What hope for the future?

It is far off. Look at the highways, urban cities, factories, industry, forest destruction, unchanging attitudes. The world is inundated with greed, laziness, and over consumption. Take a look at the stats, as posted earlier in this blog series... http://www.worldometers.info/

There are over 10,180,000 new cars built this year already, in only 2.5 months. There has been over 2.2 million  hectare of forest lost this year, with 1.9 million hectares of new desert. Many predict we have 10 years to avert climate change, though this has been said by varying sources throughout the past two decades.

Climate: Time's Up

We will always have "10 years" to solve climate crisis

There are different theories of the outcome. Climate change isn’t just global warming. It is the threat of the ice caps melting, sea levels rising, ocean currents halting, more severe weather, global cooling.

There are a couple of ways of defining how the world can be formed sustainably. Technocentrism is the faith that science, technology, planning and governance will ultimately be the solution to sustainable development. Ecocentrism on the other hand, is that faith that nature will prevail and society can reform the economy to ecological systems, with communalism as a branch that strives for self-reliance communities and technologies for renewable resources.

Conservation is the largest concept that needs to be incorporated into the mindset of the consumer. This is different from preservation, which is not a sustainable idea, as nothing can ultimately be preserved as the world is a continually changing system.

I'm still going to do my part in conservation. I already consume very less. My only purchases in the past months have been food, clothing, and some little amounts of school supplies. You may say that's because I'm a poor University student, but even before that, I consumed very little, because I don't need all that stuff. Using electricity in my home conservatively, turning off things when not in use. 


I also buy local. If the choice between an apple from BC and an apple from the US, I go for the BC apple.  I check the label of the things I buy, and when considering price, I go instead for the low impact source.

The major drawback to my actions is transportation. I still drive 10-15 min. to school almost every day. 

I'm going to move closer to school, eliminating my need to drive.  After this intense exam week of my second quarter, I will have the time to look for a new place, within walking distance to school. I will check back when that time comes and discuss the result. If I do not achieve my goal, call me a hypocrite like every one else.

How is sustainable development in practice?

There are a number of examples of sustainable development strategies around the world.

• Cities use ecological principles and systems to minimize their ecological footprint and resource use
• Systems for recycling energy and water
• Wetlands for wastewater treatment, natural drainage systems, rain gardens, green roofs
• Alternative energies
• Resource recycling in closed systems

But how does sustainable development framed or measured?

A sustainable developed country or society should have 80% lower emissions and resource consumption targets or goals achieved. Citizens should have secure, stable and meaningful employment. It would be self-reliant, and not dependent on outside sources. It should be self-actuating and not regulated, controlled, mandated or moralistic. It would honour human nature, restoring degraded habitats and ecosystems to optimal productivity and biological capacity. It would honour market principles. It would be a desirable place to live; fun, engaging, pleasing, and fulfilling. It would rely on current solar income, which means the energy from the sun as the primary provider. (Ling, 2011)
The ten or so steps: (Ling, 2011)

Incorporation is a privilege, not a right, and products and services should reflect the authority of the citizen, not the other way around

Prices of all externalities should be included in the cost of production, manufacture and consumption.

The tax system should encourage good behaviour, such as subsidizing and conservation, and discourage bad behaviour, such as consumption and environmental and social destruction. The lower middle class should be able to afford sustainable behaviour.

Resource companies should be utility companies, investing in conservation projects.

Use cyclical systems, like ecosystems, reflect continual sustainability, where energy and resources are cycled.
Not linear systems, which only profit the middleman, degrading the beginning and the end.
•Cradle to Cradle – creating systems that are efficient and waste free through;
•Bio-mimicry – mimicking biological and natural systems
•Dematerialization – reduction or eliminations of the quantity of materials used
•Minimization – minimal inputs and outputs

Voting creates citizens, where buying creates consumers. Vote, even if you don’t agree with everything they stand for, but for what it right.
Government should be a guardian to society, which does not profit from business or influence business.

Education should include biological life, ideals and systems. Currently people can recognize 1000 brand names and logos, but only 10 local plants and animals. There are currently only about 1.500 people in the world that have the skills to catalogue all of the life on Earth (Ling, 2011)

Take care of human health through clean water, food, and air, etc.

Respect humans, nature, and the future.



Reference:

Ling, C. (2011) Personal Communication: ENSC 301 - Lecture Notes – Saving the Enchilada. Royal Roads University, Victoria, B.C.http://www.trendbird.biz/4149

My stuff and other sources and consumption

Consumerism. The newest toys and gadgets. Throw away society. This is all too common in everyday life. The United States is a great example of this.



The common reaction to products that are no longer desirable is to throw it away. Buy a new one. Walmart has the cheapest goods, though often break and become "use-less". Products are also designed to last longer, such as plastic. Durable, yet disposable. Manufacturers have been creating toxic products like BPA in plastic bottles. Which become useless.

People are being marketed the greatest and newest or sexiest new product.
Children are becoming targets of marketing more and more. They become spoiled brats that rebel if they don't get what they want.



So, how did we come to be consumers? It happened because of industry needed consumerism to drive the economy. The material economy was designed in order for maximum profit. Waste and environmental externalities are not paid for by the manufacturer.

One solution is to move from a sale based economy to a lease based economy. Products can be leased, which allows for the incentive of manufacturers to create products that last longer. Products should also been owned by the manufacturer, which makes them liable for their effects on the environment, such as toxins and persistent chemicals.

• Persistent chemicals are ones that do not degrade in the environment. Many of them are also lipophillic, which means they bind to fats, such as the fat in animals and people. As the food chain is dominated at the top with carnivores, the highest amount of these chemicals are present in humans. Human babies are exposed to these chemicals through the breast milk of mothers, where the highest concentrations of toxins are present. Crazy.

It is very difficult to convince people to lease products, as it may be impossible to stop some people from buying a new product if they are tired of the old one. This is common in buying the newest car. People also like to pawn stuff off to other people if they know there is an invisible problem with it, such as a car with a hidden issue. Ever have that happen to you? You hear it all the time. The person who buys the defective product is paying for fixing it if they want to keep it. This is also true in the manufacturing of products.  The people who are paid very little, such as those women in chemical factories, are paying for the negative health effects of exposure. The habitat degradation of the raw materials from third world countries is paid for by the poor citizens. Yet, in the West, we can buy those cheap products.

But do we really need to consume all of these products?  Think about it the next time you are at the checkout line.

The sustainable city

It costs much more money and resources in infrastructure to build suburbs, rather than a densely populated city area. Land consumption; loss of ecosystems and farmland; automobile dependence, contributing much more to greenhouse gas emissions and depletion of oil and petroleum; lack of exercise; and social discrepancies are all impacts of living in suburbs. (Ling, Personal Communication, 2011)

I do feel suburbia as being a major problem in society.  I didn’t grow up in a suburb, but on a farm, which can be thought of the same when you need to drive everyday to school or work into town. It’s a sort of isolation from the rest of the world, and as a young person growing up; it was tough to become social with very few friends close-by. Many school friends that you wanted to see, you would need to drive an inconvenient distance, which from unwilling parents or siblings, was a tough one to get around.  So working as a young adult to save up money for a car was a major goal of growing up.  Now, I feel the sense of having a car as a necessity, rather than a luxury.  I live in a suburb now, and I’ve wanted to buy a bike to school, but the option is very inconvenient with long back roads, hills and weather. Though I am making an effort to find a new place that is closer to school, the options are slim in Victoria, as the vacant rentals in the area are one of the lowest in Canada at 1.5% vacancy and 2.6% availability (CMHC, 2010). http://www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca/en/corp/nero/nere/2010/2010-12-09-0815.cfm

An interesting program to figure out the “walkability” or “Walk Score” of your home or wherever you input. http://www.walkscore.com/score/v9c-4m8

I inputted my postal code and received a Walk Score of 3 out of 100!  That’s the worst one out of all the possible ones imputed during our class lecture.

A good walkable neighbourhood should have most necessities within a 10 min. walk.  The old cities have a structure where one can walk in a multitude of directions in order to travel from one point.  But new communities are structured for the vehicle, creating barriers for pedestrians to travel very far.  For instance, think about how one may get to their neighbor’s house that is a few blocks behind your house. You might have to walk around many blocks, covering a much farther distance than you would if or cut through many other neighbors’ properties.  In a highly dense neighbourhood, there is easier access to services and it is easier to provide the services.  This can be called “environmental efficiency”, providing efficient services that impact the environment less, and preserves land for wilderness with less habitat fragmentation and healthier air and ecosystems.

People have a better psychological well being in functional, attractive neighbourhoods and meeting places that people flock to, such as green spaces, and downtown social spots.  The problem is there isn’t enough attractive dwellings to make them affordable for everyone, thus higher crime rates and social issues arise from unattractive, dense apartment buildings.

I can’t help but think about crime rates or other issues that may arise from densely populated smaller areas, or even risks of natural or human disasters may affect more people in a smaller, dense area.  What other issues may arise in this new urbanism concept?  Though, crime rates may be less due to greater happiness by the people in these areas.  Disasters may include a natural gas explosion, or virus outbreak, or the ability to evacuate these people in an emergency.  On the other hand, a densely populated community may be evacuated easier, as there are more people to inform in a shorter time.  The impact on the environment is the core issue here though, and this new urbanism will be less impactful on the environment. There would be better emergency systems, such as storm water management, and buildings could be equipped with biomass recycling, water treatment, and energy efficiency.  These communities would provide a better quality of life, along with a quick shift in social norms would come from the environmental principles people will adopt in the lifestyle.

In order to avoid all of these societal breakdowns, we need to re-design the concept of urban development and living. Smart growth is the aim to have sustainable communities. Visit http://www.smartgrowth.org/. The core principles of new urbanism are:

Compact Building Design
Create Range of Housing Opportunities and Choices
Create Walkable Neighborhoods
Encourage Community and Stakeholder Collaboration
Foster Distinctive, Attractive Communities with a Strong Sense of Place
Make Development Decisions Predictable, Fair and Cost Effective
Mix Land Uses
Preserve Open Space, Farmland, Natural Beauty and Critical Environmental Areas
Provide a Variety of Transportation Choices
Strengthen and Direct Development Towards Existing Communities

(Ling, Personal Communication, 2011)

References


CCHC (2010) National Rental Vacancy Rate Edges Lower. http://www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca/en/corp/nero/nere/2010/2010-12-09-0815.cfm


Ling, C. (2011) Personal Communication: ENSC 301 - Lecture Notes - Land Use. Royal Roads University, Victoria, B.C.

Powering the sustainable society

Energy security is becoming one of the greatest issues concerning cities, as energy prices increase and resources are depleting and becoming harder to extract.  It takes a shift in energy sources to reduce our need of these non-renewable sources. People need to be more aware of their usage of energy. Societies need to implement alternative energies, incorporate many different sources and model systems that are more efficient and energy recycling. 

Most of the dirty or damaging energy we use comes from oil, gas, coal, and nuclear. A good amount comes from hydroelectric, where available. In Canada, 32% of the energy comes from oil, 25% fro hydro, 24% from natural gas, 10% from coal, 7% from nuclear, and 1% from other renewable energy sources (EIA International Energy Annual, 2006). The sectors that use the most amount of energy are industry (38%), transportation (30%), residential (17%), commercial/institutional (14%) and agriculture (2%).

In an average home, most of the energy consumption of electricity is used for heating/cooling and water heating. 60% of the energy used in a home is used for space heating (Energy Efficiency Trends in Canada, 1990 to 2005)

Some options to reduce the amount of this energy use include solar, wind, or geothermal technology and alternative fuels. These technologies are currently expensive up front, though can pay back the cost in time. Many communities are helping subsidize the shift to these types of alternative energies, though it takes much consideration and convincing. It takes many solar panels and space to create comparably smaller amounts of energy than conventional methods, though it saves many tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions from being emitted over their lifetime. Adequate sunlight is also an issue, though you might find it surprising that Toronto receives more sunlight than Miami, Florida (Ling, 2011).
Micro-generation technologies are beginning to be used, which can come from solar, wind, micro-hydro, biomass heating, geothermal, and ground and air source heat pumps. This allows small communities or separate homes to help reduce their need of energy from the grid.

Biofuels are increasingly being implemented, such as for transportation, though it takes away from the amount of land that could be used for food sources, and also takes a lot of input of energy to plant, harvest and refine. The crops can include wood, corn, sugar cane, grasses, manure, food waste, plant oils, algae, etc. This method basically comes from the combustion of carbon compounds, which doesn’t reduce the amount of greenhouse gases significantly less than petroleum-based fuels.

Tidal is another emerging idea. It is expensive, though very reliable because tides are always constant. The concept uses the movement of tides to turn turbines on the bottom of the seabed. This can also be damage to aquatic life.

Sustainability and communities

A community doesn't necessarily mean a certain area of a city, or a small town. It can also mean any group with similar characteristics, such as religion, ethnic background, profession, group of nations, similar goals, or interdependent organisms (Ling, 2011).

But how are communities linked to sustainability?
A community has similar goals, ethics, and aspirations. They work together on issues, and bring them together into compromise or through policy that the majority will benefit from.

It seems the best level to reach more sustainable practices is through the community level.

Policy and government takes way too long, is tedious and often largely debated (Ling, 2011).
Individuals do not have much power, and have limited say over key areas, such as planning or utilities supply (Ling, 2011).
Everyone knows this (the former) about government.

My major project, or "thesis", for this program and my degree is to engage a community to reduce their use of plastic bags. Many governments around the world are tackling this issue through forced bag bans (China, California), or charging fees (Toronto). There has also been much anger from the public on this topic, especially from Toronto. If you google Toronto's policy on plastic bags, and read forums of how people react, the majority comes from the fact that people do not want to pay for bags, or inconvenience themselves to carry reusable bags.

More people are becoming aware of how light plastic in the environment is causing ecological harm, not just that it takes 10,000 or so years for plastic to break down, but that the plastic that enters the ocean, other water bodies and ecosystems breaks down into smaller pieces. These small pieces are being ingested by animals, filling up their stomachs until they no longer can eat real food and starve to death.

But these kinds of issues aren't major issues of concern to the majority of society. My project is not only to try and prevent the use of bags, but rather is a societal experiment to figure out how we can affect change in people. We are working the the municipality, the environmental committee, to create a social marketing campaign to help create this change. First, we are engaging the community through education and survey. Then we engage the businesses involved that provide the product (bags), hear their concerns, and present findings from the consumers. We research previous campaigns; experience from others. The final result will hopefully be a good one.

In recent times, a shift in the societal habits has occurred. Think of recycling. It is becoming a social norm to put recyclables into the blue bin instead of the garbage. How did this come to be? Does everyone who recycles care about the environment. I think not. Instead, some people are doing it because of societal pressure. From the shame if caught throwing it into the garbage. Other people telling them to do it. In a community, the majority will lead the pack into actions that reflect the community's values, and leave out those who disobey.


It is said that one individual, or often a small group of people have started the biggest change. Though as the world's population grows, I think this is becoming more difficult.
The paradox of management:
“One can more likely cause an effect at a fine scale, whereas success is more likely to be achieved at a broad scale.” Forman (1995)
A community can plan faster then government, but have the power to lead a large enough group to affect change. A sustainable community can be proactive, rather than reactive.

If a community plans together, in the event of a disaster, the people are more likely to survive working together.

Just a bit of thinking out of the box...

Over population or over consumption?

The current world population as of March 2011 is 6.9 billion people.

http://www.worldometers.info/population/

The figure below obtained from the website above, shows the distribution of this population around the world

More statistics can be found from the main page of Worldometers...

http://www.worldometers.info/

As consumption continues to rise, and the threat of running out of resources is perceived by some, there still is a problem with the sustainability of the Earth.

Humanity's ecological footprint as a whole has been greater than the carrying capacity of the earth since the late 1970s. (Meadows D., Randers, J., Meadows, D., 2004)

Numerous predictions have declared that resources will become unavailable; including ones that said food will start depleting in the early 21st century (now).

Depleting oil reserves are a major debate as to when or if we will run out of oil. But most agree the prices are going to skyrocket as demand increases and easy oil is depleted.

There are a number of measures to evaluate which countries consume more, but the general consensus is the northwestern countries. The richer, lesser-populated countries of the Northwest are to blame for the worst consumption levels, the highest amount of carbon dioxide emissions.


See Paul Ehrlich and the debate... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_R._Ehrlich or  http://jayhanson.us/page27.htm


Paul Ehrlich - biologist, and Steven Hayward - Pacific Research institute

Is the problem overpopulation or over consumption or both?

As discussed in lecture, the interesting paradox is that the only way shown to slow population growth is through increasing education (particularly thorough women) and affluence (increasing income) to allow for less need of children for labour and more income directed towards better quality of life.

On the other hand, China's adoption of the one child per couple policy provided some success in slowing the country's population. There was of course some rebellion and hiding of children, though the results to this day show a prevention of about 300 million births, has helped people out of poverty and may be attributed to China's huge economic growth (Hayes, 2008).

But the fact that 20% of the population consumes 80% of the world's resources ...should be a giveaway.

"People in rich countries consume up to 10 times more natural resources than those in the poorest countries. On average, an inhabitant of North America consumes around 90 kilograms (kg) of resources each day. In Europe, consumption is around 45 kg per day, while in Africa people consume only around 10 kg per day." (Friends of the Earth Europe, 2009)

Compared to the amount of resources consumed by an average person in history to the average European, the weight of one's backpack is shown in the diagram below. (Friends of the Earth Europe, 2009)

Comparing across the globe...

The natural resources available are severely threatened by over-consumption. As developed countries continue at current levels, and developing countries are rapidly expanding, worldwide demand is threatening the environment through:

• Climate change, which affects humans on a global scale
• Ecosystem degradation, which degrades the ecological services they provide, including reduced fresh water reserves, forest depletion, and many species under threat of extinction.
• Fertile land is being eroded, such as that in China where the desert is expanding, losing topsoil and agricultural land.  (Friends of the Earth Europe, 2009)

While, the extraction of many non-renewable resources is already reaching or nearing a peak... “Peak-oil”  (Friends of the Earth Europe, 2009)


Some facts about the world's resources from "Home" (documentary) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqxENMKaeCU:

The world spends 12 times more on military expenditures than on international aid.

Over 50% of grain traded around the world is used for animal feed or biofuels.

40% of arable land has suffered long-term damage. 

Every year, 13 million hectares of forest disappear.

3/4 of fishing grounds are exhausted, depleted or in dangerous decline.

Industry is probably the biggest to blame through inefficiency, but they are ultimately providing us the products we consume.  Nonetheless, industrial processes can be improved.

Another notable Chinese initiative includes the three step approach to industry improvement:

• Individual firms must seek higher efficiency by reducing resource consumption, emission of pollutants and waste 
• Groups of industries should reuse and recycle the byproducts of component industries 
• Integrate production in regions so that reuse and recycling opportunities and maximized. (Ling, 2011)

An example of this is to create a group eco-industrial park that incorporates all of the wastes into a streamline of industrial processes to minimize the waste eventually going out.


In researching eco-industrial parks, one I came across in Canada is shown below. It is a bit dry and focused on investment, but skip ahead to about three-quarters the way through just to get an idea.

It is only up to us to reduce our impact on the environment. We need to create better policy and infrastructure. We need to reduce our consumption of everyday products, water, and energy, and have fewer kids!  ; )

References

Friends of the Earth Europe (2009) SERI, Global (2000) Overconsumption? Our use of the world's natural resources. Retrieved February 26 from http://www.foeeurope.org/publications/2009/Overconsumption_Sep09.pdf

Hayes, J. (2008 - updated February 2011) One Child Policy in China - Facts and Details. Retrieved February 26, 2011 from http://factsanddetails.com/china.php?itemid=128&catid=4&subcatid=15

Ling, C. (2011) Personal Communication: ENSC 301 - Lecture Notes Population and Consumption. Royal Roads University, Victoria, B.C.

Meadows D., Randers, J., Meadows, D. (2004)  Limits to Growth: The 30 year up-date. Chelsea Green Publishing Company, White River Junction, VT.

Sustainability at Royal Roads University, Victoria, BC, Canada

Royal Roads University, the University I attend for my Bachelor's of Science in Environmental Science is a unique university and campus. It is a former military college and the grounds of Hatley Castle, a historic site built by a wealthy coal heir, and 8th Lieutenant-Governor and 14th Premier of B.C., James Dunsmuir (1851-1920).

At RRU, there is a dedicated staff of housekeepers/custodians who sort all garbage, even after there are recycling and compost bins next to every garbage can.
They only use natural cleaners, and microbial cloths that capture the disease causes microorganisms (bacteria) in the easiest and in an environmentally responsible way, not only for the ecosystem health, but also for human health, as there is current allergic staff and well as proposed future health effects from using the everyday cleaners.
The toilets have low flow, automatic flushes as well as water-free urinals. Yes, water-free urinals. They don't smell, are hygienic, and they save an average of 40,000 gallons of water per urinal per year.

RRU Environmental students have major projects for six credits which are practical community and local organization engagements which have major impacts on the environmental movement. One such includes the creation of the STARS (Sustainability Tracking and Rating System) program that is a self-reporting framework for post-secondary institutions around North America to gauge progress towards sustainability. RRU's rating is a silver star rating. Education and Research scores the highest, with an 82.19% score.

The Robert Bateman Art and Education Centre is one endeavor of the University to provide "a catalyst for global sustainability and for dialogue and discovery". http://www.batemancentre.ca/

RRU aims to gain a total off grid sustainable campus by creating infrastructure for its own power, that could be sold back into the grid. Though it can be only economically sound with joint co-operation.

RRU has currently almost completed a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building. It is a 5,781-square-metre centre for new programs and enrolment that was carefully selected on an old parking lot. Parking is limited to deter from the use of single passenger transportation. This also provides good exercise walking up the steep slope off the campus.
The building is equipped with numerous windows with thermal insulation and ventilation (opening windows) and a great view of the Juan De Fuca Straight and and glacier capped Olympics mountains. The building is designed for energy performance, and also equipped with solar panels.

The cost of inaction

If you haven't seen the youtube videos, check them out. I've seen this a long while ago, and came across it last August and again in class!




or one of the sequels which I have just come across...


It seems pretty evident that we need to take action. I have already done steps to change my daily lifestyle. Only drive when it's necessary, and when you do, finish all of your errands in one trip. Turn off your car when it's idling whenever possible.

We need to take this issue to the policy makers. The people can only demand it.

What is sustainable development?

Sustainability refers to the continuation of a process or product, or as Wikipedia defines it as “the capacity to endure”. I think that can pretty much sum up what sustainable development is to be; with the motion of continual expansion of human progress.

During class, after an introductory lecture on the Bruntland Commission’s definition of sustainable development; the UN Millenium Summit’s take on the world’s priorities in the 21^st Century [freedom, equality, solidarity, tolerance (respect of diversity and a peaceful culture), respect for nature and shared responsibility]; as well as defining natural capital – renewable resources and natural systems that can replenish themselves (using energy from the sun), we were given a task to define sustainable development ourselves or give an illustration to represent it. Most definitions have agreed on using the three interlocking circle approach that incorporates society, the economy, and the environment, balanced together will be sustainable in the middle. Only will a system be sustainable if it incorporates all responsibilities and links between each to be viable, livable, and equitable.

http://www.hs-intl.com/blog_files/sustainable-development-772868.jpg

Another more evolved way of linking these three responsibilities are explained in this video...



The balance of environmental sustainability is between the use of resources and ability of those resources to be replenished or by environmental resilience. The system becomes viable only if it’s continually sustainable, and livable in a healthy environment. To achieve economic growth (net economic benefits) employment, food, income and wealth must be generated. To be equitable, equal opportunities for natural resources must be attainable among generations, genders, and cultures.

http://www.fao.org/docrep/007/y5568e/y5568e0b.htm

The definition I came up with in class was “preserving environmental integrity through using renewable resources that provides the necessities of human life and equitable gain for all people present and in the future”.

This includes environment, social, and economic aspects as well as a fair and enduring attitude. It mostly rewords what others have said, such as the Bruntland’s Commission, but improves on each of the environmental, and social, and economic values. The environment is sustained with a hint at protecting other species and biological processes. All people are given a fair opportunity to meet their needs and progress in economic gain, continually into the future.

I also came up with an illustration that is based on the water cycle.

(Altered) water cycle http://www.kidcyber.com.au/topics/water.HTM

The process of evaporation of the oceans and lakes continually replenishes water across the land; the upward motion representing economic gains into an “economy cloud”. The next step is movement of clouds over the landscape, which rains fairly evenly across a local area, representing the needs met of society and fairness across the landscape. The replenishment of water from rivers running back into the ocean represents the continual recycling and sustainable processes of the environment. Any hindrance to this process does not make the process sustainable, such as a dam that slows the replenishment of water “the environment” back into the ocean or industrial processes that artificially increases the amount of particulate matter and pollution that creates more seeding for clouds “economy” and eventually changes the distribution, quality, and rate of rain “needs” and water replenishment into the oceans “environment”.

When searching online, most of the representations of sustainable development are solar power or wind power. Solar and wind power is a good renewable natural capital; as it uses energy from the sun, “a stock that yields a flow of valuable goods or services into the future” (Source: Constanza, R and Daly, H (1992), Natural Capital and Sustainable Development). But only will it be sustainable if the energy is used to create more solar panels and wind turbines, instead of using energy from non-renewable resources to manufacture them.

An electric car is not sustainable either, as it uses more energy to manufacture the vehicle and uses non-renewable resources in the technology. I quote from David Suzuki from a television program I saw once; the manufacturing process of a gasoline engine vehicle uses more energy that what the car would in its entire life cycle.

As ecosystems, social systems, and economic systems are complex, equal attention to each results in a sustainable development. The Venn diagram shows the conditions of knowledge and skills that are required for all processes to be sustainable.

http://www.fao.org/docrep/007/y5568e/y5568e0b.htm

I personally don't understand fully what they are trying to say to depict in the diagram here (also see link to article), but maybe someone can shed some light on this. Most confusion is the balance of the percentages on each side of the triangle is a bit foggy. I do understand that one needs to understand how to negotiate the extraction of resources and limit the economy from becoming too greedy. So, between environment and the economy we need to negotiate in order to obtain social equity? Or is it we need negotiation in society in order to obtain sustainability at that side? Material processes must be known in order to keep the balance of ecosystem resilience? Is this referring to only the fish stocks (article link)? Can this model be used in other industries?

In all the debate about what is sustainability, we can probably all agree that it is a negotiation between resources and technology we have and the economy and social equity we can obtain from it. With this in mind, all industries and people aiming to become more sustainable are able to create their own model or mission statement.

After this, I believe action is only what really counts.

The video below shows what people can do to become more energy efficient and environmentally friendly.

I also have technological ideas of my own that I find from current unsustainable sources in everyday life.

Why is it we use refrigerators in our houses to cool the air inside a container to keep our food cold, when we heat the air around that container to keep our bodies warm? Seems like a waste of energy and unsustainable system. My idea is to incorporate houses with a refrigerator to work with the already cold environment outside the house. A refrigerator would be much more efficient if it didn't need to cool as much in a hot environment than in a cold environment. A refrigerator that would only regulate the temperature from outside the house.

Another is to input automatic shutoff switches on most devices, appliances, and energy using systems we use. Sensors that turn off lights when no-one is in the room. We already have these, but why aren't they more common or even discussed more? Most ads for energy saving tips are for people to remember to shut off things when not in use, but automatic shutoffs would definitely have a much better memory or habit than humans.

By switching to energy efficient practices, we also save money which is no doubt beneficial to the economy and society to rather spend time and resources on greater needs.