Sustainable living
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Sustainable living refers to an individual or society's lifestyle that can be sustained with limited exhaustion of natural resources. Its adherents most often hold true sustainability as a goal or guide, and make lifestyle tradeoffs, such as transport, housing, energy, and diet favor sustainability.
Most often these tradeoffs involve making more environmentally-friendly lifestyle choices. Lester R. Brown concisely summarizes the situation as "sustaining progress depends on shifting from a fossil fuel-based, automobile-centered, economy to a renewable energy-based, diversified transport, reuse/recycle economy".[1]
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[edit] Overview
Sustainable living is a sub-division of sustainability where the prerequisites of a modern, industrialized society are left unexercised by choice for a variety of reasons. The practices and motives overlap somewhat between the movements. Sustainable living in urban areas requires a sustainable urban infrastructure.
Self-sufficiency is the principle of consuming only those things produced by oneself or one's family. It is generally a stricter lifestyle than a sustainable lifestyle in that an effort is made to limit trade with others regardless of the sustainability of such trade.
Permaculture is a design philosophy that emphasises sustainability in land use and landscaping, as well as fields such as architecture and economics (for example, encouraging the spread of Local Exchange Trading Systems (LETS)). In terms of agriculture, food production and building materials, permaculture emphasises use of well-adapted plant materials that require few inputs, especially trees, hemp, and other edible and useful perennials.[2]
Some people are opposed to furthering mechanization and technology in society for any reason. Adherents of sustainable living, in contrast, are willing to accept appropriate technology.
[edit] Carbon footprint
An individual's carbon footprint represents the amount of carbon required to maintain that person's lifestyle, and what impact that lifestyle has on the earth. A higher footprint represents a lifestyle that is less sustainable, and a lower footprint represents a more sustainable lifestyle. Most carbon footprint websites have suggestions for decreasing a person's carbon footprint, and therefore increasing their sustainability.[3]
[edit] History
- 1854 Henry David Thoreau's work Walden represents the earliest literature that specifically addresses the sustainable lifestyle in simple living.[4]
- 1954 The publication of Living the Good Life by Helen and Scott Nearing is the modern-day beginning of the sustainability movement. The book fostered the back-to-the-land movement in the late 1960s and early 1970s. As the back-to-the-landers realized the difficulty of copying the Nearings' lifestyle, they returned to more conventional lifestyles yet incorporated self-sufficiency where they could. [5]
- 1962 The publication of Silent Spring by Rachel Carson was another major milestone in the sustainability movement.[6]
- 1972 Donella Meadows wrote the international bestselling book The Limits to Growth, which reported on a study of long-term global trends in population, economics, and the environment. It sold millions of copies and was translated into 28 languages.[7]
- 1973E. F. Schumacher published a collection of essays on shifting towards sustainable living through the appropriate use of technology in his book Small Is Beautiful.[8]
- The United Nations had an a series of conferences called Earth Summit in 1992, 1997, and 2002. Each of these conferences focused on increasing sustainability within societies, with the goal of conserving the world's natural resources. [9]
- 2007 the U.N. published Sustainable Consumption and Production, Promoting Climate-Friendly Household Consumption Patterns, a paper that promotes sustainable lifestyles in communities and homes.[10]
[edit] See also
- Albert Bartlett
- Andy Lipkis
- Cohousing
- Conscious Consuming
- Currumbin Ecovillage
- EcoCommunalism
- Ecological living
- Economic vegetarianism
- Ecovillage
- Earth jurisprudence
- Environmental ethics
- Environmental studies
- Family planning
- Intentional community
- Intentional living
- List of ecovillages
- Over-consumption
- Permaculture
- Simple living
- Sustainable agriculture
- Sustainable community
- Sustainability
- Zero population growth
[edit] References
- ^ Definition of sustainability - what is sustainable? | Time for change
- ^ Permaculture The Earth
- ^ Carbon Footprint - Calculate, Reduce and Offset - Welcome to Carbon Footprint
- ^ The Walden Woods Projects Thoreau Institute
- ^ Scott Nearing by Ryan Eroh [1]
- ^ Rachel Carson's Biography by Linda Lear [2]
- ^ SI: Donella Meadows Bio
- ^ E.F. Schumacher Bibliography
- ^ United Nations Division for Sustainable Development-National Information-National Sustainable Development Strategies
- ^ http://www.un.org/esa/sustdev/publications/household_consumption.pdf
- Jim Merkel Radical Simplicity : Small Footprints on a Finite Earth, New Society Publishers, 2003, ISBN 0-86571-473-8
[edit] Popular Literature
- Marijke Wilhelmus, "Eco-Tripping Around the World: Part I", Seed Magazine" (04/04/2006)
- Grosvenor, Michael (2007), Sustainable Living For Dummies, Wiley Publishing Australia Pty Ltd, Queensland.
[edit] External links
- Sustainable Community Action Wiki - for anyone interested in action toward local sustainability, but especially ordinary people and community groups. Seeks to link up community and personal action for sustainability worldwide.
- One Planet Living
- Low Impact Living-- a resource for people looking to make their homes and lifestyles more environmentally sustainable
- Sustainable Living -- New Zealand based practical action and issues resource pages, download as PDFs
- Dancing Rabbit TV-- a video blog devoted to issues of sustainable living
