Environmental Sustainability

Environmental Sustainability

Darcy Bonner

GLG/101

January15, 2012

Marilyn Ogbugwo

Environmental Sustainability

“Sustainability is based on a simple principle: Everything that we need for our survival and well-being depends, either directly or indirectly, on our natural environment.  Sustainability creates and maintains the conditions under which humans and nature can exist in productive harmony, that permit fulfilling the social, economic and other requirements of present and future generations. Sustainability is important to making sure that we have and will continue to have, the water, materials, and resources to protect human health and our environment.” (www.epa.gov. 2012)

With the increase in human populations, natural ecosystems have declined and changes in the balance of natural cycles have had a negative impact on both humans and other living systems to such an extent that we are compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs and contributing to the rapid advancement of global climate change. In an effort to live more sustainably, we would need to consider where and how we live and work; new ideas on economics; green technologies and renewable resources, all of which requires us all to make adjustments to our lifestyles. An alternative view to the traditional idea that all non-human life - minerals, plants and animals - are in limitless supply, is to conserve resources through more effective manufacturing processes, use of renewable materials, the reuse of materials, a change in values from quantity to quality, and restoring and sustaining natural resources. Using methods such as Life Cycle Analysis or Ecological Footprint analysis provide basic indicators of sustainability on various scales. Renewable materials are substances derived from a living tree, plant, animal or ecosystem which has the ability to regenerate itself. A renewable material can be produced again and again. Usually they are derived from specially grown...