Glenn Albrecht is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Environmental and Life Sciences at the University of Newcastle. He has a PhD in philosophy and teaches a number of courses on environmental ethics and sustainability at Newcastle. In addition he undertakes transdisciplinary research in environmental studies and has produced research papers/publications in environmental history, sustainability, environmental politics and ecosystem health. Dr Albrecht has a number of publications in international refereed journals where the focus of his work has been on the ethics and complexity of the relationship between human and ecosystem health. In 2001, with co-authors, he produced a book on Health Social Science: A Transdisciplinary and Complexity Perspective with Oxford University Press. In addition to his academic work, Dr Albrecht has sat on the first NSW Council for Environmental Education and has been involved in conservation projects in the Hunter Region and state-wide. He was foundation secretary of the internationally renowned Wetlands Centre at Shortland in Newcastle.

Abstract for "Failing the Test of Sustainability in NSW".

Australia and its States and Territories have one of the best policy frameworks for sustainability anywhere in the world. NSW has the most ecologically literate Premier in Australia on sustainability issues. Despite both these positives, Australia and the State of New South Wales are heading rapidly down the path of non-sustainability. The problem is that those responsible for implementing our National Strategy for Ecologically Sustainable Development (1992), its related Intergovernmental Agreement on the Environment (1992) and all state and federal environmental legislation have systematically ignored and diluted the principles of ESD to satisfy short-term political and economic interests. Genuine sustainability, which takes seriously the protection of the ecological foundations of all life, including human social life, has been sacrificed as the interests of, for example, property developers, mining and construction companies and agribusiness bring into play what in1966 the economist Alfred Kahn called "the tyranny of small decisions". Without a focus on holistic indicators of sustainability such as ecosystem health and ecological footprint analysis, we will fail to appreciate the cumulative impact of thousands of seemingly ‘innocent’ assessments and decisions that affect the environment until it all becomes too late. Such holistic and cumulative indicators of sustainability are now available and the next challenge for environmental education is to educate politicians about what I call the liberation of holistic decisions as the solution to the problem of mal-development and non-sustainability.

Glenn Albrecht PhD

Senior Lecturer in Environmental Studies,

School of Environmental and Life Sciences,

The University of Newcastle,

Australia, 2308.

Phone: 0249 216635

Fax: 0249 215877

Email: Glenn.Albrecht@Newcastle.edu.au