The Definition of Sustainability
A popular definition of sustainability originated from a 1987 UN conference which defined sustainable developments as those that “meet present needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs”(WECD, 1987). In other words, it means that our human impact must leave this planet as we found it or improve it so those who follow us will have the same opportunities we have had. Throughout our 150,000-year existence, we have never done that. The concept of sustainable development and environmental management relative to economic growth had not even entered our consciousness until late in the 20th century.
With our population now at 6.8 billion and growing by in excess of a million and a half people every seven days, our primitive and destructive behavior towards our environment and each other has caught up with us. Our human impact has been, continues to be, and is becoming ever more devastating.
The understanding and definition of sustainability is a relatively new and by no means universal awareness. Because there are so many of us who are ignorant of the physical reality and the behavioral demands of the reality in which we exist (and which enables us to exist) our impact has resulted in an interrelated web of life-threatening environmental degradation. Everywhere we turn, we find evidence of our destructive environmental impacts.
Human Impacts on the Environment
We are depleting our natural resources: our forests, fisheries, range lands, croplands, and plant and animal species. We are destroying the biological diversity on which evolution thrives (this is called the sixth great wave of extinction in the history of life on earth, different from the others in that it is caused not by external events, like a meteorite hitting the planet, but by us).
With powerful new electrical and diesel pumping techniques, we are draining our aquifers and lowering our water tables. We are systemically polluting our air, water, and soil, and consequently our food chain. We are depleting the stratospheric ozone that shields us from harmful ultraviolet radiation. And, we are experiencing multiple symptoms of global warming (climate change): heat waves, deva-stating droughts, dying forests, accelerated species extinction, dying coral reefs, melting glaciers, rising sea levels, more frequent and intense storms, and a more rapid spread of diseases.
The definition of sustainability above reminds us that humanity, largely unwittingly as a young and unknowing species, has operated in direct opposition to this principle. The environmental degradation and destructive momentum for which we are responsible must be arrested and reversed if we are to sustain humanity and advance our civilization. We either align ourselves with the natural world, or nature, which couldn’t care less, will eliminate us.
Filed under: sustainability
