Factors in Sustainability

Tackling the issues of sustainability is definitely one that takes in account many factors. Our guest lecturer Christopher Tobias, from Singapore National Environment Agency, discussed a few relevant topics in global issues (resource depletion, biodiversity loss, security & conflict, and climate change) and trends (environmental change, power shift, and urbanism, etc.). With all these problems, there are many opportunities for us to make a change. However, in parallel to what was presented in lecture, we need to reflect on factors that are preventing change to create sustainable practices that would have more appeal and impact on the public. Not only should we take in account the issues and trends at the global scale, we need to delve deeper into human behaviors and attitudes that are preventing the adoption of sustainable practices. Economics is one major factor that drives the way human behaves. Another is our short-term perspective of the world, the “will it affect us in our lifetime” attitude. The law of economizing states that people tend to maximize gains for a given cost, and minimizing costs for a given gain.  Everyone around the world is aiming towards a higher standard of living and they are willing to weigh out other costs to achieve it. The east has been looking towards the west as the model of a higher standard of living throughout history, but is the west the best model of a higher standard of level? Could we produce the same results of greater life span, economic wealth, and such through integrating sustainable practices? We often undermine the principle of scarcity, that resources are limited. This is because we have an attitude that our actions would not create an immediate effect on us and we would not witness it in our lifespan. Therefore, I believe bringing about sustainability is about addressing global issues, as well as bringing awareness to individuals of their actions. Both global and micro scale factors need to be considered in implementing sustainable practices.