The Advantages And Disadvantages Of Sustainable Development And Low Carbon 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 2004 The Home Depot’s (THD) Eco Options program began in their Canadian locations and on Earth day of 2007 in the United States. The program was created to create environmentally friendly products to consumers that would support the environment while helping consumers save money on their monthly energy bills. The programs successful audience is a combination of two groups. The first group is involved in supporting the environment while living an ecofriendly lifestyle while the other group is mostly concerned about the money saving aspect of using the products. In contrast, there is a broad audience that THD EO’s program is not successfully reaching which is made up of mainstream consumers who care about the environment but don’t bother to inconvenience themselves with adjusting to using ecofriendly options. Consumers of the programs are middle aged people who are in the market for appliances. They need home improvement needs and appliances.

While driving through the Atlantic Forest in Bahia, everywhere one looked it was green. I could not get over how much green there was. Unfortunately, only 7% of the original forest here remains today (Hance). The rapid growth of the cocoa economy combined with unsustainable practices led to this rapid decline. Agriculture still plays a major role in this region and will continue to impact the Atlantic Forest ecosystem unless more sustainable measures are put into place. There are numerous groups responsible for the direction of development in this region; however, a special emphasis needs to be placed on the role of social divisions and inequality. Presently and into the future, social classes will have an important role in the success or failure of sustainable development in the Atlantic Forest region. To comprehend why, sustainable development must be defined and then evaluated in the context of agriculture and land distribution.

Though humanity still has developed industrial systems, there have been laws and social norms put in place to protect the environment. Odum discusses fuel-powered systems in industrial areas, “they require so much energy and create so much waste heat and pollution, that they have an enormous impact on the other two environments.” In 1993, this was true since the primary use of energy was coal, oil, natural gas, all carbon emitting energy sources. However, countries like China, Germany, the United States have reduced the emission coming from these fuel-powered systems in the past 25 years. There are now other options for environmentally clean power, people are recycling their trash, using less water, and cutting back energy usage.

To decarbonise the global economy means to achieve sustainable development. To “understand and show how individual countries can transition to a low-carbon economy and how the world can meet the internationally agreed target of limiting the increase in global mean surface temperature to less than 2 degrees Celcius.” (Pathways to deep carbonisation) To achieve this limit, global net greenhouse gas emissions will be required to near zero within the next 35 years. This will demand a substantial transformation of all sectors of the

The environment is important to protect considering that people live and breathe in the atmosphere it provides. Investing time in activities that protect the environment hasn’t always been a priority, but as greenhouse gas emissions, the use of energy, and other harmful impacts on the environment increased, individuals began to speak up on what should be done. As the world’s population continues to grow exponentially, the impacts society produces will in turn continue to increase unless something is done about it. Although the idea of an environmentally sustainable community has remained on the minds of the concerned public throughout the past decade, as companies and universities became more invested in the idea, new ways of taking action and implementing policies were developed and pursued.

This engagement process was facilitated by the City of Edmonton’s Office of Environment and was in partnership with Alberta Climate Change Dialogue (ABCD) and the Centre for Public Involvement (CPI) (Citizens’ Panel on Edmonton’s Energy and Climate Changes, 2013, pg. 1). The goals of the panel, the function and the process were clearly outlined in the Participants Handbook 2012 given to all the panel participants (Citizens’ Panel on Edmonton’s Energy and Climate changes Participant Handbook, 2012, pgs. 1-84). The goals of the project were to explore Edmontonians views on the importance of reducing its carbon footprint for future policy and direction. Final recommendations included that “the City of Edmonton take the measures needed to become a low Carbon City by 2050 and six goals (Citizens’ Panel on Edmonton’s Energy and Climate changes, 2013, pg. 1) were determined by this engagement process.

Socolow and Stephen W. Pacala in their article, “A Plan to Keep Carbon In Check (2006)" suggests that “today’s notoriously inefficient energy system can be replaced if the world gives unprecedented attention to energy efficiency.” Taking steps to institute policies and be cost-efficient will entail structural change, but in the end will be in the best interest for countries to aid in the adaptation of lower carbon products and economic competitiveness. They further state that governments need “to stimulate the commercialization of low-carbon technologies” so there is less demand for fossil fuels thereby increasing “competitive options” for the future. (Socolow & Pacala, 2006) Consequently, the emissions of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere is causing the rise of global temperatures. Utilizing technology specifically for carbon capture and storage is crucial so we can slowly begin our process of adapting to other energy resources. It is also important that all countries participate in policies that will reduce emissions in a cost-effective

An increased use of solar and wind power will lower the amount of carbon dioxide released into the air. To ensure healthy future generations society must safely dispose of 200 billion tons of carbon (213). So that we stop damaging the environment, we should collaborate with other countries to stop emitting harmful gases into the atmosphere. One example of this would be all countries working together to put safer jet fuel emissions into the air. To solve this crisis we need to acknowledge that “trees, maids, education, governance, [and] economic development” are all interconnected” (298). While more developed countries use more resources, underdeveloped countries use a lesser amount of resources in more environmentally harmful ways. Furthermore, every nation must acknowledge that pollution knows no physical

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.

What do we know about our energy sources and how our energy choices affect the environment? Many people still do not put much though into this topic or pay any attention to the amount of energy they use or where it comes from. For some it is just willful negligence, but for many others it may be due to a lack of knowledge on the subject. Perhaps it is a good idea to pay closer attention and educate ourselves so we can make informed decisions that may lead to less stress on our wallets and on our environment. In order to make a change, we should observe our currently used energy sources in everyday life, the impact of increasing energy uses, and observe all of the alternative options available to us.

Support for these claims are documented through extensive research into numerous practices that individuals could take part in to diminish their carbon footprint and greenhouse gases emissions. These small changes include of catching public transport more regularly, replacing regular incandescent light bulbs with energy efficient compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) which use 60% less energy than a regular bulb and buy more locally grown and produced foods.

In order to be an integral part in saving the Earth’s environment and ensuring resources for future generations, the way individuals live needs to change. Being fortunate enough to reside in one of the nation’s most developed countries, I wanted to make sure the way I have been living has been meeting the standards set by sustainable living. Using the overall environmental footprint provided by Global Footprint Network, I was able to pinpoint the areas in my life that needed to improve in order for me to be more sustainable. I chose to use this Footprint calculator because it gives you a breakdown on how many resources from the planet are needed in order to provide for your living standards. Once you have input the information, the calculator provides a general ecological footprint explanation and gives real case scenarios in which you can do to reduce it. The results for my footprint were as follows: If everyone were to live the way I do, we would need 5.3 planet earths to provide enough resources. It would take 23.6 global acres of land for energy production, which would emit 23.6 tons of carbon dioxide, and the biggest impacts on my personal footprint included 36 percent of services, 21 percent food and 19 percent mobility.

The most of global energy production produces from fossil fuel such as coal, oil and natural gas. The vast fossil fuels generate energy which use for many purposes for instant residential, transportation and industrial sectors. While the rate consumption of fossil fuel higher than their formation leads to oil price crisis. Another concern of fossil fuel combustion is the impact on the environment. Global warming is a significant problem which results in increasing concentrations of greenhouse gas in the atmosphere. These problems drive researchers and societies to search alternative energy such as switching to renewable energy or carbon-free energy to replace fossil fuels. For example Nakata et al., (2011:465) show ‘low-carbon society’

So, This Master course offers everything I need to become an expert in Energy and sustainable development .The program is taught through collaboration between academics with world-class expertise in diverse aspects of sustainable development and gives students an opportunity to learn about a wide range of problems in Energy and sustainable development and their application. Furthermore, the outline of this program provides a balance between technical issues and technologies uses for applying sustainability management development besides addressing cultural and sociable factors in relation with polices framework. In my university years, I was active in the activities that in relation with society matter. So, the environmental matters and raising awareness about this issue were considered as goals of our activities at my Faculty. Therefore, I have learnt the basics of Environmental matters and society challenges in relation with Energy and environment Challenges along with skills to review and measure the challenges. I was involved in some experience that related to make green environment such as participation in planting tree to combat desertification that is consider one of the big challenges in my hometown city Ghat which located in the heart of the desert in the South West of Libya. Furthermore, the problem of conventional energy, especially of cut off the electricity power during summer time was the real motivation to think