Many people mistakenly think of sustainability as the survival or preservation of something. What does this word, which has been used more and more frequently since 1987, actually mean? What did it mean for a long time, and what does it mean now? How has it changed? What role does environmental protection now have? What has the coronavirus pandemic proven? Which is more important: the economy, society, or the natural environment? Are they equal? Is this sustainable? What can we do for sustainability? What can we do for development? What does sustainable development mean? Is development even achievable? How? Let's get started!
Sustainability through simple examples
If a village that lives off logging cuts down more trees than they can re-grow, it is environmentally unsustainable. Sooner or later, all the trees in their environment will disappear. If there are more people moving in and being born than moving out and dying in a city, it is socially unsustainable. Sooner or later, the situation will become unmanageable due to overpopulation. If a family spends more than it earns each month, it is economically unsustainable. Sooner or later, it will go completely into debt and go bankrupt. Constant growth leads to this: a dead end. So where do you go from here?
What can we do for sustainability?
It's simple. What we extract from our environment cannot be more than what our environment can regenerate. In other words, if we cut down a thousand trees, we must create the right conditions for the regrowth of a thousand trees, or plant the same number of trees.
The reverse situation is no different. What we release back into our environment cannot be more than what our environment can process.
The Earth's pantry could run out if we're not careful. We should reduce our dwindling, so-called non-renewable resources - such as oil, coal, natural gas, or uranium - to such an extent that they don't run out. To replace them, we should increase the use of renewable energies. These include solar energy, wind energy, hydropower, tidal energy, geothermal energy, or the raw material of Cycle products , biomass. However, even renewable energy sources cannot be used in any quantity without consequences.
It's not quantity, but quality that matters.
As we have seen, quantitative growth is not sustainable in the long run because it eats up the future. So some other solution had to be found, since the Earth cannot grow, given its size. We have to make the best of it, when we can no longer do it. The best? But how? With this approach, quantitative growth was replaced by qualitative development.
Development instead of growth: sustainable development
While growth means quantitative expansion, development means qualitative improvement. However, this development can only work with shared responsibility and coordinated work. It must equally affect the economy, society and the environment. Like a three-legged stool, which can only be used if all three legs are stable. But how can they cooperate?
Which is more important? The economy, society, or the environment?
The three pillars of sustainability are treated as equals: economy, society and environment. However, economic interests have the strongest influence. However, this does not seem to be sustainable.
What has the coronavirus pandemic proven?
The coronavirus pandemic has also proven the primacy of the natural environment. If humans had not plundered their environment, had not taken away the living space and lives of other species living with us, this virus would not have hit society and brought the economy to a standstill.
New direction: first the environment, which determines everything
More and more experts believe that the areas concerned are not equal. According to contemporary thinking, the natural environment should determine the functioning of society, and the economy should adapt to it. In other words, environmental protection comes first.
So what does sustainable development mean - according to the UN?
The process of meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. As naturalist John James Audubon said, “We do not inherit the Earth from our parents, we borrow it from our children.”
Is sustainable development achievable?
According to politician Mahatma Gandhi, "the world's resources are sufficient to satisfy everyone's needs, but not sufficient to satisfy everyone's greed."
Do you agree with the new trend?
Do you agree that the natural environment should determine the functioning of society, and that the economy should adapt to it?
