The Netherlands: Peter van Vilet, founder of iNSnet

Beware of solutions that sound "too easy to be true". According to Peter JWG van Vliet, founder of online sustainability magazine iNSnet, this is the secret to the sustainability recipe. Van Vilet, who has experience working for both the profit and non profit fields, in the Netherlands and internationally, founded iNSnet, internetwork for sustainability, in 2002. In 2005 a foundation, to which he holds the chair, was incorporated. Since then the iNSnet Foundation has acquired a leading position in providing news and information about sustainable development on the internet, conducting research into the sustainable behaviour of consumers and mainstreaming sustainability in general. In February 2008 iNSnet and Vita Europe became media partners.

Sustainable development is one of today?s most used catch-phrases but it means different things to different people. How would you define sustainable development?
My view on sustainable development is shaped by the Brundtland definition: make choices today so that they don't compromise the freedom of future generations. In other words: keep your house in order so your children can continue to enjoy it.

What are, in your opinion, the greatest challenges involved in carrying out ?sustainable? development?
A major challenge will be not to allow ourselves to be taken for a ride by too-easy-to-be-true solutions, but continue to critically analyze and select those actions that make a fundamental contribution to sustainability. For example, our media in the Netherlands has stopped reporting on all those initiatives for CO2 compensation that do no more than plant a few trees to ease your mind. Instead they try to give more attention to developments that do make a difference – like decentralised generation of renewable energy.

What role can non profit organisations have in achieving sustainable development and to what extent do you think they can work alone?
No organisation, nor person, can do it alone. We need all the partnerships we can think of – commercial and non – to change the course that our development has taken. I think that state / commercial partnerships can be of great importance here to make governmental organizations aware of the way they can achieve effective short-term results in stead of long-term plans that might work. Because that's exactly what we need.

You were one of the founders of (a regional chapter of) the first Dutch green party. Why did you not pursue a political career?
Even when green, it's still politics. Need I say more?

Can you give a list of some of your favourite green websites and online resources?

• www.neweconomics.org
• www.greenbiz.com
• www.wbcsd.ch
• www.envirosecurity.org
• http://peopleandplanet.net
• www.grist.org