MG20: Analytical Essay on Global Sustainability
Global sustainability is multi-faceted topic and is very complex. However, at its essence, global sustainability is defined as using your resources wisely today to give your children a better life tomorrow. It is the balance between using enough to develop right now but leaving enough for future generations. For example, if we were only looking at preserving the environment and not developing it, we might use none of the resources and leave them to be. But the problem with that is that then there is no resources for us to use. On the other hand, if we were just looking to develop the land, we would use all of our resources, but then there would be no more left for the future. Thus, I want our
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As I mentioned before, the world has been using more than it created especially in the US. The only reason why we Americans can live like we do is because we use resources of other countries. If everyone in the world were to live like the average American, then we would need around 5 Earths to provide for everyone. One way to reduce our footprint would be to use less. Of course, everyone hears that we should reduce, recycle, and reuse, but how many people actually do that. One great example of a place where everything used is completely renewable and eco-friendly is the Govardhan Eco-Village in India. This village, while not possible everywhere, sets the tone for sustainable living. For sustainability they utilize various techniques like organic farming, water conservation, soil biotechnology, and waste management. This village has attracted much attention and has won many awards including the International Green World Award and International Zero Waste Award. Using this as a model, I believe that with serious reform, we can improve our cities and homes to leave a smaller footprint and to become more …show more content…
Renewable energy sources like solar, wind and hydroelectric are available but are not used often. I want us to put a limit on countries on how much non-renewable energy sources they can use. Only if we work together, help the other countries can we accomplish this. In fact, just today(1/24) Scotland has set a goal for using 50% renewable energy by 2030. I think that Scotland has set a realistic goal and that other countries should follow their lead. Non-renewable energy sources are bound to run out and when they do, we can either be ready by using renewable energy or have a global crisis. One of the best renewable energy sources currently is solar energy. Solar panels cost very little to install and have little to no maintenance. The sun provides us with more energy than we need. In fact, in just over an hour, the sun provides enough energy to run the world for an entire year. Even with the current 20% efficient solar panels, we could easily solve our energy problem. Therefore, by beginning to transition to solar energy today, we will be preventing a catastrophe of
The world right now is facing a major disaster if our habits don’t change. Fossil fuels dominate our energy demand and at our current rate this will remain true for quite some time. The World Energy outlook claims that by 2030 84% of our energy demands will be fulfilled by fossil fuels (Shafiee et al, 181). It is believed that we possess the reserves to meet our demands until 2030 (Shafiee et al, 181) but the cost will increase as time goes on. Fossil fuels are a non-renewable resource, meaning that once we run out of what’s currently available, we cannot replenish it. Our future energy needs are heavily dependent on a non-renewable and quickly depleting energy source.
Claim: Solar power has the potential to become the United States main supply of energy and replace are needs for more conventional and harmful forms of power generation.
Environmental sustainability is when a person, community or area is able to meet the needs of the present, without compromising the needs of the future. Overconsumption will lead to hardship in the future, and possibly to the destruction of the planet’s finite resources; and if we continue using our resources as at current rates, which have been estimated to be 4 planets worth of resources, this will be inevitable. Populations are all the inhabitants of a specific area/country and this population can be controlled in various methods such as population policies, like the ones in China, Kerala and France; as well as control via migration by putting on limits.
Humans have been around for 200,000 years, and while this may seem like a long time, it is belittled by the fact the earth has been around for 4.5 billion years. In this time we have taken control of this planet and accomplished many other amazing feats but we still face one problem: long-term sustainability. There are a lot of potential situations that could cause humanity to cease in existence, three of which are climate change, loss of biodiversity, and loss of bees. People have been trying to solve these problems and though they have not been eliminated, some have been improved on. For example, there have been efforts made to stop climate change and they have worked, the hole in the ozone layer is getting smaller. Humans are amazing, but we are not immortal. We will need to find solutions to these problems if we are to survive much longer.
Solar Energy has amazing potential as a primary source of energy with a host of benefits. The sun provides vast amounts of free renewable energy that should be harnessed. A realistic Solar Energy Policy should be defined and pursued vigorously. The capture of the sun’s energy is underway but supplies only a small fraction of our current energy requirements. Non-renewable sources of energy have been the primary source of energy production throughout the industrialized world. Fossil fuel technology drives most of our economy. We power our cities, industries, and cars with petroleum based products such as gas and heating oil. In some areas there is still reliance from coal to generate power and heat. One downside if we keep using non-renewable resources there is a chance we could deplete these resources. Solar radiation could be seen as an ideal energy source, as it is abundant, free and essentially limitless. Shifting from non-renewable resources to renewable resources could be beneficial to our society. Just as certain climate factors affect air pollution, air pollution can alter the climate. Global warming has transitioned into global climate change, shifting from average weather conditions as a result of natural and human factors. Predominantly caused by human activity, the formation of an aggressive solar energy policy would help to reduce both pollution and it reduce the dependence on imported fuels. This
Let’s start with the economic portion of sustainability. Most societies have a desire to increase population and their standard of living. It is a natural human instinct to want to produce offspring, increase their level of wealth, comfort, income, quality and availability of employment and to vanquish class disparity and poverty while increasing their ability to purchase affordable housing and generally bring up their standard quality of living. However, if population growth is left unchecked our world’s population‘s growth would easily exceed our planet’s ability to feed this population.
Sustainability planning should be made on the local, national and international levels. We need to be able to utilize our economic and natural resources in a way that will enhance
To define sustainability, “the quality of not being harmful to the environment or depleting natural resources, and thereby supporting long-term ecological balance”. And by global sustainability, it would be referring to the world as a whole, and its overall sustainability. The global economy would be relating to the worldwide consumption, wellbeing, productivity, management, and regulations. And lastly, the environment is implying the conditions, social and cultural impacts on the world.
That to me is my personal favorite definition of sustainability. I believe that the more the human race continues to grow, the less and less the sustainable the world will be unless we the people start doing ore about. Half the world probably has no clue what sustainability even is which will make it even harder for us to have a sustainable future. Sustainability is a huge deal to myself personally because I am an avid outdoorsman and hate seeing the growing industrial world slowly
The most widely accepted definition of sustainable development is from the Brundtland report, namely, “Sustainable Development is development that meets the needs of the present, without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”2 This statement contains two main aspects, first that the present generation’s needs are met (intra-generational equity) but more importantly, that it is not made more difficult for future generation to meet their needs (inter-generational equity). Since the report was published, sustainable development has become an integral part of environmental policy and has been the subject of numerous conferences and summits including and the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in 1992,3 the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD,
The energy in our country is suffering, we have been powering with inefficient sources for years now and the harm that it is doing to the country has started to become apparent. Renewables are the only way to stop, or at the very least set back the inevitable downfall of our ecosystem. I think that the next big breakthrough for renewable energy is implementing off-grid communities that use renewable sources as their main sources of power, so that we can potentially escape the energy rut that we got ourselves stuck in.
In today’s global economy sustainability is very important; from the biological aspect to the industries they all play a role on the marine environment. As world population increases the demand of fish rises causing overfishing. Certain laws have been placed to limit the amount of wild fishing to reduce the risk of endangerment. To meet the demand of the population, fish farms are introduced. Pollution and health related issues are part of the challenges of fish farming. Sustainability also affects social areas such as beaches.
Solar energy is an eco-friendly alternative to fossil fuels. Our planet has been experiencing an average increase in global temperatures. Slowly but surely our planet is deteriorating, unless we change our form of energy into a greener alternative. Deterioration of our planet may occur at a faster rate. The depletion of fossil fuels is detrimental to our environment. By substituting fossil fuels with the solar energy, our planet will benefit. These benefits include: reduced climate change, beneficial economic opportunities on both a large scale benefitting our government and on a smaller scale helping individuals decrease their energy bills, and solar energy is renewable and sustainable.
The average human being, multiplied by the Earth’s population, would need to have about four Earths just to supply enough resources (Footprint Calculator). Thinking of people around the world, the people of the United States seem to take a lot of their life for granted. Many people when they hear of the polar ice caps melting wave it off and either don’t believe in it or believe it is not their problem. Well it is their problem and if we don’t jump on the issue soon we will not be giving our future generations much of a life. This brings me to the idea of sustainability. A simple description of the word means that what we have today we will also have tomorrow, next week, next year, or even the next lifetime. Although that is the modest version sustainability is much, much more than just that. Sustainability is derived from three main parts of the human life: environmental, social, and economic. Each being just as important as the other. Environmental is the most well-known aspect of sustainability in human life, but both social and economic take their place in keeping this Earth sustainable.
In such apprehensive condition, our firm is experiencing a serious issue being an environmental group is emphasizing non biodegradable materials of SafePack. There is an increased emphasis on sustainability of environment. The sustainability of environmental is completely associated with making better decision and performing corrective actions that are favorable in sustaining the nature of world, with particular emphasis on preserving the environment’s capability for the life of humans. Presently, it’s a significant topic, as it’s comprehended by businesses and individuals and has inclusive impact on the environment. The sustainability of environment is intimately associated with effective decision making with major objective