DETAILED ILLUSTRATIONS INSPIRED BY TINGA-TINGA IN ADDRESSING THE ISSUE OF URBAN TRANSPORT CONGESTION IN NAIROBI.

The narratives we develop to make sense of the world play a central role in shaping our decisions about how to solve problems, and they determine whether or not a topic is even put on the table for consideration. Environmental narratives that focus exclusively on the harm humans are causing to the biosphere without equal consideration for human needs are insufficient. Narratives that offer up simple causal models are incomplete because they fail to deal with the interactions among social equity, the economy, and the environment.
Sustainability is a complex phenomenon that does not yield itself to a simple solution or explanation, but achieving a sustainable future is possible if we can change how we think about it. We need to move beyond crisis explanations to ones that focus on our ability to develop scientifically based, adaptive management systems.