(a) The sustainable use of renewable resources requires that consumption is not
greater than the regeneration rate of resources.
(b) The sustainable use of non-renewable resources requires that the rate of consumption is not greater than the pace at which renewable substitutes are
established.
(c) The sustainable pace of pollution and waste requires that production is not
greater than the pace at which natural systems are able to absorb, recycle, or
neutralize these pollutants.
Based on the twentieth-century development model of mass production, mass
consumption, mass disposal, and mass pollution, ultimately leading to the manifestation of global warming due to large-scale CO 2 emission, are symbolic of not
meeting the premise of these three principles.
As an alternative, we propose five sustainability principles (G-SUS Five Principles), as shown in Fig. 1.15:
(a) Recycling: maximize resource utilization
(b) Low carbon: minimization of environmental load
(c) Symbiosis: humanity and nature exist in harmony
(d) Safety: a safe and secure society
(e) Smart: optimization of social-economic technological systems (i.e., minimize
cost, maximize utility)
From the beginning of the twenty-first century, the development of the science of
sustainability as an academic discipline expanded to the spatial scale of nations,
Essential
conditions for
Global
Sustainability
Symbiosis
Lowcarbon
Safety
Recycle
Smart
Fig. 1.15 Essential
conditions for human
society to achieve
sustainable development
32
W. Zhou
greater than the regeneration rate of resources.
(b) The sustainable use of non-renewable resources requires that the rate of consumption is not greater than the pace at which renewable substitutes are
established.
(c) The sustainable pace of pollution and waste requires that production is not
greater than the pace at which natural systems are able to absorb, recycle, or
neutralize these pollutants.
Based on the twentieth-century development model of mass production, mass
consumption, mass disposal, and mass pollution, ultimately leading to the manifestation of global warming due to large-scale CO 2 emission, are symbolic of not
meeting the premise of these three principles.
As an alternative, we propose five sustainability principles (G-SUS Five Principles), as shown in Fig. 1.15:
(a) Recycling: maximize resource utilization
(b) Low carbon: minimization of environmental load
(c) Symbiosis: humanity and nature exist in harmony
(d) Safety: a safe and secure society
(e) Smart: optimization of social-economic technological systems (i.e., minimize
cost, maximize utility)
From the beginning of the twenty-first century, the development of the science of
sustainability as an academic discipline expanded to the spatial scale of nations,
Essential
conditions for
Global
Sustainability
Symbiosis
Lowcarbon
Safety
Recycle
Smart
Fig. 1.15 Essential
conditions for human
society to achieve
sustainable development
32
W. Zhou