ABSTRACT
Having arrived at the penultimate chapter of this book you should have a clearer understanding of how the structures and processes shaping past and present societies cause them to develop in more or less sustainable ways. Previous chapters have suggested some sustainable alternatives to current realities, but this chapter hopefully offers more coherent and considered grounds for cautious optimism. It begins by considering the contradictions of our current environmental predicament and then links the prospects for future sustainability to new forms of global governance and citizenship. Such governance would restructure the rights and responsibilities of private corporations, governments, groups within civil society and individual citizens, and consideration of ecological modernization, together with the UK government’s strategy for sustainable development, suggests that it should go beyond reformism. Only by radically democratizing economic, political and cultural structures of power, and revitalizing civil society, can we move to sustainable societies in which people are content to live within ecological limits because they recognize the virtues of simplicity and frugality. Geographers have roles to play in guiding such a transition to sustainability, and the chapter concludes by considering some of the contributions they are making and challenging readers to act on some of the critical ideas presented in this book.
