Air As Water

The fundamental problem of sustainability is that there has been a failure to understand the complexity of life on Earth. This is because of the tendency to divide and reduce analysis to component parts. If we looked at the relationship between things rather that the things themselves we would see that things only have meaning by virtue of context.

It is the spaces between things that give meaning to life and lend possibilities for dynamism, action and change. It is in the silence of space that we will hear ourselves. And 'space' is a misnomer; we are talking about relationships and connectivity. It is no wonder that there is so much synchronicity about. The fungal specialist, micro-biologist Alan Rayner, has written that our problem is that air is too thin – we take it for granted. If we think of ourselves as swimming in water (and the chemical difference between air and water is not too far) then we will feel the connectivity more distinctly. This analogy will be most apparent to anyone reading this on an aircraft at 8,000 metres – you are hoping that the air has some density and connectivity and that gravity prevails. The former means that you should have a smoothish ride and the latter that your plane does not fly off into space. So, some fundamental rationalist scientific understanding is, in this case, reassuring.

Approaching the sustainability from disparate angles means not assuming that it is easy to identify heroes and villains – personal or corporate. It does not assume that we know where we are going. It does assume that humans share similar conditions. We share the same delicate, beautiful, intricately balanced planet twirling through space. We share the same cosmic angst, never quite sure why we are here. We share our humanity and all our pasts, presents and futures. We have one soul and one collective unconsciousness.

So, it seems that the themes that now present themselves in the field of sustainability and corporate responsibility are:

• The relationship between human activity and the natural environment, represented in the debate around sustainable development;
• Governance and accountability for, and transparency in, decision-making in business and government;
• The contrast between talking to people and talking to organisations, and the disconnect that occurs;
• The relationship and discourse (and lack of) between the corporate business world, public policy making and local communities;
• The development of networks, network organisations, universal values and the clash with places and territory;
• The use and abuse of power, and the apparent power vacuum in many contemporary global-local situations;
• And, most confusingly, that sometimes things just seem to happen without due rhyme or reason. Either this means that nobody is willing or able to take responsibility or that the most powerful force is at play – synchronicity. This means we must acknowledge the lessons of complexity and embrace ambiguity, paradox and surprise. This requires greater humility and conviviality on the part of humans towards each other and towards planet Earth. We are swimming in water and floating through the air.

This is an extract from chapter one of 'Raising A Ladder To The Moon: The Complexities of Corporate Responsibility' by Malcolm McIntosh, published in June 2003 by Palgrave Macmillan. Copies of the book can be ordered through www.palgrave.com

Malcolm McIntosh is Adjunct Professor of Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability at Waikato Management School. He also teaches corporate citizenship and sustainability at the universities of Bath, Bristol, Nottingham in the UK and at Stellenbosch in South Africa. He is Founding-Editor of the Journal of Corporate Citizenship and Special Advisor to the UN Global Compact. He can be contacted on malcolm.mcintosh@btinternet.com