I agree with the assertion that in the context of Sustainable Development ‘the reality of life today is that the economy dominates environment and society.
The Concept of Sustainable Development Sustainable development refers to “meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs”, and was produced by the Brundtland report (WCED, 1987). The concept also takes into account the needs of the poor in developing countries by outlining achievable objectives of importance (WCED, 1987).
The Three Pillars of Sustainability
The society, environment and economy are interconnected entities which form the three pillars of sustainability (Giddings, Hopwood and O’Brien, 2002). Each of these pillars depends on each other in some way in order to operate. Priority is mainly directed towards economic performance and development as opposed to the remaining important pillars. Economic development is dependent on the society and environment in order to market products and to obtain raw materials, while society is dependent on the environment solely for survival (Giddings, Hopwood and O’Brien, 2002).
Sustainable development aims to achieve a balance between the three pillars of sustainability, ensuring that all sectors become one entity. The disadvantage associated with this model is that each pillar is given individual recognition and not recognized as a combined entity (Giddings, Hopwood and O’Brien, 2002). This results in the
Sustainability is how you balance and maintain the environment, culture, and economy in your life. *** I can not believe I am saying this, but I do not really know what sustains me. I could say my boyfriend because I would have given up with my life if we had never met or I could say that my family sustains me. I feel like the only thing that has kept me going is the fear of failure and not knowing if I will ever live my life to the fullest. “...drink in the beauty and wonder at the meaning of what you see.”
Each person has the power to influence the world. David Brodwin (2015) in the article “Unsustainable America” describes the situation of American consumers toward sustainability compared with other consumers from other countries that are interested about this issue. Thus, Brodwin explains the reactions of the people in some countries about the sustainably produced. In fact the article has interesting points with cataleptic and objective tones, but the author has biased through the benefit for America.
The commission’s report defined sustainability as “the development which meets the needs of current generations without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” (cite the website). The needs they are talked about included social, cultural and
ASSESSMENT/AUDIT 1. Understanding of why it is important to measure sustainability and the associated problems and conflicts of different indicator sets and types Evidence – It is really difficult to find exact concept for measuring sustainability. For instance the measurement of life parameters is differ between different cultures and individuals. So, different solutions will be required to be found for many different communities. However; we should not assume that things we cannot measured easily is not important.
This can be achieved by recognising the needs of everyone, maintaining stable levels of growth and employment alongside safeguarding and if achievable, enriching the environment whilst using natural resources efficiently. Sustainable construction encircles three wide-ranging themes, environmental, social and economic responsibility, often acknowledged as the ‘triple bottom line’. Sustainable construction is not about exceptional environmental implementation to the detriment of a firm which is unable to remain profitable, neither is it remarkable profitability to the cost of the local environment and people. There is
Introduction In today’s world, most developing countries are in a race to build up the necessary infrastructure to scale up there operations and become the next global superpower. In this process, a lot of energy is consumed – be it for transportation, manufacturing or construction. This rapid growth of energy use seen over the past two decades have raised concerns for governments and energy-related organizations alike. Questions with regard to the supply, sustainability and exhaustion of energy sources abound, and while most developed countries have taken active steps to reduce consumption of scarce resources, the position of developing countries in this regard is still lacking.
Sustainability is meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. [ The Brundtland Commission, 1987:Our Common Future:Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development.(1987,August 4)|United Nations Documents NO.A/42/427 Retrieved March 10,2017, from http://www.un-documents.net/our-common-future.pdf](The Brundtland Commission, 1987) Sustainability development is to conducted and produce without depletion of natural resources for the next and the future generation, also need current society to maintain the non-regenerated energy resources, but still needs to satisfy the needs of the current mankind, is not about shut down everything and going back to the primitive communes
Introduction Sustainability has been mentioned as a goal of businesses. During the mid 1990s John Elkington created the triple bottom line plan under the concept of sustainability. Sustainability can be defined in many ways, but the simplest way is “Ability to sustain” (Sustainability, 2010). The triple bottom line is an accounting framework, and there are three dimensions of sustainability among them people, planet and profit (3Ps). The concept of TBL is to measure the profitable, social and environmental performance of the company.
The conclusion conveyed at the end of this paper, will be that sustainable development is a concept with weaknesses however, the strengths outweigh them. To begin with, the concept of sustainable development famously culminated in 1987 with the United Nations 'Commission on Environment and Development ' also known as the 'Brundtland Report ' (Everard & Longhurt, 2017; pp. 1244). The article introduced, the most widely known definition of Sustainable development as "Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs" (World Commission on Environment and Development, 1987).
Sustainability: If you take a look around at what’s really happening in our world, there’s an inescapable pattern of ‘what’s going on is simply unsustainable’ and in other words, it can’t go on for much longer. Sustainability is to “meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”. As cities began to grow with the population increase, the need for a sustainable development became more apparent as resources began to diminish in quantity and value. Left to it’s own devices, the Earth is a sustainable system.
Review of Literature Environmental issues began to be discussed and debated only towards the end of the 20th century. Since then significant amount of literature has been penned down raising awareness about issues of pollution, deforestation, animal rights and several others however it has failed to result in major changes, ideas or even actions to save the environment. Several species of animals have become extinct; pollution level is at an all-time high, global warming is leading to severe climate changes all across the globe but these problems do not seem to alarm the decision makers. Leydier & Martin (2013) also states that, “despite the increasing expression of concern in political and media debates about issues such as climate change, pollution and threats to biodiversity, “political ecology” (operating at the confluence of scientific developments, political engagement and ethical debates) is still trying to find its bearings” (p.7). It is quite evident that environmental issues are not treated in equivalence to political, economic, social or even religious issues.
Kahn’s (1995) approach to the sustainable development theory is consistent with the modern day development techniques of Europe 2020 priorities; smart growth, sustainable growth and inclusive growth. The adoption of some innovative strategies such as the utilisation of renewable energy as an integral part of the energy mix could result in growth of the economy, which will eventually trickle down to the poor or extend to the rural or disadvantaged areas of the country. The social sustainability generally explains the idea of equity among the people, empowerment, participation, accessibility and institutional stability. It seeks to ensure a good standard of living in the country by alleviating poverty. Environmental sustainability seeks to explain the ways in which exploitation and utilisation of the natural resources will not be made to negatively affect the environment or the health of human beings (Kahn 1995).
In recent years, household consumption in developed countries has been taught to be a key contributing factor to global problems such as climate change, depletion of energy resources and biodiversity loss. Household consumption can be defined as the consumption of goods and services by households including the selection, purchase, use, maintenance, repair and disposal of any product or service OECD (2002). As society have become more aware of household consumption and the problems that occur as a result, Sustainable Consumption has attracted much attention and has become of great importance to society. Sustainable Consumption can be defined as attempts to reduce negative environmental and social impacts of consumption by consuming less or
Introduction: Business sustainability is often defined as managing the triple bottom line - a process by which companies manage their financial, social and environmental risks, obligations and opportunities. These three impacts are sometimes referred to as profits, people and planet. Introducing sustainability is one of the key values which every business must abide to. It is said to be one of society’s promising means to safeguard natural resources and the eco system.
Sustainable development, as its name suggests, is a concept continually elaborating. The most commonly used definition, according to World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED), is the development which “meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” (WCED, 1987). It shows the importance of considering benefits for both current and future generations and strongly supports economic development, while it also implies when accessing environment and natural resources, human beings tend to take an anthropocentric view, that the primary goal is to satisfy human needs. With no regard for earth as a life-support system, a development will not be considered sustainable. Therefore, by taking economic, social, environmental issues into accounts is a key approach to develop sustainably in different contexts.