Sustainability

Sustainability is a state, where people and nature co-exist in a long-lasting balance, allowing enough wealth, health, stability and good life for all – including other life forms over and under surface of Earth. 

Below some visualisations displaying the relation between the three components of sustainability.

Contemplating the differences between the three graphs above:

1. On the left, sustainability is the small triangular area within intersecting circles of economic, environmental and social well-being. It suggests, that there are numerous ways of “good life” withing each circle. But actually, largest parts of those three circles are outside the planetary boundaries.

So, the vast economic and social rises of past decades have happened at the cost of natural resources. We have developed efficient ways to extract and process all kinds of minerals and biomass and with the help of financing sector and global trade we are producing every day unforeseen amount of physical and digital products and services. The size of the economic circle has grown over proportions and the environmental resources are shrinking due to overpopulation and the sixth extinction.

As all three dimensions are needed for sustainability, we need to re-assess some fundamental “truths” of our economic and environmental thinking, so that the future generations may have moderate chances of social wellbeing. For this reason, themes like carbon neutralitydegrowth and sustainable development have been introduced.

2. Top right three circles, or ovals are set inside each other. This nested approach expresses the thought that in a sustainable system it is the environment – in the outer rim – that sets boundaries to social wellness, which then outlines the safe limits to the economic system.

In current world system most decisions are justified with economic aspects and in many senses our current decision-making model is actually reversed and economy and environment have replaced locations, like in a diagram below. Throughout the industrial age – the making of current climate crisis, the main focus of most societies has been in increasing economic wealth and the idea has been, that through refinement of natural resources the social state in societies has risen.

Still today, most politicians and decision makers claim, that economic arguments overrule all other factors. If we ignore the warnings provided by the natural alarm systems of our planet (global warming, extreme weather, draughts and floods, forest fires, sixth extinction, pandemics like CoVid-19, bird flu, etc.), ecosystems to which most of human activities base to will collapse.

In that state there is very little economic growth to be shared. To avoid that, we must re-invent our economic models of action. In that new system it should be more expensive to use a virgin raw material from nature than to recycle or fix existing products. At the moment it is often the opposite.

3. Lowest right is the Greek temple. The height of the pillars must be equal, so that the “roof” of sustainability is stable. Most of the existents of mankind that has been the case – at least on planetary level. 

Though, occasionally some cities have overgrown the capacity of their surroundings to support the grown population. Then the ecosystem collapsed locally and remaining people left the dying city to continue life in smaller groups elsewhere. Now we are doing the same, on planetary level. But we only have one planet, so we should change the game plan.

For past few decades the pillar of economy has grown fatter and has now punched through the roof of sustainability. Societal well-being grew also for few decades until recently, when there has been more anxiety and insecurity. At the same time the environmental pilar representing nature has been decaying as more forests are cut for firewood and farmland for the growing population and natural resources are excavated form depths of mother Earth.

Sustainability is a balanced social and economic well-being with healthy environment. We have chased economic independence and social status with such efficacy, that the third pillar of sustainability is crumbling. So, we need to re-think what is social and economic wellness, that allows decent life for future generations and other species.

Consider:

Since humanity has caused current imbalance of sustainability, we CAN also fix it.

We are over 8 billion people, so changes in how we treat each other, our daily choices and diets and the way we treat nature has enormous impact. 

Tasks:

1. What is YOUR sustainability action of TODAY? 

Can you share the act with someone? Is it more on social, economic or ecological side?

2. What will you do differently – or leave undone NEXT WEEK?

Could you pick more sustainable entertainment, transport or meal?

3. How can you have more sustainable holiday NEXT YEAR?

How can you travel in a more sustainable way? Can you choose holiday activities that have less impact on those who have less? Could you restore nature somehow – instead of consuming it?

4. How could you change your life to consume less Earth’s resources?

Could you buy less and repair more? How could you contribute on reconstituting nature close to you? 

Links – read more about sustainability:

Origins: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sustainability#Historical_usage

Managing natural resources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_resource#Management

Sustainable development: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sustainable_development

Long article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sustainability

Take action:

United Nations: https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/  

United Nations – 17 goals: https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sustainable-development-goals/

European Union: https://ec.europa.eu/stories/european-green-deal/

Stories:

Stories and tasks about sustainability

Access to posts covering following topics:

Arctic art Central Australia Colonialism Conservation Consumption COVID-19 Deserts Dingo Diving Drought Economic growth Ecotourism Endangered Environmental education Expedition Fiji Globalisation Helsinki Hiking Ice climbing Kayaking Longhouse Minority rights Mountaineering Nature New Zealand Planetary boundaries Polar vortex Population Possum Rain forest replacing fossil fuels Rock rat Skiing Storm Sunrise Surfing Sustainability Transformation Watersports

Article by Toni Niiranen, 2024