Because I don’t think of myself like that. I consider myself inquisitive, willing to take risks and live life to the full, cosmopolitan, socially networked, urban and innovative. So why, in a society which lives far beyond its means, is austerity as a lifestyle often ridiculed as backward, rather than seen as a future-oriented alternative?
Frequently I find myself referring with a touch of irony to my “old-fashioned” way of life. And I secretly hope no one’s laughing when, for lack of a smartphone, I seek out a timetable at the station. I’ve also made up excuses for cancelling academic invitations that would have involved a flight, without giving my real reason.
Don't get me wrong – I stand up for my convictions in my job and in everyday life. It’s just that no scientist likes to be considered anti-progressive.
Designing a sustainable tomorrow
Our society has somehow forgotten how to debate about alternative ways of life and social utopias. Hopefully, with the climate youth movement, things will soon change. We’re entering a decisive decade, and if we want to radically reverse CO
2
emissions, resource consumption and species extinction, then we have to talk about system change and the consequences for our everyday lives.
While many of us hope that scientific progress alone will magically solve the problems, this will be hardly possible – and certainly not for the billions of people in developing and emerging countries who too dream of the promises of the consumer society. Technological innovations and digitalisation might indeed provide solutions, but what we urgently need are social innovations: new forms of living and an ecological economy. In short, we need visions for a sustainable society.
