The consultation approach to issues of work and sustainable societies consciously contradicts values dominating global relationships today. It stems from the conviction that a reorientation of values is key to the necessary transformation of personal, social, economic and political life.

Self-interest is the principal current motivation in economic life. But egocentric individualism is not sustainable for society. In sustainable societies, the dignity of the individual and her/his freedoms are exercised, conditioned, moderated and protected mutually in community. The right and responsibility of democratic participation, including the presently marginalized, requires new processes and institutions to provide real opportunity and means for people to participate proactively in shaping decisions which affect their lives.

The current socio-economic-political order is characterized by atomization and competitive relationships, self-interest and anthropocentrism. Sustainability enjoins recognition that human beings are interdependent parts of a complex web of relationships in the ecosystem which sustains all life. The human family itself is also one, and to be sustainable, it cannot seek a solution for one part at the expense of another. The fundamental human needs of the poor and marginalized must be given priority. Global co-responsibility calls for redistribution and for building relationships and institutions that promote and preserve justice in society.

Rather than competing for resources, this unity requires cooperation and mutual accountability for one another and the earth. This means building up an ethic of caring for one another and a practice of living in such a way that the ecosystem is respected and preserved in all its diversity with inclusive and equitable access to resources.

The search for sustainable development must take into account the importance of historical and regional specificity. Thus, needed changes in relations between industrialized and developing countries must consider each country or region’s uniqueness in the search for alternatives for more employment and sustainable development. Within and between societies, current dualistic patterns of domination and exploitation (men over women, rich over poor, whites over people of color, adults over children, urban peoples over rural ones, industrialized over developing) can be replaced by relationships of reciprocity and equity.

Sustainability cannot be divorced from people’s survival through labor nor ignore the employment needs the poorer people of underdeveloped countries. Job generation should be viewed not only from a quantitative perspective, but also vis-à-vis the quality of jobs generated in terms of safety, working conditions, wages, and the bargaining capability between workers and employers.

Alternatives for a feasible combination of economic growth and sustainable development also hinge on workers' organizations and trade unions with extensive experience in the struggle against poverty. Grassroots organizations living in solidarity with marginalized people should join efforts in defense of the interests of underprivileged sectors.

Today’s preoccupation with short-term needs and goals causes neglect of the future. Sustainability requires that caring attention extend to future generations. We are responsible for the state of the planet in the years after our passing, "borrowing" the earth from our children and our children's children. Meeting short-term needs and goals must not jeopardize the longer term.

1.6 Sustainable life styles

Consumerism and the accumulation of things characterize current economic life, especially in the North. For social and ecological sustainability, a sense of "enoughness", deliberate simplicity, life in harmony with nature and in peace with fellow beings on earth is essential. The present dominance of the economic over other aspects of life must be challenged so that it becomes only one part of life sustenance, along with the development of culture and community life. Improving sustainable living standards means to approach the fullness of life with a new sense of quality not based on accumulation of resource-using quantitative and material growth. Non-commodified definitions of the "good life" are needed to replace the dominant consumerist ones and includes respect for and preservation of the fabric and values of traditional cultures.

Respect for cultural diversity also promotes resistance to standardization of production and consumption models which, in turn, lead to social exclusion and environmental degradation.

Today, channels of information are dominated and manipulated in ways that hinder participation in decision-making about public policy. Much media content fosters harmful consumption and individualistic life styles which, in turn, threaten community life. Sustainable societies need participation, openness and accountability in information access and sharing as well as mutuality in relationships.

The true moral and social responsibility of leadership must go beyond the boundaries of nations and national interest into the context of international perspectives and global interrelatedness and equilibrium.

Arrogance characterizes the uncritical and unbridled pursuit of technological change. Sustainability requires a sense of place and proportion for humanity within the ecosystem and evaluation of how technology is applied in the light of its ecological implications and impact on social and employment relations.

Pessimism dominates the public mood today. The spirit of hope to move toward sustainable societies does not minimize the challenges ahead nor does it assume that responses will always be wise and timely. It is, however, a shared hope, a hope which motivates collaboration in the direction of a vision of socially and ecologically sustainable societies. In the sense of the old proverb: "One must do what one can."

Admittedly, value transformation is in itself a formidable task. For such values to pervade all societies for global ecological and social sustainability, the challenge demands and deserves the committed energy of people everywhere.