OP-ED: Are we moving in the right direction?

The Gulshan-Banani area of Dhaka. Developed? DHAKA TRIBUNE

We preach the need for a broader approach, but keep falling back into simplistic models of development

The Anthropocene refers to the most recent epoch of the Earth’s history. The beginning of the period is sometimes dated back to the agricultural revolution, commencing around 12,000-15,000 years ago. Since then, humans have become the most dominant species on Earth. However, increased human activity has caused dramatic changes to the environment and the planet’s eco-systems, leading to global warming.

Facing enormous ecological crises, we have also realized that our environment is entangled with society, politics, religion, economies, and so on. Unfortunately, however, recent global reports such as the Brundtland Report of 1987 and the more recent ones offer extraordinarily little guidance on how policy-makers could imagine and build on such realizations. Therefore, the deterioration of the environment is not halted, instead it gains pace despite many global initiatives.