Essay on Sustainability and Sustainable Development is published for informational purposes only. The free papers are not written by our writers, they are contributed by users, so we are not responsible for the content of this free sample paper. If you want to buy a quality Essay on Essay on Sustainability and Sustainable Development at affordable prices please use our essay writing services offered by EssayEmpire.

Sustainability literally means the capacity to endure. In 1987, the World Commission on Environment and Development, also known as the Brundtland Commission, applied the term to development--officially, sustainable development--as that which "meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs." That definition was written into the Swiss federal constitution and is similar to the seventh generation philosophy articulated in the Iroquois Confederacy. It mandated that chiefs of that Native American nation must look seven generations into the future to consider the effects of their actions on their descendants before making a move.

The 1999 book Natural Capitalism recommends including four types of capital in any model for sustainable development: financial capital, manufacturing capital, natural capital, and human capital. Since then, many organizations added specific criteria as guidelines, including social criteria, environmental criteria, and financial criteria.

The concept of sustainable development hinges on ideas that support any practice placing equal emphasis on environment, economics, and equity rather than on economic interests alone. It is controversial, because it limits human activities in light of their environmental and equitable impacts on all affected communities.

Sustainable development assumes continuous economic growth without irreparably or irreversibly damaging the environment. Human population growth is difficult for this model, because it requires placing economic value on lives in the future. Some environmentalists challenge the assumption of growth at all. The fundamental battleground for this emerging controversy is one of values. The continued prioritization of economic growth over environmental protection, combined with population increases, may have irreparable impacts on the environment. British Petroleum's Deepwater Horizon gushing off shore oil rig is one example of unsustainable economic development. The idea of sustainable development is a fundamentally different model of growth from the business model of colonial and industrial progress. It stresses equality in the distribution of benefits. This egalitarian model of development recognizes the economic burdens on society created by the oppressive policies associated with industrial capitalism and sovereign powers.

Additionally, the sustainable model requires governments to place constraints on developments, including constructing roads, bridges, and dams. It also focuses on new manufacturing methods. Sustainable development requires commitment to the principles and practices of clean production and manufacturing techniques rather than continued reliance on fossil fuels or other dirty energies to propel manufacturing.

Shifting models of development give rise to controversies that may involve problems of unequal opportunity for women and subordinated ethnic groups and the environmental impacts of the industrial use of natural resources. These controversies stem from the development policies and practices of an earlier age that did not require accountability for the social or environmental consequences of development. The changed model has been hardest to accept in the United States.

In 1987, Gro Harlem Brundtland, then prime minister of Norway, authored a report for the World Commission on Environment and Development called "Our Common Future." In it, she described a concept of sustainable development as "development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs." This has become the defining statement about sustainable human development. Sustainability focuses on fairness to future generations by ensuring that the ecosystems on which all life depend are not lost or degraded, and poverty is eradicated. Sustainable development seeks these goals of environmental protection and ending poverty by implementing several key concepts in development policies and practices.

The United Nations Conferences on Environment and Development have become the forums in which these key concepts have been turned into implementable policy statements. The agreements and statements resulting from these conferences are often identified by their host city. Perhaps the most famous of these conferences was the Earth Summit held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. At this conference, the nations of the world, including the United States, agreed to implement seven key concepts to ensure sustainable development in a declaration called the Rio Declaration, and they wrote out a work plan called Agenda 21, which remains the source of much international controversy to this day. The seven key principles emerging from the Earth Summit and found in the Rio Declaration and Agenda 21 are:

1. Integrated decision making (three Es: environment, social equity, and economics)

2. Polluter pays

3. Sustainable consumption and production

4. Precautionary principle

5. Intergenerational equity

6. Public participation

7. Differentiated responsibilities and leadership

Another conference based upon this same United Nations Conferences on Environment and Development plan was held in Kyoto, Japan, in 1997, resulting in the Kyoto Protocol on climate change and the limits on emissions of greenhouse gases. Although a signatory to the protocol, the United States has not moved forward with ratification of the protocol even though it is the world's largest producer of carbon dioxide, because it disagrees with the exemptions given to developing economies like China and India.

The Copenhagen Accord, set in writing in December 2009, focused on planetary warming and cooling as a global issue requiring nations to work together to investigate ways of sustaining life on Earth. While setting emissions limits was central to the Copenhagen talks, no commitments resulted. Some news analyses of the Copenhagen gathering considered the accord a failure resulting from global recession and conservative domestic pressure in the United States and China. Despite financial woes, the voluntary-compliance Accord included a pledge by the United States to provide $30 billion to the developing world during 2010-2013, increasing to $100 billion per year by 2020.

Bibliography:

Bernard, Ted, Hope and Hard Times: Communities, Collaboration, and Sustainability. Gabriola Island, BC, Canada: New Society, 2010.

Collin, Robin Morris, and Robert William Collin, Encyclopedia of Sustainability. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2009.

Dernbach, John C., ed., Agenda for a Sustainable America. Washington, DC: Environmental Law Institute, 2009.

Frosch, Robert, and Nicholas E. Gallapoulos, "Strategies for Manufacturing." Scientific American 261, no. 3 (1989): 144-152.

Harris, Jonathan M., A Survey of Sustainable Development: Social and Economic Dimensions. Washington, DC: Island Press, 2001.

Maser, Chris, Ecological Diversity in Sustainable Development: The Vital and Forgotten Dimension. New York: Lewis, 1999.

Mazmanian, Daniel A., and Michael E. Kraft, eds., Towards Sustainable Communities, 2d ed. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2009.

Rao, P. K., Sustainable Development. Oxford, England: Blackwell, 2000.

Riddell, Robert, Sustainable Urban Planning: Tipping the Balance. Oxford, England: Blackwell, 2004.

Free essays are not written to satisfy your specific instructions. You can order a term paper, research paper or custom TOPIC at our site which offers professional essay writing services. Get your high quality custom paper at relatively cheap prices. EssayEmpire is the best solution for those who seek help in essay writing related to TOPIC and other relevant topics.