Meaning and Origin of Environmental Sustainability - Assignment Example

Reflective Paper Meaning and origin of environmental sustainability According to my knowledge gained from previous environmental sustainability in relation to business, natural environment performs two essential services namely: the source of raw materials for all social and economic needs and the sink for wastes resulting from these two activities. Therefore, environmental sustainability involves keeping these two vital environmental services (source and sink) from impairment in the process of carrying out social and economic activities, (Goodland, 2002, p. 10). The methods of ensuring environmental sustainability differ by country and sector but the major objective remain unchanged. The fear over environmental sustainability arises because the global population of about ten billion people must decently feed and shelter without damaging environment, (Goodland, 2002, p. 1). The possibility of sustaining this size of population while keeping the environment intact is lean because the social and economic needs of this population size exceed the carrying capacity of the environment, (Marquart-Pyatt, 2010). More importantly, the economic sector (the corporate) is the chief culprit in derailing environmental sustainability. I believe environmental sustainability directly affects economic sustainability because economic growth derives its inputs from the environment, (Goodland, 2002, p. 2). This relationship has implication on the natural resources that sustains the economic growth. Economic growth is infinite but the ecosystem that supports the economic growth is finite. This means that economy continues to grow in terms of rate of production and consumption of products while the environmental capacity from which raw materials are derived remains constant or reduces with increased extraction. However, part of this limited environmental capacity, the renewable resource, has ability to replenish, (Goodland, 2002, p. 2). Renewable resource partly provides mechanism of adopting environmental sustainability. The other portion, non-renewable resource, lack ability to replenish. Implementing environmental sustainability policy is challenging because only part of the whole environment is able to replenish whereas the depletion process affects both. In respect to this, I would propose three rules for environmental sustainability. The first is the rule for the output, which stipulates that the quantity of waste emitted from a social or economic activity must be within the assimilative capacity of the local environment without compromising its subsequent absorptive capacity for similar wastes or other services, (Hughes, 2010). This rule implicitly states that the level of production should exploit the resources in a manner that produces less waste. If amount of waste is directly proportional to the rate of exploitation of the resources, then this rule imply that the rate of exploitation should be lower than the rate of regeneration of the environmental resources, (Goodland, 2002, p. 10). The second rule, the input rule, involves renewable and non-renewable resources. For the non-renewable, the rule requires that their depletion rate should be lower than the recuperative rate of corresponding renewable resources. I think where the non-renewable resource lacks a corresponding renewable resource; the substitution should be based on the application of the non-renewable. This means that a similar product derived from a related or non-related renewable resource replaces the product derived from the non-renewable. In addition, I think that for renewable resource, the rate of their exploitation must be lower than the rate of their regenerative capacity of the local environment, (Goodland, 2002, pp. 10-11). The third rule regards operational principles and it entails the scale of economic production. This rule requires that the scale of economic production must be lower than the carrying capacity of local environment. This scale is expressed in terms of the product of three elements: total population, consumption per capita and technology. The second component of the third rule stipulates that the production processes must emphasize on efficiency instead of quantity of output, (Richard, Richard, & Cheryl, 2011). Increasing efficiency reduces wastes and rate of exploitation of the environmental resources. The third component of the third rule provides that the renewable resources should be exploited based on profit-maximization and sustenance, (Goodland, 2002, p. 11). Maximizing profit involves reduction in the cost of variable component of input (the cost of raw materials) which implies reduction in the rate of exploitation, (Anonymous, 2010). This will in turn ensure sustainability of the environment. Consequently, I feel that economic sector ought to consider that economic sustainability targets part of natural resources that provides physical inputs for the production of consumables. Environmental sustainability, on the other hand, aims at ensuring that the environmental self-replenishing systems restore the portion of natural resources that economic sustainability relies on, (Goodland, 2002, p. 2). These replenishing systems restore only to the renewable part of the natural resources. Greater effort in the form of strategies is necessary in conserving non-renewable part of the environment. My view is that there is greater reliance on the non-renewable part of environment in the form of petroleum and minerals. This significant reliance on the non-renewable resources has the impact of creating unbalance in the renewable systems. This should mean that the environment is constantly declining especially the non-renewable part. The fact that the non-renewable part is not replaced, the renewable resources remain exposed to exploitation thereby posing a threat to environmental sustainability. It is, therefore, important for the corporate to realize that without environmental sustainability, economic growth and human life will decline because natural resources that sustain the economic activities are insufficient, (Goodland, 2002, p. 14). Environment consists of life-supporting systems, which are atmosphere, soil and water. These life-supporting systems must be healthy for environmental sustainability to prevail, (Ekins, 2011). For these systems to be healthy the processes that make up the systems must proceed with minimal interruption, (Goodland, 2002, pp. 2-3).Damage to any part of life-supporting systems has diverse impacts on human life and economic sustainability. For example, destruction of part of atmosphere called the ozone layer leads to penetration of ultraviolet rays into the earth, (Norman, 2012). Ultraviolet rays pose danger to both human and vegetation. I believe that human activities, mainly economic activities, lead to the damage of the ozone layer. This implies that environmental sustainability and economic sustainability oppose each other. Economic sustainability tends toward exploitation of the resources whereas environmental sustainability tends toward conservation of the available resources, (Goodland, 2002, pp. 1-2). I think that there is need for control measures for the economic production to ensure environmental sustainability that guarantees economic sustainability prevails. Borrowing from my knowledge I learnt from ecology the capacity of the ecosystem imposes major constraint in human economic and social welfare progress. Economically, it limits the quantity of resources that are available for the production of consumables, (Goodland, 2002, pp. 13-14). However, the economic scale of production tends to ignore this limit imposed by the environment. The social needs influence economic scale of production. The amount of social needs is directly proportional to the size of the human population. Therefore, human population has an important role to play in environmental sustainability, (Stroud, 2007). However, we as human beings have misconceived the effect of environment on social sustainability. I strongly conceive that social problems such as poverty may be reduced by increasing economic output, (Goodland, 2002, pp. 2-4).Increasing economic output means that the environment has to part with natural resources at a higher rate. This theory of solving social problem of poverty is incompatible with environmental sustainability because it increases the rate of depletion of the available resources, (Watson, Corbett, Boudreau, & Webster, 2012). I believe in the theory suggests that the best alternative to ensure social sustainability is through redistribution of the available resources, population stability and quality development, (Goodland, 2002, p. 4). This theory is supported by the fact that poverty has been increasing in spite of increasing global and national economic growth. It means that our efforts as corporate to increase our economic output do not provide solutions to poverty reduction. I think the best alternative would be stabilizing population reduces the level of social need that influences the rate of production. In effect, reduced rate of economic output reduces the strain imposed on environmental resources. Reasons why the problem of non-sustainable culture is inevitable There are various reasons why we cannot avoid unsustainability in our environment. One of the laws states that it is not possible to sustain the human population and hence the rates of resource consumption. The rate of human population growth and the needs for the population exceeds the threshold of the environment. In addition, the rate of consumption of resources is directly proportional to the size of the population, (Goodland, 2002, pp. 3-4). Therefore, difficulty in sustainability of the society increases with increase in the population due to finite quantity of available resources. The sustainable size of the population and the sustainable average standard of living inversely relate to each other, (Goodland, 2002, p. 3). This implies that if the size of the population is high, then the sustainable standards of living will be low. Since we humanity try to raise the standards of living, there is increased strain on the environment to support the high standards of living amidst limited resources. If high standards of living are achieved for the large population, it means the natural resources would be depleted. For sustainable environment to prevail, the carrying capacity of the ecosystem must be greater than the size of the population in the considered location. Therefore, I suggest one remedy to ensure environmental sustainability is to implement population stability. When Environmental sustainability policy is important because any growth in the consumption rate of a non-renewable resource such as a mineral results in significant decrease in the life expectancy of the resource, (Goodland, 2002, pp. 12-13). This is attributed to the fact that non-renewable have finite and unchanging life expectancy. Without environmental sustainability, such resources will be exhausted at a faster rate. Once the non-renewable are depleted, the renewable may not be able to support the level of demand for resources for economic production. The efforts required to ensure efficiency and reduce the rate of exhaustion of non-renewable is greater than the efforts needed to consume the same resource. This translates into greater propensity towards consumption as compared to conservation, (Goodland, 2002, p. 3). This explains the difficulty in implementation of environmental sustainability policies because of the natural propensity to consume than to conserve. A similar concept can be explained in terms of pollution. That is, the efforts that needed to clean the pollutant become insurmountable as the rate of pollution increases. It is also pointed out that agriculture is the primary source of living for man. This translates to a fact that land, among other renewable resources, is an essential resource, (Berry, Detgado, Khosla, & Pierce, 2003). In which case, environmental sustainability mostly implicates land and land-based resources. It also noted that population growth directly affects land. The same land is used for economic production. It means that social sustainability and economic sustainability conflicts each other when certain resources such as land are under consideration. The solution for this conflict is environmental sustainability that will balance population growth and economic production which is required from my previous readings. Human activities that are causing environmental instability 1. Depletion of forests Depletion of natural vegetation has several impacts on the environment. First, forests and natural vegetation act as habitats for various living organisms that have significant role in the entire ecosystem. These organisms play a subtle but important roles in ensuring bio-chemical cycles such as carbon cycle, nitrogen cycle and energy cycle continue to exist. Forests also play an important role in water cycle and thus ensuring that the water system in the environment is balanced. It, therefore, means that depletion of the natural vegetation will compromise most of these cycles resulting into unbalanced conditions of atmospheric gases, water vapor and solar radiation. In effect, all the process that relies on these cycles such as rainfall will be affected. Ultimately, the economic processes that ignorantly rely on these background processes become affected. 2. Damping of bio non-degradable wastes Damping of bio non-degradable waste reduces environmental capacity to assimilate the waste and support other demands. Bio-degradation is the mechanism with which environment assimilate the wastes generated. Concern arises from the fact that non-renewable resources support a larger percentage of economic activities. Most of the bio non-degradable wastes come from these sources. Renewable resources produce only biodegradable wastes. This means that if renewable resources supported all the economic processes, then environmental sustainability would be easy to implement. This is because the wastes would be assimilated and the environment would recuperate amidst exploitation. 3. GHG emissions Greenhouse gases impacts on the bio-chemical cycles that maintain the composition of atmosphere. The gases also compromise the regenerative capacity of the renewable resources. They reduce regenerative capacity because they affect productivity of primary producers in the ecosystem. The primary producers – plants and vegetation – support life on the earth’s surface. 4. Mining and Oil exploration Oil resources form the largest portion of non-renewable resources. Therefore, as previously stated, it forms a major source of bio non-degradable waste. Moreover, it forms a major source of concern over environmental sustainability because of the level of exploitation. Most minerals form part of non-renewable resources. Their exploitation creates barren lands and large caves that impact negatively on the environment. 5. Intensive farming using inorganic fertilizers and other agro-chemicals The use of inorganic fertilizers and agro-chemicals are known to affect the environment negatively. Inorganic fertilizer compromises the productivity of soil to an extent that the land becomes unproductive without fertilizers. As stated in the previous sections, land is the most precious resource and is the most addressed by environmental sustainability. It means, therefore, that intensive use of inorganic fertilizers derails the efforts aimed at environmental sustainability. The fertilizers and other agro-chemicals find their way into other ecosystems within the environment where they cause imbalance in the sustainability. Therefore, inasmuch as agriculture is important in sustaining life, environmental sustainability is concerned with the nature of farming because it may have negative contribution to sustainability efforts. It is implied here that organic farming would be appealing to environment sustainability efforts. 6. Energy industry Energy is the most important resource provided by the environment because almost all other economic activities rely on it. If there is one way through which environment is strained it must be energy resource. Most energy comes from the non-renewable portion of the environmental resources. The waste and the rate of depletion caused by exploitation of energy resources are immense. Therefore, energy industry poses a major challenge in environmental sustainability. However, substitution of non-renewable energy resources for renewable energy is possible because there is wide range of renewable energy resources available for exploitation. Mere substitution, however, cannot work without adopting efficiency in consumption because the environment can support of only a limited rate of exploitation of these renewable energy resources. Significance The countries that implement environmental sustainability policies are more peaceful that their counterparts that have unsustainable economies, (Goodland, 2002, pp. 2-3). This ties environmental, economic and social sustainability. In the countries that implement environmental sustainability, the resources are carefully disturbed and managed. Each individual is given access to adequate amount of resources that can meet his or her needs. Consequently, peace prevails and there are hardly instances of corruption, land grabbing and displacement, depletion of forests, diseases, droughts and famine. Absence of these elements means that the population is stable and healthy and is socially sustained. In countries whose economies are not sustained, there are high instances of the problems mentioned above. The wealth is unequally distributed, there are high instances of social and civil strife and life is difficult. Land grabbing and displacement causes internal displacements, depletion of forests results into droughts and famine and piling of wastes leads to disease epidemics Methods of ensuring sustainability policy There are three possible methods of ensuring sustainability. The first is to encourage recuperation of natural resources by lowering the rate of exploitation. Example of this can be giving natural resources such as forests time to attain full maturity before harvesting. Reducing the rate of cutting down trees reduce turbulence in the ecosystems. This in turn reduces occurrence of unpredicted weather patterns and loss of species in the ecosystem. The second method is to reduce pressure on natural capital by expanding existing artificial capital to replace the natural capital, for example, increasing tree plantations to provide timber instead of exploiting natural forests. Scientific research has made advancements in engineering tree species that can grow faster in a given environmental conditions. This concept and similar ones can be harnessed to reduce the strain on the natural environment. Lastly, integrating efficiency in the exploitation of natural resources can reduce strain imposed on these resources. Efficiency in the use of natural resources reduces wastes and rate of exploitation. Reduction of wastes allows the environment to assimilate the little that is produced. Recycling products also reduces the exploitation rates of the non-renewable. My own opinion: The biggest culprits Energy industry, especially oil and petroleum industry is the main culprit in environmental sustainability challenge. Oil and petroleum products are the most utilized in the modern society. Moreover, energy sector is the main industry that exploits non-renewables by largest proportion and at the most alarming rate. Implementation of environmental sustainability policies hold implicate the oil and petroleum industry by a proportion commensurate to the level of exploitation it imposes on the environment. Under the same industry, nuclear systems form another major threat to environmental sustainability. In fact, it causes permanent impact on environment. The sustainability policies should ensure that lethal systems such nuclear systems are not established. Alternative energy sources should be considered before relying heavily on nuclear. Military weapons dependent on nuclear technology must also be abandoned for those that do have collective impact when unleashed. I also suggest that environmental sustainability polices should begin be seeking to stabilizing population. After which, the economic productivity should be moderated and it will be easy to realize the objective of sustainability. Conclusion Environmental sustainability has two major significances: one, it provides human beings with resources on which thrives. Secondly, it improves human welfare by protecting the natural resources and ensures that the reservoirs for human wastes are not overwhelmed in order to keep humans from harm. Instead of forcing environment to fit into the growing economic output, humans must strive to carry economic production within the maximum limits posed by the ecosystem. Living within the limits imposed by the ecosystem means that the natural capital must be conserved both as the sources of raw materials input and as a sink for the human wastes. Keeping human waste within the limits imposed by the ecosystem involves matching the waste production with the assimilative capacity of the environment without compromising the environmental services. Keeping the exploitation rate within the limits of the environment involves harvesting the natural resources at a rate lower than the regeneration rate of the environment. Non-regenerative resources cannot be entirely sustainable. However, their exploitation rate must allow equivalent renewable resources to recuperate. In conclusion, there cannot be social and economic sustainability without environmental sustainability. Therefore, all social and economic needs must reflect environmental sustainability. Reference Anonymous. (2010). Environmental Sustainability. Nanaimo News Bulletin, p. 16. Berry, J., Detgado, J., Khosla, R., & Pierce, F. (2003, November). Precision conservation for environmental sustainability. Journal of Soil and Water Conservation, 58(6), 332. Ekins, P. (2011). Environmental sustainability: From environemntal valuation to the sustainability gap. Progress in Physical Geography, 35(5), 629-651. Goodland, R. (2002). The Concept of Environmental Sustainability. 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