Sustainability is usually laughed at, global warming is not a “reality” right? Yet the fact is something is happening in our world, it’s catastrophic and devastating, and yet many turn away at the thought of becoming a sustainable society. Consumed with the here, the now and the growth of the economy; nations neglect the future needs of their children, grandchildren or even great-great grandchildren. Is it hard to become sustainable, yes but not impossible. It is profitable to become sustainable, yes but not without some loss. Sustainable as described by Merriam-Webster dictionary, able to be used without being completely used up or destroyed [or] involving methods that do not completely use up or destroy natural resources [or] able to last or continue for a long time, this indicates a steady progress even if it is a bit slower than expected. Sustainable societies are not hocus pocus, they are a reality in some places around the world. Sustainability is an intermingling of wise resource use and protection of the “quality of life”, it is met by using natural resources sparingly, by recycling or reducing and eventually stopping the use of other non-renewable resources, to provide for our immediate need, but also to conserve and protect the needs of the next generation and to improve the quality of all the lives to come. Without rethinking and changing the way our nations focus on fuels, than there is no way for sustainability to a plausible plan.
B: Quality of life, stop the focus on the unsustainable economic growth.
1: To protect the quality of life for people we need to first change how countries see growth. To change the idea of growth for a country might be difficult, but certainly it would be more accurate on what everyone t...
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... Air quality, is damaged as more are burned. As well these power plants contaminate water everywhere. If water is contaminated than food is also contaminated. Those basic needs are met by reducing or eliminating fossil fuels. As well jobs will be generated to help with the change of the infrastructure for power. This meets the needs of the bottom two tiers of Maslow’s needs. These are real tangible needs that can be achieved with sustainability as the focus. Instead of focusing on economic growth only, nations should compare that growth with the quality of the people’s lives.
C: Resources are limited. Especially the fossil fuels we use wastefully.
1: We must being to limit the amount of fossil fuels we use and enact plans to conserve and preserve what other renewable resources we have. Without proper resource management we will lose lives, economies, and nations.
The following case study critiques Upton’s vision to establish a sustainable community through implementing comprehensive sustainable strategy. The urban periphery development is thought to demonstrate superior execution of sustainable principles in development (Jackson 2007). As a parallel, the report focuses on the development of Upton’s design code and demonstrates how large -scale mix-use developments can incorporate sustainable practice and principles of urban growth.
There has been a vast advancement in the industrial development. The development of plastic has been a boon to the modern era. The development and advancement in the modern technology has played significant role in the various stages of the modernization. Although the introduction to plastics has been a significant step in the industrialization, the excessive use of the plastic products has affected environmental sustainability. Proper planning is very essential to implement the sustainability actively. There are many steps taken by various businesses to minimize the harm the plastics can do to the environment by reduce, reuse and recycle. One of the recent examples of planning to strengthen sustainability is by Walmart Inc. It has taken initiative
As it is commonly stated, an environmentally active student from the University of Connecticut-Stamford comments, “The first step toward solving a problem is admitting there is one” (Lanslots). In the area of environmental awareness, the solution must be executed on both an individual and a corporate level. Aldo Leopold states, “A conservationist is one who is humbly aware that with each stroke he is writing his signature on the face of the land” (73). Similarly we must realize that every action we take has an intended or unintended consequence upon our earth. Each step towards the conservation effort adds a signature to the plea to save our earth. As an up and coming chemistry scholar, it is important to raise awareness of the state of our environment and to recognize the strategies that can be taken as a member of a university, a citizen of the United States, and a future member of the corporate world to ensure a better environment and maintain resources for the future generations to live in this land.
Sustainability is an issue that everyone should be concerned about. If the planet Earth is going to exist, as we know it, everyone should wake up and do their part to help achieve a greater level of sustainability. In my English 101 class we learned about the issue of sustainability. Many different topics were discussed and researched throughout the course of the semester. Overall, I think that the sustainability project has been a learning and enlightening experience for everyone in this class. Many more things can be done next semester, since the groundwork has been laid to continue this project for time to come.
Prevent dangerous climate change by phasing out fossil fuels (oil, coal, gas) and replacing them with clean renewable energy such as solar.
We are currently at a turning point in time. What the world does today will ultimately determine what the future has in store. We can commit ourselves to continuously working to develop sustainability in every aspect of life, or we can continue to degrade the precious environment like we have been for so many decades. While many people have discussed ways to take action, nothing drastic has been accomplished. Instead of recognizing the importance of this issue, countries turn their attention to fossil fuels and extraction in an attempt to grow their economies and power. As an advocate of sustainable development, I hope that the citizens of the world will make the right decision, but only time will tell.
With today’s development of society, an increasing number of people focus on natural resources and sustainable, restaurants are seeking a new way to establish a sustainable strategy. The case study describes sustainability and analyze its impact within the industry, using McDonald’s as main case study.
Sustainability is a concept with a diverse array of meanings and definitions – a widely used glamorous, ambiguous, ambivalent and vague concept that is used by different stakeholder groups in various ways. Presumably to avoid noodling over a terminology or to avoid the confrontation with a definition, most widely the concept is broken down a planning process (c.f. e.g. Döring & Muraca, 2010). That is why most common sustainability is understood as sustainable development.1
What is sustainability? Why has this topic gained momentum in the past few years ? Does sustainable design methods only reap benefits or does it have a pitfall side to it? These are some of the questions that we are going to be discussing in this essay. Sustainability can be defined as an environmentally conscious design that has a minimal impact on the planet. As a result of external forces in the magnitude of global warming and many other more, as designers we have some social responsibility to cater to such issues. In light of this concern designers have become more conscious of their creative decisions and plan to lead their designs in the “sustainable” (long lasting ) way. The ramification of the damage that we have done to the environment is huge and increasing by the day. The three primary factors that affect the environment are ecological damage, health damage and resource depletion. (Walker, 2013)
The idea of water is often overlooked as being something that we need to try ad sustain. We have the whole ocean and there seems to constantly be a storm dumping rain over the country at all times. But do we really have enough water to support all our needs including the irrigation for our crops and the water that we need to consume to stay healthy? Do the rivers and streams hold a quality of clean and healthy water? The project that I am about to discuss was set into play in order to try and tackle these questions as well as many other concerns such as flood protection, wildlife and recreation uses, and actively getting the people aware and supportive of change. This project is known as modernizing water management and building a national sustainable rivers program. The nature conservancy teams up with the Army Corps of Engineers in trying to find sustainable solutions to river health. Throughout the 20th century the United States built thousands of Dams and several other types of water projects to try and meet the growing need that was present from water, food, flood protection, hydropower and navigation. Of all the dams that were built some 40-80 years ago there is very few of them that have been fully reviewed to see if they meet the current needs. They have not been inspected to prepare for future circumstances or to observe any new updates that they may be in need of. With the idea of this sustainable project we can now attempt to modernize the operations and to improve the social, economic and environmental benefits that they can provide for us now as well as for the future generations that are still to come. The idea is to improve our current dams and try to build a better system to manage the waterways through our countr...
Have you ever thought to yourself, wondering how your life will be when you’re finally a college graduate? Well I, meaning you from the future, finally became a college graduate from California State University Monterey Bay. It only took me four years to obtain my Bachelors of Science in Kinesiology. However along the way I made a couple important decisions in my life that changed it for the better; remember always wanting to change the way you consumed energy and water because you thought you used more than necessary. About a year and a half ago, I decided I wanted to change my ways, which I was able to accomplish, I created two new personal policies, one for energy and another for water, which I will follow in my everyday life. Implementing my personal energy policy: turn off any lights or electrical items when not in use and my water policy: to take shorter showers or turning off the faucet while brushing teeth, helped me obtain my ideal environmental world view which is Stewardship. The aspects of this type of world view have to do with being environmentally aware, taking responsibility as caretakers of the earth. One main concern or thought of Stewardship knows that we will most likely never run of a certain product or good, but why waste it if we don’t have to. Not only did adopting the two new personal polices help me obtain my ideal environmental worldview, it actually created a more sustainable lifestyle for me.
According to Miller and Spoolman the three principles of sustainability are solar energy, biodiversity, and chemical cycling (2010, p.5). Solar energy is the perfect energy because the sun always shines. Everyday we rely on solar energy so why not make solar energy work to our advantage. I can apply solar energy to my lifestyle by having items like solar panels installed on my home. With solar panels I will be able to generate my own clean energy therefore decreasing my reliance on the fossil fuels that currently supply my house. Giant advancements in solar technology have been made in the last few years and now several countries are jumping on the solar bandwagon. “China is on track to become the world’s largest solar market as they try to diversify away from coal, which currently fuels 70% of their economy” (Bloomberg, 2011). A second way that I could apply solar energy to my lifestyle would be to use the sun as a light source. During the day I tend to keep all of my window blinds closed so I’m wasting energy my running my lights when I should just open my blinds and let the sun do the natural job of lighting my home for me.
After going through a careful consideration of my familiarity with a number of multinational corporations that I selected earlier, I chose Henkel (Henkel AG & Company, KGaA), a manufacturing company headquartered in Germany, to be the corporation that I am going to analyze in depth. Size wise, “the company has some 47,000 employees worldwide and counts among the most internationally aligned German-based companies in the global marketplace.” (Henkel, 2014) Aside from having a broad employee base and solidly built financial resources, it also has branches scattered all over the world, including Hong Kong. Business wise, Henkel chiefly runs in three areas. They are household products, personal care products, adhesives that can be found easily at any local supermarket or grocery store.
In order for any country to survive in comparison to another developed country they must be able to grow and sustain a healthy and flourishing economy. This paper is designed to give a detailed insight of economic growth and the sectors that influence economic growth. Economic growth in a country is essential to the reduction of poverty, without such reduction; poverty would continue to increase therefore economic growth is inevitable. Through economic growth, it is also an aid in the reduction of the unemployment rate and it also helps to reduce the budget deficit of the government. Economic growth can also encourage better living standards for all it is citizens because with economic growth there are improvements in the public sectors, educational and healthcare facilities. Through economic growth social spending can also be increased without an increase of taxes.
I believe that we have several responsibilities towards future generations, including sustainable energy sources, managed resources, conservation, and to impart knowledge of environmental sustainability in a widespread way. I believe that must fulfill these obligations for the continuation of the human species survival in the future.