Introduction
Sustainability refers to the endurance of the systems as well as processes. It is a definition of how biological systems would stand as diverse and indefinitely productive. The sustainability process is extremely systematic in the definition of enduring systems as well as processes. There are a number of interconnected domains, which define the most reliable principle of the sustainability in the form of economics, socio-economics, as well as ecology. Sustainable development is the most critical principle in the definition of sustainability. As a socio-ecological process, sustainability is easily achieved through pursuit of a common ideal.
It would be defined as the consistent process of achieving certain goals or elements of development. The development is concerned with the successful achievement of the goals of a group or an individual. In the society, the economic, political, social, and ecological elements have to be matched. The achievement of success for all the elements or in the different sectors would mean development for the entire society. In this case, all the elements must be combined and success in the elements achieved in the equal extent to ensure sustainable development (Goodall 54). As such, the element of time and the available resources become critical, and the individuals entrusted the system have to undertake it accordingly.
Environmental Dimension
Healthy ecosystems are highly reliable in the provision of crucial goods and services to human beings as well as other organisms in the society. Environmental management is a major step in the reduction of negative human impacts as well augmenting ecosystem services. Management of human consumption is extremely significant in the definition of the wellbeing of the environment. Proper management of the human consumption would ensure excellent environment and reliable use of resources required to undertake human activities.
Environmental management
The management of the environment is critical in the assurance of sustainability in the society. Excellent environmental management will depend highly on the atmosphere, oceans as well as freshwater systems. As such, the systems have to be analyzed and managed appropriately to ensure sustainability I the society. The elements are critical since they are well connected and in their combination sustainability would be achieved through excellent management of the environment (Goodall 61).
The management of the atmosphere highly involves critical assessment or look into the aspects of the carbon cycle. The atmosphere management helps in critical look into the human-influenced change of the climate. The human impacts on the atmosphere influence the level of air pollution since the pollutants cause toxicity to human beings (Rosen 2271).
Water covers nearly 71% of the earth’s surface. Out of the total volume, only 2.5% is fresh. The freshwater is highly significant to the humanity (Conard 3374). As such, the water requires exclusive management so as to ensure a sustainable environment. Water management is critical in ensuring excellent environment and assuring the members of the proper society livelihood.
Equally, the land has to be properly managed and used for the right purposes. Human activities in the land must be monitored and controlled accordingly to ensure they do not interfere with the wellbeing of the society. It is the mandate of every human being to control their activities in the land.
Management of human consumption
In the environmental dimension, the element of the management of human consumption has to be considered. One of the most influential factors to the wellbeing of the environment is human consumption. The impact of the human consumption is not only reduced by consuming less but by also ensuring maximization of the cycle of production (Goodall 64).
The manner by which human beings use energy in the society is highly relevant in defining the status of the environment in the pursuant of sustainability. The energy, accounts for most of the activities that happen globally and it must be managed accordingly to achieve the desired excellence (Rosen 2273). The energy must be managed through ensuring elements like greenhouse emission shave been handled accordingly.
Water is another major element in the influence of how the environment stands and what needs to be done to ensure the commodity remains crucial in sustaining the environment. Water security must be considered a vital element in sustainability as it works in hand with food security (Thiele 36). People must be assured that they have access to clean and healthy water as well as healthy food to ensure survival for the members of the public.
Economic dimension
In an economic perspective, sustainability should be a set of practices by present people that will not rub off the success of the future persons. The prospects of the future persons should be measured in terms of wealth, utility, welfare, as well as the consumption of the people. Sustainability also impacts economics through the social and ecological repercussions of economic activities.
History has recorded previous correlation between environmental degradation and economic growth. There is some relationship that as the communities advance, the environment declines. Unsustainable economic growth has been a major cause of the diseases that have come up and are related to the environmental conditions (Thiele 38). Improper management of the resources will lead over-exploitation, which will ultimately lead to degradation of human living. The environmental quality will be influenced by the activities that people engage in or chose to undertake at any time. As such, the concern for decoupling has increased over time. There is a possibility for the economy to advance without more pressure to the environmental quality (Rosen 2274).
Nature is an economic externality
Nature is highly significant through expression use of the ecosystem services that indicate the market significance of an unnatural world. In general, economics when a commodity becomes scarce, the prices increase encouraging frugality, innovation, and creation products (Rosen 2275). The reliability or the effectiveness of the ecosystem is tested by the externalities that are not priced thus overused and degraded.
Economic opportunity
Environmental treatment is an externality that may bring forth short-term profit at the cost of sustainability. Sustainable business practices are usually linked to the social and economic practices. The ecosystem is usually depleted by uneconomic growth, which may lead to poor life for the people. Control or reduction of such practices affects the businesses negatively (Thiele 41).
Sustainability is a business idea that may lead to formation or establishment of organizations. Such organizations are highly useful in ensuring consultation meetings have been developed to ensure sustainable growth. The economic value of a place is a major determinant of the sustainability of the area.
Social dimension
The issues or elements of sustainability are driven through scientific, environmental, as well as ethical terms. However, the implementation of change is usually a social challenge. In sustainability, the social challenges may involve urban planning as well as planning, societal and individual lifestyles. The correlation between human rights and human development, as well issues affecting the society is a proper definition of the social influence of a certain group of people to sustainability.
Peace and social justice
In the warring communities or societies, there is a challenge of resources. Elements like crime and corruption, which are likely to come with war, divert resources from the areas where they are needed greatly. They destroy the plans of a certain society for the future. In general, they also threaten the wellbeing of the people as well as the environment. In creation for a more sustainable social system, the government has created improved education as well as political empowerment for the minority, who are usually the women and the youths. This may be defined as a unique way of creating sustainability in the society (Thiele 49). However, elements like Poverty, human connection to nature, and human settlements are highly useful in the definition of sustainability.
Poverty
One of the difficulties in the journey towards sustainability is mitigation of poverty. It is well known that poverty is a major source of environmental degradation. Organizations, as well as governments, have realized that it can happen that environmental issues to be separated from the development issues. It would be a challenge to handle environmental problems without a broader look into the factors that influence or lead to global poverty (Conard 3378).
Poor people usually rely massively on their local ecosystem as the main source for their basic needs. As the population continues to grow, it increases pressure on the ecosystem in the locality to offer the basic requirements to the population. There are findings that high fertility rate is linked to poverty. The poorest societies have the highest fertility rates as well as population growth rates. It becomes extremely difficult to teach people in the poor neighborhoods the need for maintaining proper environmental practices such as water management and treatment as well as proper utilization of resources (Thiele 56).
Human beings connection to nature
The fact that human beings dominate nature should come with respect and responsibilities to nature. The element of exploitation of nature comes with the view of the environmental as an economic substance without social consideration of the involved elements. Ecology is the proper definition of how human beings should nurture nature (Thiele 64). They are supposed to protect the environment and ensure proper coexistence of all the elements in nature.
Human settlements
Sustainable living is an approach to the human settlement where individuals dictate their living through self-sufficiency in the management of the environment surrounding them. People must live in a way that they respect and sustain the environment in a reasonable and appealing manner. As people build cities and develop transport systems in a region, they must do it with the consideration of the environment (Conard 3380).
Conclusion
Sustainability is an exceedingly wide element that requires consideration of a range of elements in social, economic and environmental angles. The environmental defines the ecology of certain people. People need to interact positively with the environment to ensure development. Environmental management is critical towards the creation of sustainability in the society. The economic status of a society highly determines the sustainability of the place. It comes in through the economic impact of a certain place and consideration of nature as an economic externality. The social element is critical in defining how people relate to nature and live in it. The practices of the people must be an assurance for a sustainable society.
Works Cited
Conard, Bruce. "Some Challenges To Sustainability". Sustainability 5.8 (2013): 3368-3381. Web.
Goodall, Chris. Sustainability. London: Hodder & Stoughton, 2012. Print.
Rosen, Marc A. "Engineering Sustainability: A Technical Approach To Sustainability". Sustainability4.12 (2012): 2270-2292. Web.
Thiele, Leslie Paul. Sustainability. Cambridge: Polity, 2013. Print.
