Road to a Better Future
Nitika Thapar
Mrs. Bains
May 21, 2014
CPW-4U0
Road to a Better Future
“Development meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs."( Sustainable Development, para.2), this relatively expansive definition was famously defined by Brundtland Comission and is often taken to mean the improvement of human welfare around the world without compromising the future generations needs. The concept of sustainable development was highly appreciated at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) at a Rio de Janero in Brazil, commonly known as Earths Summit (Sustainable Development, para.2). There are three pillars of sustainable development; economic, environment, and social that carries across all sectors of development, from cities facing rapid urbanization to agriculture, infrastructure, energy development and use, water availability, and transportation. (Sustainable Development, para.3). Over nearly two decades, governments and international organizations have taken various initiatives aimed at realizing the idea. Thus, sustainable development is a achievable in improving human welfare and securing future generation needs through three three elements of environement protection, economic growth, and social development, as countries, companies, and individuals look at it for a balanced approach.
There are various of criticims against sustainable development from those who believe the term is too widely use, making it meaningless, to those who are completely oppose to the idea. Many critiques believe countries talk about being sustainable while continue doing everything they should not be doing. Nonethless, they believe it has failed to alleviate any of the problems the developing worlds are facing, for instance poverty, inequality and suvsitence existence. Developing countires see sustainable development as an ideology impose by wealthy industrialized countries to impose stricter conditions and rules on aid to developing countries. Thus, sustainable development policies are considered unncessary and dangerous.
Environment protection is the biggest issue raised throughout countries. Having a safe environment is important in order to have a sustainable country. Moving towards sustainable development requires the achievement of a healthy and stable human society. Many facts of human life, either directly or indirectly, are dependent on the quality of the environment. Environmental sustainability occurs when processes, systems and activities reduce the environmental impact of organization facilities, products and operations. For instance, it ensures renewable energy, reduces fossil fuel consumption and emissions, sustainable agriculture and fishing, organic farming, and recycling. Several measures have been taken on both local and national scales to improve the physical environment throughout the world through community education, and operation. Many companies around the world have started the plastic bag reduction. Wal-Mart, a retail business has increased importance from green and yellow factories, a goal of zero waste, plastic bag reduction, and it initiatives to reduce carbon footprint by managing energy consumption (The Three Pillars of Sustainability, para. 10). There are many future projects implemented for developing countries in order for a sustainable country to be achieved. Vietnam Urban Upgrading is a project World Bank if focusing on. It aims to reduce poverty in urban areas by improving the living standards. It carries out in four cities with numerous low-income, infrastructure-deficient communities with lower grade housing (Sustainable Development, para.4). Thus, as sustainable development focuses on environment protection throughout the world, it is making it more achievable.
Furthermore, aother element of sustainable development is the pursuit of economic growth, which may be defined as the improved material well-being of individuals. Economic growth is deemed important to the achievement of sustainable development since it meets nations concerns (The Three Pillars of Sustainability, para. 15). It provides a foundation for the futurre society and ensures that our economic growth maintains a healthy balance with our ecosystem. It is used to define strategies that promote the utilization of soci-economic resources to their best advantage. It involves making sure the business makes a profit, but does not create social or environmental issues that would harm the long-term success of the company. For instance, World Bank is focused on a project to improve transport safety and efficency for China along the selected transport corridors and to promite non-motorized. (Sustainable Development, para.10). They want to reduce the gas emissions companies and imrpove their economic growth. Improving economic growth through sustainable development will lead to their achievable goals of reaching the needs of individuals and future generations.