Sustainable LEGO

What does power look like?

What does it mean to own something?

What is an equitable and just distribution of "bumps"?

This is a fascinating article that my good friend Kevin sent through to me yesterday. Not only is the story it tells a compelling commentary on social behaviour of children, but also on how dynamic learning can be.

This has strong parallels to Sustainable Development. Many of these concepts (Power, Resource Ownership, Social Justice) are key to an understanding of the various approaches to sustainability. Depending on the world view that one enters the debate, the definition of sustainability can be quite different. Is development sustainable as long as the power balance between North and South remains the same, or is some form of balanced power a prerequisite? Do resources take their value purely from market forces, or do they have some other intrinsic value that must be factored in? Is Sustainability about uplifting the poor primarily, or about protecting Nature?

These are key questions to be asked, and I hope to comment more on this as time goes by, but from a biblical point of view, our meta-narrative is to steward the earth. All humans are created equal in the eyes of God, therefore equality is a pre-requisite. The earth has value because God valued it and called it "good", but not as much value as humankind, who is to "rule" over it. Not rule as in dominate, but rule as in care. So mans needs do come first, but this needs to be done in such a way that Nature is cherished.