What is Sustainable Development?



The Brundtland definition of sustainable development is "development that meets the needs of today's generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs (World Commission on Environment and Development, 1987)." What type of development is meant in the definition: physical, social, economic, etc.? I interpret it to be the development of human knowledge. Human knowledge encompasses all types of developement, and as long as the thinking that we use to develop technology, society, etc. has sustainability as the foundation, sustainability will be achieved.

Society is currently not sustainable. We waste, overuse, and do not focus on developing technology that would make it easier to live sustainably. This is because people have gotten use to having everything at their fingertips without needing to think or care about where it came from or how it was created. Our lives have had substaintial development in the past 100 years, and the more we develop, the more we stray from sustainability.

This leads me to believe that true sustainability should not include much development. True sustainability, such as the how indigenous people live, is simple and does not depreciate the quality of life for humans if development is not occurring. For example, when the indigenous people near Tofino harvest sea urchins, they leave behind enough sea urchins to replenish the stock so that they and future generations can continue to have a sufficient supply of the food. Their culture has probably developed somewhat over time, but I believe that they have maintained true sustainability over many generations because they live practically the same way now as they did back then.

This is not to say that sustainability cannot include development. I just think that it introduces complexity. It seems it that it would require a lot of work to maintain sustainability if society is continually developing because we must constantly make sure that all development is done to sustainable standards. However, the complexity of sustainable development may be less difficult than getting society to live as the indigenous people did, since most people are too used to the life they have now. Sustainable development may be the only tool available to achieve any type of sustainability in our society today because people will be highly reluctant or unable to give up their cell phone, electricity, etc. If we must develop to achieve any sense of sustainability in our world today, then it must include the proper use of natural and renewable resources, as well as the reuse and reduction of those resources.

In the end, both sustaibability and sustainable development are simple. The most confusing part is how we come up with ways to prolong or defer the adaptation of this lifestyle.

Reference:

"Our Common Future" - World Commission on Environment and Development 1987