Sustainability vs. Environment
According to Index Mundi (2012), sustainability is the ability of something to be upheld to the future while environment is the external surrounding of objects. While sustainability can be used together with the environment to mean the ability to uphold current environmental conditions for future generations, economists perceive the environment as full of limited resources that are limited given the demand.
The two terms are similar in the sense that they have a common goal of effective utilization in order to serve the future generations. The environment provides chemicals that are used to generate energy, which emits harmful substances that affect its sustainability. Politics are normally in play especially concerning on the benefits and costs of doing away with old harmful forms of energy and generation of clean energy (Sreeram & Ramasami, 2003).
Population
This is a significant aspect of any economy as it participates in the production process as well as the process of consumption. The level of population of a country therefore contributes to the growth of the economy especially given the resources that an economy is endowed with. Sustainability is closely related to the population.
The population acts as an input to the process of production. The expertise of the population leads to increased skilled labor, which is in turn related to increased creativity and innovation (Heyes, 2012). On the part of consumption, the increase in the population generates increased domestic demand for manufactured goods, which in turn is a stimulus for increased productivity given availability of cheap skilled labor.
Therefore, these two aspects results in sustainable economic development. The issue of population growth should be addressed basing on the demographics such as the birth rates, mortality rates and levels of unemployment in an economy (Larry, W. (2012).
Energy
Energy is an important resource that is generated from the environment in which humans live. It is an impetus to performance of work because it enables firms to continue their levels of productivity. On addition, energy is consumed by people in their homes for domestic functions. Despite the benefits of energy there is a close relationship between energy and environmental and economic sustainability.
Energy obtained from coal and other petroleum products emits a lot of carbon and sulphur, which are harmful to the environment (Tomalty, 2005). The two chemicals are related to global warming, which in turn affects the natural vegetation and forest cover that are sources of more economic resources. Many governments and organizations are pursuing the manufacture of cleaner energy sources that are friendly to the environment and can ensure not only environmental sustainability, but also sustainable development.
Vijayaraghvan and Murthy (1997) argues that the issue of energy with regards to environmental sustainability should be approached with caution since it determined the existence of future generations. What is needed to better address the issue is availability of experts and technology to increase creativity and innovation of cleaner sources of energy.
Knowledge and Sustainability
Knowledge is significant in the modern era in which technology is advanced. It is important that people increase their levels of knowledge since it enhances better performance of firms, which at the end increases economic sustainability. The issue of knowledge is also closely related to environmental sustainability because increased knowledge on ways through the environment can be conserved is significant and necessary for every individual.
Knowledge can be shared in groups through teamwork at work or through increased learning and advancing one’s studies. As noted by Stoop (2003), old knowledge gets outdates with time as new ideas emerge. This calls for increased discussion on issues affecting the sustainability of the environment and economy with new solutions being unveiled.
References
Heyes, A. (2012). Innovative Approaches to Environmental Policy in Canada. SSHRC-CRC Workshop (pp. 1-23). University of Ottawa: University of Ottawa press.
Index Mundi. (2012). Canada Environment – current issues. Web.
Larry, W. (2012). Canada takes crap for flushing raw sewage into the ocean. Web.
Sreeram, K. & Ramasami, T. (2003). Sustaining tanning process through conservation, recovery and better utilization of chromium. Resource Conservation and Recycling, 38, 185-212.
Stoop, M (2003). Water management of production systems optimized by environmentally oriented integral chain management: Case study of leather manufacturing in developing countries. Technovation, 23, 265-278.
Tomalty, R. (2005). Urban environmental issues. Web.
Vijayaraghvan, K. & Murthy, D. (1997). Effect of toxic substances in anaerobic treatment of tannery wastewater. Bioprocess Biosyst. Eng., 16, 151-155.