Untitled

community can survive when it satisfies the basic needs of its members, when it
guarantees equality and justice, and when it provides education, technology and
health for its components (social sustainability).
Environmental sustainability, economic sustainability, and social sustainability
are closely linked with each other rather than being individually separated from each
other, and therefore calls for common efforts made by all. By all I mean global
society as a whole, surpassing national borders. This is because in the end, the
social problem is the problem of poverty and development on the global scale, just
as much as the environmental problem is a global one and the economic problem is
a North-South issue. In this light, “common but differentiated responsibility” was
proposed in the Rio Declaration. According to this principle, developed nations must
encourage changes in daily habits and consumption patterns and contribute to
solving the global poverty issue. Similarly, developing nations must go through
changes to achieve sustainable growth in both economy and society.
3. Sustainable Development and Green Growth 48
A. Criticisms against Sustainable Development
So far, the concept of sustainable development was based on the reflection on
our way of life and development. Thus, it emphasizes the paradigm shift to a new
socio-economic system and lifestyle that focuses on ecological principles and an
environmental point of view. Wisely using the natural ecology, which is the basis of
human activities in the economic and social sphere, we may enrich ecology and
human lives, thereby reproducing more developed ecology and society, in a society
rooted on healthy ecology. But until now, the definition of sustainable development,
provided through various channels, has been too simple and too abstract to
overcome its innate complexity and self-contradiction.
Bartemus argued that we must interpret sustainable development as a practical
goal rather than as a concept (Bartemus, 1999). But sustainable development has
been unable to provide a concrete basis for practical measures since the concept
itself is too vague. As many scholars have argued, the description for sustainable
development was too abstract and vague in fact. People were not able to reach
agreement on the concept of sustainable development due to differing
interpretations and a lack of understanding. Communication problems between
relevant stake-holders arose when applying and practicing sustainable development
because each of them emphasized interests of their own according to their positions.
48 This part is a revised excerpt from Geun-ho Lee, Sang-joon Nam, Chan-guk Kim (2009), “Studies on How
to Integrate Green Growth Contents into Curriculum.” 2008. Reply Report for Entrusted Assignment on
Policy Research for the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology.