Did you know that ? : Lady Jackson

Lady Jackson/Barbara Ward (1914-1981 ) was pioneer in the today’s well known and so important concept: „Sustainable Development”. She was the first who enlight and seed this idea into to the wild public in its today’s known context.

Barbara Mary Ward (1914 – 1981), in later life Baroness Jackson of Lodsworth, was a British economist and writer interested in the problems of developing countries. She urged Western governments to share their prosperity with the rest of the world and in the 1960s turned her attention to environmental questions as well. She was an early advocate of sustainable development before this term became familiar and was well-known as a journalist, lecturer and broadcaster.

With hindsight, Ward is seen as a pioneer of sustainable development. She and René Dubos, co-authors of Only One Earth (ISBN 039330129X), have been described as “parents” of a concept which “did not know its own name at first”. Only One Earth: The Care and Maintenance of a Small Planet was written for the 1972 UN Stockholm conference on the Human Environment.

Ward’s work was rooted in her sense of morality and Christian values. She saw care of the environment and concern for the well-being of all humankind as a “dual responsibility”, especially for anyone sharing her religious outlook. At the same time, she believed wealth distribution combined with conservation was essentially a rational policy: “We are a ship’s company on a small ship. Rational behaviour is the condition of survival.”

Sustainability and sustainable development will be one of the main core subjects of Rio+20 20st anniversary Earth Summit which will be held in June in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. ThinkBrigade 35 young reporters will give you extensive coverage on that even. If you are interested in environment and reading interesting Planet Earth related things pls. follow us.

“Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” (UN Bruntland Report 1987)

Sources:

Wikipedia Biography of Barbara Ward, 14 Apr. 2012.

 “Barbara Ward, Baroness Jackson.” Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2012. Web. 14 Apr. 2012.

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Links:

International Institute for Environment and Development

Book:

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