, and regaining quality of life and a shared sense of purpose to our lives and societies.
