Our collective inaction on this front is particularly obvious in developing countries. The differences between North and South are stark. Energy conservation, for example, is an everyday concern that most Europeans can address with off-the-shelf products. Villagers in many parts of India, on the other hand, still spend upto four times the amount of fuel actually needed to fire bricks for the most basic of human desires - a home; yet, a technology does exist that can produce better bricks, while drastically reducing the energy consumption and green house gas emissions, at the same time. There are hundreds of such examples.

Globalisation has, in the last decade, added to the complexity of local and national economic models, within which solutions must be found. Conventional wisdom maintains that large scale industry will supply the goods and services needed by people in a clean, efficient and cost-effective manner. Our conviction is that this is not possible. There has been a considerable progress in the manufacturing efficiency but that is about all. In any case, these efficiencies are derived from increasing the degrees of automation. Large sections of our society are marginalised and end up having no real purchasing power. In effect, the very nature of technology used puts a cap on the extent to which economic development can take place. Material intensities, mass movement of resources, transport energy and distribution costs associated with such scales of manufacturing and marketing will continue to be at levels that nature cannot support.

Are there any alternatives? Sustainability on a global scale must be driven by a mix of clean and efficient production systems at all scales, including the micro and small, that create jobs by the millions. And these jobs must be productive enough to improve people’s incomes. Essentially, developing societies will need a large number of technology based sustainable livelihoods.

Development work in sustainable building materials and technology has thrown up results which, when multiplied on a large scale can have astonishingly significant impact. Over 200 Micro Concrete Roofing tile enterprises have, for example, been set up in the last five years in rural areas with private investments of about Rs. 90,000/- each. Each enterprise produces 4,000-5,000 square metres of durable roofing per year, employs 5-8 persons, saves 40-60% energy over its nearest competing product, the fired clay tile, and is profitable. At a national market share of only five per cent, 3000-4000 such enterprises could be set up in India and serve the needs of people in areas large industry would find impossible to reach.

The more important aspect is perhaps not the products or technologies themselves but the manner in which they have, in some cases and can in many more, be developed and mass disseminated. This is where independent sector organisations play a key role in their own right and by networking with the academia, government, funding agencies and private sector.