Javier Benayas: “Western society has reached its ceiling”

“Usually 10% are excited about sustainability, another 15% are interested, but what do we do with the remaining 75%?” This is the question asked by Javier Benayas, Professor of Ecology at the Autonomous University of Madrid (UAM) and member of the Advisory Council of the Spanish Network for Sustainable Development. A question that still has no answer, although it may be in education.

Environmental education landed in Spain with television. The mythical programs of Félix Rodríguez de la Fuente on La1 on Televisión Española opened the doors of nature to viewers. Then came the first conferences on this subject, but it was not until 1990 when it was really installed in the educational curriculum as a subject. “It was incorporated, but only the most conscientious teachers applied these issues,” says Benayas. Back to square one: how do you become aware?

“In our day to day, the best way to raise awareness is by setting an example”, highlights the Professor of Ecology at the UAM. “Since we get up, we make decisions,” he says. “And these may or may not be sustainable.” From the choice of coffee to starting the car powered by diesel or gasoline or moving around with an electric vehicle. «With the word and the messages you reach in a very limited way» he emphasizes. “Politicians and technicians have the opportunity to influence their decisions,” he adds.

According to a study by the World Economic Forum, the Spanish population is applied in terms of sustainability and the country ranks eighth in the world for the number of citizens, who declare that they have changed their day-to-day habits out of responsibility towards the environment. “The new generations come with higher values ​​than the previous ones,” says Benayas. However, according to this same report, two out of ten Spaniards say they have not changed any habit in their life in favor of it. “You have to offer incentives,” he explains.

Sustainable equals expensive?

A stimulus that goes through “economic priority or benefits to those people who bet on this model.” An ecological purchase is more expensive than a traditional one, the price of an electric vehicle is higher than a combustion one. “The alternatives that we are generating are more expensive than the non-sustainable ones,” says the professor at the Autonomous University of Madrid, but he has a quick answer: “If we all use them, they will be cheaper.”

This capacity for decision and influence “is in the hands of politicians,” says Benayas. “The population must be made aware,” he adds. “Western society has reached its ceiling, it has no future.”

The use of natural resources has skyrocketed since the 1970s, according to the United Nations. In the last half of the 20th century, the world population has doubled – with forecasts of reaching 9,300 million inhabitants in 2050 – and the extraction of materials has tripled, a process responsible for 90% of the loss of biodiversity and generating half of the climate impacts. “We are wasting resources,” she warns.

Why haven’t we learned to live from the sun? The member of the Advisory Council of the Spanish Network for Sustainable Development wonders. “Our entire planet depends on solar energy, why not us?” he denounces.

An unsustainable roadmap that “attracts us to a giant meteorite that we ourselves are building.” In the 1950s, reveals Benayas, 70% of the consumption of resources were renewable and “could be replenished”, now “it is only 20%”. “It’s unsustainable.”

The enormous amounts of plastics and chemical products produced by humanity exceeded the bearable planetary limits. “The planet has a fever and is sick, all the experts say so,” warns Benayas, “but we are still the same.”

However, he is optimistic. “We have been able to agree that we have 17 problems and they have been reflected in the 2030 Agenda,” he reveals. Now, “you have to educate,” he emphasizes. “I would like students or people to get involved in solving some of the 17 problems of the 2030 Agenda, so they would contribute to helping society.”