Sustainability - What Does It Really Mean?

Why should we care about sustainability? The world isn't just going to suddenly end because people are still driving their SUVs. That is true, but the implications of our reckless environmental actions will eventually catch up to us. The unraveling of civilization may lie in our future if we continue on our current course. That statement may seem a tad bit extreme, but is relevant to consider. There are major flaws with the way we are operating as a society. The effects of our action are already causing problems. Food and water shortages, along with soil erosion and raising global temperatures are all too real and are projected to only get worse.

One of the earliest thinkers to consider the concept of sustainability was Thomas Malthus (1766–1834). He was concerned about natural limits particularly the exponential growth of human population and food availability (he believed agricultural production was linear in growth and would not be able to keep up with a rapidly expanding human population.) Malthusian theory was however somewhat disproved by the industrialization of modern high yield agriculture. In the coming future his theory may be more relevant because of the environmental pressures humans are exerting on the world.

There developed to be two views of sustainability regarding the role of humans in the world. One was anthropocentric (humans are the center of the world) and the other was non-anthropocentric (the world is the center of the world and we are just part of it). The Anthropocentric view has dominated the sustainability scene, and is most easily applied to our society.

The work of the American forester-conservationist Gifford Pinchot (1865–1946) has also had a major influence on the idea of sustainability. Pinchot mission was “based on the elimination of waste, and directed toward the best use of all we have for the greatest good of the greatest number for the longest time” (Pinchot 1914, p. 25). His main principle was sustainable yield; ”which is the amount of a resource that can be extracted without undermining the natural system's core capacities to maintain or improve upon its full range of services.” He outlined and implemented solutions for sustainable resource use in some of the “New Deal” programs of the 30s.

In 1992 the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro 3 main principles of environmental sustainability.
(1) Rates of use of renewable resources must not exceed their rates of regeneration
(2) Rates of use of nonrenewable resources must not exceed the rate at which renewable substitutes can be developed
(3) Rates of pollution emission must not exceed the assimilative capacity of the environment

Sustainability is a concept that can be applied to so many things and creates a better world for us now and for our future. How does the concept of sustainability apply to the way you live your life, or what principals of sustainability should be implemented in our society?

The article that is quoted came from Opposing View Points and was tittled "Sustainability" and was originally from the Encyclopedia of Environmental Ethics and Philosophy. Other Ideas were however indirectly from the AP Environmental Science textbook Living in the Environment. The Encyclopedia was updated in 2007 and is a very relevant and trustworthy source especially because it came from a database.

Who Knows Best For Our Children's Education?

This generation is the first that is predicted to be less successful than its former. Indeed, the outlook of the global economy plays a role in this prediction. The problems in today's educational system however, are arguably just as big a factor.
Why is the educational system struggling? Economist Milton Friedman accounts that too many parents today do not have an impact on the education of their children. Too many parents cannot choose how their children are learning, what they are learning, and who is teaching them. These decisions have been left up to a centralized administration; bureaucracy. Conversely, the parents who do impact the educational system are seeing great success such as Hinsdale Central and privately funded institutions. Unfortunately not all public districts are comparable to that of Hinsdale. These lower income districts, especially in the inner cities around the country, are the ones most damaged by this effect. Parents have lost control, and are trapped by a system which intended to help them. The correlation of educational outcome between  a parent's impact and the bureaucratic impact can be found simply at the core of all economics. Incentives. A parent's incentive to foster the betterment of its child is much stronger than that of a bureaucracy. Bureaucracy's must meet their own needs first, and others after.
This is a problem that can be fixed. Power needs to be transferred back into the hands of parents. One simple way of doing this - without disrupting too much balance with the bureaucrats - would be to instate a voucher system. Parents would be able to choose what school they saw fit for their children. This could be especially beneficial for the parents of low income districts and inner cities. Parents know their children better than anyone else, and ultimately know what is best for them. More children would be placed in positions to succeed. A marketplace would be established. Schools as the product/supplier and parents as the consumers. Competition would be sparked. Administrations and boards of education would be more inclined to meet the needs of students, as they should be.

*Of course, there are parents who are not qualified to make decisions for their kids, and this would need to be addressed as well.
What are other problems seen in education today? What other ways are there to reform education? Does anyone think a voucher system is a bad idea?

source:  Free to Choose (1990) Vol 4 - The Failure Of Socialism

Ending Poverty in Minnesota by 2020

The Legislative Commission to End Poverty in Minnesota starting holding meetings after several bridges collapsed, leaving many homeless due to houses being destroyed. The Commission asserts that "all people are [to be] provided those things that protect human dignity and make for healthy life: adequate food and shelter, meaningful work, safe communities, health care, and education." The question is: how are they going to do that? 

Minnesota plans to drastically rebuild their economy that restores work and ends poverty. An economy that invests time in occupational skills, and one that values every single person, regardless of illness, age, race, disability, or crisis. Although this is a long-term goal, the commission is confident in completely its mission by using all sectors of the economy - business, the faith community, government and nonprofits. 

They are taking many steps right now, although they expect it to be a 12-year process, there are necessary steps to take to start. There is an emergency jobs program being created, which uses wage subsides to help bail out businesses and employ the unemployed Minnesotans. They also plan to use federal infrastructure money for transportation, so isolated people can be reached, especially in the rural parts of Minnesota where much affordable transportation is needed. They are also trying to keep the prices down on goods in some broken communities. 

Minnesota wants to establish a federal and state partnership to restore work and bring them out of poverty. They would like to be able to provide more income tax credit to the poor and destitute families to aid them out of poverty, and fully fund child care assistance and early childhood education programs.  Another huge factor to ending poverty is health care, and Minnesota wants to greatly address that along with the government. They want to repair their broken health care system that is putting people farther and farther in debt. Minnesota needs affordable or free health care to all their people (Universal Health Care/Obamacare), so the rates of health care don't continue to rapidly increase. They are tired of the system that leaves many unable to afford health care, when the system should be able to offer full access to medical care for every citizen.

Minnesota's efforts to end poverty in their state have been great and selfless. They are planning to rebuild their economy to make it stable for all, so no one is left behind. If all people contribute to the common good, they believe, then Minnesota will become a stronger and more prosperous state.

How do we apply Minnesota's passionate efforts to the rest of our nation?

http://www.commissions.leg.state.mn.us/lcep/LCEP_Final_Report_SinglePgs.pdf

Less beautiful world without petroleum

All information courtesy of EnergyTomorrow.org

Look around,  I bet you see one thing that is made from petroleum.  Today, we are a world that is fueled by fossil fuels and petroleum based products.  If we are to stop the use of petroleum, we are likely to see a less beautiful America.  The reason for this, is that petroleum is a miracle substance.  IT makes the soles of you shoes, the plastic in your water bottle, and also the aspirin that you take for a headache.  Why should we stop the use of petroleum all together?
        The fact of the matter is that if we are to stop the use of petroleum, our country will be crushed in trying to find new ways to make the products that us Americans use everyday.  The use of petroleum is what keeps America running.  In 2010 US oil and natural gas companies brought 476 billion dollars to the US economy.  That is enough money to keep the Department of education running for the next 10 years.  If we stop the us of oil and natural gas we are likely to see a Great Depression worse that what happened in the late 1920's-1930's.  Why are we to punish oil producing companies when they are the one that are keeping or economy running and keeping you working.  We cant say that we don't punish Oil companies when they pay a 40.1% income tax compared to 20.6% of normal industrial companies.  
      Without an energy source to invest in, many use families will suffer a great deal in money loss.  The reason for this is that is 52 million Americans have mutual funds.  And a majority of those mutual funds are invested towards oil and natural gas.  And if you have an IRA, which 49 million Americans have, then you will also be hit hard with the loss of oil because most IRA's invest in energy stocks.
    If we stop the use of oil and other fossil fuels, we are likely to see a depression that we would have never seen before.  Petrloleum in the miracle substance that we need to embrace to its fullest potentional.



A list of things made from petroleum
http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/classroom/wwo/petroleum.pdf

Keeping Everyone Pleased

There is always argument over how much control the government should have over the economy but really it just depends on who you are.  If you are the head of a large private business, then you would want as little government control as possible.  However, if you are a person who is living paycheck to paycheck then you would want as much help from the government as you can get.  It is up to the government to try to keep everyone happy.  But it is simply impossible to please everyone.  They have to determine how much they should intervene not just with the economy, but with society as a whole.

The intentions of the government should be to stimulate the market and protect it's citizens, amongst other things.  They have the power to make a lot of people very happy, but they also have the power to make a lot of people very unhappy. In order for the government to be able to make changes that will help the well being of the people, they need to have the money to do so.  If the market is not doing well then the government is also hurting because taxes decrease when people aren't making as much money.  When the government doesn't have as much money, they need to make the decision to spend the money they do have on the people or the market.  The issue is if they spend their money on the people, then the market is still hurting and the government is only losing more money.  But if they decide to spend the money on the market, then they look bad because it seems like they are forgetting about the people in need.  The challenge is finding the perfect balance of spending that will make everyone happy. One example of a way that the government tries to kill two birds with one stone is when they increase spending on creating jobs.  When more people are employed, then there is simply more money in the pockets of the consumers.  These consumers then spend their money and stimulate the market.

Source: http://www.wwnorton.com/college/polisci/wtp7e/full/ch/16/chapterreview.aspx
This source is credible because it is out of a text book called An Introduction to American Politics

How often does the government make decisions that only really benefit one side?

     

How is the ocean being polluted?

Toxic wastes
Toxic waste gets into seas and oceans by the leaking of landfills, dumps, mines, and farms. Farm chemicals and heavy metals from factories can have a very harmful effect on marine life and humans.

Toxic waste is the most harmful form of pollution to sea life and humans. When toxic waste harms an organism, it can quickly be passed along the food chain and may eventually end up being our seafood.


Boating Pollution

Boating pollution is the pollution that comes from the boat’s engine when it is running, and it pollutes the water, killing animals with the chemicals in the exhaust from the engine. The engine gives off excess gasoline, which pollutes the waters and ends up killing the animals. In order to make as little pollution as possible, what everyone can do to help is:

-	Only turn a boat engine on all the way when you need to.
	-Don’t take your boat out into the water if you don’t need to.
-	Be sure to store and transport gasoline in places where there isn’t any direct sunlight because the gasoline will evaporate, and all of the gases that have been evaporated will pollute the air.
-	Every year, buy new or cleaner marine engines for your boats.

Garbage Dumping

Most of the waste that has been dumped into the ocean in the early 1990’s is still there today. One main cause of garbage dumping occurs when sewage pipes share their space with storm water drains. Rainfall causes the sewage pipes to overflow and the sewage waste mixes with the storm water drain, which flows into another water source such as a lake or river.

Car pollution


Whenever a car gets driven, you may have noticed a lot of smoke that is coming out from the back of the car. This smoke doesn’t go directly into the ocean. It ends up being in acid rain. Acid rain is pollution mixed with regular rain, and when acid rain gets into the ocean, it pollutes the waters and kills many fish over a period of time.


-Oil Pollution

-Global Warming



http://library.thinkquest.org/CR0215471/ocean_pollution.htm

Canada's seal slaughter.

              Canada has an annual commercial seal slaughter. This last year fisher man have killed over 388,200 seals. Other countries buy the seal's fur for fasion shows and clothing. But what doesn't make sense is that only 80% of that is being used. The United States and most of Eastern Europe have banned seal products in their countries. The expenses that it costs Canada to run these killings is seven million dollars and the net profit if only a million dollars. The numbers just don't add up for these events to happen.







http://www.peta.org/issues/animals-used-for-clothing/canadian-seal-slaughter.aspx