At the core of Adam Frankel’s “Sustainability?,” a long list of applications, each application accompanied by a brief description of its function, lies the idea that environmentalism is about acting to feel good, a form of thinking called consequentialism, the aesthetic thought. Morton’s ecological thought refutes consequentalism as a viable method for environmentalism as that form of thought will fail to spark large-scale ecological action. Frankel’s consequentialism is evident as under every description is the title “Why we need it,” emphasis on the “we” (Frankel). Instead of saying “you,” knowing the app is directed at a single reader at a time, the fact that Frankel uses “we” instead of “you” begs the question: who is “we” referring to? By using “we,” Frankel brings the rest of humanity into why a person would “need” to download this app, suggesting that the person needs to download the app because “we,” the rest of humanity, needs the reader to do so; the reader is doing what “we” wants, the reader submitting to the wills of others, the will of the bigger crowd and thus the greater good, making him or her feel as though he or she is a part of something bigger, making him or her feel good as a result of that. Moreover, many of the apps listed in the article have benefits other than being sustainable, such as “feel[ing] more invested in their communities,” being “cool[],” “reduc[ing] gas emissions and fuel costs,” “reward[ing] users for recycling” and other ecological
Sustainability has become a relevant word in the vocabulary of many organizations, governments and individuals. More than just a word, sustainability relates to the ability of institutions to continue executing their functions without forgetting the effects on the environment and taking into consideration the fair treatment of their employees and the human rights of society. Although sustainability is a widely used term by many individuals, the understanding of this term is not as clear as its popularity. When discussing the ideas of sustainability, most people automatically associate the term with the human impact on the environment. Others relate sustainability to the ability to cut costs and inefficiencies within the organization. A few individuals believe that sustainability is a matter of human rights. So what exactly is sustainability?
In sustainability: The New Holy Grail, Miller argues that people who question the United States ability to become more sustainable devalue American innovation. The arguments made throughout his article however seem one sided and aggressive. Millers out view on things are from a religious outlook making his points seem unreliable.
The definition of sustainability is the ability to support a long term ecological balance while not harming the environment or depleting its natural resources. According to Robert Goodland and his essay “The Case that the world has reached limits” the world is currently being run unsustainably, “being fueled by inherited fossil fuels is the best single example” (Goodland 602). Fossil fuels are non renewable gases and oils and we are using them to provide 60 percent of the global energy, because of the extensive usage of these nonrenewable fossil fuels, we barely have fifteen years left of reserves. Goodland uses his essay to build on Brundtland’s leads to gain and maintain sustainability, claiming that we need a “new era of economic growth” to meet the needs of sustainability (Goodland 602). Goodland
According to Aboriginal people, sustainability is perceived as an integral component when it comes to protecting the environment. The relationship between human rights and environmental issues and rights demonstrates the need to formulate a new human right to water rights. John Barry and Kerri Woods discuss the relationship between environmental right and human rights. They question “the assumed compatibility between human right and the environment.” Barry and Woods notice that people are often willing to choose human rights at the expense of the environment. It is problematic that people who are in favour of human rights would not agree that the environment should be protected. The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) clearly recognizes the importance of protecting the environment for the fulfillment and enjoyment of human rights. It is important to add environmental rights to the human rights discourse because people have a duty to future generations.
In the introduction to Sustainability, Christian R. Weisser explains that sustainability is the ability for an item or idea to be maintained long-term. Specifically, Weisser describes that sustainability is the related to the correlation between human society and environmental degradation. As Weisser puts it, “as communities grow, the environment often declines” this addresses the cause and affects the human society has on the world and how understanding and using sustainability can fix that problem. For example, Weisser gives the use of disposal of aluminum cans, and how human society has advanced to reuse these resources and apply this to improve the future. Weisser insists that not only does sustainability show the relation
If a writer would like to learn how to negate the positive effect useful information could have on an audience, reading Alex Shoumatoff’s article “An Eco-System of One’s Own” could help learn how to make valid arguments fall on deaf ears. This article was written to draw attention to or inform individuals in modern society that nearly every decision that is made -- from the time a person gets up until the time a person goes to bed -- is destroying the environment. Shoumatoff does this by organizing his essay following the unfolding of an imagined typical day, beginning with the “morning juice,” he continues with conceivable uses of energy and resources that one consumes before one even eats breakfast, the drive to work, lunch decisions, the drive home, and ends with the relaxation that should take place after a day’s work (269-276). The organization of this essay is very effective at showing how much destruction an individual may be doing to the environment in a typical day. However, the negative presentation of the material and barrage of sarcasm undercuts the applicable suggestions made to help resolve these issues.
is suboptimal and that much action is to be taken to avoid our planet to be
“'To sustain' is 'to maintain the life of something'” (O'Neill 200). The basic quality of life for all sentient beings should be the foundation of sustainability in regards to the integration of human well-being and nature. Sustaining the basic quality of life for all sentient beings, present and future, will allow for flourishing of multiple dimensions of lives.
When Peter Gleik discussed the different ages of water, he is referring to the different periods of our country in regards to water and how we have progressed throughout time. During the video, he discusses numerous topics, such as the three ages of water, water quality, people’s inherent rights to clean water, food production, etc. This leads to the topic of his vision for the 3rd age, which is, it is imperative that we transition to a truly sustainable system. I do agree with Peter Gleik’s conclusions because it seems sometimes we do take water for granted and it is not renewable as we once thought it was. Considering that we as humans cannot survive without water, we need to construct vast alterations. Before this class, I
Robert Solow precisely talks about the irony of definition and the conflicts it represents in the case of definition presented by UNESCO and other entities. In the paper he says that "sustainability is an essentially vague concept, and it would be wrong to think of it as being precise, or even capable of being precise." He quotes “Pretty clearly the notion of sustainability is just about a moral obligation that we are supposed to have for future generations.” But you can’t be morally obligated to do something that is not feasible. The best solution- is to conduct ourselves so that we leave to the future the option or capacity to be as well off as we are. Sustainability-does not mean not satisfying ourselves by impoverishing our
Scherer discusses in his article various problems related to sustainability when we make decisions based on choices, lifestyle or reusability and substitutability of resources. He further says that sustainability of any energy choice depends on its availability as it depends on rate of renewability. Any energy choice is sustainable if that can be chosen as a choice continually and indefinitely. So in short, if the rate of consumption is more than the rate of availability of the resource, that that energy choice would no longer be sustainable. Consider the example of Biomass as energy choice. If we call it a sustainable energy source, we expect it to be always available as a choice to us and to future generations. But, with increasing population,
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.
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.
"We're victims of our own success. Money doesn't help creativity. We try to live modestly and don't have any assistants," expresses Tim Noble. Both British artists, Tim Noble and Sue Webster are popular, familiar artists. Noble and Webster are recognized for their distinctive art called silhouette or shadow art. Their punk and style moves are more than artistic. They not only create these efficient shadows, but use sustainable art. Meaning that they use a variety of recycled materials, that otherwise would be wasted. These artists use recycled trash like metal, broken tools, discarded wood, as well as gold jewelry and animals. Try donating one of your broken jewelry pieces to them and see it be molded in their next
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