Stop Abusing Sustainable Development: A System Dynamics Approach?

Stop Abusing ‘Sustainability’ The misuse of the word ‘sustainability’ happens daily by those wishing to make a quick profit; all the while, their actions and thoughts are anything but sustainable. The general population is still trying to figure out this word, sustainability. Does it mean ‘eco-friendly’? Does it mean ‘more expensive’? What is this expensive, ‘hippie ideology’ and what does it have to do with development? The term ‘sustainable development’ was coined a couple decades ago famously by the Brundtland Commission. They defined sustainable development by marrying together the three areas of environment, economy, and society. Achieving perfect balance in all three areas as it pertains to development, is the definition of sustainable …show more content…
Sustainable Development is a Never Ending System One can make an educated guess for future outcomes and situations, but no one ever knows 100% what the future holds. We can make adjustments in the now based on actions from the past, and offset the future course. Therefore, true sustainable development goes far beyond the completion of a development project. It takes all parts of the development process to work in unison towards one goal of sustainability. Sounds a lot like a system, or engine, right? You can think of unsustainable development this way: a developer wants to provide jobs in a coastal region by constructing …show more content…
If the process ends, or if the development project becomes a ghost town that sits unoccupied, then it’s failed in its sustainability. The planning and creative process for sustainable development should be one in which the developer is the artist and can control his brush strokes by creating a “desired future”, on a blank canvas that he makes clean and free of anything that preexisted; rather than one that’s been predicted by thinking he can only use a previously used canvas handed down.
Since the future cannot be predicted, it can be created with the help of a path leading to a desired state. The way to achieve this is through an entire system, rather than focusing on individual projects. Some of the most successful people do not make impulsive decisions, instead, they think of all possible scenarios and situations that could arise from different options. This is called, “Systems Thinking”. It’s taking a step back and looking at all of the possibilities, and interconnectedness of all parts of a whole. It places emphasis on the relationships between parts, rather than the parts