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13 April

Together, 'sustainable' and 'development' are the two most tedious words in the English language. And sure enough, today's big report from the government's 'sustainable development commission' is packed with phrases like 'key headline indicators', 'overarching commitment to sustainability', 'spatial planning frameworks' and - God help us all - 'actively engage key stakeholders'.

It's worth sticking with this Jonathon-Porritt chaired report a bit further though. It makes some interesting observations: that, as I wrote here a few weeks ago, the use of GDP to measure the state of society is hopelessly inadequate. That an obsession with economic growth can ultimately be damaging (duh!). That despite Tony's Blair's occasional impassioned speech on global warming, our greenhouse gas emissions are increasing. That we have the worst road traffic in Europe, and the government's response to this has been to keep inventing new targets to meet, rather than actually trying to meet the ones they set last time.

There's a smattering of praise for the government in there too, but you'll have to read it yourself to find out why. One good thing, at least, is that this commission exists at all and that, despite its occasional wishy-washyiness, it's doing something to even talk about these things.

Read the report here.

Posted by paul at April 13, 2004 04:42 PM

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