As early as 1972, the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, held in Stockholm, Sweden, adopted a declaration listing 26 new principles on human rights and responsibilities towards the environment. This was the first step towards the concept of sustainable development, which the Brundtland Report defined in 1987 as: "Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs."

Yet in the meantime, humanity has caused more damage in the last 50 years than in all the preceding millennia, pursuing economic wellbeing at any cost without thought for the consequences. We live in a "risk society", as German sociologist Ulrich Beck described it in his 1986 essay.

Read also: Alla scoperta della green society, il volume che racconta la sostenibilità italiana

Humanity knows that thinking about the future is essential

Today the global situation demands ever greater attention. The figures are alarming. The concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere has reached a level not seen on Earth in the last 800,000 years. Due to deforestation, between 8 and 13 million hectares of forest are lost every year since 1990. Approximately 1.5 billion people in the world (out of 7.5 billion) have no access to electricity. Today just 1 per cent of the population holds 48 per cent of the world's wealth. Fewer than a hundred of the planet's wealthiest individuals held 1,900 billion dollars in 2016 — the same sum shared among 3.5 billion people, almost half the Earth's population. And it is clear that situations of conflict are closely linked to the economic interests of a few.

Robert Kennedy stated as early as 1968: "GDP includes air pollution… it does not account for the health of our families, the quality of their education, or the joy of their leisure time. It does not include the beauty of our poetry, the strength of our family values, or the intelligence of our public debate. It measures everything, in short, except that which makes life truly worth living."

In reality, human beings are not by nature malicious; they belong to the natural world and to the most evolved order of the animal kingdom, and they know that in an interdependent society it is essential to reflect on the future. It is a moral necessity. Sustainability is part of the human essence — a positive attitude towards oneself and others. It connects one's own system of values with that of others and with everything that surrounds us. It is a sense of responsibility towards communities in which nature and all forms of life are bound together. Sustainability is a process to be created and followed.

Many Italians are interested in sustainability

I have been working on sustainability for thirty years, and I consider myself a long-standing observer. In the 1980s, awareness and knowledge on these issues was extremely low, but everything has gradually changed, especially over the last ten years.

With LifeGate, founded in 2000 to promote sustainability, we have for some years been presenting an Observatory — a survey of a representative sample of Italians on sustainable lifestyles. The 2017 survey draws an interesting profile of Italians segmented by level of engagement with these issues: enthusiasts (29 per cent), interested (30 per cent) and disinterested (41 per cent). The total number of people among enthusiasts and interested combined amounts to 29.7 million Italians, predominantly young women between 18 and 34 years of age. The leading motivation driving Italians to purchase sustainable products is responsibility towards future generations. We have seen that the desire to do good is the new approach that looks towards a better, modern and innovative future.

These figures grow even further within our community, where people are already committed to a new way of living, aligned with a sustainable lifestyle in all the choices they must make every day — and increasingly attentive to social, technological, economic and ecological change.

Depolluting minds before even the air

The global political situation would appear to be swimming against the tide; in the absence of debate, extremisms move in to fill the vacuum. In this context, however, we must not be afraid to dream of a better world — a project in which all of us can participate concretely, with a spirit of sharing and hope. In any case, change is under way: it has begun and is moving quickly. This new awareness will not stop; it can only grow. It is a journey aimed at depolluting minds before even the air. Speaking, informing, communicating, and accompanying people along this path — without boring or frightening them — is no easy challenge. With a positive language it becomes simpler. Focusing on a constructive message rather than on alarmism draws ever more people in rather than pushing them away. It means suggesting what good can be done through solutions and ideas, from theory to practice, where practice consists of the actions each individual puts into effect.

How the world of communication has changed

Over the last twenty years the world of communication has changed enormously, upended by technological development that has called long-established habits into question. There are no longer only print newspapers, radio and television, but also the internet. The social media phenomenon and digital media have had an impact on the ways in which people interact socially, transforming information into something democratic and global.

On 6 August 1991, British computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee published the first website. WordPress, the open-source blogging platform, arrived on 27 May 2003. On 4 February 2004, Facebook was born at the University of Cambridge in Massachusetts; YouTube followed on 14 February 2005, and Twitter on 21 March 2006. On 9 January 2007, Steve Jobs unveiled the first iPhone to the world, ushering in a new era of information from mobile devices. In February of the same year, Tumblr was launched. In October 2010, Instagram was founded and acquired two years later by Facebook. Snapchat, founded in 2011, was listed on the New York Stock Exchange on 2 March 2017 with a valuation of 30 billion dollars.

If in 2010 only 2.9 per cent of users accessed the internet from a mobile device, today 50 per cent of users worldwide browse the web. Every platform has its own language, and interactive users demand truth, credibility, transparency and consistency — and have themselves become "editors" and "influencers". News is shared in real time; the internet is a space in which one can find information, share news, hold conversations, and also raise concerns.

More and more businesses are embarking on paths of sustainability

In this context, companies cannot afford to neglect the safeguarding of their reputation, which is a fundamental resource for any successful business. More and more businesses are embarking on paths of sustainability, developing values and strategies that balance environmental, social and economic impact. Social media can represent a channel of dialogue through which to highlight their good practices, but it can also make them vulnerable if those practices are insincere or fail to create value. Communication must be transparent and grounded in concrete elements, so as not to face accusations of greenwashing. This term, coined in 1986 by American activist Jay Westervely, refers to the creation of an image dressed in "green" in an unjustified and misleading way, far removed from the company's actual policies and practices.

The world, so interconnected through the internet and social platforms, is a great opportunity for change. Millions of people, aligned with the themes of sustainability, can share a common feeling and a new vision of the future even if they live in countries with different cultures and languages. This global exchange can make a difference and change the state of things. If we are witnessing the twilight of a society built on appearances, sustainability is the new paradigm, a story worth telling that values worth in itself and in the community.

Let us learn from plants, which are connected to one another

In nature, too, plants — which already protect the soil, produce oxygen and absorb CO2 — are, according to researchers and scientists, also connected to one another through an intelligent underground network that links their roots, a kind of plant internet made of fungal threads. This symbiosis between plants and fungi makes it possible to link plants together so that they can share nutrients, communicate with one another, exchange information and strengthen their immune systems. Canadian ecologist Suzanne Simard, in her TED Talk in 2016, said: "Forests are not simply a collection of trees; through an underground dialogue they increase the resilience of the entire community."

Cinema drew inspiration from this incredible and magical discovery — we need only recall the 2009 science-fiction film "Avatar" by director James Cameron, in which all organisms are connected through the roots of the trees.

The history of humanity is marked by trees, venerated by the ancients for their presence, considered magical, between earth and sky. The roots of a tree draw nourishment from the earth and sustain it. Humans, too, nourish themselves and put down roots in thoughts, feelings and emotions. Trees differ from one another, yet they know how to coexist in peace and harmony. Their example invites us towards the union of peoples, towards an appreciation of the beauty of different cultures. It leads us to reflect on spiritual values, to the awareness that we are on Earth to create and not to destroy. A tree must be planted in the right place and tended with dedication. Planting seeds of right actions is the way to bring out the best in everything. I have always loved the tree, its form — a mysterious creature with the breeze moving through its boughs — a metaphor for life that holds within it a holistic thinking in which humanity and the environment are links in a chain that cannot be broken. I like to imagine sustainability as a great tree whose roots lie in an area of values and which continues to grow steadily. It is a process, a strategy that will yield leaves, flowers and fruit. And the plant will produce new seeds from which new seedlings will grow. And there, in that image, is change in action and the sense of a better world. Of a sustainable future.