With global warming taking root in the world, people are finally coming to the realization that environmental issues are of utmost importance and can no longer be ignored. This point is driven home even more so with the recent spate of hurricanes and other natural disasters that experts suspect could be linked to global warming. Global sustainability in relation to global warming is a term that has increasingly been in usage by people in various sectors of society and is seen as extremely crucial to saving the environment.
With each passing day, some organization or the other or a public official mentions the importance of global sustainability and how everyone should work towards this goal. What, then, does this term “global sustainability” actually refer to?
Despite its common usage, there are very few concise definitions of global sustainability. However, best described, global sustainability refers to a situation in which human beings are able to survive without jeopardizing the continued survival of future generations of human beings in a healthy environment (Brown, 1987). It refers to development that meets the needs of the present without having to compromise the ability of future generations to meet their needs and encompasses the financial, social, and environmental aspects of society.
Sustainability is very important but only when it does not compromise with our economy, lifestyle, culture, and so on. Socially, global sustainability should be seen as being culturally acceptable, psychologically nurturing, and socially desirable. Financially, it should be economically, technologically, and operationally viable. Environmentally, it should be generationally sensitive and generally contribute to a robust environment (The Dictionary of Sustainability Management, 2008).
There are several barriers to global sustainability that have regularly been mentioned but the fundamental causes all boil down to population issues such as over-population growth and over consumption. Population growth has a negative effect on the environment whereby limited resources support a large population. In most cases, the environment becomes unable to support the dense population then subsequently begins to decline. With larger populations, sustainability is reduced and vice versa. Overconsumption, on the other hand, also affects global sustainability negatively. The more people consume in terms of natural resources, the less sustainable the environment will be (Well, 2008).
In my opinion, overconsumption has more of a negative effect on global sustainability than population growth does. It is a well-known fact that the developed world contributes more towards global warming despite the fact that the populations in most First World countries are on a negative curve. In the developing world, on the other hand, population growths steadily increase yet their contribution towards the carbon load is minimal.
Global inequality in consumption is very high and a report by the World Bank Development Indicators (2008) revealed this shocking inequality. It found that the wealthiest people in the world who comprised 20% of the world accounted for a staggering 76.6% of total private consumption. The poorest fifth, on the other hand, accounted for just 1.5 % (Global Issues 2008). In addition, it found that the wealthiest 10% in the world accounted for 59% of all the consumption while the poorest 10% accounted for only 0.5% in comparison.
Consumption should thus be reduced, first at the individual level whereby everyone should reduce the amount of electricity, water, and paper they waste by adopting a conservationist attitude. It should also be reduced globally whereby all governments should commit to reducing the carbon load by promoting the use of renewable sources of energy as well as regulating the practices of large manufacturing industries to prevent unwarranted and reckless pollution.
Two main global resources that have been adversely affected by global warming in the past few years are the Amazon Forest and Antarctica. In the Amazon forest, deforestation is the greatest cause of its rapid decline. Historically, the Amazon Forest has always been very dense and vibrant. This is changing at an alarming rate. Studies reveal that in the period spanning May 2000 and August 2006, Brazil lost nearly 150,000 square kilometers of forest cover and this represents an area larger than Greece! Since 1970, it has been found that over 600,000 square kilometers of the Amazon rainforest have been destroyed and most of this is as a result of deforestation.
The important thing to note, though, is that deforestation is hardly ever caused by the local people. It is most often than not directly caused by commercial interests. Only about one-third of recent deforestation in the Amazon area can be linked to population growth, settlement, or shifting cultivators. Historically, a large portion of deforestation in Brazil had been attributed to land clearing for pastureland by international (and to a smaller extent, regional) speculative and commercial interests; inappropriate World Bank projects; poor and misguided government policies; and commercial exploitation of forest resources (Monga, 2008).
All these activities have been environmentally unsustainable and have been caused by overconsumption rather than overpopulation. Tackling the negative effects of overconsumption is thus of necessity in trying to save the Amazon Forest.
Cattle ranching, subsistence agriculture, infrastructural improvements, commercial agriculture, logging, and mining are all activities that cause deforestation in the Amazon Forest and are thus barriers to global sustainability that urgently need to be overcome. Cattle ranching, for instance, has been the leading cause of deforestation in the Amazon ever since the 1970s and accounted for 38 percent of deforestation from 1966-1975. This has increased today to the extent that 74 percent of Europe’s processed meat imports come from Brazil (Monga, 2008). Logging, on its part, has also been detrimental to the sustainability of Amazon and needs to be curbed.
To overcome the above barriers, the governments that share the Amazon forest (particularly the government of Brazil) should step up deforestation prevention efforts. Firstly, the governments should rehabilitate previously forested lands and increase productivity in these places.
Reafforestation is a major part of this rehabilitation and funding for tree seedlings should be included in national budgets. In addition, a proper land reform policy should be enacted to deal with land ownership and other related issues. An expansion of protected areas should also be encouraged to enhance sustainability. Lastly, enforcement of all forestry and environmental laws should be carried out to the letter to prevent unscrupulous individuals and companies from the wanton logging that has been taking place over the years (Monga, 2008).
Apart from the Amazon Forest, another global resource that has been negatively affected as a result of over-consumption is Antarctica. Disturbing reports indicate that the ice that covers the continent is melting at a faster rate than normal and is not freezing back as it usually used to with a very even ebb and flow. This is of great concern since this melting will eventually raise the level of the sea enough to potentially put major landmasses and cities underwater and leave millions of people homeless and/or even dead (Mitchelsin, 2008). This is frightening and points to the importance of ensuring global sustainability.
Local populations have a very minimal effect on the environment in Antarctica because there are no permanent residents and the number of visitors is not constant, varying from around 4000 in the summer to 1000 over dark winter months (UNEP- WCMC, 2008). Global consumption is largely to blame for the Antarctica crisis and hence a global solution needs to be developed to overcome the crisis. According to Brown, L. R (2008), there are four main ways of dealing with the global warming that is wreaking havoc in Antarctica.
These include: stabilizing climate; stabilizing the global population; poverty eradication; and restoration of the earth’s damaged ecosystems. All of these measures are necessary and a failure to reach any of these goals means failure to reach the other measures as well. For all these measures, all governments should take up their responsibility by ensuring that these measures are adhered to in their respective countries. To control population growth, for instance, family planning education should be introduced with fervency, and contraception and sterilization should be made readily and easily available.
This is especially so in the developed world. To stabilize the climate and bring a restoration of damaged ecosystems, all governments should commit (in writing) to the reduction of the number of emissions in their respective countries. This can be effectively done by embracing renewable sources of energy like solar energy; by educating their citizens on how to economically use the available resources; phasing out coal-fired power plants; developing a comprehensive local recycling program; making a shift towards more-efficient light bulbs; and regulating the activities of big manufacturing companies (How to Prevent Global Warming, 2008). These will all go a long way in attaining global sustainability goals.
In a nutshell, global sustainability is very important and should be at the core of all government policy-making decisions. The state of the environment is literally a matter of life and death since, without a proper environment to live in; people would eventually die of starvation, heat and/ or cold, pollution, and so on. The responsibility begins with governments and corporations but also with the individual. If everybody on earth would take the initiative to reduce the amount of carbon they emitted or the number of resources they wasted, the world would be one step closer to achieving global sustainability. Remember, the buck stops with you.
References
- Brown, B. J et. al. 1987. “Global Sustainability: Toward Definition.” Environmental Management 11 (6): 713-719. Web.
- Brown, L. R. 2008. Plan B 3. 0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization. Web.
- The Dictionary of Sustainability Management. 2008. Presidio School of Management. Web.
- Consumption and Consumerism. 2008. Global Issues. Web.
- Deforestation in the Amazon. 2008. Monga Bay. Web.
- How to Attain Population Sustainability. 2008. World Over Population Awareness (WOA). Web.
- How to Prevent Global Warming. 2008. E How. Web.
- Mitchelsin, J. 2008. Antarctica: is it Really in Danger. Web.
- Human Population. UNEP- WCMC. 2008. Web.
- Overcoming Society’s Consuming Passion: Towards Sustainable Consumption. 2008. Well Sharp. Web.