Human Relationship with Nature
Attaining sustainability is the optimal way of humanity’s long-term development. In fact, it may be the only one, as achieving a natural balance may eventually become a matter of survival for the humankind. To enable this outcome, the very nature of the relationship between people and their planet needs to change. More specifically, respect should become the central pillar of this relationship. This includes the respect of nature as something that had existed long before the dawn of humanity, as well as something that needs to stay for millennia ahead. Eventually, people will understand that the current one-sided approach, resulting in the planet resource exploitation, is arrogant, devoid of respect. In a sustainable future, this problem will cease to exist, allowing humanity to reach the balance.
Earth’s Biodiversity and Ecosystems
A sustainable future will have an effect on the planet in many ways, and the Earth’s biodiversity is one of them. At present, this parameter sees major hazards that are caused by the humanity’s exploitation of nature. The concept of biodiversity refers to the presence of various complex ecosystems that have undergone their natural development. Today, they remain threatened by pollution and exhaustion of resources. In a sustainable future, the biodiversity goals described by Diaz et al. (2020) will be completed. The first step toward this outcome will be reversing the process, which currently sees a negative trends with the number of species declining year after year. While the reversion is now set at 2050, it is imperative to achieve positive results as early as possible.
Agricultural Production
Agriculture has been the cornerstone of human civilization since its dawn. Ever since people mastered the first primitive tools, agricultural products have sustained their entire existence. As centuries went by, these practices became more sophisticated along with the progress. Furthermore, the exponential growth of the Earth’s population led to the expansion of agricultural production. Forests and endemics are destroyed to free more land, so the soil fertility is attained through quantity rather than quality (Bilali & Allahyari, 2018). In a sustainable future, environmentally harmful activities will be reduced to a minimum, as agricultural production currently accounts for a major part of the carbon footprint. The soil fertility will be increased through natural, harmless inventions that will produce more food per square mile instead of providing more space at the expense of the nature.
Water Resource Management
The management of the Earth’s water resources is another topical concern of modern society. Freshwater is heavily utilized, gradually depleting the reserves of the planet. In pursuit of water resource efficiency, humanity changes the landscape, often causing ecological catastrophes. Furthermore, the very distribution of resources is out of balance, since certain regions of the Earth are left with little or no water (Tomislav, 2018). The development of sustainable water resource management practices will address all of these issues. One of the promising technologies consists of harvesting and utilizing the rain water, which currently goes to waste. This way, currently deprived communities will have better access to fresh water. Speaking of waste, the oceans of the Earth remain increasingly polluted by it, which is problematic. This issue is to be addressed along with the general waste management policies.
Energy Management
Humanity retains a strong need for energy, which is bound to be on a stable increase in the distant future, as well. Civilization’s production and consumption needs are growing, which causes the aforementioned trend. As a result, the energy sector remains one of the largest suppliers of pollution and waste in a global sense. The pursuit of sustainability implies a revolution within the energy sector. In such a future, humanity will have deactivated all of its coal-based plants, as well as most nuclear ones. Renewable resources will form the core of the planet’s energy grid, including hydroelectricity, solar power, and wind power (Tomislav, 2018). These three types of energy sources will be distributed across the globe in accordance with the geographical properties of each area. This way, the production capacity will reach its peak, meeting the growing demand while alleviating the environmental effect.
Waste Management
Within the current discussions of sustainability, waste is considered to be one of the key issues faced by humanity. In fact, the treatment of waste is among the first aspects that need to change for a sustainable future to be possible. It exists in many forms that originate from industries and households, as well. The world of the 21st century is made of plastic, a material that takes hundreds of years to decompose. Therefore, in a sustainable future, the use of plastic will be reduced to an absolute minimum. The role of recycled materials in production will be enhanced, from daily use items to complex constructions (Pluskal et al., 2021). The sustainable society will reflect the value of reuse and recycling, as in the case of waste, prevention is infinitely better than the cure. Instead of optimizing the treatment of existing waste, humanity will have to reduce its amount in the first place.
Choices and Tradeoffs
Evidently, sustainable future will not even come on its own. It supposed to become the product of a global choice made by humanity by remaining loyal to the current sustainable development goals. Moreover, this pursuit will not be an easy journey, as it will require a series of consolidated decisions and compromises (Tomislav, 2018). Specifically, the most serious challenge faced by humanity in pursuit of sustainability lies in the societal domain. Global community will inevitably deal with the economic and technological impediments. However, the most important step is to reach a global consensus on the value and importance of sustainable practices. In other words, the key challenge is to convince the majority of eight billion people of the feasibility of sustainable development goals.
References
Diaz, S., Zafra-Calvo, N., Purvis, A., Verburg, P. H., Obura, D., Leadley, P., Chaplin-Kramer, R., De Meester, L., Dulloo, E., Martin-Lopez, B., Shaw, M. R., Visconti, P., Broadgate, W., Bruford, M. W., Burgess, N. D., Cavender-Barres, J., Declerk, F., Fernandez-Palacios, J. M., Garibaldi, L. A., … & Zanne, A. E. (2020). Set ambitious goals for biodiversity and sustainability.Science, 370(6615), 411–413. Web.
El Bilali, H., & Allahyari, M. S. (2018). Transition towards sustainability in agriculture and food systems: Role of information and communication technologies.Information Processing in Agriculture, 5(4), 456–464. Web.
Pluskal, J., Somplak, R., Nevrly, V., Smejkalova, V., & Pavlas, M. (2021). Strategic decisions leading to sustainable waste management: Separation, sorting and recycling possibilities.Journal of Cleaner Production, 278, 123359. Web.
Tomislav, K. (2018). The concept of sustainable development: From its beginning to the contemporary issues. Zagreb International Review of Economics & Business, 21(1), 67-94. Web.