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OUR FIRST CHALLENGE: To Develop and Live in a Sustainable Manner
Two global trends — increasing populations and related consumption, and declining natural systems — are converging and it is unknown how long we have to stabilize their impacts. Ecological footprinting research indicates that we are no longer living within the Earth’s capacity to support us. For example, the average Canadian has the third largest ecological footprint in the world. It is estimated that if everyone in the world lived as Canadians, it would take approximately four planets to support our lifestyle (1). It is imperative that we transition back to living within the capacity of one planet. Doing so requires us to learn to address two key needs: the need for sustainable development and the need for sustainable living.
ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT analysis measures human demand on nature. It compares human consumption of natural resources with planet Earth’s ecological capacity to regenerate them. It is an estimate of the amount of biologically productive land and sea area needed to regenerate (if possible) the resources a human population consumes and to absorb and render harmless the corresponding waste, given prevailing technology and current understanding. Using this assessment, it is possible to estimate how many planet Earths it would take to support humanity if everybody lived a given lifestyle. - Wikipedia
1) Key Need: Sustainable Development
Sustainable development is development that meets the conditions of well-being for all of the planet’s ecosystems, both natural and human, such that all life on Earth can flourish indefinitely.
Long-term data confirms that limits to growth are real. Public and private sectors (locally and globally) are actively seeking to address social, ecological and economic problems associated with current development trends. Reversing these trends means changing the way we plan and design our cities and communities. To succeed, societies must begin to think of wealth not just in terms of possessions but in terms of the well-being of their communities and ecosystems.
A wide variety of strategic approaches have emerged that are guiding us towards new and innovative ways of creating the places where we live, work, learn, play and relax. Collectively referred to as sustainable development, these approaches represent a new paradigm for development.
2) Key Need: Sustainable Living
Sustainable living is synonymous with one planet living (2), the possibility of enjoying a high quality of life while lowering our ecological impact to a one planet footprint. It means generating genuine wealth by improving conditions of well-being in accordance with shared community values and by living within our fair share of the Earth’s resources.
It is crucial that development enables and fosters long-term sustainable living. Ecological footprint research demonstrates that about 50% of a community’s ecological impact falls outside the built environment and is due to the net lifestyle impact of its residents (3). Development must, therefore, be implemented in a way that enables and facilitates a change in lifestyles once infrastructure and buildings are in place.
Planning and designing for sustainable living falls into four streams (4).
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(1) Ecological Footprints of Canadian Municipalities and Regions, Jeffery Wilson and Mark Anielski, September 2004, http://www.anielski.com/Documents/EFA%20Report%20FINAL%20Feb%202.pdf
(2) One Planet Living, www.oneplanetliving.org
(3) One Planet Living in the Thames Gateway, Nick James and Pooran Desai, June 2003, www.wwf.org.uk/filelibrary/pdf/thamesgateway.pdf
(4) Emerald Hills Urban Village Lifestyles Inception Report, June 2006
