sustainability and greed essay

Need versus Greed: The Path to Sustainable Living | Essay Writing for UPSC by Vikash Ranjan Sir | Triumph ias

Table of Contents

Need versus Greed: The Path to Sustainable Living

(relevant for essay writing for upsc civil services examination).

“There is enough for everyone’s need but not for anyone’s greed.” This powerful quote attributed to Mahatma Gandhi offers a profound insight into the concept of sustainable living. It speaks volumes about our relationship with Earth’s resources, urging us to reflect on our consumption habits.

Defining Needs and Greed

Understanding the distinction between ‘need’ and ‘greed’ lies at the heart of this statement. Needs represent the essential requirements for our survival and well-being, while greed extends beyond these basics to include excessive and unregulated consumption.

The Balance of Sustainability

Our planet has abundant resources that can cater to all human needs, provided we manage them sustainably. The issue arises when our consumption surpasses the planet’s regenerative capacity, leading to overexploitation and, ultimately, depletion of these valuable resources.

The Impact of Greed

Driven by greed, unchecked consumption patterns not only exhaust resources but also contribute to numerous environmental issues, such as pollution, habitat destruction, and climate change. These repercussions pose significant threats to the survival and well-being of various species, humans included.

Equity in Resource Distribution

Gandhi’s quote also underscores the need for equitable resource distribution. Often, we have enough resources, but their distribution is skewed, causing surplus in some areas and scarcity in others. An equitable system of distribution can ensure that everyone’s needs are fulfilled without overburdening our planet.

Conclusion: Towards Sustainable Living

“There is enough for everyone’s need but not for anyone’s greed” serves as a timeless call to sustainable living. As we progress as a society, it’s imperative that we remember and implement this principle, ensuring a healthier planet for current and future generations. The road to sustainability isn’t just about conserving resources, but it also entails promoting fairness and equality in how these resources are allocated and used. Let’s embrace this ethos of balance and responsibility for a sustainable future.

To master these intricacies and fare well in the Sociology Optional Syllabus , aspiring sociologists might benefit from guidance by the Best Sociology Optional Teacher and participation in the Best Sociology Optional Coaching . These avenues provide comprehensive assistance, ensuring a solid understanding of sociology’s diverse methodologies and techniques

Need versus Greed, Need versus Greed, Sustainable Living, Resource Management, Environment, Needs, Greed, Consumption, Equity, Sustainable Living, Resource Management, Environment, Needs, Greed, Consumption, Equity, Need versus Greed, Need versus Greed, Need versus Greed, Need versus Greed

Why Vikash Ranjan’s Classes for Sociology?

Proper guidance and assistance are required to learn the skill of interlinking current happenings with the conventional topics. VIKASH RANJAN SIR at TRIUMPH IAS guides students according to the Recent Trends of UPSC, making him the Best Sociology Teacher for Sociology Optional UPSC.

At Triumph IAS, the Best Sociology Optional Coaching platform, we not only provide the best study material and applied classes for Sociology for IAS but also conduct regular assignments and class tests to assess candidates’ writing skills and understanding of the subject.

Choose T he Best Sociology Optional Teacher for IAS Preparation?

At the beginning of the journey for Civil Services Examination preparation, many students face a pivotal decision – selecting their optional subject. Questions such as “ which optional subject is the best? ” and “ which optional subject is the most scoring? ” frequently come to mind. Choosing the right optional subject, like choosing the best sociology optional teacher , is a subjective yet vital step that requires a thoughtful decision based on facts. A misstep in this crucial decision can indeed prove disastrous.

Ever since the exam pattern was revamped in 2013, the UPSC has eliminated the need for a second optional subject. Now, candidates have to choose only one optional subject for the UPSC Mains , which has two papers of 250 marks each. One of the compelling choices for many has been the sociology optional. However, it’s strongly advised to decide on your optional subject for mains well ahead of time to get sufficient time to complete the syllabus. After all, most students score similarly in General Studies Papers; it’s the score in the optional subject & essay that contributes significantly to the final selection.

“ A sound strategy does not rely solely on the popular Opinion of toppers or famous YouTubers cum teachers. ”

It requires understanding one’s ability, interest, and the relevance of the subject, not just for the exam but also for life in general. Hence, when selecting the best sociology teacher, one must consider the usefulness of sociology optional coaching in General Studies, Essay, and Personality Test.

The choice of the optional subject should be based on objective criteria, such as the nature, scope, and size of the syllabus, uniformity and stability in the question pattern, relevance of the syllabic content in daily life in society, and the availability of study material and guidance. For example, choosing the best sociology optional coaching can ensure access to top-quality study materials and experienced teachers. Always remember, the approach of the UPSC optional subject differs from your academic studies of subjects. Therefore, before settling for sociology optional , you need to analyze the syllabus, previous years’ pattern, subject requirements (be it ideal, visionary, numerical, conceptual theoretical), and your comfort level with the subject.

This decision marks a critical point in your UPSC – CSE journey , potentially determining your success in a career in IAS/Civil Services. Therefore, it’s crucial to choose wisely, whether it’s the optional subject or the best sociology optional teacher . Always base your decision on accurate facts, and never let your emotional biases guide your choices. After all, the search for the best sociology optional coaching is about finding the perfect fit for your unique academic needs and aspirations.

To master these intricacies and fare well in the Sociology Optional Syllabus , aspiring sociologists might benefit from guidance by the Best Sociology Optional Teacher and participation in the Best Sociology Optional Coaching . These avenues provide comprehensive assistance, ensuring a solid understanding of sociology’s diverse methodologies and techniques. Sociology, Social theory, Best Sociology Optional Teacher, Best Sociology Optional Coaching, Sociology Optional Syllabus. Best Sociology Optional Teacher, Sociology Syllabus, Sociology Optional, Sociology Optional Coaching, Best Sociology Optional Coaching, Best Sociology Teacher, Sociology Course, Sociology Teacher, Sociology Foundation, Sociology Foundation Course, Sociology Optional UPSC, Sociology for IAS,

Follow us :

🔎 https://www.instagram.com/triumphias

🔎 www.triumphias.com

🔎https://www.youtube.com/c/TriumphIAS

https://t.me/VikashRanjanSociology

Find More Blogs

Leave a reply cancel reply.

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Academia.edu no longer supports Internet Explorer.

To browse Academia.edu and the wider internet faster and more securely, please take a few seconds to  upgrade your browser .

Enter the email address you signed up with and we'll email you a reset link.

• We're Hiring!
• Help Center

Portfolio Assignment SUS1501 – Sustainability and Greed

Related Papers

Rk Meitei's Collection

Deception and Disillusionment: Fast Money Schemes in Papua New Guinea

This thesis examines Papua New Guinean attitudes to money and modernity through an exploration of contemporary “fast money schemes” (Ponzi scams). The largest of these, U-Vistract Financial Systems, collected millions of Kina from 100,000s of “investors” on the promise of monthly returns on deposits of 100%. The scheme was declared bankrupt in 2000 but its founders escaped imprisonment, fleeing first to Solomon Islands and then to the “no go” zone of Bougainville, where the scheme re-established itself as the Royal Kingdom of Papala. U-Vistract claimed to be a Christian reform of global finance systems that would deliver abundant prosperity to Papua New Guineans. U-Vistract cultivated a moral vision of its middle-class investors as compassionate Christian patrons whose coming wealth would deliver “development” to a nation disillusioned with social inequality and the postcolonial state. U-Vistract investors emerge from this study as morally engaged members of a transnational Christian civil society. This is a surprising conclusion to draw from studying fraud but it is all the more surprising in Papua New Guinea where anthropological interest has historically constructed the “village” as the central place where social meanings are generated. Here, urban Melanesians demonstrate moral and relational sensibilities that combine global aspirations for prosperity with Papua New Guinean disillusionment with the nation. In doing so, perhaps a more individualistic rendering of Melanesia emerges but these are individuals who are also more cosmopolitan in sentiment.

SSRN Electronic Journal

Muel Kaptein

The third edition of Business Ethics: Decision Making for Personal Integrity and Social Responsibility, by Hartman, DesJardins, and MacDonald, offers a comprehensive, accessible, and practical introduction to the ethical issues arising in business. The text focuses on real-world ethical decision making at both the personal and policy levels and provides students with a decision-making process that can be used in any situation. In addition, practical applications throughout the text show how theories relate to the real world. The third edition features thoroughly updated statistics and coverage of timely issues and dilemmas throughout the text.

Robert Garot

Ashley Mears

The capital concept has proliferated in studies of culture and stratification, usually depicting individual assets as personal advantages within given fields. Because this approach sidesteps issues of ownership, it obscures how unequal value can be generated through the appropriation of someone else’s capital. Based on fieldwork in the global VIP party circuit from New York to Cannes, as well as 84 interviews with party organizers and patrons, I document the uses of women’s bodily capital by men who appropriate women as a symbolic resource to generate profit, status, and social ties in an exclusive world of businessmen. I argue that women are unable to capitalize on their bodily capital as effectively through participation in the VIP scene because symbolic boundaries penalize women for strategic intimacy. By shifting the analysis of capital from individual advantages to systemic extra-individual advantages, this article brings appropriation into the study of culture and class. Further, this article genders the elite by documenting the cultural contradictions of femininity and power in elite men’s social spaces.

RELATED PAPERS

Hiwad Youneszai

Laurence Cox

Saša Rađenović

Issues in Accounting Education

Penny Clayton

Ahmad Saufi BHSKINETIC

Robert McClay

Sheryll Autor

Rosemary Caolo

Marcos Vinicius

•   We're Hiring!
•   Help Center
• Find new research papers in:
• Health Sciences
• Earth Sciences
• Cognitive Science
• Mathematics
• Computer Science
• Academia ©2024

Register to study through Unisa

• Subjects & modules
• All modules

Sustainability and Greed - SUS1501

Get the latest content and program updates from Life Time.

Unsubscribe

The Better Good Life: An Essay on Personal Sustainability

Imagine a cherry tree in full bloom, its roots sunk into rich earth and its branches covered with thousands of blossoms, all emitting a lovely fragrance and containing thousands of seeds capable of producing many more cherry trees. The petals begin to fall, covering the ground in a blanket of white flowers and scattering the seeds everywhere.

Some of the seeds will take root, but the vast majority will simply break down along with the spent petals, becoming part of the soil that nourishes the tree — along with thousands of other plants and animals.

Looking at this scene, do we shake our heads at the senseless waste, mess and inefficiency? Does it look like the tree is working too hard, showing signs of strain or collapse? Of course not. But why not?

Well, for one thing, because the whole process is beautiful, abundant and pleasure producing: We enjoy seeing and smelling the trees in bloom, we’re pleased by the idea of the trees multiplying (and producing delicious cherries ), and everyone for miles around seems to benefit in the process.

The entire lifecycle of the cherry tree is rewarding, and the only “waste” involved is an abundant sort of nutrient cycling that only leads to more good things.

The entire lifecycle of the cherry tree is rewarding, and the only “waste” involved is an abundant sort of nutrient cycling that only leads to more good things. Best of all, this show of productivity and generosity seems to come quite naturally to the tree. It shows no signs of discontent or resentment — in fact, it looks like it could keep this up indefinitely with nothing but good, sustainable outcomes.

The cherry-tree scenario is one model that renowned designer and sustainable-development expert William McDonough uses to illustrate how healthy, sustainable systems are supposed to work. “Every last particle contributes in some way to the health of a thriving ecosystem,” he writes in his essay (coauthored with Michael Braungart), “The Extravagant Gesture: Nature, Design and the Transformation of Human Industry” (available at).

Rampant production in this scenario poses no problem, McDonough explains, because the tree returns all of the resources it extracts (without deterioration or diminution), and it produces no dangerous stockpiles of garbage or residual toxins in the process. In fact, rampant production by the cherry tree only enriches everything around it.

In this system and most systems designed by nature, McDonough notes, “Waste that stays waste does not exist. Instead, waste nourishes; waste equals food.”

If only we humans could be lucky and wise enough to live this way — using our resources and energy to such good effect; making useful, beautiful, extravagant contributions; and producing nothing but nourishing “byproducts” in the process.

If only we humans could be lucky and wise enough to live this way — using our resources and energy to such good effect; making useful, beautiful, extravagant contributions ; and producing nothing but nourishing “byproducts” in the process. If only our version of rampant production and consumption produced so much pleasure and value and so little exhaustion, anxiety, depletion and waste.

Well, perhaps we can learn. More to the point, if we hope to create a decent future for ourselves and succeeding generations, we must. After all, a future produced by trends of the present — in which children are increasingly treated for stress, obesity, high blood pressure and heart disease, and in which our chronic health problems threaten to bankrupt our economy  — is not much of a future.

We need to create something better. And for that to happen, we must begin to reconsider which parts of our lives contribute to the cherry tree’s brand of healthy vibrance and abundance, and which don’t.

The happy news is, the search for a more sustainable way of life can go hand in hand with the pursuit of a healthier, more rewarding life. And isn’t that the kind of life most of us are after?

In Search of Sustainability and Satisfaction

McDonough’s cherry-tree model represents several key principles of sustainability — including lifecycle awareness, no-waste nutrient cycling and a commitment to “it’s-all-connected” systems thinking (see “ See the Connection “). And it turns out that many of these principles can be usefully applied not just to natural resources and ecosystems, but to all systems — from frameworks for economic and industrial production to blueprints for individual and collective well-being.

For example, when we look at our lives through the lens of sustainability, we can begin to see how unwise short-term tradeoffs (fast food, skipped workouts, skimpy sleep, strictly-for-the-money jobs) produce waste (squandered energy and vitality, unfulfilled personal potential, excessive material consumption) and toxic byproducts (illness, excess weight , depression, frustration, debt).

We can also see how healthy choices and investments in our personal well-being can produce profoundly positive results that extend to our broader circles of influence and communities at large.

Conversely, we can also see how healthy choices and investments in our personal well-being can produce profoundly positive results that extend to our broader circles of influence and communities at large. When we’re  feeling our best and overflowing with energy and optimism, we tend to be of greater service and support to others. We’re clearer of mind, meaning we can identify opportunities to reengineer the things that aren’t working in our lives. We can also more fully appreciate and emphasize the things that are (as opposed to feeling stuck in a rut , down in the dumps, unappreciated or entitled to something we’re not getting).

When you look at it this way, it’s not hard to see why sustainability plays such an important role in creating the conditions of a true “ good life ”: By definition, sustainability principles discourage people from consuming or destroying resources at a greater pace than they can replenish them. They also encourage people to notice when buildups and depletions begin occurring and to correct them as quickly as possible.

As a result, sustainability-oriented approaches tend to produce not just robust, resilient individuals , but resilient and regenerative societies — the kind that manage to produce long-term benefits for a great many without undermining the resources on which those benefits depend. (For a thought-provoking exploration of how and why this has been true historically, read Jared Diamond’s excellent book Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed .)

The Good Life Gone Bad

So, what exactly is a “good life”? Clearly, not everyone shares the same definition, but most of us would prefer a life filled with experiences we find pleasing and worthwhile and that contribute to an overall sense of well-being.

We’d prefer a life that feels good in the moment, but that also lays the ground for a promising future — a life, like the cherry tree’s, that contributes something of value and that benefits and enriches the lives of others, or at least doesn’t cause them anxiety and harm.

Unfortunately, historically, our pursuit of the good life has focused on increasing our material wealth and upgrading our socioeconomic status in the short term (learn more at “ What Is Affluenza? “). And, in the big picture, that approach has not turned out quite the way we might have hoped.

For too many, the current version of “the good life” involves working too-long hours and driving too-long commutes. It has us worrying and running ourselves ragged.

For too many, the current version of “the good life” involves working too-long hours and driving too-long commutes. It has us worrying and running ourselves ragged, overeating to soothe ourselves, watching TV to distract ourselves, binge-shopping to sate our desire for more, and popping prescription pills to keep troubling symptoms at bay. This version of “the good life” has given us only moments a day with the people we love, and virtually no time or inclination to participate as citizens or community members.

It has also given us anxiety attacks; obesity; depression ; traffic jams; urban sprawl; crushing daycare bills; a broken healthcare system; record rates of addiction, divorce and incarceration; an imploding economy; and a planet in peril.

From an economic standpoint, we’re more productive than we’ve ever been. We’ve focused on getting more done in less time. We’ve surrounded ourselves with technologies designed to make our lives easier, more comfortable and more amusing.

Yet, instead of making us happy and healthy, all of this has left a great many of us feeling depleted, lonely, strapped, stressed and resentful. We don’t have enough time for ourselves, our loved ones, our creative aspirations or our communities. And in the wake of the bad-mortgage-meets-Wall-Street-greed crisis, much of the so-called value we’ve been busy creating has seemingly vanished before our eyes, leaving future generations of citizens to pay almost inconceivably huge bills.

The conveniences we’ve embraced to save ourselves time have reduced us to an unimaginative, sedentary existence that undermines our physical fitness and mental health and reduces our ability to give our best gifts.

Meanwhile, the quick-energy fuels we use to keep ourselves going ultimately leave us feeling sluggish, inflamed and fatigued. The conveniences we’ve embraced to save ourselves time have reduced us to an unimaginative, sedentary existence that undermines our physical fitness and mental health and reduces our ability to give our best gifts. (Not sure what your best gift is? See “ Play to Your Strengths ” for more.)

Our bodies and minds are showing the telltale symptoms of unsustainable systems at work — systems that put short-term rewards ahead of long-term value. We’re beginning to suspect that the costs we’re incurring could turn out to be unacceptably high if we ever stop to properly account for them, which some of us are beginning to do.

Accounting for What Matters

Defining the good life in terms of productivity, material rewards and personal accomplishment is a little like viewing the gross domestic product (GDP) as an accurate measurement of social and economic progress.

In fact, the GDP is nothing more than a gross tally of products and services bought and sold, with no distinctions between transactions that enhance well-being and transactions that diminish it, and no accounting for most of the “externalities” (like losses in vitality, beauty and satisfaction) that actually have the greatest impact on our personal health and welfare.

We’d balk if any business attempted to present a picture of financial health by simply tallying up all of its business activity — lumping income and expense, assets and liabilities, and debits and credits together in one impressive, apparently positive bottom-line number (which is, incidentally, much the way our GDP is calculated).

Yet, in many ways, we do the same kind of flawed calculus in our own lives — regarding as measures of success the gross sum of the to-dos we check off, the salaries we earn, the admiration we attract and the rungs we climb on the corporate ladder.

But not all of these activities actually net us the happiness and satisfaction we seek, and in the process of pursuing them, we can incur appalling costs to our health and happiness. We also make vast sacrifices in terms of our personal relationships and our contributions to the communities, societies and environments on which we depend.

This is the essence of unsustainability , the equivalent of a cherry tree sucking up nutrients and resources and growing nothing but bare branches, or worse — ugly, toxic, foul-smelling blooms. So what are our options?

Asking the Right Questions

In the past several years, many alternative, GDP-like indexes have emerged and attempted to more accurately account for how well (or, more often, how poorly) our economic growth is translating to quality-of-life improvements.

Measurement tools like the Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI), developed by Redefining Progress, a nonpartisan public-policy and economic think tank, factor in well-being and quality-of-life concerns by considering both positive and negative impacts of various products and services. They also measure more impacts overall (including impacts on elements of “being” and “doing” vs. just “having”). And they evaluate whether various financial expenditures represent a net gain or net loss — not just in economic terms, but also in human, social and ecological ones (see “Sustainable Happiness,” below).

Perhaps it’s time to consider our personal health and well-being in the same sort of broader context — distinguishing productive activities from destructive ones, and figuring the true costs and unintended consequences of our choices into the assessment of how well our lives are working.

To that end, we might begin asking questions like these:

• Where, in our rush to accomplish or enjoy “more” in the short run, are we inadvertently creating the equivalent of garbage dumps and toxic spills (stress overloads, health crises, battered relationships, debt) that will need to be cleaned up later at great (think Superfund) effort and expense?
• Where, in our impatience to garner maximum gains in personal productivity, wealth or achievement in minimum time, are we setting the stage for bailout scenarios down the road? (Consider the sacrifices endured by our families, friends and colleagues when we fall victim to a bad mood, much less a serious illness or disabling health condition.)
• Where, in an attempt to avoid uncertainty, experimentation or change , are we burning through our limited and unrenewable resource of time (staying at jobs that leave us depleted, for example), rather than striving to harness our bottomless stores of purpose-driven enthusiasm (by, say, pursuing careers or civic duties of real meaning)?
• Where are we making short-sighted choices or non-choices (about our health, for example) that sacrifice the resources we need (energy, vitality, clear focus) to make progress and contributions in other areas of our lives?

In addition to these assessments, we can also begin imagining what a better alternative would look like:

• What might be possible if we embraced a different version of the good life — the kind of good life in which the vast majority of our choices both feel good and do good?
• What if we took a systems view of our life , acknowledging how various inputs and outputs play out (for better or worse) over time? What if we fully considered how those around us are affected by our choices now and in the long term?
• What if we embraced more choices that honor our true nature, that gave us more opportunities to use our talents and enthusiasms in the service of a higher purpose?

One has to wonder how many of our health and fitness challenges would evaporate under such conditions — how many compensatory behaviors (overeating, hiding out, numbing out) would simply no longer have a draw.

How many health-sustaining behaviors would become easy and natural choices if each of us were driven by a strong and joyful purpose , and were no longer saddled with the stress and dissatisfaction inherent in the lives we live now?

Think about the cherry-tree effect implicit in such a scenario: each of us getting our needs met, fulfilling our best potential, living at full vitality, and contributing to healthy, vital, sustainable communities in the process.

If it sounds a bit idealistic, that’s probably because it describes an ideal distant enough from our current reality to provoke a certain amount of hopelessness. But that doesn’t mean it’s entirely unrealistic. In fact, it’s a vision that many people are increasingly convinced is the only kind worth pursuing.

Turning the Corner

Maybe it has something to do with how many of our social, economic and ecological systems are showing signs of extreme strain. Maybe it’s how many of us are sick and tired of being sick and tired — or of living in a culture where everyone else seems sick and tired. Maybe it’s the growing realization that no matter how busy and efficient we are, if our efforts don’t feed us in a deep way, then all that output may be more than a little misguided. Whatever the reason, a lot of us are asking: If our rampant productivity doesn’t make us happy, doesn’t allow for calm and creativity, doesn’t give us an opportunity to participate in a meaningful way — then, really, what’s the point?

These days, it seems that more of us are taking a keen interest in seeking out better ways, and seeing the value of extending the lessons of sustainability beyond the natural world and into our own perspectives on what the good life is all about.

In her book MegaTrends 2010: The Rise of Conscious Capitalism , futurist Patricia Aburdene describes a hopeful collection of social and economic trends shaped by a large and influential subset of the American consuming public. What these 70 million individuals have in common, she explains, are some very specific values-driven behaviors — most of which revolve around seeking a better, deeper, more meaningful and sustainable quality of life (discover the four pillars or meaning at “ How to Build a Meaningful Life “).

[“Conscious Consumers” balance] short-term desires and conveniences with long-term well-being — not just their own, but that of their local and larger communities, and of the planet as a whole.

These “Conscious Consumers,” as Aburdene characterizes them, are more carefully weighing material and economic payoffs against moral and spiritual ones. They are balancing short-term desires and conveniences with long-term well-being — not just their own, but that of their local and larger communities, and of the planet as a whole. They are acting, says Aburdene, out of a sort of “enlightened self-interest,” one that is deeply rooted in concerns about sustainability in all its forms.

“Enlightened self-interest is not altruism,” she explains. “It’s self-interest with a wider view. It asks: If I act in my own self-interest and keep doing so, what are the ramifications of my choices? Which acts — that may look fine right now — will come around and bite me and others one year from now? Ten years? Twenty-five years?”

In other words, Conscious Consumers are not merely consumers, but engaged and concerned individuals who think in terms of lifecycles, who perceive the subtleties and complexities of interconnected systems .

As John Muir famously said: “When one tugs at a single thing in nature, he finds it attached to the rest of the world.” Just as the cherry tree is tethered in a complex ecosystem of relationships, so are we.

Facing Reality

When we live in a way that diminishes us or weighs us down — whether as the result of poor physical health and fitness, excess stress and anxiety, or any compromise of our best potential — we inevitably affect countless other people and systems whose well-being relies on our own.

For example, if we don’t have the time and energy to make food for ourselves and our families, we end up eating poorly, which further diminishes our energy, and may also result in our kids having behavior or attention problems at school, undermining the quality of their experience there, and potentially creating problems for others.

As satisfaction and well-being go down, need and consumption go up.

If we skimp on sleep and relaxation in order to “get more done,” we court illness and depression, risking both our own and others’ productivity and happiness in the process and diminishing the creativity with which we approach challenges.

At the individual level, unsustainable choices create strain and misery. At the collective level, they do the same thing, with exponential effect. Because, when not enough of us are living like thriving cherry trees, cycles of scarcity (rather than abundance) ensue. Life gets harder for everyone. As satisfaction and well-being go down, need and consumption go up. Our sense of “enough” becomes distorted.

Taking Full Account

The basic question of sustainability is this: Can you keep doing what you’re doing indefinitely and without ill effect to yourself and the systems on which you depend — or are you (despite short-term rewards you may be enjoying now, or the “someday” relief you’re hoping for) on a likely trajectory to eventual suffering and destruction?

When it comes to the ecology of the planet, this question has become very pointed in recent years. But posed in the context of our personal lives, the question is equally instructive: Are we living like the cherry tree — part of a sustainable and regenerative cycle — or are we sucking up resources, yet still obsessed with what we don’t have? Are we continually generating new energy, vitality, generosity and personal potential , or wasting it?

We can work just so hard and consume just so much before we begin to experience both diminishing personal returns and increasing degenerative costs.

The human reality, in most cases, isn’t quite as pretty as the cherry tree in full bloom. We can work just so hard and consume just so much before we begin to experience both diminishing personal returns and increasing degenerative costs. And when enough of us are in a chronically diminished state of well-being, the effect is a sort of social and moral pollution — the human equivalent of the greenhouse gasses that threaten our entire ecosystem.

Accounting for these soft costs, or even recognizing them as relevant externalities, is not something we’ve been trained to do well. But all that is changing — in part, because many of us are beginning to realize that much of what we’ve been sold in the name of “progress” is now looking like anything but. And, in part, because we’re starting to believe that not only might there be a better way, but that the principles for creating it are staring us right in the face.

By making personal choices that respect the principles of sustainability, we can interrupt the toxic cycles of overconsumption and overexertion. Ultimately, when confronted with the possibility of a better quality of life and more satisfying expression of our potential, the primary question becomes not just can we continue living the way we have been, but perhaps just as important, why would we even want to ?

If the approach we’ve been taking appears likely to make us miserable (and perhaps extinct), then it makes sense to consider our options. How do we want to live for the foreseeable and sustainable future, and what are the building blocks for that future? What would it be like to live in a community where most people were overflowing with vitality and looking for ways to be of service to others?

While no one expert or index or council claims to have all the answers to that question, when it comes to discerning the fundamentals of the good life, nature conveniently provides most of the models we need. It suggests a framework by which we can better understand and apply the principles of sustainability to our own lives. Now it’s up to us to apply them.

Make It Sustainable

Here are some right-now changes you can make to enhance and sustain your personal well-being:

1. Rethink Your Eating.

Look beyond meal-to-meal concerns with weight. Aim to eat consciously and selectively in keeping with the nourishment you want to take in, the energy and personal gifts you want to contribute, and the influence you want to have on the world around you.

To that end, you might start eating less meat, or fewer packaged foods, or you might start eating regularly so that you have enough energy to exercise (and so that your low blood sugar doesn’t negatively affect your mood and everyone around you).

You also might start packing your lunch, suggests money expert Vicki Robin: Not only will you have more control over what and how you eat, but the money you’ll save over the course of a career can amount to a year’s worth of work. “Bringing your lunch saves you a year of your life,” she says.

2. Set a Regular Bedtime

Having a target bedtime can help you get the sleep you need to be positive and productive, and to avoid becoming depleted and depressed. Research confirms that adequate sleep is essential to clear thinking, balanced mood, healthy metabolism, strong immunity, optimal vitality and strong professional performance.

Research also shows that going to bed earlier provides a higher quality of rest than sleeping in, so get your hours at the start of the night. By taking care of yourself in this simple way, you lay the groundwork for all kinds of regenerative (vs. depleting) cycles.

3. Own Your Outcomes

If there are parts of your life you don’t like — parts that feel toxic, frustrating or wasteful to you — be willing to trace the outcomes back to their origins, including your choices around self-care , seeking help, balancing priorities and sticking to your core values.

Also examine the full range of outputs and impacts: What waste or damage is occurring as a result of this area of unresolved challenge? Who else and what else in your life might be paying too-high a price for the scenario in question? If you’re unsure about whether or not a choice or an activity you’re involved in is sustainable, ask yourself the following questions:

• Given the option, would I do or choose this again? Would I do it indefinitely?
• How long can I keep this up, and at what cost — not just to me, but to the other people and systems I care about?
• What have I sacrificed to get here; what will it take for me to continue? Are the rewards worth it, even if the other areas of my life suffer?

Sustainable Happiness

Not all growth and productivity represent progress, particularly if you consider happiness and well-being as part of the equation. The growing gap between our gross domestic product and Genuine Progress Indicator (as represented below) suggests we could be investing our resources with far happier results.

Data source: Redefining Progress, rprogress.org . Chart graphic courtesy of Yes! magazine.

Learn more about the most reliable, sustainable sources of happiness and well-being in the Winter 2009 issue of Yes! magazine, available at www.yesmagazine.org .

Learning From Nature

What can we learn from ecological sustainability about the best ways to balance and sustain our own lives? Here are a few key lessons:

• Everything is in relationship with everything else. So overdrawing or overproducing in one area tends to negatively affect other areas. An excessive focus on work can undermine your relationship with your partner or kids. Diminished physical vitality or low mood can affect the quality of your work and service to others.
• What comes around goes around. Trying to “cheat” or “skimp” or “get away with something” in the short term generally doesn’t work because the true costs of cheating eventually become painfully obvious. And very often the “cleanup” costs more and takes longer than it would have to simply do the right thing in the first place.
• Waste not, want not. Unpleasant accumulations or unsustainable drains represent opportunities for improvement and reinvention. Nature’s models of nutrient cycling show us that what looks like waste can become food for a process we simply haven’t engaged yet: Anxiety may be nervous energy that needs to be burned off, or a nudge to do relaxation and self-inquiry exercises that will churn up new insights and ideas. Excess fat may be fuel for enjoyable activities we’ve resisted doing or haven’t yet discovered — or a clue that we’re hungry for something other than food. The clutter in our homes may represent resources that we haven’t gotten around to sharing. Look for ways to put waste and excess to work, and you may discover all kinds of “nutrients” just looking for attention. (See “ The Emotional Toll of Clutter “.)

The Sustainable Self

Connie Grauds, RPh, is a pharmacist who combines her Western medical training with shamanic teachings, and in her view, we get caught in wearying patterns primarily because of fear . “Energy-depleting thoughts and feelings underlie energy-depleting habits,” Grauds writes in her book  The Energy Prescription , cowritten with Doug Childers. She says that we often burn ourselves out because we’re unconsciously afraid of what will happen if we don’t.

Grauds uses the shamanic term “susto” to describe our anxious response to external situations we can’t control — the traffic jam, the work deadline, the pressure to buy stuff we don’t really need. “Susto” triggers the body’s fight-or-flight response, which encourages short-term, unconscious reactions to stress. When we shift to a more internal focus, tuning in to our body’s physical and emotional signals more reflectively, we act from what Grauds calls our “sustainable self.” She says the sustainable self can be accessed anytime with a simple four-step process:

• Take a deep breath ;
• Feel your body;
• Notice your thoughts, and then;
• Recognize that you are connected to a larger network of energy .

“A sustainable self recognizes and embraces its interdependent relationship to life,” she says, explaining that when we get our energy from controlling external circumstances we’re bound to collapse eventually, but when we’re connected to our internal reserves, we can be much more effective. “By consistently doing things that replenish us and not doing things that needlessly deplete us,” Grauds writes, “we access and conduct the energy we need to make and sustain positive changes and function at peak levels.”

Thoughts to share?

This Post Has 0 Comments

Leave a reply cancel reply.

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

ADVERTISEMENT

More Like This

How to Develop a ‘Stretch’ Mindset

Working with what you have can be the key to more sustainable success. Adopting a “stretch” mindset can help.

The Power of Intention: Learning to Co-Create Your World Your Way

Thought-provoking takeaways from Wayne Dyer’s classic guide to conscious living.

6 Keys to a Happy and Healthy Life

A functional-medicine pioneer explains how to make small choices that build lasting well-being.

Uncomfortable knowledge in sustainability science: essays in honor of David Pimentel (1925–2019)

• Published: 16 May 2024

Cite this article

• Mario Giampietro 1 , 2 ,
• Sandra G. F. Bukkens 1 ,
• Maurizio G. Paoletti 2 ,
• Luc Hens 3 ,
• Jingzheng Ren 4 &
• Tiziano Gomiero 5  

Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.

David Pimentel (1925–2019) was a pioneer in the field of agroecology and more in general of sustainability science (for a biography see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Pimentel_(scientist )). His work stands out for its breadth and timeliness. Professor of entomology and agroecology at the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences of Cornell University (Ithaca, New York, USA), David Pimentel published more than 500 scientific articles and book chapters, 3 monographs, and 34 edited books spanning a broad range of environmental issues related to socio-economic development. In 1999, together with Luc Hens and Bhaskar Nath, he founded the journal Environment, Development and Sustainability .

His work was characterized by transdisciplinarity, and he served as an inspiration for many researchers in the field of sustainability science to broaden their view and embrace a more holistic and critical vision of the functioning of social-ecological systems and human development.

Common sense combined with relatively simple quantitative reality checks, rather than complicated models, was the approach undertaken by David Pimentel to investigate the consistency of the narratives suggested in sustainability science. In this sense, he may be considered an early exponent of ‘quantitative storytelling’.

He also adopted a novel teaching approach. Moving away from the dominant reductionistic doctrine, he pushed his students to embrace a system approach, training them in teamwork and addressing real case studies. Often these group exercises resulted in publications in important scientific journals.

Most of Pimentel’s research addressed wicked environmental problems related to the sustainability of human development, such as biological control, pesticide use, organic and alternative farming practices, soil erosion, loss of biodiversity, genetic engineering, biofuels and biomass energy, fossil energy dependence of the food system, and the relation between population growth and limited natural resources. His capacity to integrate a vast body of knowledge across different scientific fields and to address problems from different perspectives, his free spirit independent from politically correct ideologies and economic interests, and his great intuition, allowed him to bring this often “uncomfortable knowledge” to the attention of the scientific community, policy makers, and lay people alike, in a clear and unequivocal way.

For example, he was among the first scholars to alert to: (i) the dependence of our food system on fossil energy, making us aware that “we are eating oil”; (ii) the significant cost of producing meat, flagging that the USA could feed 800 million people with the grain consumed by livestock; (iii) the unviability and unsustainability of biofuels as alternative energy carriers to fuel modern society; (iv) the risk of increased herbicide use in genetically modified herbicide resistant crops. All this uncomfortable news challenged the sustainability myths of his time (some of which, unfortunately, persist to the present day).

The role of ‘uncomfortable knowledge’ as Steve Rayner defined it (Rayner, 2012, Economy and Society, pp. 107–125), played a major role in sustainability analysis. As Rayner puts it: “ to make sense of the complexity of the world so that they can act, individuals and institutions need to develop simplified, self-consistent versions of that world … knowledge which is in tension or outright contradiction with those versions must be expunged. This is uncomfortable knowledge which is excluded from policy debates, especially when dealing with ‘wicked problems’ ”.

In line with David Pimentel’s attention to wicked environmental problems, this special issue presents a number of contributions that address sustainability discussions in the field of agro-food systems.

In this topical issue, the paper by Crews and Polk illustrates the role for soil conservation and carbon accumulation of developing perennial grain agroecosystems, in an attempt to mimic prairies native ecosystems. Developing perennials, allowing a large-scale production, may represent a turning point toward a truly more sustainable agriculture.

Domínguez et al. explore in depth the advantages of alternative farming systems by expanding the set of criteria for evaluating the performance of food production and considering the nexus between the different factors of production.

Kleinman and Harmel look into the trade-offs of global nutrient redistribution, the analysis of which is essential to identify “challenges of” and “opportunities for” a global transformation to a more sustainable resource management.

Abdul Aziz et al. present an integrated assessment of sustainable foraging knowledge and practices, using examples from different geographic regions, and show that these have an important role to play in the future of sustainable agriculture.

Cadillo-Benalcazar et al. present a model to study the complexity of the society–agriculture–forest system and illustrate it for the case study of Huayopata in Cuzco (Peru), where public policies for tea production interact with the complexity of the society–agriculture–forest system.

Orozco-Meléndez and Paneque-Gàlvez challenge the predominance of the disciplinary vision that shapes the existing “corporate food regime”. Using literature review and a conceptual approach they show the need for a transition to another method of governance based on co-design and co-production of uncomfortable, transdisciplinary, and actionable knowledge.

Zanardo et al. address the controversial “horn manure” (Preparation 500) used in biodynamic agriculture. They studied the changes during the manure maturation of the fungal and bacterial communities inside the horns of cows. The analysis suggests that significant changes take place during the process. This work proves that notwithstanding the demonization of biodynamic agriculture as an esoteric quackery, still there are aspects of biodynamic agriculture that can be scientifically investigated.

Giampietro illustrates the “magic” of the unique procedure developed by David Pimentel to quantify systems of agricultural production in terms of profiles of inputs and outputs. This procedure establishes bridges among data referring to different dimensions (social, economic, technical, ecological) and to different scales, when utilizing the patterns of profiles in their scaled form—per hectare—and in the form of technical coefficients—unitary processes.

Ponti and Gutierrez address the important issue of invasive species and their environmental and economic impacts, and argue that it is essential to be able to monitor weather-driven dynamics and potential geographic distribution and abundance. To this purpose, the authors present a new approach—Physiologically Based, Demographic Models (PBDMs)—that avoids the limitations of existing methods.

Alfonso-Bécares et al. use the concept of societal and ecosystem metabolic analysis to study policies of forest conservation. Employing a quantitative characterization based on profiles of inputs and outputs, the authors establish a link between: (i) changes in the heterogeneity of livelihoods found in a given farming system, and (ii) changes in the patterns of land uses. This link is then used to run “what if” scenarios associated with different policy options.

Díaz-Siefer et al. study the factors that prevent a transition to greener agriculture in Chiapas, Mexico, and in particular the type of conditioning that the socio-economic context poses. They identify three relevant actors: (i) the policies and regulation developed by the governments; (ii) the choices of the consumers; (iii) the quantities of subsidies that can be used made available by financial agents and suggest possible adjustments to get out of the impasse.

Author information

Authors and affiliations.

Institute of Environmental Sciences and Technologies (ICTA), Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), Barcelona, Spain

Mario Giampietro & Sandra G. F. Bukkens

Catalan Institution for Research and Advanced Studies (ICREA), Barcelona, Spain

Mario Giampietro & Maurizio G. Paoletti

VITO - Vlaamse Instelling Voor Technologisch Onderzoek, Dessel, Belgium

Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong SAR, China

Jingzheng Ren

Mogliano Veneto, Italy

Tiziano Gomiero

You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Mario Giampietro .

Additional information

Publisher's note.

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Giampietro, M., Bukkens, S.G.F., Paoletti, M.G. et al. Uncomfortable knowledge in sustainability science: essays in honor of David Pimentel (1925–2019). Environ Dev Sustain (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-024-04970-2

Download citation

Published : 16 May 2024

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-024-04970-2

Share this article

Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content:

Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article.

Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative

Advertisement

• Find a journal
• Publish with us
• Track your research

25,000+ students realised their study abroad dream with us. Take the first step today

Here’s your new year gift, one app for all your, study abroad needs, start your journey, track your progress, grow with the community and so much more.

Verification Code

An OTP has been sent to your registered mobile no. Please verify

Thanks for your comment !

Our team will review it before it's shown to our readers.

Essay on Sustainable Development: Samples in 250, 300 and 500 Words

• Updated on  
• Nov 18, 2023

On 3rd August 2023, the Indian Government released its Net zero emissions target policy to reduce its carbon footprints. To achieve the sustainable development goals (SDG) , as specified by the UN, India is determined for its long-term low-carbon development strategy. Selfishly pursuing modernization, humans have frequently compromised with the requirements of a more sustainable environment.

As a result, the increased environmental depletion is evident with the prevalence of deforestation, pollution, greenhouse gases, climate change etc. To combat these challenges, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change launched the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) in 2019. The objective was to improve air quality in 131 cities in 24 States/UTs by engaging multiple stakeholders.

‘Development is not real until and unless it is sustainable development.’ – Ban Ki-Moon

The concept of Sustainable Development in India has even greater relevance due to the controversy surrounding the big dams and mega projects and related long-term growth. Since it is quite a frequently asked topic in school tests as well as competitive exams , we are here to help you understand what this concept means as well as the mantras to drafting a well-written essay on Sustainable Development with format and examples.

This Blog Includes:

What is sustainable development, 250-300 words essay on sustainable development, 300 words essay on sustainable development, 500 words essay on sustainable development, introduction, conclusion of sustainable development essay, importance of sustainable development, examples of sustainable development.

As the term simply explains, Sustainable Development aims to bring a balance between meeting the requirements of what the present demands while not overlooking the needs of future generations. It acknowledges nature’s requirements along with the human’s aim to work towards the development of different aspects of the world. It aims to efficiently utilise resources while also meticulously planning the accomplishment of immediate as well as long-term goals for human beings, the planet as well and future generations. In the present time, the need for Sustainable Development is not only for the survival of mankind but also for its future protection. 

Looking for ideas to incorporate in your Essay on Sustainable Development? Read our blog on Energy Management – Find Your Sustainable Career Path and find out!

To give you an idea of the way to deliver a well-written essay, we have curated a sample on sustainable development below, with 250-300 words:

To give you an idea of the way to deliver a well-written essay, we have curated a sample on sustainable development below, with 300 + words:

Must Read: Article Writing

To give you an idea of the way to deliver a well-written essay, we have curated a sample on sustainable development below, with 500 + words:

Essay Format

Before drafting an essay on Sustainable Development, students need to get familiarised with the format of essay writing, to know how to structure the essay on a given topic. Take a look at the following pointers which elaborate upon the format of a 300-350 word essay.

Introduction (50-60 words) In the introduction, students must introduce or provide an overview of the given topic, i.e. highlighting and adding recent instances and questions related to sustainable development. Body of Content (100-150 words) The area of the content after the introduction can be explained in detail about why sustainable development is important, its objectives and highlighting the efforts made by the government and various institutions towards it.  Conclusion (30-40 words) In the essay on Sustainable Development, you must add a conclusion wrapping up the content in about 2-3 lines, either with an optimistic touch to it or just summarizing what has been talked about above.

How to write the introduction of a sustainable development essay? To begin with your essay on sustainable development, you must mention the following points:

• What is sustainable development?
• What does sustainable development focus on?
• Why is it useful for the environment?

How to write the conclusion of a sustainable development essay? To conclude your essay on sustainable development, mention why it has become the need of the hour. Wrap up all the key points you have mentioned in your essay and provide some important suggestions to implement sustainable development.

The importance of sustainable development is that it meets the needs of the present generations without compromising on the needs of the coming future generations. Sustainable development teaches us to use our resources in the correct manner. Listed below are some points which tell us the importance of sustainable development.

• Focuses on Sustainable Agricultural Methods – Sustainable development is important because it takes care of the needs of future generations and makes sure that the increasing population does not put a burden on Mother Earth. It promotes agricultural techniques such as crop rotation and effective seeding techniques.
• Manages Stabilizing the Climate – We are facing the problem of climate change due to the excessive use of fossil fuels and the killing of the natural habitat of animals. Sustainable development plays a major role in preventing climate change by developing practices that are sustainable. It promotes reducing the use of fossil fuels which release greenhouse gases that destroy the atmosphere.
• Provides Important Human Needs – Sustainable development promotes the idea of saving for future generations and making sure that resources are allocated to everybody. It is based on the principle of developing an infrastructure that is can be sustained for a long period of time.
• Sustain Biodiversity – If the process of sustainable development is followed, the home and habitat of all other living animals will not be depleted. As sustainable development focuses on preserving the ecosystem it automatically helps in sustaining and preserving biodiversity.
• Financial Stability – As sustainable development promises steady development the economies of countries can become stronger by using renewable sources of energy as compared to using fossil fuels, of which there is only a particular amount on our planet.

Mentioned below are some important examples of sustainable development. Have a look:

• Wind Energy – Wind energy is an easily available resource. It is also a free resource. It is a renewable source of energy and the energy which can be produced by harnessing the power of wind will be beneficial for everyone. Windmills can produce energy which can be used to our benefit. It can be a helpful source of reducing the cost of grid power and is a fine example of sustainable development. 
• Solar Energy – Solar energy is also a source of energy which is readily available and there is no limit to it. Solar energy is being used to replace and do many things which were first being done by using non-renewable sources of energy. Solar water heaters are a good example. It is cost-effective and sustainable at the same time.
• Crop Rotation – To increase the potential of growth of gardening land, crop rotation is an ideal and sustainable way. It is rid of any chemicals and reduces the chances of disease in the soil. This form of sustainable development is beneficial to both commercial farmers and home gardeners.
• Efficient Water Fixtures – The installation of hand and head showers in our toilets which are efficient and do not waste or leak water is a method of conserving water. Water is essential for us and conserving every drop is important. Spending less time under the shower is also a way of sustainable development and conserving water.
• Sustainable Forestry – This is an amazing way of sustainable development where the timber trees that are cut by factories are replaced by another tree. A new tree is planted in place of the one which was cut down. This way, soil erosion is prevented and we have hope of having a better, greener future.

Related Articles

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a set of 17 global goals established by the United Nations in 2015. These include: No Poverty Zero Hunger Good Health and Well-being Quality Education Gender Equality Clean Water and Sanitation Affordable and Clean Energy Decent Work and Economic Growth Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure Reduced Inequality Sustainable Cities and Communities Responsible Consumption and Production Climate Action Life Below Water Life on Land Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions Partnerships for the Goals

The SDGs are designed to address a wide range of global challenges, such as eradicating extreme poverty globally, achieving food security, focusing on promoting good health and well-being, inclusive and equitable quality education, etc.

India is ranked #111 in the Sustainable Development Goal Index 2023 with a score of 63.45.

Hence, we hope that this blog helped you understand the key features of an essay on sustainable development. If you are interested in Environmental studies and planning to pursue sustainable tourism courses , take the assistance of Leverage Edu ’s AI-based tool to browse through a plethora of programs available in this specialised field across the globe and find the best course and university combination that fits your interests, preferences and aspirations. Call us immediately at 1800 57 2000 for a free 30-minute counselling session

Team Leverage Edu

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

Contact no. *

Thanks a lot for this important essay.

NICELY AND WRITTEN WITH CLARITY TO CONCEIVE THE CONCEPTS BEHIND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY.

Thankyou so much!

Leaving already?

8 Universities with higher ROI than IITs and IIMs

Grab this one-time opportunity to download this ebook

Connect With Us

25,000+ students realised their study abroad dream with us. take the first step today..

Resend OTP in

Need help with?

Study abroad.

UK, Canada, US & More

IELTS, GRE, GMAT & More

Scholarship, Loans & Forex

Country Preference

New Zealand

Which English test are you planning to take?

Which academic test are you planning to take.

Not Sure yet

When are you planning to take the exam?

Already booked my exam slot

Within 2 Months

Want to learn about the test

Which Degree do you wish to pursue?

When do you want to start studying abroad.

September 2024

January 2025

What is your budget to study abroad?

How would you describe this article ?

Please rate this article

We would like to hear more.

SUS1501 – Sustainability and Greed

SUS1501 Assignment 0 Introduction

SUS1501 Assignment 1 notes and record 2015

SUS1501 Assignment 2

SUS1501 Assignment 3

SUS1501 Assignment 4

SUS1501 Assignment 5

SUS1501 Assignment 6

SUS1501 Assignment 7

SUS1501 Assignment 8

SUS1501 Portfolio+Template+2015

SUS1501 SEMESTER+PLAN

SUS1501 Year+Mark+Calculator

SUS1501+Content+201601

SUS1501+Content+current

SUS1501-Assignment-3

SUS1501-Assignment-4

SUS1501-Assignment-5

SUSTAINABILITY AND GREED

What You Should Know Now

01+Portfolio+Template+2018

101_2018_3_b

Assignement 7

Assignment 02

Assignment 8

IT’S ALL IN THE OUTCOME – CONSEQUENTIALISM so what

Green Buildings and Environmental Sustainability Analytical Essay

Introduction, environmental impacts, efficiency of materials, energy efficiency, water efficiency, pay offs and costs, works cited.

With the increasing concern of human activities on global warming, there has been an incredible attention on looking for mechanisms of reducing its impacts on the environment. One of the proposed mechanisms of addressing this challenge is building houses that are environmental friendly called green buildings.

Technically, green buildings refer to “structures designed using processes that are environmentally responsible and resource-efficient throughout the building’s life-cycle: from sitting to design, construction, operation, maintenance, renovation, and demolition” (Kats et al. 12).

To achieve this state, it is desirable that there exists close cooperation between architects, various engineers, design teams, and clients in all stages of execution of commercial real estates’ building projects.

This paper scrutinizes the characteristics that need to be possessed by a building for it to qualify as green coupled with questioning the capacity of the green movements across the globe to prescribe the construction of purely green commercial real estates.

One of the central concerns of putting up green buildings is to help mitigate the environmental impacts associated with conventional buildings. However, in the process of building any house, there is always some extent of the natural environment disorientations and interference. This implies that the greenest building is the one that has not been built at all.

Additionally, a building occupies a space that was originally occupied by other natural systems. Therefore, even if the process of the building does not degrade the environment by interfering with the ground structure, space is consumed. This has the impact of making most buildings fail to comply with the requirement that they make use of a small space.

Furthermore, green buildings need not to contribute to sprawling, which is the tendency of structures to spread in a manner that does not follow any fashion (Kats et al. 12).

These three rules for any green building are significant since the overall goal of going green in the development of commercial real estate pegged on the idea that people must put in place strategies for ensuring that energy absorption or release to the environment is kept minimal.

In fact, International Energy Agency estimates that above 40 percent of the total global energy consumption is due to the buildings (Pushkar, Becker, and Katz 98). Buildings are also responsible for the 24 percent of the global carbon dioxide emissions (Pushkar, Becker, and Katz 98).

Therefore, it is possible to manage the impacts of global warming due to environmental degradation by controlling further development of ways of building real estates and shifting towards focusing on going the green way in building and construction. The only worry is whether this technology is sustainable and readily embraceable by all nations across the globe.

Building a green commercial estate calls for no extraction of materials from the environment particularly the ones, which are not renewable. Some of the materials that blend well with the concern are renewable materials obtained from plants such as straws, bamboo, recyclable stones and metals, sheep wool, paper flakes made panels, clay, non-toxic material, cork, and compressed blocks made from soil amongst others.

To comply with the concerns of green building technology, it is prescribed that all materials that require processing such as earth blocks be processed right on the site where they are to be used to ensure that no energy is utilized in the transportation of the finished products.

The mechanism of processing is also to be selected such that no fossil fuels, any other forms of non-renewable source of energy, or any sources of energy that would go into destroying or destabilizing the environment or the natural flora and fauna are utilized. However, utilizing high efficiency materials seem to be a subtle mechanism of ensuring that materials for the building will never end.

Therefore, it is crucial to note that some impacts are produced on the environment while using these materials. For instance, when soil is dug for making earth blocks purposed for building green commercial real estates, the environment is affected in one way or another since earth crust is disturbed.

This outcome is not desired for a purely green building. Arguably, this qualifies as one of the reasons why it is incredibly difficult to sustain construction of 100% green buildings.

In some situations, it is necessary that off-site manufacturing be done. This strategy is indispensable when it is desired to “maximize benefits of off-site manufacture including minimizing waste, maximizing recycling, high quality elements, better OHS management, and less noise and dust” (Kats et al. 57).

This requirement makes green technology for building real estate problematic in that structures cannot be wholly manufactured off-site. Some form of joining is necessary. Some of the joinery processes used often lead to releasing some foreign matters to the environment to which green movement is largely opposed. Apparently, it is impractical to construct a whole earth block building off-site and then take it to the desired final site.

This argument does not imply that measures should not be deployed to ensure observance of efficiency of materials. Rather, the point is that green techniques should focus on realistic things that are achievable within the spheres of existing building technology. For instance, it is acceptable here that scholars have proved that buildings play central roles in hiking the rates of global warming.

Consequently, one of the mechanisms of reducing these impacts would be deployment of realistic green global warming reduction strategies such as utilization of greener forms of energy such as solar and wind energy in lighting and heating. This argument leads to the next characteristic of green buildings: energy efficiency.

Green real estate deserves to be energy sufficient, energy efficient, and self-sustaining. This means that green commercial real estates require a high capacity to reduce energy consumption rates in terms of operating the energy required to power equipment and heat. In this end, the green movement prescribes the usage of materials, which have a low embodied energy in the construction of green buildings.

Such materials include wood. Therefore, since steel has a high embodied energy, it is not a preferred green building material. Unfortunately, green buildings require that the materials used be highly recyclable. Steel perhaps fits well in this category of materials.

On the other hand, although wood may be replenished, the rate at which forests are disappearing is alarming to the extent that many countries have resorted to restrictions of felling of some species of trees, which are under threat of extinction. Therefore, based on the needs to use materials with low embodied energy, green technology’s applicability in the development of commercially viable real estate encounters some drawbacks.

However, amid the position taken above, other concerns of green building are realizable. For instance, it is practical to build a house that has a low operating energy. For instance, houses without air leakages can be designed and constructed successfully. This result is accomplished through constructing double-walled houses with the space between the two walls being airtight.

The design incredibly aids in reducing total energy loss from the interior of the house so that minimal heating is required especially during cold weather. In addition, high performance windows coupled with ceilings, floors, and walls that have extra insulation are commercially viable to make.

Other practical strategies include proper designing of houses to take full advantage of natural lighting so that the necessity of electrical lighting is minimized. Solar heating may also act as an additional means of electricity cost reduction.

Arguably, even though on-site power generation encompasses one of the most expensive features to install in a building, biomass, solar, wind, and hydropower remain as some of the most practical and viable ways of mitigating the environmental effects of commercial real estates.

One of the biggest challenges of the commercial real estates is the emission of dirty water into the environment. As argued before, since the main concern of green building is to minimize environmental impacts of buildings, the question of water quality and efficiency of its usage in commercial estates comes out conspicuous under the green building technology in relation to the development of commercial real estates.

In this extent, Pushkar, Becker, and Katz reckon, “reducing water consumption and protecting water quality are key objectives in sustainable buildings” (104). Nevertheless, it is also vital to note that green buildings emphasize that resources should not be utilized at a rate that supersedes their rate of replenishment.

Unfortunately, the practical scenario in many commercial estates is that aquifer’s waters are used at a higher rate than it is actually possible to replenish. Therefore, reliability on aquifer water to feed commercial estates does not encompass a measure of going the green way of building.

For this reason, it is desirable that green commercial estates, if at all they are practical and possible to realize, have their water supplies from on-site harvested, recycled, and purified water. One crucial drawback of these approaches is that some of the methods of water purification such as desalination utilize a large amount of energy, which in many nations is currently obtained through nuclear power generation.

In this sense, in terms of providing reliable sources of water, it sounds imperative to infer that it is somewhat impossible to develop a purely green commercial estate since production of energy to desalinate water would lead to disposal of remnants of the nuclear reactions (nuclear waste) into the environment.

This is highly not supported by the ideals of green buildings. The question that is left unaddressed by the green movements is that- is it possible to generate large amounts of energy to purify water for supplying to commercial estates through renewable means of power generation?

Many opponents of green buildings cite cost of building as one of the main disadvantages of developing green commercial estates. For instance, according to Pushkar, Becker, and Katz, “Photo-voltaic, new appliances, and modern technologies tend to cost more money” (110). However, in the long turn, green buildings can help to save lots of money.

For instance, Pushkar, Becker, and Katz approximate that $130 billion can be saved by different sectors in the US on bills of energy. They further argue, “Studies have shown that some green buildings have yielded $53 to $71 per square foot back on investment over a 20 year life period” (Pushkar, Becker, and Katz 112). To the commercial real estate’s developers, this implies larger returns on investments in the long-term basis.

Additionally, green buildings attract higher occupancy rates, higher selling prices, and reduced rates of capitalizations. This suggests that investments in commercial estates that are green introduce lower risks of investments.

Arguably, amid the challenges of realizing a purely green building, this benefit provides substantive grounds for sustainability and attractiveness of green buildings particularly in the commercial real estate’s sector.

In the attempt to resolve a myriad of challenges emanating from waste disposal and excessive release or absorption of energy from the environment, this paper has argued that many organizations across the globe are advocating for a change of the manner in which people do things such as building. The focus is towards building green buildings.

Such buildings are designed to consume less energy in lighting and heating, less water, as well as emitting less green house gasses besides providing their occupants with an environment that is healthy. They support harvesting of rainwater.

They are built using recyclable materials. Amid these benefits of green buildings in comparison with conventional buildings, the paper maintains that building purely green commercial estates is problematic. However, bearing in mind the long-term cost benefits and investment risks accruing from building “green” commercial real estates, such estates prove sustainable in the long-term.

Kats, Greg, Leon Alevantis, and Mills Adam. The Cost and Financial Benefits of Green Buildings . New Jersey, NJ: Princeton, 2003. Print.

Pushkar, Susan, Richard Becker, and Arthur Katz. “Methodology for Design of Environmentally Optimal Buildings by Variable Grouping.” Building and Environment 40.3(2005): 97-112. Print.

• Chicago (A-D)
• Chicago (N-B)

IvyPanda. (2019, June 2). Green Buildings and Environmental Sustainability. https://ivypanda.com/essays/green-buildings-and-sustainability/

"Green Buildings and Environmental Sustainability." IvyPanda , 2 June 2019, ivypanda.com/essays/green-buildings-and-sustainability/.

IvyPanda . (2019) 'Green Buildings and Environmental Sustainability'. 2 June.

IvyPanda . 2019. "Green Buildings and Environmental Sustainability." June 2, 2019. https://ivypanda.com/essays/green-buildings-and-sustainability/.

1. IvyPanda . "Green Buildings and Environmental Sustainability." June 2, 2019. https://ivypanda.com/essays/green-buildings-and-sustainability/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "Green Buildings and Environmental Sustainability." June 2, 2019. https://ivypanda.com/essays/green-buildings-and-sustainability/.

• Ignoring the Rules of the Agreement to Save Funds: Labor Relations
• Disaster Recovery Plan
• Boyer Company's Change Management for Revenue
• Harmful Health Effects of Nuclear Energy
• Carbon Fiber Production and Concerns
• Global Water Scarcity Causes and Solutions
• Water Management in Houston
• Nuclear Power Use Controversies

Free Unisa tutorial resources to make your Bcom come alive.

• Bcom Textbooks

Monday 29 December 2014

Sus1501 sustainability and greed, assignment 1, assignment 2, assignment 3, assignment 4, assignment 5 and 6, assignment 8, 8 comments:.

Thank you so much for the tips. I have been struggling with this module and they way they "expect" us to answer. This will really help and I was never sure if I should point out plagiarism even though our whole module deals with ethics.

Hi thanks for the tips ,but this year Assignment 5 is showing me Flames

Hi to do assignment5 plz help if you understand

Assignment 5 is killing me shame😭😭

I'm Struggling with assignment 5 please help

😭This semester it very tough to me!!! Especial sus1501

I'm struggling with assignment 4 plz help me