Even if we can ignore the reality, we can never ignore its consequences. Economic models and scientific discoveries have promoted an ever accelerating consumption of the earth’s natural resources with little consideration to population growth and the associated damage of all forms of life on the Earth. Depletion of important resources, the increasing waste and pollution combined with an accelerating population have caused poverty, disease, malnutrion and above all the definite fact of an approaching total annihilation of life on the whole planet. Survival of humans and newcomers has continuously forced impoverised people to destroy their environment. It is the very nature of humans, no one can go hungry without commiting a “crime” to fill the stomach!
But what is Sustainability and can we really achieve it, when we are regularly presented with a range of the so-called “sustainable” products and “green or organic” cleaning supplies to carbon offsets. With micro-economic markets keep supplying us with so much labeled as sustainable, the term has grown to become essentially a “bubble of sustainability”, at best indicating a practice or product slightly less damaging than the conventional alternative.
Sustainability can not be achieved by un-sustainable policies that are left over to the market without having appropriate instruments on all levels and sectors to strictly define, measure and control how sustainable is sustainable. How else can we can we achieve a goal that is not well-defined and regulated!