User:Ryanenaegeli

Sustainable Societies

Definition
A sustainable society is defined by The Brundtland Report as a society that can "develop to meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs" (IUCN 1)  be a community that focuses their long-term decisions around taking proper care and maintenance of environmental, economic, and social dimensions in a practical manner that will provide for future generations. Societies are constantly faced with the task of creating policies that will benefit their own national interest that can oftentimes conflict with sustainable concepts. The Royal Society and the National Academy of Sciences have identified “an urgent need for the better understanding of human consumption patterns and related behaviors and technologies for a sustainable and desirable for coming centuries” (Documents 683). By identifying human impact and consumption patterns on the surrounding world, the process to defining and creating a sustainable society becomes more practical.

Sustainable Concepts
Social, environmental, and energy factors are three of many central aspects that communities worldwide focus their policy creation around. By creating a balance between each of these aspects, the process to create a sustainable society becomes easier and more practical. Each factor has their own stature for a successful sustainable community. Even though each factor has an individual importance, they must be monitored and balanced out. In Laura Fabrick's article "A Call to Arms," she motivates environmental lawyers and environmentally concerned politicians with the idea that in order "to better the lives of the world's poor... while managing the natural environment to ensure that the needs of all will not tip the balance of the Earth's natural systems towards collapse" (Fabrick 1).
 * Many communities endorse a financial strategy for ample developed communities to help eradicate poverty through a persistent developing. By advancing financially, these communities can then administer any excessive finances towards other developing countries (Zhao ET Al. 318).
 * Sustaining an environmental culture in today's societies, Fabrick believes that through balancing the worlds natural systems and consumption patterns, the general population can easily monitor and avoid a lack of natural resources. Monitoring natural resource availability will prove especially important for developing nations. Although the use of natural resources is arguable to change for developed nations, developing nations are still prone to using practical conventional sources. Arguably, these factors are widely accepted as ideals and approaches that societies should employ in policy making in order to be identified as a sustainable society

Understanding consumption rates
Developing regions around the world, such as the Asia- Pacific region, are key locations to global output and global growth. As an example, the Asia- Pacific region is home to 16% of global output and 33% of global growth but equidistantly is home to 66% of the world’s poor leaving 600 – 800 million people without safe drinking water and electricity (Zhao Et Al. 318). Due to the region’s influential role in global production and threshold of population, there is an undeniable need for (a) sustainable energy sources. It is believed, according to Jingzhu Zhao, that boosting and sustaining economic and energy growth in this region could substantially affect eradicating poverty. In order to improve the “quality of life in all countries, we must observe the demand for energy as an essential role to economic and social development,” (Bilen 1530). According to Bilen, “this energy is produced is consumed in a matter where it could not be sustained if technology were to remain constant and if overall [demands] were to increase substantially” (150). The affect that conventional energy sources (i.e. fossil fuels, oil) have on regions that are increasing in population not only supply a frequently surpassed demand for energy and do not offer the supposed “abundance [that] renewable energy sources could potentially provide for all the world’s energy needs” (Bilen 1531).

A Sustainable Future
As renewable power sources, such as solar, wind, and geothermal power, slowly gain ground as reputable power sources, their impact on developed countries is projected to increase at %14 by 2030 (1531). At this projected date, oil will still be the predominant energy source that is used to satisfy most of the global energy demands, especially in developing countries. However, alternative power sources (i.e. wind, solar, etc.) are widely believed to impact the world and environment by reducing hazards and malignant impacts on the environment causing project irreversible catastrophes such as global warming. Various Alternative Energy Sources Include but are not limited to:
 * Wind
 * Solar
 * Geothermal
 * Hydropower