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10 Sustainability
10.4 Environmental Sustainability
10.4.1 What Is Environmental Sustainability?
Human civilization is now a fully integrated and interwoven part of the global
society. With growing human populations and vast economic growth, we have
become an integral and crucial component of the Earth’s ecosystems. The concept
of sustainability lays foundation for understanding the concept of environmental
sustainability. Therefore, environmental sustainability can be defined as responsibly
interacting with the environment to deter degradation or depletion of natural
resources, and sustain long-term environmental quality. These ecosystems are the
foundation for all life on Earth (Moldan et al. 2012). Through our constant search
for the acquisition of natural resources from the planet that sustain our modern-day
way of life, we are manipulating, changing, and often harming our planet’s natural
order and the way these ecosystems function.
Some argue that humanity has already created an imbalance or negatively
affected the natural balance of the world’s systems. In order to leverage such
imbalance, it is crucial that we ensure all of human civilization’s endeavors are
environmentally sustainable. However, environmental sustainability is a broad and
complex term that encompasses a host of disciplines ranging from business and
technology to the social sciences and the environment itself.
Sustainability can be thought of as the ability to continue a given behavior,
or task indefinitely. In relation to environmental sustainability, it is therefore how
human civilization can take resources from the environment in order to sustain its
own expansion, while allowing natural systems to produce everything they need to
function normally and remain ecologically diverse (Moldan et al. 2012).
Humans find it difficult to develop environmentally responsible behaviors.
What are the contributing factors?
Our modern-day consumerist and predominantly urban existence throughout
most of the developed world result in the consumption of vast amounts of natural
resources. Electricity is produced through the burning of coal, while oil and gas
generate heat. This creates energy that keeps our streets and buildings lit, our
modern-day appliances working, and our homes warm. With such a vast range
of processes that require natural resources, an imbalance has arisen between the
amount we take out and the amount we put back into the environment. It is estimated
that we take 40% more resources from the environment than we are capable of
putting back every year (Moldan et al. 2012); therefore, illustrating the problem
facing humanity in our pursuit of sustainability. Environmental sustainability
therefore puts a focus on restoring this balance, where there is an incredibly thin line
between the competing needs of our civilization moving forward in technological
10 Sustainability
10.4 Environmental Sustainability
10.4.1 What Is Environmental Sustainability?
Human civilization is now a fully integrated and interwoven part of the global
society. With growing human populations and vast economic growth, we have
become an integral and crucial component of the Earth’s ecosystems. The concept
of sustainability lays foundation for understanding the concept of environmental
sustainability. Therefore, environmental sustainability can be defined as responsibly
interacting with the environment to deter degradation or depletion of natural
resources, and sustain long-term environmental quality. These ecosystems are the
foundation for all life on Earth (Moldan et al. 2012). Through our constant search
for the acquisition of natural resources from the planet that sustain our modern-day
way of life, we are manipulating, changing, and often harming our planet’s natural
order and the way these ecosystems function.
Some argue that humanity has already created an imbalance or negatively
affected the natural balance of the world’s systems. In order to leverage such
imbalance, it is crucial that we ensure all of human civilization’s endeavors are
environmentally sustainable. However, environmental sustainability is a broad and
complex term that encompasses a host of disciplines ranging from business and
technology to the social sciences and the environment itself.
Sustainability can be thought of as the ability to continue a given behavior,
or task indefinitely. In relation to environmental sustainability, it is therefore how
human civilization can take resources from the environment in order to sustain its
own expansion, while allowing natural systems to produce everything they need to
function normally and remain ecologically diverse (Moldan et al. 2012).
Humans find it difficult to develop environmentally responsible behaviors.
What are the contributing factors?
Our modern-day consumerist and predominantly urban existence throughout
most of the developed world result in the consumption of vast amounts of natural
resources. Electricity is produced through the burning of coal, while oil and gas
generate heat. This creates energy that keeps our streets and buildings lit, our
modern-day appliances working, and our homes warm. With such a vast range
of processes that require natural resources, an imbalance has arisen between the
amount we take out and the amount we put back into the environment. It is estimated
that we take 40% more resources from the environment than we are capable of
putting back every year (Moldan et al. 2012); therefore, illustrating the problem
facing humanity in our pursuit of sustainability. Environmental sustainability
therefore puts a focus on restoring this balance, where there is an incredibly thin line
between the competing needs of our civilization moving forward in technological