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Who we are What we stand for Paradigm Paradox Human Nature Energy Wind in PEC Population Economic Growth Beliefs The concept Indicators Localization Future Recent past Newsletter CSG Membership Local Economy Question Politics |
. Sustainability
The
main questions about sustainability are: The Earth behaves as a single system comprised of physical, chemical, biological and human components. Scientist James Lovelock named this system Gaia, from Greek mythology - Goddess of the Earth. It is a self-regulating system, and can be said to be ‘living’ because of the key role played by the biosphere. Is depends on the energy provided by the Sun to drive the exchanges of energy and mass between the biosphere and other components of the Earth system: the atmosphere, the lithosphere (Earth’s mantle, especially the thin soil ‘skin’), and the hydrosphere (oceans and inland waters connected with other components through the hydrological cycle). Among the estimated millions of billions of planets in the Universe, Earth is the only known planet that supports life (as we know it). The biosphere is organized into ecosystems, natural units consisting of all plants, animals and micro-organisms functioning together with the non-living physical factors. It uses resources of the Earth – sunlight, nutrients, water and gases – to propagate life in its various forms. As long as these resources are available, living organisms spread to colonize the available ecological niches and compete with others for the same resources. Because of the interdependence within an ecosystem, individual species and organisms use products of other species, together with other environmental resources, to live and reproduce. Like all other species, humans draw on the resources of the Earth to survive and prosper. However, because of our ingenuity, we have found ways of using more and more resources to grow in numbers, and to make our lives more comfortable. Some of these are ‘renewable’ thanks to the capacity of the biosphere to produce foodstuffs and other materials used by humans. Through our ingenuity, the capacity of the Earth to produce renewable resources has continually increased over the last about 10000 years. Other resources are non-renewable -they cannot be produced, regenerated, or reused on a scale large enough to support their consumption. We have built up institutions and
ways of taking up greater and greater amounts of both renewable and
nonrenewable resources. As long as our use does not exceed the regenerative
capacity of the biosphere, such use is sustainable. - With respect to
non-renewable resources, sustainability requires that such resources be
reused or recycled where possible; or used sparingly where not. In either
case, the sustainability thus achieved is temporary, only delaying the time
when such non-renewable resource is depleted
and thus lost to human use; substitution then becomes the only option if the
resource is still essential. Sustainability
has been an issue for all civilizations, and most previous civilizations
perished because they violated sustainability rules. For example:
Sustainable use of Earth’s resources is not less critical for our civilization. As Lester Brown pointed out: “In our modern high-tech civilization, it is easy to forget that the economy, indeed our existence, is wholly dependent on the earth’s natural systems and resources. We depend, for example, on the earth’s climate system for an environment hospitable to agriculture, on the hydrological cycle to provide us with fresh water, and on long-term geological processes to convert rocks into the soil that has made the earth such a biologically productive planet.… A four-year study of the world’s ecosystems by 1,360 scientists, the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, reported that 15 of 24 primary ecosystem services are being degraded or pushed beyond their limits. For example, three quarters of oceanic fisheries, a major source of protein in the human diet, are being fished at or beyond their limits, and many are headed toward collapse.” 2: Challenges
in achieving sustainability Basically, ‘sustainability’ demands that the use of Earth’s resources by humans NOT exceed the regenerative capacity of the biosphere. This becomes easier if that capacity increases, such as has been happening through agriculture for many centuries. However, with the combined pressure of increasing population and desire for higher living standards, the demands have grown and have now exceeded the carrying capacity of the Earth. At the same time, the demands for higher productivity have resulted in soil degradation due to increased erosion and soil salinity; the area of land suitable for agricultural production has continued to decrease due to pressure for other land use options; and the water available for crops has become increasingly scarce because of climate variability and change as well as competition from other uses, especially in drought- prone areas of the world. That is to say, the carrying capacity of the Earth is not likely to increase further, quite the opposite is the likely course. The trends are not encouraging. Consider:
Source: World Population Prospects 2008 (UN report)
Source: Global Footprint Network Earth
Overshoot Day is another way to track increasing human pressure on the
environment. It shows the day on which the global Ecological Footprint is
equal to the biocapacity, i.e. capacity of ecosystems to produce useful
biological materials and to absorb waste for that year (measured in
hectares). For the remainder of the year, natural ‘capital’ is being depleted
and waste accumulating in an unsustainable way. Before 1986, the Overshoot
Day was beyond December 31, indicating that the resource use was sustainable.
By 2008, the Overshoot Day was on September 23 and steadily advancing towards
the summer season.
Source:
Environment
The pressure on Earth’s
resources will continue to increase while at the same time, the ability
of the biosphere to produce materials for humans and to absorb their
waste will diminish. Both developments have been underway for some time;
and decisive human action is the only chance for turning these trends
around. See GW
feedback dynamics In summary: 3. Options for achieving
sustainability By definition, sustainability exists if total global demand for resources is less than global supply of these resources. Global demand = (number of people) X (demand/person) Global supply = Biological capacity (Biocapacity) = (available area) X (Biocapacity/hectare). So for sustainability to be achieved, theoretically the options are: 1. Fewer people 2. Lower demand/ consumption per person 3. Higher biocapacity/ hectare 4. Larger productive area (number of hectares). From the discussion above, options 1 and 4 are clearly unrealistic in the short term and contrary to the historical as well as present trends. Regarding option 3, further increases are undoubtedly possible, e.g. further improvements in agronomic practices, introduction of genetically modified crops, etc.. Such intensification measures, while they continue to be pursued, will also carry their own environmental costs; furthermore, their potential is diminished a priori by the demands placed on the biosphere (and thus reduced biocapacity) over the last 50 years. Thus, option 2 currently provides the greatest opportunity to increase prospects for sustainability of human actions. There are numerous reasons for this, including:
Reduced consumption of consumer goods is the most powerful and effective way to promote sustainability at the present time. This refers not only to material goods like appliances and food but also to energy, transportation, and all other goods we pay for in the course of daily living: multiple vehicles per family, recreation vehicles, clothing, etc.. With fewer purchases, the entire chain from raw materials through manufacturing to waste will become less demanding on natural resources and therefore more sustainable. As citizens, we also have many opportunities to encourage governments and other people in making choices that favour sustainability. Excessive consumption is not only bad for the environment, it is not good for people either. In 1979, Jimmy Carter described the plight of the Americans: “Human identity is no longer defined by what one does, but by what one owns. But we've discovered that owning things and consuming things does not satisfy our longing for meaning. We've learned that piling up material goods cannot fill the emptiness of lives which have no confidence or purpose.” Similarly, Clive Hamilton in his recent book “Growth fetish” argued that the policies of unfettered capitalism failed, since the underlying purpose of the creation of wealth is happiness; and people in general are no happier now than 50 years ago, despite the huge increase in personal wealth. From sustainability viewpoint, the Happy Planet Index
(HPI) is of interest because it measures the ecological efficiency of
supporting human well-being. It presumes that most people want to live long and fulfilling lives, and the country
which is doing the best is the one that allows its citizens to do so, whilst
avoiding infringing on the opportunity of future people and people in other
countries to do the same. The HPI attempts to measure production of human
well-being (not necessarily material goods) per unit of extraction of or
‘imposition upon nature’. With the HPI, central American countries ( It is encouraging that many people have worried about sustainability issues raised above, and a number of concepts, action groups, and movements have resulted. People who are concerned about sustainability have many choices for action – primarily as consumers, but also as voters, workers and in their other roles:
o Simple living (voluntary simplicity): a lifestyle characterized by minimizing the 'more-is-better' pursuit of wealth and consumption. o Downshifting emphasizes finding an improved balance between leisure and work and focusing life goals on personal fulfillment and relationship building instead of the all-consuming pursuit of economic success (“Slow Down and Green Up”). o Sustainable living aims to reduce an individual's or society's use of the Earth's natural resources by e.g. reducing carbon footprints through altered methods of transportation, energy consumption and diet. o Ethical consumerism: the intentional purchase of products and services that the customer considers to be made ethically. It is practiced through 'positive buying' (ethical products are favoured) or 'moral boycott' (negative purchasing and company-based purchasing). o De-growth: economical strategy proposed for developed countries because on a planet where 20% of the population consumes 80% of the natural resources, a sustainable development cannot be possible for this 20%; the right term for the developed countries should therefore be a sustainable de-growth.
As you work to bring about sustainability in individual and collective actions, do not get discouraged by the magnitude of the task. Remember the wisdom of previous generations passed on to us as messages of hope:
5a) About
sustainability: Earth as self-regulating system of which humans are a part: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaia_hypothesis#Recent_developments Biosphere and its organization: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecosystem Collapse of civilizations because of ecological degradation: http://www.earth-policy.org/Books/PB3/index.htm Measures
of sustainability: http://www.footprintnetwork.org/en/index.php/GFN/page/footprint_basics_overview/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genuine_Progress_Indicator http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Happy_Planet_Index Feedback Dynamics of Global
Warming by David Wasdell: http://www.bigpicture.tv/videos/watch/fb7b9ffa5 5b) Challenges
in achieving sustainability: World population trends: http://www.un.org/esa/population/unpop Population growth and food supplies: http://dieoff.org/page57.htm Ecological Footprint and Earth Overshoot Day: http://www.footprintnetwork.org/en/index.php/GFN/page/world_footprint/ Climate change: scientific basis, greenhouse gases, impacts, mitigation, adaptation: United Nations documents relevant to sustainability: http://www.un-documents.net/k-001303.htm 5c) Lifestyle
options: Simple living: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simple_living Sustainable living: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sustainable_living Downshifting: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Downshifting Ethical consumerism: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethical_consumerism Zero waste: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zero_waste 5d)
Environmental groups promoting sustainability: In The Suzuki Foundation: http://www.davidsuzuki.org/ The Pembina Institute: http://www.pembina.org/ Zero Carbon World
Wildlife Fund Local to County Sustainability Group: http://www.countysustainability.ca/ Quinte Sustainability: http://www.quintesustainability.ca/ Quinte Conservation: http://quinteconservation.ca/site2/ The Prince Edward Stewardship Council: http://www.ontariostewardship.org/councils/princeedwardcty/
Ecological
Farmers Association of
Canadian Organic Growers: http://www.cog.ca/ Community Development Council: http://www.communitydevelopmentcouncil.ca/ Community Living Prince Edward: http://www.clpe.on.ca/ Habitat for Humanity Prince Edward-Hastings: http://www.habitatpeh.org/ Permaculture Eco Earthwalk (Grafton) http://www.ecoearthwalk.ca/ |
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