Blog Entry Five

Noah Swart

Environmental Health and Safety

Mr. Moss

Sustainability

  Environmental Sustainability is a pretty self-explanatory title, but it in itself is a very complex. The earth isn’t self-sustaining and a lot of species on the planet use what they need. Humans are the only species on the planet that understand the earth’s sustainability, and are able to accurately measure it. Of course, it took humans a long period of time to actually get to the point of measuring out impact on the planet. We are the largest cause of global warming and Eco destruction all around the planet. The question then begins, what exactly is Environmental Sustainability and how are we able to measure and properly repair and not continue the destruction of our environment.

Triangle of Sustainability

  Environmental Sustainability refers to the sustainability of a certain measurable Eco system. This Eco system can be a small pond or the entire planet’s environment. The sustainability of these places is measured by what’s in them and if the sources of the ecosystem are able to be replenished on their own. If an ecosystem isn’t naturally able to be replenished then its Environmental Sustainability will only be till all its natural resources are used up. Humans can play either a positive or

negative role in environmental sustainability. If humans plant more trees or keep river systems cleaner that can elongate the sustainability of the area. If in the case of the rain-forest, humans cut down trees at a rate that newer trees cannot grow back in time then the sustainability is dramatically decreased.

  As for the Earth’s Environmental Sustainability, that can be a lot trickier to measure. We have to take into account how quickly all the natural resources of the planet are being used up and why. Along with this we have to understand what natural resources mean more to the Earth as a whole. We know that we need oxygen to breath and that trees are of great importance to this sustainability. With this knowledge we have set environmental standards for how many trees are allowed to be cut down in certain areas, and if certain logging efforts could potentially damage an important ecosystem then certain steps are made to prevent that logging of the area.

  Environmental Sustainability, itself, is a very complicated field that requires a lot of knowledge of particular and wide range ecosystems.  This factor leads to a lot of confusion in the overall sustainability of the Earth, some believe we are eventually doomed to fail as a planet while others see the planet as a perfectly pristine natural resource that belongs to humans as free use. Both of these conceptions of the planet are of course wrong, and the planets sustainability is fully within our reaches. The only problem is that society as a whole is either unwilling or unknowingly allowing the destruction of our planet to continue unchecked.