Today when the term sustainability is used it’s mainly in the environmental context. We are constantly being pressured into making our lifestyles more sustainable, told to recycle to reduce the use of resources, buy locally sourced food to reduce air miles, reduce electricity use to reduce the amount of energy produced through dirty polluting methods and buy cleaner products amongst many other things, all to 'reduce our carbon footprint' and 'save the world'. Individually we may be able to do our part with little effort, simply by turning off the light when we leave the room, washing our clothes on a colder cycle, turn the heating off and put a jumper on and walk to the local shops. However demographics show that this is an issue with so many individually thinking minds; we find it hard to realise how these little things are going to make a difference in such a big world, therefore in the majority people tend not to make the effort. In this ignorance it’s overlooked that if one person thinks this, everyone might, and the approach fails. If we are to become more sustainable, efforts must be made to involve demographic groups instead of individuals.
How sustainable am i? honestly?...... Not very.
I try to be sustainable where I can, but my lifestyle somewhat limits how sustainable I can be.
For example I currently live at home and have to travel 3 miles to and from university in my car, a very polluting journey when you consider the traffic can mean its churning out CO2 for 45 minutes each way. I drive almost everywhere, my love for cars means I don’t want to walk when I could drive, very unsustainable I know, but at least I’m being honest!
At home we recycle all that can be recycled, cardboard, glass, plastic, clothes, shoes and electrical goods. However this does not make me feel better about myself, and neither does it really make me and my household more sustainable, because the goods were made In the first place, which created emissions and used resources. My mum turns of the heating and points to my hoodie collection, comes in the room and turns the light off leaving me in darkness and has had double glazing installed etc, this is partly to save her some money on the bills though – sustainability is not the main drive. However I must admit I am the thorn in her side. I leave lights on when I’m not in the room, leave the television on when I go out, leave my phone and laptop chargers plugged in whilst they’re not attached and ‘accidently’ sometimes put recyclables in the more convenient general waste bin.
My fairly unsustainable life I blame on my laziness and busy lifestyle. I could be much more sustainable if I tried to, and often vow to myself that I will…. I’ll start tomorrow I promise.
This blog focuses mainly on environmental sustainability as that is the main type concerned with geography and the one that is having the most adverse affects on the universe.
Environmental sustainability is now one of today’s major issues. Many people could be more sustainable but they fail to be, for lack of care and responsibility – the world wont end in their lifetime so it doesn’t effect them, for lack of time in their lives, or many because they purely cannot be very sustainable whilst living the life they live. In order to make a big difference to the world and reduce global warming, a huge effort needs to be made; governments need to create more incentives for being more sustainable. And somehow the message need to be drilled into peoples heads enough to make them change their ways and be more responsible for the world.
DEFRA - the Department for Environment Food and rural affairs has been measuring levels of sustainability worldwide since 1990. It uses 68 indicators to give a final indication of level of sustainability. It concludes that the UK'Compared with the position in 2003, 57 measures show improvement (representing over half of those for which it is possible to make an assessment), and 24 show little or no change.' DEFRA 2010, defra.gov.uk) However, many indicators stil need to be improved.
Defra states that to increase national sustainability we must Reduce:
Image below shows conclusion in pie chart form of the indicators (http://www.defra.gov.uk/sustainable/government/progress/policy-monitoring/all.htm)
The report of sustainability from DEFRA can be found at:
http://www.defra.gov.uk/sustainable/government/progress/documents/SDI2010_001.pdf
DEFRA - the Department for Environment Food and rural affairs has been measuring levels of sustainability worldwide since 1990. It uses 68 indicators to give a final indication of level of sustainability. It concludes that the UK'Compared with the position in 2003, 57 measures show improvement (representing over half of those for which it is possible to make an assessment), and 24 show little or no change.' DEFRA 2010, defra.gov.uk) However, many indicators stil need to be improved.
Defra states that to increase national sustainability we must Reduce:
- aviation emissions of greenhouse gases
- shipping emissions of greenhouse gases
- carbon dioxide emissions from road freight
- carbon dioxide emissions from the service sector
- energy supply (consumption exceeding UK production)
- farmland bird populations
- community participation
- range of life expectancy between local authorities
- walking and cycling
- households living in fuel poverty
Image below shows conclusion in pie chart form of the indicators (http://www.defra.gov.uk/sustainable/government/progress/policy-monitoring/all.htm)
The report of sustainability from DEFRA can be found at:
http://www.defra.gov.uk/sustainable/government/progress/documents/SDI2010_001.pdf
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