Have you ever wondered how come suddenly the world seemed so interested in our environment and everywhere you go, you'd hear people talking about global warming, greenhouse gases and sustainable development? Well, I'm glad that people are actually starting to worry themselves about the state of our planet. Nevertheless, it's a little upsetting to know that Malaysia is still not doing enough to protect our environment. However, it's comforting to know that we've actually signed the Kyoto Protocol. That is a start and should be looked as a little encouragement. Anyway, the following essay that follows is a paper I wrote during my time at the University of Hertfordshire. Enjoy reading!
In recent years, many people across the world have started to realise the importance of conserving the natural environment of the Earth. Nevertheless, many parts of the world today still seem a little unfazed about the environment and its chronic conditions. Most people consider it to be somewhat of a trivial issue – something that does not need our attention just yet. However, environmentalists and conservationists beg to differ and argued that it is about time the world starts paying attention because in the years to come, this crisis will be worsening if there is nothing done to prevent it.
Indisputably, there are many factors to the deterioration of the world’s environment but of all these factors, human activities and the exploitations of nature seems to be the utmost factor. Fundamentally, this has resulted in a worldwide concept known as sustainable development. Sustainable development has become an important phrase within the environmental community as well as world citizens alike. Briefly stated, it means that in order to protect the Earth and its environment from destruction of its resources, we need to learn to live so that we can sustain our environment as we forged ahead for development.
In 1987, The Brundtland Commission defined it as the ‘development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.’ A global concept that it is, sustainable development encompasses all aspects of life, requiring the participation of everyone. Most importantly, the issue that involves every nation today is human overpopulation. Single-handedly, this issue has brought upon countless impacts to the world and its environment.
This global calamity of human overpopulation is inevitable. In this essay, this issue will be discussed along with its effects towards the Earth and its environment. Noticeably, the concept of sustainable development has evolved around this issue due to the fact that many impacts of human overpopulation are interrelated. The need for the world to sustain the natural resources that are, in recent years, becoming less is almost an issue on its own. Nevertheless, with the increase of the world’s population, pollutions are unavoidable and this only adds to the weight of the current worsening situation. The biggest challenge of sustainable development is the need for the world to find a new way forward.
The world’s population only reached one billion in 1830 and this took all of recorded history to happen. Today, the world has an approximate population of 6.4 billion people with the three most populated countries being China, India and United States. The concept of sustainable development calls for the need to stabilise the world’s population in regards to its carrying capacity. Common knowledge states that the world has a limited ability to accommodate the number of inhabitants in this planet. Unfortunately, the world population figure is increasing by the day.
According to a research conducted by the United Nations Population Fund, the current figure will grow by an estimated 100 million people every single year. As mentioned earlier, this issue is the root of so many problems especially those that are environmentally-related. Unbelievably enough, to sustain the needs of six billion people actually means that the world is losing an estimated 70,000 species of plants and animals each year. The world is faced with a problem of mass extinction in which the human population is held responsible.
The world’s population of six billion people is not sustainable because the living community cannot indefinitely sustain the loss of 70,000 species a year. As the number of people grows, the number of extinctions will also increase. This has become an eerily scary statistic and there is nothing appropriately enough that can be done to curb this problem. World leaders are faced with the difficulty of deciding on which is better – controlling the number of children their citizens should have or controlling the amount of resources their countries should use or maybe even both. Conclusively, the world’s population will never have to be a problem that bothers everyone if there were unlimited land, resources and water.
The Earth that we live in now is a very rich one albeit unevenly spread. There are so many natural resources that the human population can use for further development. Abundant amounts of petroleum, coal and metals, just to name a few, are found easily all over the world. Nevertheless, fossil fuels that are petroleum and natural gas are running out in the years to come and if nothing is done to maintain its availability, it will just perish even before the end of this century.
As it evolves around the issue of human overpopulation, the concept of sustainable development is also closely related to sustaining the world’s natural resources. Unquestionably, sustaining and stabilising the world’s population as well as the natural resources is a complicated matter. The more number of people essentially means the need for more natural resources being exploited. This is due to the fact that more people will definitely consume more resources. Sustainable development has influenced the rise of alternative energy sources lately. This appropriate consequence from the interpretation of this concept has resulted in a more manageable and acceptable exploitation of the Earth’s resources.
Many countries across the world have now stopped using coal as their main energy source for their power plants and have instead turn to cleaner sources like nuclear, water, wind and solar. Nevertheless, the mention of nuclear power plants will certainly spark a debate on its safety but this is another topic altogether. The vital point is that everyone is responsible for understanding the need to sustain the natural resources that is becoming less by the day.
The study of the Earth’s natural resources has made it possible for everyone in the world to truly appreciate what the Earth can provide us. Nonetheless, it is the study of sustaining the Earth’s natural resources that is far more superior in today’s world. The over usage of these natural resources would result in a severe threat to global society in the near future.
The outcome of this serious predicament actually means that the future generation might not have the resources that are needed for further development. Apparently, this illustrates the importance of sustainable development in today’s world even more. It is so imperative to respect the limits of the world’s environment. Mahatma Gandhi once said, ‘there is enough in this world for everyone’s needs but not for anyone’s greed’.
Moving on, the significance of respecting the limits of the world’s environment conjures up another issue – pollution. This issue can be considered an age-old dispute in today’s society. Seriously enough, the rapid population growth only contributes to an even more chronic situation. Both air and water pollution as well as other forms of pollution continues to be a severe crisis. World leaders across the world have worked closely with their respective governments to enact tighter laws and regulations to counteract with these catastrophic conditions. One of the first pollution regulations dates back to the fourteenth century when King Edward I banned the burning of sea coal in lime kilns. Nonetheless, despite all these efforts, pollution is still a serious local and worldwide problem.
One of the principles of sustainable development that was set up by many nations all over the world is to make the parties involved in pollution pay for what they have done to relentlessly threaten the environment. Environmental pollution and social depletion happens because those accountable are not those who bear the aftermath. If the polluter or the consumer is made to pay for these costs, in essence, this can actually reduce the devastation of pollution. Ultimately, this will mean that the world’s inhabitants, at large, will not have to bear this burden alone. Nevertheless, ensuring that this principle actually works is a difficult task. At all costs, precautionary actions should be considered. With the full cooperation of all the parties involved, only then this particular principle of sustainable development can be achieved.
The world depends on its human population to flourish into the next generation. Unfortunately, it is this population of people that might bring about the fall of the Earth. Sustainable development is one concept that was set up to ensure that this disastrous consequence will never happen. It is a dynamic progression that enables everyone to realise their full potential and to improve their quality of life along the way.
Nevertheless, this enhancement can only be successfully achieved with the assurance of simultaneously protecting and improving the Earth’s life support systems. Millions of dollars are spent each year on sustainable development across the globe. If a balance can be maintained between sustainability and the development of the world, many experts actually agree that in the future, the world can achieve economic, social and environmental objectives at the same time.
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