(Un)Sustainable Lives

This working paper is a transcript of Dr Sara de Jong’s Keynote Address at the ‘Challenges for Sustainability Research’ Conference, organised by the Kassel Institute for Sustainability. Dr de Jong shares reflections on how sustainability politics is informed by assumptions and judgements about whose lives are sustainable and unsustainable. The paper reflects on case studies of flooding in Pakistan and wildfires in Doncaster. Foregrounding voices of such cases is essential to make visible the neglect of certain lives of certain communities across the world.