Green Sustainability

Green Sustainability

Sustainability is the ability to maintain a certain status or process in existing systems. The most frequent use of the term “sustainability” is connected to biological or human systems in the context of ecology. The ability of an ecosystem to function and maintain productivity for a prolonged period is also sustainability.

Living a sustainable lifestyle is one way to help. In this series pages we will go into what sustainability has to with ecology, recycling, water, and more. We will also reveal what some companies (like Petsmart and Disney) are doing to make a difference by operating their businesses in a sustainable way.

Green Sustainability / How does living green relate to sustainability?

Sustainability, in the general context of how the term is used today, means using resources to meet the needs of the current human population while being able to preserve the environment so that the needs of future generations are met as well.

The entire concept of environmental sustainability involves maintaining a balance between nature’s capacity to regenerate and the effect of each individual’s life on Earth. This effect is often referred to as human beings’ “footprint.” Footprints are essentially determined by how much of Earth’s resources are needed in order to support human life. Two types of footprints exist: carbon and ecological.

Carbon footprints pertain to how much greenhouse gas is emitted by human beings while ecological footprints are based on how much resources human beings consume, mostly in terms of water and food. Today, reducing your ecological footprint as well as your carbon footprint means living greener.

Living green refers to a certain type of lifestyle that promotes environmental sustainability. It means making conscious efforts to reduce the amount of natural resources we use so that the environment, with its natural capacity to regenerate, can sustain itself as it should.

Green Sustainability / How can we live more green?

For the entire human population to live green, large efforts must be undertaken to reorganize living conditions into sustainable cities, eco-municipalities, and eco-villages. Economic sectors must also be re-evaluated to promote more sustainable industries. Sustainability must also be promoted in the workplace where structures, processes, and work practices can be quite wasteful. Lastly, science must be used to develop greener technologies as well as alternatives to non-renewable resources.

Although these efforts may seem too large for one person to make a difference, the truth is that each and every one of us has much to contribute.

All of us live on Earth, enjoy its beauty, and take advantage of all that it gives us. Our planet gives us everything we need to stay alive but very few of us give anything back for it to stay alive. Many seem to think that, because nature can replace what we use, our resources will never run out.

The truth is, we consume and destroy resources faster than the Earth’s capacity to regenerate. What we need to do is slow down so our planet can catch up before it’s too late.

Green Sustainability / How can we live more green?

The Earth has already changed quite dramatically from what it was just a few decades ago and it is still changing rapidly. We can now feel the effects of global warming and many of our resources have already become scarce. If we don’t start living green today, pretty soon, our world won’t be the Earth as we know it.

Sources

http://www.epa.gov/sustainability/
http://www.epa.gov/sustainability/basicinfo.htm#sustainability
http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/120/50-ways-to-green-your-business.html
pdf: www.skyscraper.org/.../GREEN_TOWERS/GREEN_GLOSSARY.pdf

Thank you for visiting the Green Sustainability page. For more information on sustainability follow these links:

Why is Sustainability Important

Definition of Sustainability

Types of Sustainability

Sustainability Tips

Recycling Sustainability

Natural Resource Sustainability

Living Sustainability

Ecology Sustainability

Sustainability Agroforestry

Water Movement Sustainability

Water Sustainability in Australia