Environmental Sustainability - A Mirage?

Introduction

Trying to have matured adults agree on one concrete definition of “Sustainability”, is by far one of the toughest jobs. Though various organizations and thought leaders have tried their best to explore, analyze and beat it down to one precise meaning without success, there seems to be the common thread of Environment, Society and the Economy, running through them all. Northwest Environment Watch, a not-for-profit research and communication center based in Seattle, has according to me given a definition that is by far the closest to appropriate. It said that sustainability is "an economy and way of life in which both people and nature flourish, a culture that can last." The Executive Order 00-07, signed by Gov. John Kitzhaber of the State of Oregon, in May of 2000 says that, “Sustainability means using, developing and protecting resources at a rate and in a manner that enables people to meet their current needs and also provides that future generations can meet their own needs.” It also goes on a step further to say that, "Sustainability requires simultaneously meeting environmental, economic and community needs." This again almost co-relates to the Northwest Environment Watch’s stand. Let us now venture to explore three of the most critical influencers, and analyze their roles in achieving the goal of sustainability.

Growth of World Population

Agenda 21, The Earth Summit Strategy to Save Our Planet. (Sitarz 1993) explains very well the relation between population growth and the environmental health of the planet: “The spiraling growth of world population fuels the growth of global production and consumption. Rapidly increasing demands for natural resources, employment, education and social services make any attempts to protect natural resources and improve living standards very difficult. There is an immediate need to develop strategies aimed at controlling world population growth.” (p. 44)

Scientists, since a long time, have been underlining that, the Earth, if we believe in the fact that it’s a spherical surface, does have a capacity and limit to which it can carry or support. The Population of the planet, rising in leaps and bounds, will soon lead to a complete utilization of the World’s depleting Natural Resources. As May observes (May 1993): “...the scale and scope of human activities have, for the first time, grown to rival the natural processes that built the biosphere and that maintain it as a place where life can flourish. Many facts testify to this statement. It is that somewhere between 20 and 40 percent of the earth's primary productivity, from plant photosynthesis on land and in the sea, is now appropriated for human use.” This truly is matter of alarm. If we continue the growth of population at the current rate, we would be in a situation, where Sustainability would be a myth. Hence at no point of time should the Growth of Population be considered in isolation. Its growth in relation to the depleting Natural Resources in the planet is what heightens concern.

Governments, Association and Individuals of credibility, have continuously assembled and voiced opinions that “something” out to be done to “save the life and the planet”. Global Warming has been an issue within an agenda, in almost every summit. But all that came out of the discussions and the so called “action plans” are vague terms like “we need to Control the population”. Never has it moved towards action steps to actually stop population growth. The Report named Agenda 21, The Earth Summit Strategy to Save Our Planet, under the heading of "National Population Policies" goes to state that: “The long term consequences of human population growth must be fully grasped by all nations. They must rapidly formulate and implement appropriate programs to cope with the inevitable increase in population numbers.” (p. 45). Surprisingly such reports, continuously contradict themselves. Firstly they do not lay down concrete steps to stop the growth, even as they underplay the total problem at hand. On one hand they say that there is an immediate need to “control” the population growth to reach the goal of sustainability. With the same breath they point out, that population growth is “inevitable”. So when they do believe that the Population Growth is inevitable in spite of all, their claim of undertaking “appropriate steps” to curb or Control Population growth makes Sustainability sound like an oxymoron. Doesn’t it?

Consumer – Oriented Lifestyle

In the light of the definitions of Sustainability indicated earlier, the consumer-oriented lifestyle is best analyzed through a Social Practices Approach to Environment. We have been pushing the blame of an ever-increasing population for an Environmental crisis towards under-developed and developing nations so far. Apart from the fact that our home ground is also no lesser evil in this respect, there is a bigger problem of our consumer-oriented lifestyle that is contributing substantially to killing the existing Natural resources and has become an important issue to be addressed to reach the goal of sustainability.

According to Prof. dr. ire. G. Saracen in his The Social Practices Approach for Environmental Policymaking; theory, methodology and policy-development for sustainable domestic consumption, “The Social Practices Approach offers an integrative model to analyze and under-stand transitions towards sustainable consumption at the level of everyday life”. He also says that individual Consumers “develop 'story-lines' with respect to the environmental dimension of their lifestyles and provide legitimacy and rationality to the choices they make at the different segments of their lifestyles”. The three major consumption needs of an individual in a Society, namely Home and Maintenance, Food Consumption, Travel & Transport, have led to Rapid Urbanization & Home Construction, increasing vehicles and road construction, food preparation, and building Factories. As you see, a consumer-oriented approach is directly proportional to Industrialization, which in turn directly affects the Environment with its depleting Natural resources. When the need of the day is to increase rapid Agricultural Opportunities to counter the depleting Natural Assets of the Environment, isn’t a consumer Oriented Lifestyle with it’s need of sustenance a contradiction to the attainment of the goal of sustainability?

Stewardship

The last topic we would explore is the role of Stewardship. Sustainability is just not an individual problem or issue anymore. Though the life of every individual in this planet is affected, the magnitude of the problem is so vast, that no single department, or government can be held responsible. It is a Global issue, and needs to be addressed collectively. The inattention so far to attributing a direct responsibility, has been one of the major problems of not acting in the direction of attaining the goal. Hence every individual, every Government, every Organization or Association Body, and every Educational Institution has to own stewardship, to take steps, of reaching the goal of Sustainability.

This being said, the second aspect of Stewardship that needs to be addressed is “who leads?” We at United States, being the most developed, has a direct role in leading the world towards the goal. As they say that the best way to lead, is through example. “Our own country is the leading polluter on Earth, generating more greenhouse gases, especially CO2, than any other country. Not a word alone but by binding action, our nation has an inescapable moral duty to lead the way to genuinely effective solutions. We …call upon our government to change national policy so that the United States will begin to ease, not continue to increase, the burdens on our biosphere and their effect upon the planet's people”. (Joint Appeal by Religion and Science for the Environment "DECLARATION OF THE 'MISSION TO WASHINGTON” Washington, D.C,, May 12, 1992) What action steps have we really taken so far since then?

Conclusion

Bottom line: the word “Sustainability” has been continuously used so freely. If it is a sustained effort to cure today for a better tomorrow, what have we done for the immediate present? Every result of a meeting, every conclusion of a summit, has been filled with redundant usage of vague terminologies as “efforts will be taken”, “control will be exercised”, “reduction in population growth” etc. It has been interspersed with blame games. But never has any one body pointedly answered the specific question of “How”? It is about time, that we did this, unless everyone of us living today, every government in power, and every responsible organization wish to be accountable for the total extinction of the human species on earth.

Dipak Chatterjee is a thought leader, writer, deemed journalist and reporter. Please feel free to contact him at penstrength@gmail.com

Click Here To Help Save The Planet

The Earth Friendly Djembe

Hand drummer questions source of wood used to make djembe drums.

The premise of this article is to help facilitate an understanding of the manufacturing process in using environmentally prudent wood to produce djembe drums. Purchasing djembe drums that are made from legally harvested, sustainable wood help to protect our world's forests, assist in preserving and maintaining a well-balanced eco-system and help support local economies.

Our world is more connected than ever before. Modern technology has made the planet a smaller place through cutting edge advances such as e-mail, broadband, internet, fiber optics, and of course the iPhone. Along with these advances comes information - lots and lots of information. Just pull up your favorite web browser and type in 'Global Warming' and you'll see that Google has indexed roughly 72,400,000 web sites that contain those keywords. Type in 'Legal Wood' and you'll see an impressive 21,600,000 web sites found. And hey, it posted those results in just .07 seconds. Now, that's fast! However, even with all this speed and information, I was hard pressed to find any decent content on the kind of wood used in manufacturing traditionally based djembes. Not only that, but I couldn't tell which companies were using legal wood, the benefits of using legal wood, and the concerns with using wood that wasn't legal.

We're in the Tree Business

The traditional djembe is made from wood. And many of the djembe drums that are available for purchase in this country are imported from Indonesia, Thailand, and Africa. In fact most of the African djembe drums sold in the U.S.A. are actually made in Indonesia where, according to Indonesian Department of Forestry, the deforestation rate since 1998 is estimated at 2.8 million hectares (7 million acres) per year. During the last 30 years, the world's tropical rainforests have shrunk by 25% around 12.3 million hectares of forest. Agriculture and the trade in tropical wood are the main causes of deforestation.

Unfortunately, many companies (small and large) in this country still knowingly import wood that is neither sustainable nor legal. For instance, in an article posted by the Chicago Tribune, at a Lowe's annual meeting last May of 2006, a shareholder proposed that the company issue an annual report on progress toward its environmental pledges. The company's board of directors disagreed and unanimously recommended a vote against the proposal. Why? It's much more expensive to secure wood that is legal and sustainable than illegally harvested wood which can be acquired cheaply. Buying illegal wood helps corporations keep their expenses down and profits up, however in the meantime they're contributing to an unsound environmental policy that is both harmful and destructive.

Legally Certified Timber - The Green Way!

The good news is that there are many certifications and processes that are in place to properly protect our forests and yet still benefit from their bounty. The first is using legal wood. Simply stated, legal wood is felled and traded in accordance with the law. The producing country is obliged to ensure compliance and enforcement of the laws and rules. To be certain that wood is legal, its origin must be known and documented through every step in the wood trade process from the felling of a tree to the sale of the wood in a shop.

Sustainable wood is produced in a responsible way taking into account the environment, the economy and social circumstances. This means, for example, not felling more trees than the forest can afford to lose; planting new trees (reforestation); minimizing the damage caused to other trees and plants; safeguarding biological diversity (i.e. the range of animals, plants and microorganisms) and taking into account the impact on the soil, water, landscape and ecosystems.

We Can All Make A Difference

When shopping for a djembe drum it's important to know the source of the wood so you can make a more educated decision. Purchasing djembe drums that are made from legally harvested, sustainable wood help protect our world's forests, assist in preserving and maintaining a well-balanced eco-system and help support local economies. Get the facts before buying and ask questions. It's your buying decision that helps shape the world in which we live.

X8 Djembe Drums - Legally Harvested Wood

We only work with environmentally friendly suppliers that can prove a Government certification process. Our manufacturer in Indonesia uses government inspected legally harvested wood. We have a copy of their certificate from the Indonesian Government. It shows that the Indonesian government inspected the wood, was verified to be legal wood, and gives permission to move the wood from the area (Village) where it was cut to a different area (SKSHH) Name of certificate. In order to get this far in the certification process the Loggers or tree owners would need to have a (Ingin Tebang) License to cut the trees. This process is when the Government actually comes out to inspect the trees to be cut and certifies they are legal.

One thing to point out is our suppliers name being on the certificate shows that they are the buyer and they are also the manufacturer. This makes it very easy to trace back to the Forestry department. Lastly, they are inspected every month by the Forestry department and are required to have every one of their SKSHH inspected and verified.

Find environmentally friendly djembe drums at X8 Drums, a hand drum specialty shop that aims to please percussionists with quality instruments, knowledgeable staff and community.

Help save the planet Click Here

Global Warming...Is It Reversable ?

The World...confronted with "Global Warming" are faced with a common agenda, a common goal, we must now all work toward finding a solution. The question in the minds of all our leaders and top scientists are..."where do we start" ? Oh sure, we could shut down all our industry. This would certainly be a great beginning in halting most of the pollution presently being released into our atmosphere, rivers and soils and possibly begin to reverse the ongoing "Greenhouse Effect". The excess carbon dioxide being released into our atmosphere is of course the prime cause of our present "global warming" issues. Unfortunately, mankind cannot just halt industry, it can only adjust how more efficient it can be carried out. The people of the world must unite in purpose to accomplish this goal.

Renewable, Nonpolluting Energy

For many decades(too many) now, our society has been ravishing our once plentiful supplies of fossil fuels to power our growing industry needs, unconsciously thwarting the effects of the polluting by-products of their use, mainly due to their once plentiful supply and ongoing profits from their continued use. We are now able to gradually replace more and more of our fossil fuels with renewable energy from the sun, wind, geothermal, etc.. Our use of just one of these new energy sources, i.e.,the wind, has doubled in 2005 and is expected to double again for 2006. Solar power is growing at the rate that is a close second to wind energy.

Our Government Must Take Part

In order to cause a quick reversal of the green house effect here in the U.S., our government must quickly rally behind the needs to reverse the trends of Global Warming. Even if this country issued an all-out proclamation in congress tomorrow to finance this effort, as was done during the Kennedy era in the early '60s to land man on the moon in 10 years, this would take a much greater program to even begin to cause a substantial and with this a noticeable change. Any change will not be accomplished overnight. We have wasted energy for so long in our daily living that this would be one of the first places to begin. One quick way to make a quick and noticeable change in our total energy consumption would be to replace any incandescent light bulb in our homes and offices with equivalent CFL lamps. This sounds easy, but to convince all of america to make this change would not be an easy task.

Wind Versus Solar

Wind energy can also help us to produce vast amounts of energy and actually would use up less area in producing a given amount of power and contrary to using solar power, it will supply energy 24 hours a day...as long as the wind keeps blowing for this period. Solar can only supply energy directly while the sun is shining and also when clouds do not obscure it.Of course, the aesthetics of solar energy gathering grids are much more appealing to the eye than are the monstrously tall windmill towers, which usually rise to more than 400 feet and are being designed even larger. It is hoped that a Global effort in our present energy conservation programs already adopted, along with adoption of renewable energy sources being implemented to slowly replace the fossil fuels in present use.

Author: Lucien Beauley Writes articles of general human interest, science articles and Renewable Energy content.

Please visit:

Free Energy

My Nature Photos

Click Here To Live Greener

How To Get Government Grants To Save Energy In Your Home

There are many reasons why it’s a good idea to save energy in the home these days. To begin with, prices of gas and electricity in Europe have been very high in recent times, and so you can save a lot of money by making your home more efficient. As well as saving money, we all need to do our bit to help fight climate change by reducing the amount of energy we use. Finally, some of the things you can do to save energy in your home, such as installing insulation, can make your home warmer and more comfortable in winter.

The U.K. government and some local authorities are keen to encourage people to save energy in order to help it meet European targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to help people cut the amount they have to pay in energy bills. They offer big grants to help pay for home energy efficiency, such as installing insulation or more efficient central heating. However, you need to know what is available and how to apply

Almost everyone is eligible to receive a major contribution to the cost of installing insulation in their home, or else a more efficient heating system that saves energy. The main way you can do this is by arranging for your insulation or heating upgrade to be done by one of the major national insulation or central heating companies or, alternatively through a major energy supplier. You first need to arrange for a quote from them, and in the quote they should let you know how much you can qualify for in grants. If you agree to the quote, they will then take care of all the paperwork and administration as well as completing the work for you.

Many local authorities will also make a contribution to the cost of insulation and heating improvements. You should look on your local authority web-site, or contact them by phone to see what grants are available specifically from them and how you can apply.

Finally, it is quite possible that you will be able to get all of this work done for free. The UK Government provides up to £2,700 to households where a member of the household is receiving certain benefits. In England the scheme is called ‘Warm Front’, In Northern Ireland it is ‘Warm Homes’, in Scotland ‘Warm Deal’, and in Wales it is the ‘Home Energy Efficiency Scheme’. If you receive any benefits, you should contact your energy supplier or a major insulation or central heating installer, and they can tell you what kind of work you can have done for free. When you have the work done, they should also take care of the administration for you, leaving you free to enjoy a more comfortable home and lower heating bills

Alex Perry is a founder of DownwithCO2.co.uk a website which helps people cut their personal contribution to climate change through providing information and contacts.

Click Here To Help Your Planet

Wind Farms – Limitations as Energy Platforms

As modern society searches around for alternative energy sources, wind farms are getting mention. There are, however, limitations regarding wind farms as major energy alternatives.

Wind Farms – Limitations as Energy Platforms

Wind power is an enticing energy platform compared to fossil fuels. The process works by using the inherent energy in wind as a method for producing electricity. The actual methodology is much like hydropower, but with wind used in place of water. Wind turbines catch the wind, which turns their blades. This turning motion cranks a generator that produces electricity. The electricity is stored in batteries or fed into the electrical grid of a utility. Walla, you have power!

Using wind power for localized needs has been around for a long time. The Persians are believed to be the first to use it with the purpose being to turn grain grinding stones. In modern times, the sole purpose is to generate electricity. On a large scale, this means wind farms.

Wind farms are simply large collections of wind turbines in a defined area. If you have ever driven east out of San Francisco, you have seen the wind farm along the freeway. While it is both intoxicating and a pollution free source of electricity, a wind farm has definite limitations.

The biggest limitation of wind farms is the electricity produced. Simply put, they do not produce massive amounts, certainly not on the scale needed in most cities in industrialized nations. Obviously, each location is different, but wind is simply not a constant occurrence in most places. Even when it is, the number of turbines required to produce enough energy for a city is mind boggling. This, of course, leads to a second limitation.

Wind farms need to cover a lot of physical space to produce large amounts of electricity. In many industrialized countries, space is at a premium. As a result, the sheer cost of purchasing land for wind farms is prohibitive. This issue, however, is losing some of its grit as offshore wind farms are becoming more prevalent.

To some, one of the limitations of wind farms is they are eyesores. Personally, I think they are mesmerizing and have an artistic appearance. Others, however, definitely do not agree. The Cape Wind offshore wind farm project has met with massive resistance for just this reason.

The limitations of wind farms are fairly significant at this point in time. As technology and new approaches, such as offshore wind farms, come to the forefront, these problems may fall the wayside.

Rick Chapo is with SolarCompanies.com, a directory of solar energy companies. Visit us to read more wind farm articles.

Side Note: Click Here To Help Stay Green

Go Green Or Go Home

Local, city, county, state and the federal governments should be first to "go green." Politicians should not be elected to public office unless they agree to convert every government building and vehicle to renewable energy. There are at least three reasons why this should be so.

When all levels of government are taken into account, they control 40% of the economy. With that kind of economic incentive anyone who wants to sell to the government will hasten to meet the demands of its largest single buyer. Government will no longer have to pass laws to enforce cafe standards for instance. Rather the Government will simply tell auto companies, we want to replace our fleet of vehicles but will not buy anything that does get at least 50 mpg if it is gasoline based, or it must be a hybrid, or it must be fueled with renewable fuels.

Another reason Government should go green first is national security. Part of every oil dollar paid for Middle Eastern oil goes directly into the pocket of terrorists. If we convert to renewable fuels that we control, we defund terrorism and protect ourselves simultaneously.

Yet another reason to heed Al Gore’s clarion call on global warming is economic security. OPEC can not ruin our economy if we convert to renewable fuels that we control.

And finally, suppose Gore is right? When anyone hypes anything as much as AL Gore hypes global warming, I have my doubts. But I can’t see what is harmed by going green so why not? The military is doing some research on alternative and renewable energy. Whoever is the next president of the United States should institute a “Go Green or Go Home” policy for the military. Those who come up with energy saving devices or methods as well as those who implement alternative or renewable fuels should rise quickly through the ranks. Those who don’t should be encouraged to seek employment elsewhere. As resourceful as marines are, for instance, I would bet they could make surprising advances in fueling everything from jeeps to an entire base through alternative means if left to their own devices. The military has through it’s contractors developed the most effective weapons in the world. If this same level of effort is turned toward greening the military we will be a safer, more secure, and more independent nation. We will create new jobs and industries and the air and water will get cleaner as a benefit.

By: Poetryman

Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com

Author of Liquid Mirror: Waiting on the New Moon www.poetryman6969.com/poetryman.html

Side Note: Go Green For Your Home

My experience with living on Solar Power

Just over a decade ago, when I first came to Australia, we didn't have a lot of money and lived in caravans. I had a caravan and my mum had one. We were in the bush about 10 km out of a town called Childers, which is just under 400km north of Brisbane. For any Australians who remember the backpacker fire 7 years ago you might know where the town is.

Anyway we couldn't afford to get a power line to our place, so we were basically forced to live on Solar Power. We had a shed which stood next to the panel and housed the transformers and batteries, connected to the caravans by a long cable underground. It wasn't luxurious by any means, at that stage (and with our budget) solar was a high maintenance source of power. The solar panels were mounted on an angled panel, that could rotate in any direction to face the sun. So at noon every day we had to head out to the solar shed and adjust our one solar panel to face the sun again, and then at night we'd head out there again and rotate it back so it would face the sun in the morning.

We had 1 battery that was about the size of 2 car batteries, and it was enough to power our fluorescent lights and listen to music while we had dinner. We had a gas fridge and our shower was heated by black pipes on the roof, or in the mornings we just heated up a kettle and mixed the water. Once we saved up some money we eventually got 4 solar panels and 4 batteries, along with a generator, so I could now use my Amstrad Computer to play Commander Keen, which was an enormous luxury for us!

So that's my solar experience! We didn't do it because we wanted to save the environment or stop global warming, it was more of a neccessity but in doing it we learnt that it can be quite an amazing experience to know that you're supplying your own power, even if it's barely enough to power a few lights and a PC for 30 minutes a day!

These days I live in a flat in Brisbane with Air Conditioning, 700W speakers and a microwave. "One day" I'd like to live on solar again, and maybe the next time I do it we'll live in a world where we don't have to cut down on the luxuries just to be independent.

What's left of our 'solar shed' all those years ago:


Side Note: Help Your Planet By Clicking Here