Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
process our wastes. Some systemic features that contribute to poor health
result directly from the degradation of the natural world's capacity to provide
those essential services. More broadly, nature provides our sense of place, our
cultural identity and spiritual sustenance. Again, we are healthier and more
fulfilled when these needs are satisfied. An investment in the health of our
natural systems is also an investment in the health of the community.
A sustainable future?
So how can we achieve a sustainable future? At a political level we certainly
need to move beyond the simplistic view that economic growth will solve
our problems. As Clive Hamilton showed in his recent topic
The Growth
Fetish
, the ABS indicators were no surprise (2003). In societies like ours
where most people have all the essentials of a decent life and more, economic
growth does not make people happier or more fulfilled, but comes at social
and environmental costs. The 1996
State of the Environment
report said that
successful remedies for environmental problems took a comprehensive and
systematic approach, whereas failures were usually piecemeal efforts that
attacked symptoms rather than underlying causes. Since some of the under-
lying causes are linked to lifestyle choices, the systematic approach must
include those aspects of lifestyle.
In
Resetting the Compass
, Yencken and Wilkinson suggest a guide for
'Australia's Journey Towards Sustainability' (2000). Existing policies will not
achieve a transition to sustainability because they do not address the
growing pressures of increasing population and rising material demands per
person. So, they conclude, we need to aim to stabilise the population as well
as commit ourselves to 'dematerialisation'. A German study argued that
Europe needs to reduce energy use by a factor of four and materials use by a
factor of ten. Several European nations have adopted those targets! More
generally, we must recognise that sustainability has many dimensions. We
have to accept that growth has costs as well as benefits, and we should be
more concerned about the
quality
of growth than the rate.
The vision of a sustainable future involves using sustainable resources, a
commitment to maintaining the ecological values of natural systems, devel-
opment of social cohesion, nurturing our cultural traditions and finding
durable economic activities. Balancing these is a complex task that defies
simple approaches. We have to make difficult decisions about things that
must change and those that should be preserved. This will be possible only if
there is an open and transparent process, involving the community and
