Critique on Sustainability
Sustainability is a term thrown around and around by all development professionals, the term is used to justify policies and plans and used to win over citizens votes, however the term is not understood by all and especially those that the term and its usage influences. Sustainability was introduced by the Brundtland Commission as “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” which was further refined to include development and reads “sustainable development refers to social, economic, and environmental development that meets the needs of current society without compromising or limiting future development and growth.” this essay looks …show more content…
Subsequently alternative definitions have been developed to incorporate all three tiers of sustainability and the three tiers will be touched on. Thus to understand the term sustainability we need to understand the three tiers of sustainability. The broad nature of the definition of sustainability can ultimately lead to its demise if left unchecked.
Firstly environmental sustainability is mainly concerned with the preservation of the natural environment and its resources through long-term maintenance of the environment for the benefit of current and future generations. And therefore an environmentally sustainable system must be able to sustain a stable resource base that avoids over-exploitation of renewable resources, and depleting non-renewable resources to the extent that investment adequately repays the price of the externalities …show more content…
This term however is still vague and leaves to much room for interpretation which makes it difficult for policy and law makers to create standards and guidelines towards sustainability. If policy makers have difficulty in creating sustainable policies and legislation is it a cause of concern?
The main criticism towards sustainability and sustainable development is that it is currently based mainly on economic aspects and should this continue the developments in the world would become unsustainable as the economics alone do not have the capacity and power to influence the environmental and social aspects positively one or the other will become degraded or depleted in the process. Only through a seamless transition between the three tiers can each benefit from one another. This has not been achieved by governments or markets of the world making the argument for sustainability ever
Sustainability is a term thrown around and around by all development professionals, the term is used to justify policies and plans and used to win over citizens votes, however the term is not understood by all and especially those that the term and its usage influences. Sustainability was introduced by the Brundtland Commission as “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” which was further refined to include development and reads “sustainable development refers to social, economic, and environmental development that meets the needs of current society without compromising or limiting future development and growth.” this essay looks …show more content…
Subsequently alternative definitions have been developed to incorporate all three tiers of sustainability and the three tiers will be touched on. Thus to understand the term sustainability we need to understand the three tiers of sustainability. The broad nature of the definition of sustainability can ultimately lead to its demise if left unchecked.
Firstly environmental sustainability is mainly concerned with the preservation of the natural environment and its resources through long-term maintenance of the environment for the benefit of current and future generations. And therefore an environmentally sustainable system must be able to sustain a stable resource base that avoids over-exploitation of renewable resources, and depleting non-renewable resources to the extent that investment adequately repays the price of the externalities …show more content…
This term however is still vague and leaves to much room for interpretation which makes it difficult for policy and law makers to create standards and guidelines towards sustainability. If policy makers have difficulty in creating sustainable policies and legislation is it a cause of concern?
The main criticism towards sustainability and sustainable development is that it is currently based mainly on economic aspects and should this continue the developments in the world would become unsustainable as the economics alone do not have the capacity and power to influence the environmental and social aspects positively one or the other will become degraded or depleted in the process. Only through a seamless transition between the three tiers can each benefit from one another. This has not been achieved by governments or markets of the world making the argument for sustainability ever