The moral basis of sustainable society: the Gandhian concept of ecological citizenship

Dominant approaches to sustainability have focused on environmental governance with efficient mechanisms and technical quick-fixes for regulatory changes and policy reforms within the growth-centred economic model. However, they fail to develop an authentic ‘ecological citizenship’ for a more fundamental change in the framework of moral values guiding individuals' behaviour and attitude towards the environment and their choices to live lightly on earth. This article argues that the transformation to a sustainable society necessitates deeper moral changes and the development of an ecological morality at the individual level as the core of sustainability. The article examines the distinctiveness of the Gandhian approach to ‘ecological citizenship’ within his paradigm of non-violence and ethical holism as an alternative to the dominant thinking. Within his broader moral-philosophical framework, the paper focuses on Gandhi's theories of eco-localism, unity of life, economics of well-being, and the moral praxis of subordinating the material to moral development realized by the human self through an ‘inner revolution’ with a goal to improve the ‘quality of man’, moving beyond the conventional ‘fear–greed’ dichotomy as motivators of behaviour to bring about a societal transformation towards a sustainable society based on freedom, equity, justice, and peace.