Sustainable Principles
Recent years have seen a growing realisation that the current model of development is unsustainable. We are living beyond our means and causing irreversible change to our environment, from the loss of bio diversity (e.g. deforestation of the world's rainforests and over fishing), to emissions of large amounts of greenhouse gases which exacerbate climate change.
The topic of sustainability is extremely wide ranging. To achieve a sustainable lifestyle we must consider not only the environment, but also our general society and the state of our economy. A widely used and accepted definition of sustainable development is: 'development which meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs'.
The 'Human Impact Report: Climate Change - The Anatomy of a Silent Crisis' is the first ever comprehensive report looking at the human impact of climate change, published in 2009. The report summary states;
"Climate Change is here. It has a human face. This report details the silent crisis occurring around the world today as a result of a global climate change. It is a comprehensive account of the key impacts of climate change on human society. Long regarded as a distant, environmental or future problem, climate change is already today a major constraint on all human efforts. I has been creeping up on the world for years, doing its deadly work in the dark by aggravating a host of other major problems affection society, such as malnutrition, malaria and poverty. This report aims at breaking the silent suffering of millions. Its findings indicate that the impacts of climate change are each year responsible for hundreds of thousands of deaths with hundreds of millions of lives affected. Climate change is a serious threat to close to three quarters of the world population. Half a billion people are at extreme risk. Worst affected are the world´s poorest groups, who lack any responsibility for causing climate change."
For full information see the Human Impact Report
Unless the importance of creating a sustainable way of life is recognised we will undoubtedly face a future that is less certain and less secure than we in the UK have enjoyed over the past fifty years. It is in our long-term best interests to move towards more sustainable development, as it offers the best hope for securing the future.
The topic of sustainability is extremely wide ranging. To achieve a sustainable lifestyle we must consider not only the environment, but also our general society and the state of our economy.
