Let's Be Proactive, Not Reactive
Updated: Nov 4, 2018
There’s a whole 15 years to achieve the goals, right?
So why do I keep feeling like I’m running out of time?
Well, that’s because there’s ONLY 15 years to achieve the goals.
We have so much to do and so little time. And the key to success is taking initiative. We must be proactive – not reactive.
A perfect example of this occurred a matter of days ago when South Australia lost power.
We need to be looking to the future to predict what problems we might begin to face and implement plans to address these as opposed to fixing problems once they have already occurred and once they have already caused damage to the economy, the population and the environment.
For example, experts have noticed trends in the increasingly sedentary nature of our lifestyles. This means we need to be looking to the future to find solutions to the associated increased risk of cardiovascular disease.
Similarly, we need to be looking to the future with our renewable energy consumption.
We cannot just transition to renewable energy over night. We need to ensure the transition is economically sound. We need to ensure we find jobs for the people currently working in those industries, and we need to ensure their skills are transferable. In the case of the South Australian energy crisis, we need to ensure we have policies and procedures in place to deal with any issues which may arise.
Inherent in sustainable development is the need to be proactive – not reactive. To plan for the future – not react to the mistakes of the past.
Many policy experts are expressing their concern about Australia’s lack of forward planning. The good news for the Australia’s three levels of government is that we actually DO have a plan – The Global Goals.
This plan outlines almost every aspect of development for the next 15 years, so there’s no need to invent the wheel. We now just need to add steps to this plan.
That’s part of our work here at the Global Goals Australia Campaign – meeting with government to discuss how we can achieve the plan already laid out for 2030. And you can be a part of that too!
Why not send a positive letter of encouragement to your local representative at a federal, state or local level to express your gratitude for their leadership and state your support for the Global Goals and the importance of implementing policies and strategies to achieve them!? You can share your success stories with us too!
This article was originally published on the Global Goals Australia Campaign website.