Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
If you have studied this topic carefully and listened to
your instructor, you are well on your way to becoming
environmentally literate.
According to environmental educator Mitchell
Thomashow, four basic questions lie at the heart of en-
vironmental literacy.
First,
where do the things I con-
sume come from?
Second,
what do I know about the
place where I live?
Third,
how am I connected to the
earth and other living things?
Fourth,
what is my pur-
pose and responsibility as a human being? How we
answer these four questions determines our
ecological
identity.
What are your answers?
Figure 18-23 summarizes guidelines and strate-
gies that have been discussed throughout this topic for
achieving more sustainable societies.
Solutions
Developing Environmentally
Sustainable Societies
Guidleines
Strategies
Leave the world in
as good a shape
as—or better
than—we found it
Sustain biodiversity
Eliminate poverty
Develop eco-
economies
Do not degrade or
deplete the
earth's natural
capital, and live
off the natural
income it provides
Build sustainable
communities
Do not use
renewable
resources faster
than nature can
replace them
Learning from the Earth
In addition to formal learning, we need to learn
by experiencing nature directly.
Formal environmental education is important, but is it
enough? Many analysts say no. They urge us to escape
the cultural and technological body armor we use to
insulate ourselves from nature and to experience na-
ture directly.
They suggest we kindle a sense of awe, wonder,
mystery, and humility by standing under the stars, sit-
ting in a forest, or taking in the majesty and power of
an ocean.
We might pick up a handful of soil and try to
sense the teeming microscopic life in it that keeps us
alive. We might look at a tree, mountain, rock, or bee
and try to sense how they are a part of us and we are a
part of them as interdependent participants in the
earth's life-sustaining recycling processes.
Many psychologists believe that, consciously or
unconsciously, we spend much of our lives searching
for roots: something to anchor us in a bewildering
and frightening sea of change. As philosopher
Simone Weil observed, “To be rooted is perhaps the
most important and least recognized need of the hu-
man soul.”
Earth-focused philosophers say that to be rooted,
each of us needs to find a
sense of place:
a stream, a
mountain, a yard, a neighborhood lot, or any piece of
the earth we feel at one with as a place we know, expe-
rience emotionally, and love. When we become part of
a place, it becomes a part of us. Then we are driven to
defend it from harm and to help heal its wounds. This
quest might lead us to recognize that the healing of the
earth and the healing of the human spirit are one and
the same. We might discover and tap into what Aldo
Leopold calls “the green fire that burns in our hearts”
and use it as a force for respecting and working with
the earth and with one another.
Copy nature
Use sustainable
agriculture
Take no more than
we need
Depend more on
locally available
renewable energy
from the sun, wind,
flowing water, and
sustainable
biomass
Do not reduce
biodiversity
Emphasize
pollution prevention
and waste
reduction
Tr y not to harm
life, air, water, soil
Do not change the
world's climate
Do not waste
matter and energy
resources
Recycle, reuse,
and compost
60-80% of matter
resources
Do not overshoot
the earth's
carrying capacity
Maintain a human
population size
such that needs
are met without
threatening life-
support systems
Help maintain the
earth's capacity
for self-repair
Repair past
ecological
damage
Emphasize
ecological
restoration
Figure 18-23
Solutions:
guidelines and strategies for achiev-
ing more sustainable societies.
Critical thinking: which five of
these solutions do you believe are the most important?
Living More Simply
Some affluent people are voluntarily adopting
lifestyles in which they enjoy life more by consuming
less.
Many analysts urge us to
learn how to live more simply.
Seeking happiness through the pursuit of material
things is considered folly by almost every major reli-
