In general terms sustainability is the endurance of systems and processes; and from an ecological perspective it is the capacity to endure, relating to biological systems that remain diverse and productive indefinitely. We all understand that healthy ecosystems and environments are essential to the survival of humankind as well as other living beings.
Unfortunately, despite the popularity of the term ‘sustainability’, the possibility that societies and humanity at large will achieve environmental sustainability continues to be questioned. The reasons behind misgivings surrounding sustainability are continuing environmental degradation, climate change, population growth, overconsumption, and societies’ striving for indefinite economic growth. On the global scale, scientific research shows that humanity is living beyond the capacity of the Earth and that this cannot continue.
When speaking of sustainability we have to think in complex terms of a system that is comprised of (at least) three pillars, namely environmental, economic and social. Furthermore, whenever we speak of environmental sustainability, we have to think of a closed system, as there is only one Earth, which provides the necessary constituents for life. Thus the environmental pillar limits the other two pillars of sustainability, so that economy and society are constrained by it.
However, it is a fact that the three pillars are also interdependent, and none of them can exist without the others. Thus, whenever one speaks of sustainability, all three pillars need to be addressed respectively. All these pillars have served as common ground for umpteen sustainability standards and certification worldwide systems in recent years.
Economic sustainability means an economic system with fair distribution and an efficient allocation of resources. This would ensure that the economy would maintain a healthy balance with our ecosystem.
Environmental sustainability is integrally connected with nature. The difficulty with this pillar is that we takenatural resources for granted and easily forget that these resources are not unlimited and that the Earth needs to be protected from corporate exploitation and neglect. Initiatives such as renewable energy, reducing fossil fuel consumption and emissions, maintaining sustainable agriculture, slowing deforestation, tree planting, recycling and better waste management all come within this category.
Social sustainability primarily means the people’s well-being. Humanity has an ethical responsibility to stop inequality, injustice, and poverty. Initiatives like social justice, reducing poverty, and other fundamental activities that promote social equity are parts of this pillar.
In order to find solutions to sustainability problems, we have to think in terms of interconnected systems and address sustainability issues accordingly. A couple of ways to reduce negative human impact are environment friendly engineering and careful resource management and environment protection.
There have been numerous initiatives where people have tried to lead a more sustainable lifestyle over the last few decades, including:
Establishing ecovillages.
Reorganizing, restructuring and managing municipalities and cities.
Re-evaluating economic sectors like permaculture, green building methods, and also sustainable agriculture.
Creating sustainable architecture.
Developing new technologies, e.g. green technology, renewable energy use.
There are initiatives on local, national and international levels aiming to enhance the world’s ecosystem and reduce human impact on the Earth and make it sustainable. Such set of goals for achieving various aspects of sustainability are called Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) (these replaced Millennium Development Goals (MDG) in 2015. The Sustainable Development Goals were created by the United Nations and were established to help achieve sustainability targets. In this system there are 17 main goals and 169 associated targets.[1]
The seventeen SDG goals
1) Poverty – End poverty in all its forms everywhere.
2) Food – End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture.
3) Health – Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages.
4) Education – Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learningopportunities for all.
5) Women – Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls.
6) Water – Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all.
7) Energy – Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern energy for all.
8) Economy – Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all.
9) Infrastructure – Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation.
10) Inequality – Reduce inequality within and among countries.
11) Habitation – Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable.
12) Consumption – Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns.
13) Climate – Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts.
14) Marine-ecosystems – Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development.
15) Ecosystems – Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversityloss.
16) Institutions – Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels.
17) Sustainability – Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development.
Worldwide, leaders, decision makers, scientists and the general public recognize that only healthy ecosystems can continue to provide vital goods and services. Therefore, there is an urgent need to reduce negative human impact and enhance ecosystem services. There are two major ways of reducing this impact. The first approach is environment management, which is a direct approach based largely on information gained from earth science, environmental science and conservation biology. The second approach is through demand management of human resource use, i.e. reducing human consumption, because the major human impact on Earth’s systems is the destruction of biophysical resources, or in other words the Earth’s ecosystems. These issues, and all others connected to and affecting environmental sustainability must be addressed immediately in order to achieve sustainability, where the precautionary principle is a key factor. The message and ideology of the ecosocialist approach resonates most with this need, as the only adequate solution to present-day ecological crises. An egalitarian economic, political and social structure has to be established to harmonize society with ecology and to fulfil human needs. Thus sustainability is viewed as a holistic domain that must involve all humanity redefining its very place in, and co-existence within, nature.
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