Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
way below the UN-recommended 0.7 per cent. The debts of many develop-
ing countries remain an unsustainable financial burden yet few richer coun-
tries have offered to cancel such debts.
Global non-sustainability
Yet it can be argued that inequity and inequality of opportunity lie at the
heart of global instability, terror and wars. As populations come up against
the limits of their resource base, resentment towards the better off may lead
to riots and anarchy. When it crosses national boundaries, it becomes terror-
ism or war. It has often been said that the wars of the 21st century will be
fought over water. This is not surprising, given more than three hundred
river systems cross national boundaries, and access to water means irrigation
water and food. Some major rivers of the world, for example, the Nile, the
Ganges and the Tigris-Euphrates, pass through a number of countries with
rapidly expanding populations, all anxious to feed their own people and pull
themselves out of poverty. But wars are being fought over access to other
resources as well, notably oil. Preparations for war divert a country's
resources away from health, education and welfare and exacerbate inequity.
Discussions on sustainability too often have been distorted by the
assumption that economic growth is the only sign of a healthy economy. Yet
economic growth that turns human labour, ecosystems and material
resources into waste and pollution is clearly unsustainable. Economists
forget that the human economy depends absolutely on the materials that
nature provides.
was right: given that resources are
finite, we have to move away from the dominant paradigm of unending eco-
nomic growth towards a dynamic, steady state economy and stay within eco-
logical and material limits.
Oil experts are warning that sometime in the next decade, possibly
around 2010, global oil supplies will peak. As demand starts to exceed
supply, prices will inevitably rise. This has huge implications for transport
and the design of cities. Unless cities reduce their oil consumption they will
not be sustainable for long. Some argue for more compact, densely popu-
lated cities, with more accessibility by walking, cycling or public transport,
while others argue for reduced densities but with technological changes to
cars. A combination of both may be the answer to the controversy, with the
compact areas having more intense economic activity and the low-density
areas having green activities such as urban agriculture. City buildings could
be transformed by gardens on balconies and roofs.
The Limits to Growth
