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Principles of Ecological Sustainability

General, Going Green, Inspiration | December 13th, 2009 1 Comment

Ecological sustainability, in simple terms means that whatsoever activity taking place on planet earth, has to continue basically forever. This can be achieved only if the activity does not ‘use up’ or worse still destroy any of the resources or the lifeforms which exist where the activity takes place, or rather, on which the activity relies upon for continuity to take place. The goodness to practical definition of ecological sustainability is the understanding that we don’t need to invent a sustainable environment from scratch because they can be modeled to simulate natural eco-system i.e. sustainable communities of micro-organisms, plants, and animals.

Because the exceptional characteristic of the household is its intrinsic ability to sustain life, defining a sustainable community is one that is designed in a way that its businesses, way of life, economy, technologies, as well as structures, don’t in any way interfere with nature’s intrinsic ability to continue and sustain life. As such, a sustainable community has to evolve a viable pattern of co-existing harmoniously with every other living system. Note that ecological sustainability, and more broadly sustainability, is a dynamic course of co-existence and not a static one.

That said, there are some key principles if only ecological sustainability has to be achieved.

-         The society has to change its present habit of using resources as if they are infinite to a habit where the society lives within the ability of the earth to support it and one that maintains the diversity of living things.

-         Main greenhouse gas emissions have to be radically reduced, and new and improved economic ways developed based on clean, green technology.

-         Closer ties and relationships have to developed between all human beings in the world in respect to ecological practices and sustainable land management and farming

-         Every economic plan has to be planned way before hand to be more energy efficient.

-         By the same token, a transition strategy has to be put in place so that hydrocarbon fuels will not be depleted

-         Each economy of the world has to develop a population sustainability policy that will be in a good position to recognize ecological sustainability, social justice, as well as intergenerational equity. Developing such a sustainability policy though will require a broad global debate.

-         All governments have to show commitment in not only identifying but also reforming policies and legislation in a way that it will be consistent with the pursuant of sustainability goals.

-         Still on point, every government has to transform its operations in view of an ecological economic framework which will include a genuine sustainability indicator and transparent accounting systems.

-         All prices of consumer goods and services have to take into consideration the cost of maintaining and a fully fledged ecological support system.

-         A philosophy of sustainability has to form the foundation of education in all levels

-         Last but certainly not least, as per the sustainability indicator, all penalties for environmental damage should commensurate with the latent cost of the damage. It should also be sufficient enough to ensure proper corporate and individual conduct.

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