Dear Reader,

We are pleased to present Issue XXII of Consilience: The Journal of Sustainable Development. This issue 
arrives at a time of broad uncertainty and turbulence. COVID-19 continues to inflict tragedy upon our 
world: it has torn social fabrics, exacerbated inequalities, and shuttered economies. As a field which puts 
these systems, among many others, in a direct conversation with one another, the study and practice 
of sustainable development is eminently important at this time. Another tragedy is the persistent and 
poisonous racial inequality in the United States, which continues to inflict violence upon Black Americans. 
The sustainability community, including Consilience, must act against the racism and underrepresentation 
that exists silently, structurally, and explicitly in our field – complacency must no longer be the norm.

Responses to current challenges disturbingly parallel the world’s response to the climate crisis, ranging 
from exasperating scientific denialism to the devastating neglect of marginalized groups. Consilience 
confronts such challenges in Issue XXII by continuing to uphold fact-based research and incorporating 
diverse voices. The Issue opens with a Perspective by world-renowned economist and global leader in 
sustainable development Dr. Jeffrey Sachs, who stresses the importance of emerging from the pandemic 
with a multilateral global framework. In the remainder of the Issue, our writers have worked diligently 
to expand the boundaries of our thinking and understanding around a range of sustainable development 
topics. They critically evaluate traditional water structures in India, discuss the power of narratives in the 
lives of climate refugees, and thoroughly analyze the relationship between a nation’s culture and its urban 
climate resilience, to describe a few. The Issue is geographically diverse, with pieces covering Brazil, Ghana, 
Australia, India, and others. 

Issue XXII frames discourse around a solutions-oriented approach to the collective well-being of our planet 
and its people. Upon your completion of the Issue, we encourage you to further engage with Consilience 
through our events and Briefings column. We have expanded these branches substantially over the past year 
and have grown our team to over 40 Columbia students. We are incredibly proud of what Consilience has 
achieved this year, ultimately allowing the journal to provide increasingly engaging and relevant content to 
a larger audience.

We hope that this Issue allows our readers to envision a more sustainable future. Thank you for your 
readership.

Warmly,

Amar Bhardwaj and Sophia Ahmed
Co-Editors in Chief
Consilience: The Journal of Sustainable Development

View Journal | View Issue

Note from the EditorsNote from the Editors

DOI: 10.7916/consilience.vi22.6730
Consilience J. Sus. Dev. 2020, 22, 1-12

http://consiliencejournal.org
https://journals.library.columbia.edu/index.php/consilience/issue/view/651