Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
12 - Achieving a sustainable
future
Ian Lowe
The scale and seriousness of Australia's social and environmental problems are no
longer in doubt. We are consuming the opportunities of future Australian generations
by our lifestyle choices. And at the global level, human activities are altering the very
systems on which our species depends. Doing nothing about the many problems iden-
tified in this topic, such as climate change, is not an option. It is possible to move to a
sustainable future but it will require fundamental changes to our values and national
social institutions. We must recognise that we share a common future with the entire
human family and the other species with which we share the planet. It is not just our
humanitarian duty to improve the lot of the poorest people of the world. It is also
enlightened self-interest because a world of increasing inequality will be a world of
increasingly destructive tension.
The evidence is clear. If civilisation is to survive, the next century will
have to be a time of transformation - not just in technological capacity but
also in our approach to the natural world, and to each other. The second
report in the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) series on the
global environmental outlook,
GEO2000
, said: 'The present approach is not
sustainable. Doing nothing is no longer an option.' A sustainable society
would not be eroding its resource base, causing serious environmental
damage or producing unacceptable social problems. It is clear from the
earlier chapters that our present lifestyle does not satisfy
any
of these main
criteria. We are dissipating resources future generations will need, damaging
environmental systems, and reducing social stability by widening the gap
between rich and poor. In so doing, we are acting irresponsibly. It is possible
