ENG / SLO

Pozdravni nagovor predsednika Programskega odbora konference zasl. prof. ddr. Matjaža Muleja, Inštitut IRDO

(avtor fotografije: Gašper Cvetič, konferenca IRDO 2019.)

Welcome Address
to the 15th IRDO Conference on Social Responsibility

Matjaž Mulej

According to official data quoted in a contribution to this conference about one half of the current global GDP depends on nature, the availability and quality of which depends of sustainability, reaching beyond the concept of sustainable development, even beyond the concept of sustainable future – to cover SUSTAINABLE BEHAVIOR of all of us billions of humans living now.

We humans of today and of the coming generations need to expand the notion of corporate social responsibility to the concept of SOCIETAL SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY, including both the CORPORATE and INDIVIDUAL responsibility for ones’ influences over society, meaning our own COMMON SURVIVAL now and tomorrow, here and elsewhere on this beautiful, but LIMITED PLANET.

Contributions to this conference are making us aware that the global humanity is striving at the SOCIALLY RESPONSIBLE SOCIETY via our most global organization, the UNITED NATIONS and its SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS. These goals should better be called HUMANKINDS SUSTAINABLE BEHAVIOR GOALS, aimed at humankind’s survival.

Too many decisive, not only influential persons and organizations, including MINISTRIES OF ENVIRONMENT AND SPATIAL PLANNING are facing crucial and very demanding dilemmas, such as INVESTMENT that is found necessary for the so called ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT on one hand, and the growing number of INHABITANTS OF THE PLANET EARTH and their/our need for HEALTHY ROOM TO LIVE, FOOD, WATER AND AIR, on the other hand.

Agricultural land is shrinking to make room for new investment. If nature destroys nature, this is called DISASTER; if humans destroy nature, this is called PROGRESS, DEVELOPMENT.

But we humans cannot eat new buildings, larger apartments, capable computers and other tools. Social responsibility does not include WORKFARE REPLACING WELFARE, or the current reduction of HEALTHY AIR to only EIGHT percent of humankind; etc.

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT concept has not favored health over growth of exploitation of health, neither prevention of the need for medication over development of medical facilities. SURVIVAL OF HUMANKIND DEMANDS SUSTAINABLE BEHAVIOR AND FUTURE.

It the new CORONA VIRUS CRISIS has done anything good in Spring of 2020, it has shown that the ENVIRONMENTAL problems really are MENTAL problems and causes by HUMANS rather by nature outside human influence.

And so on. We, members of the IRDO - Institute for the development of social responsibility are glad to see that the SYNERGY OF RESPONSIBILITY FOR INFLUENCES OVER SOCIETY, OF INTERDEPENDENCE AND HOLISTIC/INTEGRAL/COMPREHENSIVE APRROACH can be attained and generate benefit. We are proud to make our contributions, this time by adding finding of fifty authors to the more than one thousand authors speaking and publishing in our fifteen conferences. We should also mention authors publishing in our beyond twenty further books. And hope for more good practices, which are much more numerous than described in public media, because they tend to report more on problems resulting from SOCIAL IRRESPONSIBILITY and needed action to be solved. Humans are by nature causing and solving problems.

But now the only period of several decades of a rapidly growing easy life after millennia of less easy life is running out of resources. SOCIALLY RESPONSIBLE BEHAVIOR MUST REPLACE THE SPOILED BEHAVIOR OF THE 15 PERCENT of humankind EXPERIENCING THE CRISIS OF AFFLUENCE. WELFARE INCLUDES MUCH MORE THAN CONSUMPTION BEYOND REAL NEED. SYSTEMIC BEHAVIOR MUST REPLACE THE ONESIDED ONE FOR HUMANKIND TO SURVIVE. The United Nations’ sustainable development goals are very good criteria, once they BEHAVIOR GOALS AND PRACTICES rather than limited to growth beyond natural limit, wrongly called development.

Many cordial thanks for your cooperation, attention to these challenges, worry and action!