Is Sustainability A Realistic Objective For Society?

In order for sustainable development to be achieved, humans need to reduce their effect on the environment by consuming less in terms of resources, and living more lightly on the planet. As difficult as this may sound, there are a number of ways in which this is easily achievable. One of the most effective ways to do this is to alter the way in which we function day-to-day, and to begin to change our homes to make them more efficient in terms of resources. In addition, sustainability is not only about ensuring a future in which we can sustain our society without impacting negatively on our environment, but also but ensuring that everyone can have access to this. Therefore we must look at the triple-bottom line approach and align our movement towards sustainable development with this.

In order to preserve our resources, environmentalists use the concept of sustainable development-sustainable development is a development that satisfies our current needs without compromising the future availability of natural resources, or our future quality of life. Our consumption rates have risen significantly higher; according to the World Watch Institute, and their article The State of Consumption Today, the rate has gone up thirty-five percent, and we are now ecologically at risk. Nevertheless, who can we blame but

“Many current discussions about sustainability focus on the ways in which human activity...can be maintained in the future without exhausting all of our current resources… there has been a close correlation between the growth of human society and environmental degradation - as communities grow, the environment often declines” (603).

The word ‘sustainable’ has been chosen as a second criterion, as the philosophy sets out to be

Given all we’ve discussed about the ecologic condition of the planet now and if current consumption patterns continue tell me your views on whether you think Americans as a whole are moving toward a sustainable society. If not what are your views on one or two changes to these patterns that could improve potential for achieving a sustainable society.

At this point and time sustainability is just an idea. The human race has no intent on using just enough resources to live. We like to go above and beyond and we like to have the best.

Regardless of what one thinks about American consumerism or our high levels of production, it is a fact that we live in a throw-away society. What that means is that we produce a lot, throw away a lot, and most things are planned to become obsolete within a few years. Recently, there has been an unprecedented effort to correct these negatives habits of our society, seeing as they can’t last forever. This effort, aptly called sustainability, is one of the most grandiose undertakings in American society today. Universities, corporations, households, and everything in-between, are all striving towards sustainability, but what actually is it? According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, “To pursue sustainability is to create and maintain the conditions under which humans and nature can exist in productive harmony to support present and future generations” (EPA). With such a broad definition, there are plenty of critics and skeptics that say that such a proposition is too idealistic and therefore impossible. In fact, I agree with that faction and acknowledge that with such a loose definition, it will never be truly possible to be sustainable. However, my rebuttal, as it seems natural to say, is that nearly everything we do or strive for in America is, in a way, too idealistic. From that, I assert that we need to make a deliberate effort, as both consumers and producers, to work towards sustainability to move away from our throw-away tendencies.

Sustainability is defined as the ability to endure.(1) Though the idea of sustainability can be applied to most anything from a sustainable ecosystem that has survived thousands of years to a sustainable workplace that uses green technologies. Paul Hawken captured today’s connotation of sustainability in saying “Sustainability is about stabilizing the currently disruptive relationship between earth’s two most complex systems—human culture and the living world.” (2) There are countless ways to live, work, and produce sustainably. Sustainability not only needs to be practiced by citizens, but businesses need to join the green movement as well. Without creating, following, and enforcing green policies, negative effects will be evident and innumerable

Coming into this class I believed sustainability needed to be taught as a mandatory way of life, relying on personal change in order to lessen our environmental footprint. Although my knowledge of sustainability has grown, this new information has only reaffirmed my initial beliefs of what sustainability is. Sustainability is a necessary practice that will only become more important as the population rises. With an increasing population, we face a growing strain on our natural resources. The major point that has changed since my first position paper, was my exclusion of the government and corporate role in the struggle for sustainability and global equality. Immoral corporate control of natural resources, such as water, is a vital factor

There are many ways to define sustainability and to answer the question of whether we live in a sustainable society you should first define the question. The simplest definition of what a sustainable society is still very complex. A society that can persist over generations, one that is farseeing enough, flexible enough, and wise enough not to undermine either its physical or its social systems of support (Hubbard, 1996).

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.

Dmitry Orlov held a conference titled Definancialisation, Deglobalisation, Relocalisation in 2009. His discussion mainly focused on the sustainability of our economy. Sustainability occurs when our way of living is proportionately matched with our economic standing and well-being. The sustainability rate in our country is too low and should be increased by the reserves for the production of items such as oil and fossil fuels. However, he proposed that sustainability did not need to be factored in with the fatality percentage. He strongly believes that citizens should prepare for economic hard times without an abundant amount of money, less imported goods, and the capabilities of providing their own needs. His thoughts could work in theory and could help our economy, currently, if we followed his suggestions.

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)

Sustainability is “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations” (Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development: Our Common Future 1987). The concept of sustainability comprises of four pillars: environmental; economic; political and social; as can be seen in the image below. Environmental sustainability is the use and management of the environment in a way that it does not deplete our finite resources. Economic sustainability is a long term sustainable economy that supports its community and political sustainability is the collaboration of different bodies of government to achieve a sustainable future. Now social sustainability is hard to define as it encapsulates many different factors; however to be very broad it is to achieve social justice. The real objective for sustainability is that all four pillars work together equally in a precautionary principle;

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