1. The obstacles (to sustainability)

Failure to acknowledge the importance of the problem

• Taking nature and our environment for granted, as with so many other things whose importance we only appreciate when we lose them.
• Assuming an (apparent) incompatibility between our day-to-day concerns (work, leisure,…) and the preservation of the environment. We should not judge the efforts required to be “environmentally sustainable” individually, but collectively as a society.

Failure to establish the mechanisms to correct the problem

• Our representatives’ short cycle in power is not well-suited to address long-term issues.
• Our world system of countries is not well-suited to deal with global world issues: in the COP meetings against Climate Change, countries can not agree in their share of responsibility. A democratic and universal expression.
• There are powerful economic interests by some individuals and corporations (private interests), which benefit from exploiting natural resources in a non-rational way. It is not in the interest of all.