Importance Of Environmental Sustainability

A group of adolescents sitting inside an internet café are discussing their local newscast website’s trending topics. All though sustainable development has been a topic of discussion for years, some teenagers are not aware of it. Ordinarily relatively knowledgeable about diverse subjects, Ron interrogated the group for responses about sustainable development. To which, Ami acknowledges ignorance of the subject. Though not completely knowledgeable about sustainable development, Dena communicated observation of people conversing about sustainable development, noting that some were louder and more passionate than others about it. After locating the definition of sustainable development electronically Jenny chimed in, this 1987 United Nations report states, sustainable development refers to a type of development, stating that it will ensure that it meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs (as cited in Aikins, 2014). Of course, this definition did not satisfy their inquisitive minds, so they decided to further their investigation of sustainable development. Hayden and Theo heard the group talking about sustainable development and expressed their desire and willingness to assist them with researching the subject. After a brief thought, the group unanimously welcomed Hayden and Theo to join them. Shortly after joining the group, Theo presented the others with an article about sustainable development which also

Sustainability relates to the ongoing capacity of Earth to maintain all life, which means developing ways to ensure that all resources on Earth are used and managed responsibly so they can be maintained for future generations.

The concept of sustainability is about the capacity of the environment to continue to support our lives and the lives of other living creatures into the future. There are a number of programs to restore the river to maintain communities, fisheries and navigation, to ensure long-term sustainability.

Sustainability is a concern, which has only been arising from the impact we humans have done in the past couple of decades. The word sustainability means how long you can continue doing what you are doing without coming to an end (Sustainability 2015).

So what is sustainability? It is the quality of not being harmful to the environment or depleting natural resources, and thereby supporting long-term ecological balance.

The term sustainability is one that been conceptualized since the early civilizations of humans inhabited the earth. During those primative times, everything that allowed civilizations to thrive came from the earth. Humans during those times were more more in touch with their reliance on the environment. In today's society, the reliance on our natural environment seems much further away due to our insulation from modern conveniences. Nevertheless, this conception could not be further from the truth; we are more reliant now on the world's renewable resources than ever before.

When I was five years old I began school. In Kindergarden we learned basic things like letters, numbers, and how not to be fully engulfed in flames. For some reason, 2004 was the height of anti-fire education in Missouri and before I knew how to tie my shoes I knew that if I ever was ablaze, to cover my face, fall to my knees, and roll back and fourth. This is what my institution placed serious value upon and because I was a student of that institution I also placed serious value upon it. The same idea must be applied to a university's teaching of environmental sustainability. This is discussed in David Orr's "What is Education For?" Through choosing a curriculum a university chooses what it places value onto, by making the environment a priority it showcases to the future generations that environmental wellness is an important responsibility for them to take ownership.

Sustainability to me is a systems ability to continue to operate using its own resources. Most often this word seems to be used when discussing the environment. For example, soil sustainability. Modern farming techniques are literally sucking the nutrients out of our soil. The second law of thermodynamic states energy is neither created or destroyed in a system. Specifically, an isolated system such as our planet. There is and was a certain amount of energy in every field. When that energy is gone its gone until replenished. This can happen by organic matter decomposing on it, rain can bring nutrients, etc. The point I’m getting at is or planet cannot be abused. The things we have are limited. (I just wanted to add nothing in this paragraph was taken from any citable sources. This information has been learned during my time in science courses. I only added this so there was no confusion about plagiarism).

As a short answer, sustainability means to me as the endurance capacity of an environment (what may be a city, a forest, or even the world itself) stays “alive” and productive for attending the needs of beings. Looking at this question from a different way, sustainability brings to my mind a lot of issues, but all of them related to humans. This relation comes to my mind because when I imagine a world without humans the sustainability will not be an issue to worry about. I’m not saying that the world will not have environment problems, but the point is that the nature will be balanced or balancing, as I think.

There are a number of different definitions of sustainability; the most accepted being that of Brundtland (1987) as cited in Opoku and Ahmed, 2015, pg 56:

Environmental sustainability is defined as rates of renewable resource harvest, pollution creation, and non-renewable resource depletion that can be continued indefinitely. If the resource is not able to continue indefinitely then the resource is not sustainable.

Sustainability is a topic that has become very important in recent years. Sustainability is defined as, “the ability to continue a defined behavior indefinitely.” ("Finding and Resolving the Root Causes of the Sustainability Problem", 2014)

However, the term “sustainability” has several definitions. One, being the ability of people and organisations to preserve the remaining natural resources and use these resources wisely in order to sustain an environmentally healthy future. The

Every living being are directly or indirectly depend on natural environment. Sustainability helps to balance financial, social, and environmental factors to facilitate responsible business decision making over the immediate and long term. . Sustainability refers to meeting the needs of present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs (Oxford University press 1987, p.43). Sustainability is also being protective and aware of use of natural resources and development that meets the need of present and everything that is need for our survival and well being depends, directly or indirectly on our natural environment. According to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Sustainability is

One best practice that supports sustainable agriculture is crop rotation. Crop rotation is not new; I remember learning about this in the third grade. Soil needs time to rest, but an open field with exposed soil is not good for the environment. Planting cover crops during this resting period keeps the soil in tact and possible pesticides from running off and causing damage to our waterways. When we explore natural fields and forests, we find a variety of plants. This is not by chance; nature has a way of protecting the environment and embracing diversity. Farmers are realizing agriculture sustainability when they learn from nature and intersperse their crops. Mixing crops provide natural pesticides, protect the soil, and promotes biodiversity. Instead of acres and acres of the same plant, farmers are learning that mixing up the crops can help enrich the soil and positively effects to the environment.