*Article* **Gandhi and Sustainability. An Attempt to Update Timeless Ideas**

**Wilhelm Guggenberger**

Faculty of Catholic Theology, University of Innsbruck, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria; wilhelm.guggenberger@uibk.ac.at

**Abstract:** Linking Gandhi and sustainability may seem like a fashionable gimmick at first glance. However, if sustainability is understood in a holistic way, as a transformation of human–environment relations as well as of social and economic structures, this image changes. If one also takes seriously that Gandhi's understanding of non-violence does not only include the avoidance of physical violence, but a fundamental attitude in different areas of life, such as economy or the use of technology, it becomes clear that sustainability, as it is currently being promoted by the United Nations in *Agenda 2030*, and Gandhi's concept of *satyagraha* pursue identical goals. Gandhi, as well as elements of the Christian ethical tradition, can enrich political programs with a spiritual dimension, without which profound changes in human attitudes will not be possible.

**Keywords:** Gandhi; sustainability; nonviolence; Catholic social thought; alternative development

This text deals on the one hand with Mohandas K. Gandhi's significance for the issue of sustainability and on the other hand looks for traces of this issue in Gandhi's thinking. Why this choice of topic? Gandhi is known for having led India to independence, but arguably not as a leading figure in sustainability thinking. In the first line, he is revered as a hero of non-violence. That Gandhi's ideas could also be important in an environmentalist context has only been discovered in recent years (Syal and Kumar 2020; Allen 2019). One could now argue that such a discovery is not at all appropriate to reality. Would it not be possible either that a current buzzword is attributed to an idealized figure or that this figure is being misused as a figurehead of the current environmental and climate-protection movement to give it an additional boost? Either one side or the other would then be misused as a publicity stunt.

At first glance, this perception may seem justified. If we look at things a little more closely, I guess we can see that this is based on two misconceptions. One misunderstanding concerns a too-narrow understanding of sustainability, the other concerns the interpretation of non-violence (*ahimsa*) in the sense of Gandhi. To provide argumentative support for this claim, I will first discuss the term sustainability, which is used so frequently—if not inflationary—today and then have a look at Gandhi's understanding of non-violence and its realisation in this context. Ultimately, it should be possible to show that Gandhi's thinking, particularly his concept of *sarvodaya* and the challenging project of sustainability overlap in many ways. I therefore advocate that Gandhi's thinking be used as a source of inspiration for the global transformation process that we are currently facing. Moreover, it will also be shown, at least to some extent, that there are clear parallels between Gandhi's approach and the tradition of Christian social ethics. This is significant because it shows that spiritual impulses from different origins can contribute to bringing sustainability goals to life in the world society. Reading the following it is important to bear in mind that both Gandhi as a person and large institutions such as the United Nations or religious communities such as the Catholic Church often fail in realizing their own ideals and objectives. However, this should not lead us to discard valuable ideas and convincing arguments, even if the deed admittedly remains more convincing than the word.

**Citation:** Guggenberger, Wilhelm. 2021. Gandhi and Sustainability. An Attempt to Update Timeless Ideas. *Religions* 12: 753. https://doi.org/ 10.3390/rel12090753

Academic Editors: Ephraim Meir, Ed Noort, Louise du Toit and Wolfgang Palaver

Received: 27 July 2021 Accepted: 7 September 2021 Published: 13 September 2021

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