Sustainability and Consumerism

2022 ◽  
pp. 186-206
Author(s):  
Subhanil Banerjee ◽  
Shilpi Gupta ◽  
Souren Koner
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Growth And Development ◽  
Environmentally Friendly ◽  
Environmental Burden ◽  
The Future ◽  
Commission Report ◽  
Brundtland Commission ◽  
Common Future ◽  
Ecology And Economy

The Brundtland Commission report Our Common Future in 1987 gave birth to the concept of sustainable development. The meaning is benefitting the present without compromising the future. It was felt that, unless conventional growth and development are replaced by sustainable development through environmentally friendly actions, doomsday is very near. However, such sustainable development was followed by a global spree of consumerism that only added to the environmental burden. This dichotomy needs to be understood, and for the same purpose, one needs to go back to that point of Earth's history when ecology and economy were synonymous. From then on, the drift between the ecology and economy that has brought us to today's scenario needs to be understood. In this background, the chapter raises questions on how green the green sectors are. Furthermore, can sustainable development and consumerism be captured as one body of ‘sustainable consumerism'?

A Review of Strategies to Implement Sustainable Urban Transportation Options in Malaysia

2014 ◽  
Vol 69 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohd Azizul Ladin ◽  
Amsori Muhammad Das ◽  
A. Najah ◽  
Amiruddin Ismail ◽  
Riza Atiq Abdullah O.K. Rahmat
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Public Transport ◽  
Urban Transportation ◽  
Sustainable Transport ◽  
Road Transportation ◽  
Urban Context ◽  
Transportation Sector ◽  
Commission Report ◽  
Brundtland Commission ◽  
Motorized Transport

Since the 1987 Brundtland Commission report brought global attention to sustainable development, many scholars and professionals have worked to apply its principles, notions and strategies in the urban context to transportation. Consequently, this paper examines strategies to implement sustainable transport. It traces efforts to operationalize the notion of sustainable road transportation in transport options. The authors address the problem faced by the Malaysian transportation sector today in major economic, social and environmental elements. Then, the authors identify various strategies that focused on improvement such as Non-Motorized Transport (NMT), Public Transport and Private Vehicles. The authors also discuss extending all strategies comprising these three parts. This paper calls for further studies to verify the best strategies to implement, given that some strategies may be suitable or convenient at certain places and under certain circumstances.

scholarly journals Any Lesson from the History of Sustainable Development?

2009 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 5-17
Author(s):  
Miloslav Lapka ◽  
Eva Cudlínová
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Environmental Economic ◽  
Social Dimension ◽  
Global Level ◽  
Human Needs ◽  
Man And Nature ◽  
History Of ◽  
Commission Report ◽  
Brundtland Commission ◽  
Natural Life

Any Lesson from the History of Sustainable Development? Have we still got time for sustainability and reasonable application of ideas of sustainable development? It has been just over twenty years since the Brundtland Commission Report but, taken as an axiological term; sustainable development resonates with older historical horizons. At the heart of a long running history we are beginning to articulate more or less sustaining relationships between man and nature. We have described the (human) needs in the environmental, economic and social dimension of sustainable development to show some amazing shift in perception of sustainable development from local to global level. We are convinced that historical lesson of sustainable development shows there is no more time for sustainability, but time for SOStainability. Our proposed S-O-S in SOStainability means Save Our Sustainability! SOStainability represents the need to end the compromise between economic development and natural life supporting systems.

scholarly journals The EcoMobileum Experiencing the World of Environmentally Friendly Urban Mobility

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oliver Schwedes ◽  
Konrad Otto-Zimmermann
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Feasibility Study ◽  
Environmentally Friendly ◽  
Transport Policy ◽  
Urban Mobility ◽  
Current Path ◽  
The World ◽  
The Future ◽  
Sustainable Urban Mobility ◽  
German Federal Environmental

With its sights set on sustainable development, transport policy finds itself confronted with the challenge of convincing people to abandon the current path of growth and instead use small, slower vehicles with a reduced range in the future. The problem with this goal is that people's mental structures are shaped by the car ensconced in their heads. Thinking in other terms hardly seems possible; moreover, many of the products classified as vehicles, but smaller in scale than the "car" and that already exist, remain unknown, nor can they be tried out - they are quite literally nowhere to be seen. In light of this situation, the German Federal Environmental Foundation has commissioned a feasibility study to explore the establishment of a World of Experience (Erlebniswelt) of sustainable urban mobility - the EcoMobileum®. Here, the aim is to open up the horizons of a new culture of mobility in order to get people excited about the transformation of mobility.

Sustainable development of vanadium pentoxide carbon composites derived from Hibiscus sabdariffa family for application in supercapacitors

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (9) ◽  
pp. 4814-4830
Author(s):  
B. D. Ngom ◽  
N. M. Ndiaye ◽  
N. F. Sylla ◽  
B. K. Mutuma ◽  
N. Manyala
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Vanadium Pentoxide ◽  
Future Development ◽  
Electrode Materials ◽  
Environmentally Friendly ◽  
Carbon Composites ◽  
Hibiscus Sabdariffa ◽  
Solvothermal Process ◽  
The Future

For the future development of environmentally friendly and sustainable electrode materials, herein, novel orthorhombic vanadium pentoxide@carbon composites (V2O5@C–WHS, V2O5@C–R1HS and V2O5@C–R2HS) were synthesized via a green solvothermal process.

scholarly journals The EcoMobileum: Experiencing the World of Environmentally Friendly Urban Mobility

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oliver Schwedes ◽  
Konrad Otto-Zimmermann
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Feasibility Study ◽  
Environmentally Friendly ◽  
Transport Policy ◽  
Urban Mobility ◽  
Current Path ◽  
The World ◽  
The Future ◽  
Sustainable Urban Mobility ◽  
German Federal Environmental

With its sights set on sustainable development, transport policy finds itself confronted with the challenge of convincing people to abandon the current path of growth and instead use small, slower vehicles with a reduced range in the future. The problem with this goal is that people's mental structures are shaped by the car ensconced in their heads. Thinking in other terms hardly seems possible; moreover, many of the products classified as vehicles, but smaller in scale than the "car" and that already exist, remain unknown, nor can they be tried out - they are quite literally nowhere to be seen. In light of this situation, the German Federal Environmental Foundation has commissioned a feasibility study to explore the establishment of a World of Experience (Erlebniswelt) of sustainable urban mobility - the EcoMobileum®. Here, the aim is to open up the horizons of a new culture of mobility in order to get people excited about the transformation of mobility.

scholarly journals Energy, Environment and Sustainable Development in South Asia (The Quaid-i-Azam Lecture)

2013 ◽  
Vol 52 (4I) ◽  
pp. 273-288 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rajendra K. Pachauri
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Region I ◽  
The World ◽  
The Future ◽  
Energy Environment ◽  
Planning Development ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Brundtland Commission ◽  
The Universe ◽  
Simple Definition

Honourable Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Reform, his excellency Mr Ahsan Iqbal, the President, Pakistan Society of Development Economists, discussants, Dr Ashfaque Hasan Khan and Dr Rehana Siddiqui, Dr Durr-e-Nayab, distinguished ladies and gentlemen, let me say at the outset that it is a great privilege for me to be here and to be given this opportunity to deliver the Quaid-i-Azam Lecture. I regard this as a signal honour and I feel particularly privileged coming from India being able to speak in honour of the Quaid-i-Azam, the founder of this country. I want to express my gratitude for this particular privilege which I have been given. I also want to acknowledge the very warm sentiments expressed by his Excellency the Minister. I certainly believe that in this day and age we have to look forward, we have to look at the future and I think we have to erase some of the problems, demolish some of the barriers and the hindrances that have prevented South Asian cooperation in the past. So Sir, your words in that context are certainly appreciated and I would say that we have to put them into effect by ushering in a new future for this region. I want to mention that when I had the privilege of accepting the Nobel peace prize on behalf of Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in 2007 along with Mr Al Gore, in my acceptance speech I used a Sanskrit phrase which is Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam and that means the universe is one family. Now if the universe is one family, may I submit that, we particularly in Pakistan and India are really the core of that family. I believe the future lies in our ability to develop a model of economic growth and development that serves as an example for the rest of the world. Let me at the very outset say that we have been somewhat negligent and perhaps short sighted in emulating what has been established as a form of development in other parts of the world and I will say a little more about this as I move on. Let me start by referring to the definition of sustainable development which essentially comes out of the work of the Brundtland Commission that was completed in 1987 and it’s a very simple definition. It defines sustainable development as that form of development which allows the current generation to meet their own needs without compromising on the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. So, therefore, it essentially takes into account the issue of intergenerational equity. Whatever we do today should not be selfishly oriented by which we might meet more than our needs today

scholarly journals Sustainability and Asia

2015 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
Els van Dongen ◽  
Hong Liu
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Added Value ◽  
Future Generations ◽  
New Era ◽  
The World ◽  
Environment And Development ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Brundtland Commission ◽  
Common Future

What is the added value of investigating the contested concept of “sustainability” in tandem with the geographical marker of “Asia” in today’s world? To answer this question, we need to return to the formulation of the problematique of “sustainability” and “sustainable development” several decades ago. The Our Common Future report of the World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED)—also known as the Brundtland Commission—put forward the most commonly recognized and most frequently used definition of “sustainable development” (SD) in 1987.1 Development could be made sustainable, so the report stated, “to ensure that it meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” (WCED 1987: 15). The report further proclaimed that there were limits to development, but that improvements in technology and social development could “make way for a new era of economic growth” (ibid.).

Sustainable Development: Theoretical Construct or Attainable Goal?

1989 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-48 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Simon
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Development Theory ◽  
Environmental Implications ◽  
Political Factors ◽  
Theoretical Understanding ◽  
Political Perspective ◽  
Commission Report ◽  
Environmentally Sensitive ◽  
Brundtland Commission

Awareness of the environmental implications of different development strategies has grown significantly since the early 1970s. Although much destruction is still being wrought, there are at last hopeful signs that some major multilateral development agencies, governments, and NGOs, are beginning to adopt more environmentally sensitive policies.Recent advances in environmental and development theory have focused on the concept of sustainable development, arguing that the environment must be seen as an integral part of long-term sustainable development rather than merely as a resource to be exploited or traded for economic development.This paper reviews recent contributions to the literature on both conceptual and empirical aspects of this topical debate, stressing particularly the ‘Brundtland Commission’ report and the work of Michael Redclift. An historically sensitive political perspective is proposed as most appropriate for embracing not only the more traditional ecological and economic aspects but also the crucial political factors underlying uneven development and underdevelopment in the age of an increasingly integrated global economic system. Although we now have a fairly sophisticated theoretical understanding of sustainable development, appropriate methodologies and techniques for translating this into practice are still required. The paper concludes that a blend of ‘top down’ and ‘bottom up’ approaches would give greatest flexibility, and suggests how the assessment of sustainability at the level of individual agro-ecological systems might be advanced.

The Meanings of Life and Value Priorities of the Post-Soviet Society in the Republic of Belarus

2020 ◽  
Vol 63 (10) ◽  
pp. 25-37
Author(s):  
Alexander N. Danilov
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Role Model ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Modern Society ◽  
Modern Technology ◽  
Soviet Society ◽  
The World ◽  
Value Priorities ◽  
The Future ◽  
The Republic

The article discusses the meanings of life and value priorities of the post- Soviet society. The author argues that, at present, there are symptoms of a global ideological crisis in the world, that the West does not have its own vision of where and how to move on and has no understanding of the future. Unfortunately, most of the post-Soviet countries do not have such vision as well. In these conditions, there are mistrust, confusion, paradoxical manifestation of human consciousness. The main meanings that determine our life-world are: the desire of citizens for social justice and social security, the desire to figure out and understand the basic values of modern society, how honestly and equally the authorities act toward their fellow citizens, and to what extent they reflect their interests. The meanings of life, which are the answers to the challenges of the time, are embodied in the cultural code of each nation, state. The growth points of new values, which will become the basis for the future sustainable development of a new civilization, have yet to be discovered in the systemic transformative changes of the culture. In this process, the emergence of a new system of values that governs human life is inevitable. However, modern technology brings new troubles to humans. It has provided wide opportunities for informational violence and public consciousness manipulation. Nowadays, the scenario that is implemented in Western consumer societies claims to be the dominant scenario. Meanwhile, today there is no country in the world that is a role model, there is no ideal that others would like to borrow. Most post-Soviet states failed to advance their societies to more decent levels of economic development, to meet the challenges of the modern information age, and to provide the population with new high living standards. Therefore, in conditions of growing confrontation, we should realistically understand the world and be ready to implement changes that will ensure sustainable development of the state and society without losing our national identity.

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