From Greed to Need Ecological Consciousness, Literary Reflections, and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals 2030

Abstract

While the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals 2030 aim for ways to achieve a more sustainable earth, how may literature help to envision issues of ecological justice, human-nonhuman relationality, and collective survival—particularly in postcolonial countries? While postcolonial literary texts emphasize how alternative ecological imaginaries resist the commodification of nature, offering culture-specific visions to sustainability—in sharp contrast to Western extractive economies—a reading of literature alongside SDGs reveals how literature might become an ally in creating ecological literacy. This essay proposes a decolonial thinking—of development, ethics, and knowledge systems. It calls for a paradigm shift—from economic differentiation toward ecological integration—at the individual, community, national, as well as global levels. Through a parallel reading of global policy frameworks and literary scholarship from a postcolonial frame, this essay advocates an eco-humanist approach that would inform both academic discourse and sustainability practice.