Sustainability
What Is Sustainable Development?
Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without jeopardizing future generations to meet their own needs.Sustainable Development includes the concept of needs which in particular are the essential needs of the world's impoverished population and the concept of limitations that are to be imposed on social organizations and the mass production so that we are able to meet both present and future needs.
Sustainable Development contains two main concepts. These concepts include the concept of needs, and the concept of limitations that are to be imposed so that we can meet the present needs as well as the future ones.
Expansionists VS. Ecological World View
Expansionists see nature as a resource that exists to be used and not preserved. Their primary value of natural habitats remains the same; for the advancement and development of modern society. Ecologists, however, see the universe as all totality. This means that all parts of the universe are interrelated. They believe that the biotic community must be protected along with its processes.
Opinion
So, basically we know that our generation is responsible not only for our own needs and well being but we are also responsible for that of future generations. What we do today will affect the living conditions of future generations, we have to turn our attention to environmental problems such as climate change and the loss of biodiversity. However, in my opinion, sustainable development is a much broader idea than that. Not only environmental factors are to be taken into consideration but also social and economic aspects. Of course, the idea of sustainable development sounds useful but what is actually needed for our current and future living conditions to succeed? There are necessities we need such as clean air to breathe and for plant life to survive. I believe that the decision on what we need will cause the most conflict among society as people will have different opinions on this subject. But we need to think about it on a larger scale. We need to take our conflicting needs and multiply them. For example, many countries rely on using nuclear power even though there is a high risk to their people's safety. So then the question becomes; How do we decide as a society whose needs are met first? Shall we go by economic status? or People in first world countries over third world countries? Is the environment going to be put first or our corporation? We need to balance all the social, environmental and economic objectives, but how are we going to do this? When people are making decisions about how to use the Earth’s resources such as water, forests, natural gas, minerals, etc., they must take into account not only how much resources they are using, but also what processes they are using to get to using these resources. Other considerations may include whether there is going to be enough resources left for future generations to use and if the environment will be left in a healthy state. Even the little things we do in our everyday lives can slowly help to improve and speed up the process of sustainable development. For example, saving energy by turning off unnecessary lights in our homes, or deciding to bike to work a couple days during the week rather than always using vehicle transportation. It is truly amazing to see how so many conflicts are connected with each other. For example, third world growth is currently having a conflict with preserving natural resources. In the long run, however, the responsible use of these natural resources will help to ensure that there are resources available for these countries to grow sustainably in the future.