Sustainable Development

This article discusses sustainable development and how to reduce your ecological footprint. It also explains the difference between strong and weak sustainability. The author provides examples and suggests ways to integrate both sustainability measures in an organization system. The article cites several references to support the discussion.

Running head: SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT 1
Sustainable Development
Name
Institutional Affiliation

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Sustainable Development
How many planets worth of natural capital do we require for everyone to live like you?
I just discovered that if everyone lived like me we would need 3.6 earths. My total
ecological footprint is at 61% (Footprint calculator, n.d.).
Were you surprised with your results?
Yes I was shocked to learn that I have a high carbon footprint and I have not been active
or careful to take appropriate actions that contribute towards a sustainable planet earth.
What are four actions that you could take to reduce your footprint?
First of all I would do my best to minimize the amount of waste coming from my
household to the landfills. In addition I would encourage my neighbors to practice composting.
We could set up a compost area or link up with nearby farmers and dispose our waste foods in
their compost pits. This ensures a complete cycle of food from the soil after which the waste
returns to the soil as rich compost manure high in plant nutrients (Gerbens-Leenes, Hoekstra &
van der Meer, 2009).
Secondly, I would reduce my carbon footprint through my means of transport. One of the
ways I can do this is make use of carpool often for instance by asking my neighbors or friends
that we work with in the same location to use my car or one vehicle to and from work. Also, I
ought to use public means of transport more frequently especially the trains as this reduces
overall carbon emissions.
Besides I think it would be high time I reduced my magazine subscriptions. I love to
stock books, novels and magazines in my small library but for sustainability purposes I need to

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do more online reading, borrow books when I can and acquire hard copies only if I have to and
when there is no other option. On that note, for the sake of our planet earth, my current and
future generation, am obliged to recycle paper and plastic as much as possible.
Last but not least, I would reduce the number of times I replace my electronic gadgets
especially phones, TVs and laptops which I replace quite a number of times particularly when
outdated. When released in to landfills, these devices release harmful toxins such as lead,
bromine and mercury that leak into the water underground and interfere with food chain causing
serious damage to soil, water, crops, animals and humans (Giljum, Bruckner & Martinez, 2015).
With use of an example for each, define and differentiate strong and weak sustainability.
Weak sustainability means that human capital or labor can replace natural capital that is
natural resources such as clean water, geology and fertile soils. It insinuates that it is okay to
consume all natural resources so long as the natural capital has been converted into manufactured
goods or capital of equal monetary value (Enders & Remig, 2015). An example is extreme
mining of a non-renewable resource or mineral such as oil. The money acquired from selling
such resources could benefit a national economy in many ways. However, in case of a financial
crisis, that income could be wiped out while depletion of oil wells and environmental
degradation related to it could also have irreversible effects. What weak sustainability does not
factor in is that it is hard to place monetary value on natural resources and services as compared
to manufactured capital which is quite easy (Huiqin & Linchun, 2011). Besides, it ignores the
fact that some natural capital are impossible to substitute with manufactured goods for instance
ozone layer.

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Strong sustainability on the other hand implies that specific functions of the environment
are irreplaceable by humans and manufactured goods. It is of the idea that these two types of
capital are complementary but not interchangeable. This type of sustainability emphasizes more
on the ecological scale above economic profits: that nature ought to be passed down generations
in its original form. As in, all kinds of capital should be conserved intact and independent of each
other. An example is using post-production waste and recycling methods to manufacture quality
carpets (Patrick & Hutchinson, 2009). The idea here is to use waste materials that would have
been sent to the landfills instead of natural resources to make same products.
As an individual, which form of sustainability is aligned with your worldview – weak or
strong sustainability?
I think our current world is more oriented towards weak sustainability measures
especially with the ongoing depletion of natural resources for economic gain. Some examples
include clearing forests and crop plantations for construction purposes, constant oil and natural
gas mining, and unsustainable agricultural practices such as overgrazing, excess industrialization
that cause air and water pollution among others. The worst part is that humans replace some of
these natural materials at a very slow rate. Minimal societies or institutions put ecological scale
over financial gain (Neumayer, 2010).
As a Sustainability Practitioner, which form of sustainability would guide your decision-
making process? If the two are different, do you believe that you could reconcile your views
when aligning an organization with sustainability?
Personally, I would integrate both sustainability measures in my organization system
since all types of capital are important and ought to co-exist. As seen earlier, weak sustainability

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emphasizes more on economic gain while strong sustainability focuses on the ecological scale.
However, I think that maintaining natural resources is as crucial as making financial profits
which steer development in any given society (Van den Bergh & Grazi, 2014). I would advocate
for using human capital and technology to produce manufactured goods from natural resources.
On the other hand I would focus on using renewable materials more and replace them where
applicable for instance through afforestation and reforestation. I would also consider using non-
renewable resources sparingly. Recycling would also be a part of it.
You may wish to use an example to explain your answer.
Let’s say I want to operate a paper manufacturing industry. I would obtain a license to
fell trees, use them to manufacture paper for sale and gain profits. In return I would ensure I
plant as many trees or more than I cut down. Similarly, I would integrate a recycling system in
my factory, where waste water for instance is recycled and carbon emission is minimal.

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References
Enders, J. C., & Remig, M. (2015). Theories of Sustainable Development (Vol. 2). New York:
Routledge. https://www.jstor.org/stable/2808061
Footprint calculator. (n.d.). Retrieved from Global Footprint Network:
http://www.footprintcalculator.org/result1a
Gerbens-Leenes, W., Hoekstra, A. Y., & van der Meer, T. H. (2009). The water footprint of
bioenergy. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 106(25), 10219-10223.
https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0907272106
Giljum, S., Bruckner, M., & Martinez, A. (2015). Material footprint assessment in a global input‐
output framework. Journal of Industrial Ecology, 19(5), 792-804
https://doi.org/10.1111/jiec.12214.
Huiqin, L. I., & Linchun, H. O. U. (2011). Evaluation on sustainable development of scenic zone
based on tourism ecological footprint: Case study of Yellow Crane Tower in Hubei
Province, China. Energy Procedia, 5, 145-151
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.egypro.2011.03.026.
Neumayer, E. (2010). Weak versus Strong Sustainability - Exploring the Limits of Two Opposing
Paradigms (3rd ed., Vol. 30). Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing Limited
https://books.google.co.ke/books?
hl=en&lr=&id=To3wppSlwc8C&oi=fnd&pg=PP11&dq=Neumayer,+E.+(2010).
+Weak+versus+Strong+Sustainability+-
+Exploring+the+Limits+of+Two+Opposing+Paradigms+(3rd+ed.,+Vol.+30).
+Cheltenham:

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+Edward+Elgar+Publishing+Limited.&ots=UY1WL8W4la&sig=qyoTU5LWV3lH8GuB
PetdoSyqhgE&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false.
Patrick, D. M., & Hutchinson, J. (2009). Antibiotic use and population ecology: how you can
reduce your “resistance footprint”. Cmaj, 180(4), 416-421 DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1503/cmaj.080626
Van den Bergh, J. C., & Grazi, F. (2014). Ecological footprint policy? Land use as an
environmental indicator. Journal of Industrial Ecology, 18(1), 10-19
https://doi.org/10.1111/jiec.12045.