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The idea of environmental sustainability is to leave the Earth in as good or better shape for future generations than we found it for ourselves. Since our campus operations, like our own personal lifestyles, consume natural resources and result in some forms of pollution, they are not sustainable.
By a strict definition, human activity is only environmentally sustainable when it can be performed or maintained indefinitely without depleting natural resources or degrading the natural environment.
Other definitions include:
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Treating the earth as though we plan to stay! |
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Living in a way which insures that human activities don't exceed the earth's or a given region's carrying capacity. |
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Meeting the needs of current generations without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs. |
So what would a genuinely sustainable human activity, campus or society look like?
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Resource consumption would be minimal |
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Materials consumed would be made ENTIRELY of 100% post-consumer recycled material or from renewable resources (which were harvested without harm to the environment and without depletion of the resource base) |
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Recycling of waste streams would be 100% |
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Energy would be conserved and energy supplies would be ENTIRELY renewable and non-polluting (solar thermal and electric, wind power, biomass, etc.) |
What's the point of this exercise? It points us in the right direction, while letting us know how far we need to go to reach our goal.
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