Bonn Memorandum 2009
Sustainable Lifestyles
Creating Incentives through Education, the Media, the Workplace and Communal Services
The Bonn Symposium is co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), the State of North Rhine-Westphalia under the programme “Regional Competitiveness and Employment”, the City of Bonn, and the Foundation for International Dialogue of the Savings Bank in Bonn.
The present global crises are an acute expression of long-term negative developments. They are the outcome of a lack of sustainability in economic behaviour worldwide. They therefore have deep-rooted causes, which have also given rise to the need for sustainable development: these causes include structures which create the wrong incentives, and a behavioural culture which has not internalised sustainability. We therefore see no contradiction between measures to safeguard sustainability and measures to tackle the crisis. Rather, we see the present crises as a wake-up call and an opportunity to
initiate long-term reforms towards sustainable development.
Every individual can contribute to this process in their daily lives and work. In order to safeguard our quality of life over the long term, we must rethink our ideas about what constitutes our needs. Harmful habits are still the greatest barriers to sustainable development. Overcoming these habits is the most difficult challenge in making the principle of sustainability a reality.
This is the starting point for the Bonn Memorandum 2009. It provides examples of how incentives can be created for sustainable behaviour, outside the framework of structural reform, in four areas of life: Education, the Media, the Workplace and Communal Services.
Why these four areas?
Education can raise awareness of the need for sustainable behaviour. The media can highlight models (of best practice) and identify practical ways of taking sustainable action. The workplace and communal services have great influence over our daily lives and are therefore ideal forums in which to integrate the economic, environmental and social components of sustainability on an equal basis into our routines.
