Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
in our lives Davies and Brown ( 2006 ), in which culture is used in the anthropo-
logical meaning as 'a way of life', not the typical meaning of high artistic endeav-
our. It is also worth noting that changes in new buildings and practices will not be
enough, there is an under-estimated inertia effect stemming from the fact that most
of the world's existing urban infrastructure and stock of buildings and life-styles
are hardly sustainable, while it will not be easy to radically reduce the use of fossil
fuels for energy, especially given the growth expected in energy use over the next
20 years. So despite very significant progress towards sustainability in some coun-
tries, especially renewable energy in Denmark and Germany, there is still a general
failure of political will by most governments to grasp the seriousness of the current
and future situation to rapidly implement sustainable policies. However there are
signs of change. The European Union's policy of encouraging its members to attain
a target of 20% of energy from renewable sources and a 20% reduction in carbon
emissions by 2020, was raised in 2014 to 27% and 40% by 2030 respectively, with
a 27% optional increase in energy efficiency. In late 2014 China also promised to
cap its emissions by 2030, while the U.S. President proposed a 27% cut in emissions
from 2005-2025. Yet these are enough to solve the growing problem, and too many
countries do not have sustainable policies. Perhaps the 2015 Paris Climate Confer-
ence will lead to real progress, although the signs are far from positive.
5﻽3
Defining and Measuring Sustainability
The important breakthrough in understanding the negative effects of human de-
velopment and especially cities upon the planet, at least in conceptual terms, came
from the World Conference on Economic Development (WCED 1987 ) held in
Rio de Janeiro. The resulting Bruntland report, named after the former Norwegian
Prime Minister who chaired the meeting, popularized the concept of sustainability
in development as a focus for altering the current trends and their negative impacts.
The origin of sustainability came from the change that took place in mid-twentieth
century Scandinavian forestry policies. Instead of just cutting down as many trees
as the market required, foresters were required by governments to plant as many
as were harvested, thereby creating practices in modern forestry management that
ensured the same number of trees, although at different stages of development,
survived. Of course, similar ideas had been used historically in many societies,
especially in pre-capitalist days, as part of a belief in stewardship of the land and
its resources, of nurturing it and passing it on to future generations—although one
must remember the limitations of their technology which put limits on the extent of
their resource extraction. From the Industrial Revolution onwards, the concept of
stewardship decayed under the impact of the growth mechanisms within capitalism
and the new technologies which enabled the greater and greater use of resources. To
take one example, in the mid-twentieth century the increasing use of power-saws
enabled foresters to cut down acres of trees in a day—instead of the past capacity
of one or two trees a day by hand axes—trees that took generations to grow. So the
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