Missed Opportunity?

I have found the theories of sustainable consumption very interesting, particularly nefs approach to restructuring society. However, I have been very disappointed at the efforts to actually implement any significant changes. I realise that some ideas are starting to filter through, things are starting to change, a bit. Any of the proposed changes need to go through the traditional channels before they are passed as legislation or policy but I feel that in itself is already a huge barrier. The problem with these traditional channels is exactly that they are traditional.

Democratic governments practice "short termism" and, even with the new 5 year terms, many of the radical changes take will take longer to implement. Political parties want to retain their position of power, so policy is geared to keep people happy in the short term. This results in governments which are unwilling to feed money into projects which may be cancelled by their successor and instead directs the funds into short term, less effective schemes which often give limited, short term results. We are therefore stuck in a cycle of governments shying away from opportunities to make a real difference and instead opt for quick (limited) wins, instead of making big strides we make tiny baby steps. So how do we break this cycle?

With all the cuts proposed by the new coalition government I feel that we will move even further away from sustainable development, when actually this could have been a great opportunity to change direction. With people looking for a new fresh government and a way out of the recession, the government could have taken the initiative and begun building a new society from the ground up. A year ago many people felt they didn't have much left to loose, and when you feel like that most people are willing to try something new, but instead we are back to business as usual. This opportunity appears lost. In any case, I do not think any of the political parties in contention would have been brave enough to attempt such a radical move.

Sometimes progress needs risk, to try something new, put some of these new ideas into practice and see what happens.