The Hare and the tortoise: Metaphorical lessons around sustainability

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dc.contributor.authorMcGookin, Connoren
dc.contributor.authorÓ Gallachóir, Brian P.en
dc.contributor.authorByrne, Edmond P.en
dc.date.accessioned2024-04-19T09:16:27Z
dc.date.available2024-04-19T09:16:27Z
dc.date.issued2021-07-30en
dc.description.abstractThis chapter examines the Aesop’s fable of the hare and the tortoise, its companion classical Roman proverb “festina lente”, and the role that the moral of this story may have in informing contemporary narratives around sustainability. In doing this, four narratives are examined. The first is that of environmentalism as a social movement. This looks at the roots of the contemporary environmental movement since the 1960s, which despite some early promise and (speedy) successes, ultimately left many disappointed in the pervading context of an ever-increasing consumerist society. The second narrative compares climate change experts, who have consistently advocated for acting now and fast, but find that action is held back by overarching socio-economic forces of neo-classical economics, which favour either the status quo or very gradual behavioural change, or profess faith in an ultimate reliance on techno-optimistic “solutions”. The third narrative considers niche activities versus mainstreaming and seeks to demonstrate that though isolated niche initiatives can have their value in demonstrating what works, or doesn’t, it is only through mainstreaming of transformational practices, which necessarily requires more patience and takes longer, that ultimately whole systemic change can occur. Finally, a fourth narrative uses the metaphor of evolving human civilisation as a maturing process; heretofore we’ve acted like children and adolescents, rebelling against old (pre-modern) wisdom, in our need to move fast and party (on cheap energy), but we are now at a stage where we need to metaphorically grow up, get wise, and slow down. To conclude, it is noted that sustainability is not a sprint but a marathon, as with the natural flow of evolution, in which a slow and steady progress (of iteratively learning, making mistakes, and relearning, all as a function of context) may in many respects work for the better.en
dc.description.statusPeer revieweden
dc.description.versionAccepted Versionen
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdfen
dc.identifier.citationMcGookin, C., Ó Gallachóir, B. and Byrne, E. (2022) 'The Hare and the tortoise: Metaphorical lessons around sustainability,' in Hughes, I., Byrne, E. P., Mullally, G. and Sage, C. (eds)., Metaphor, Sustainability, Transformation: Transdisciplinary Perspectives, Oxon: Routledge, pp. 151-166. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003143567-10en
dc.identifier.doihttps://doi.org/10.4324/9781003143567-10en
dc.identifier.endpage166en
dc.identifier.isbn9781003143567en
dc.identifier.startpage151en
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10468/15818
dc.language.isoenen
dc.publisherRoutledgeen
dc.relation.ispartofMetaphor, Sustainability, Transformation: Transdisciplinary Perspectivesen
dc.rights© 2022 selection and editorial matter, Ian Hughes, Edmond Byrne, Gerard Mullally and Colin Sage; individual chapters, the contributors.This is an Accepted Manuscript of a book chapter published by Routledge in Metaphor, Sustainability, Transformation: Transdisciplinary Perspectives on July 30, 2021, available online: http://www.routledge.com/9780367698553en
dc.subjectSustainabilityen
dc.subjectSocietal changeen
dc.subjectEnvironmentalismen
dc.subjectTransformational practicesen
dc.subjectMetaphoren
dc.titleThe Hare and the tortoise: Metaphorical lessons around sustainabilityen
dc.typeBook chapteren
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