This paper is on the common topic environmental sustainability. I will discuss what environmental sustainability is, the stages of environmental problems and the environmental footprints we have on environmental sustainability.
In order to define environmental sustainability, I must first define what sustainability means. “Sustainability is based on a simple principle: Everything that we need for our survival and well-being depends, either directly or indirectly, on our natural environment. Sustainability creates and maintains the conditions under which humans and nature can exist in productive harmony, that permit fulfilling the social, economic and other requirements of present and future generations. Sustainability is important to making sure that we have and will continue to have, the water, materials, and resources to protect human health and our environment.” (EPA.gov, 2012). Environmental sustainability “is the rates of renewable resource harvest, pollution creation, and non-renewable resource depletion that can be continued indefinitely. If they cannot be continued indefinitely then they are not sustainable”. (Thwink.org, 2012).
An early pioneer by the name of Herman Daly, looked at this problem and put it in a very good viewpoint to better understand what needs to be done in order to keep environmental sustainability. “For renewable resources, the rate of harvest should not exceed the rate of regeneration (sustainable yield). For pollution, the rate of waste generation from projects should not exceed the assimilative capacity of the environment (sustainable waste disposal). For nonrenewable resources, the depletion of the nonrenewable resources should require comparable development of renewable substitutes for that resource.” (Daly, H. E. 1990a). A lot of people, including me don’t think outside of the box and worry about these types of things until it is brought to our attention. I can say when I wake up in the morning, I just turn the...