How do sustainable ecosystems endure and support

Long-lived and healthy wetlands and forests are examples of sustainable biological systems. Invisible chemical cycles redistribute water, oxygen, nitrogen and carbon through the world's living and non-living systems, and have sustained life for millions of years.

There is abundant scientific evidence that humanity is living unsustainably, and returning human use of natural resources to within sustainable limits will require a major collective effort. Ways of living more sustainably can take many forms from reorganising living conditions e.

The word sustainability is derived from the Latin sustinere to hold. At the World Summit it was noted that this requires the reconciliation of environmental, social and economic demands - the "three pillars" of sustainability. This view has been expressed as an illustration using three overlapping ellipses indicating that the three pillars of sustainability are not mutually exclusive and can be mutually reinforcing.

The UN definition is not universally accepted and has undergone various interpretations. What sustainability is, what its goals should be, and how these goals are to be achieved is all open to interpretation. List two examples. An ecosystem is all the interacting parts of a biological community and its environment Examples: —Coral reef, forests, rainforests, ponds, deserts.

Sustainable ecosystem refers to an ecosystem that is capable of withstanding pressure and giving support to a variety of organisms. Ruby-throated hummingbirds live part of the year in a tropical rain forest, and then they stop in many ecosystems along the way as they migrate north in the spring. They spend the summer in meadows and wetlands in Canada. Birds fly south during the winter Flowers and plants flourish in the spring and die away as it gets cooler in the fall Any other examples?

Define and list four examples for each one. An example would be dandelions competing with grass for the same resources. Enters the aquatic ecosystems by leaching or run-off land. Eutrophication is a process which nutrient levels in aquatic ecosystems increase, leading to an increase in the populations of primary producers.

The Carbon Cycle The carbon cycle is the movement of carbon from the nonliving environment into living things and back Carbon is the essential component. Review- By what two processes is water cycled from land to the atmosphere Sequence- Describe one way in which water from Lake Superior may make one. The Water Cycle Water cycles between the oceans, atmosphere and land. All living organisms require water. Water enters the atmosphere as water vapor,.

Ch Global Ecology. Further, it is humane and just, protecting farmers and other workers, consumers, and communities. It recommends the Mediterranean diet which is associated with health and longevity and is low in meat, rich in fruits and vegetables, low in added sugar and limited salt, and low in saturated fatty acids; the traditional source of fat in the Mediterranean is olive oil, rich in monounsaturated fat.

The healthy rice-based Japanese diet is also high in carbohydrates and low in fat. Both diets are low in meat and saturated fats and high in legumes and other vegetables; they are associated with a low incidence of ailments and low environmental impact.

At the global level the environmental impact of agribusiness is being addressed through sustainable agriculture and organic farming. At the local level there are various movements working towards local food production, more productive use of urban wastelands and domestic gardens including permaculture , urban horticulture , local food, slow food, sustainable gardening , and organic gardening. Sustainable use of materials has targeted the idea of dematerialization, converting the linear path of materials extraction, use, disposal in landfill to a circular material flow that reuses materials as much as possible, much like the cycling and reuse of waste in nature.

Synthetic chemical production has escalated following the stimulus it received during the second World War. Chemical production includes everything from herbicides, pesticides and fertilizers to domestic chemicals and hazardous substances. Although most synthetic chemicals are harmless there needs to be rigorous testing of new chemicals, in all countries, for adverse environmental and health effects. International legislation has been established to deal with the global distribution and management of dangerous goods.

Every economic activity produces material that can be classified as waste. The average human uses tonnes of materials each year. Dematerialization is being encouraged through the ideas of industrial ecology , ecodesign [ ] and ecolabelling. In addressing this issue several key areas have been targeted for economic analysis and reform: the environmental effects of unconstrained economic growth; the consequences of nature being treated as an economic externality; and the possibility of an economics that takes greater account of the social and environmental consequences of market behaviour.

In the second half of the 20th century world population doubled, food production tripled, energy use quadrupled, and overall economic activity quintupled. This trend is clearly demonstrated on graphs of human population numbers, economic growth, and environmental indicators.

There is concern that, unless resource use is checked, modern global civilization will follow the path of ancient civilizations that collapsed through overexploitation of their resource base. The economic importance of nature is indicated by the use of the expression ecosystem services to highlight the market relevance of an increasingly scarce natural world that can no longer be regarded as both unlimited and free.

However, this only applies when the product or service falls within the market system. One approach to this dilemma has been the attempt to "internalise" these "externalities" by using market strategies like ecotaxes and incentives, tradeable permits for carbon, water and nitrogen use etc. Community currencies such as LETS, a gift economy and Time Banking have also been promoted as a way of supporting local economies and the environment.

Treating the environment as an externality may generate short-term profit at the expense of sustainability. For example, industrial waste can be treated as an "economic resource in the wrong place". The benefits of waste reduction include savings from disposal costs, fewer environmental penalties, and reduced liability insurance. This may lead to increased market share due to an improved public image.

The idea of sustainability as a business opportunity has led to the formation of organizations such as the Sustainability Consortium of the Society for Organizational Learning , the Sustainable Business Institute, and the World Council for Sustainable Development. Sustainability issues are generally expressed in scientific and environmental terms, but implementing change is a social challenge that entails, among other things, international and national law, urban planning and transport, local and individual lifestyles and ethical consumerism.

According to Murray Bookchin , the idea that humans must dominate nature is common in hierarchical societies. Bookchin contends that capitalism and market relationships, if unchecked, have the capacity to reduce the planet to a mere resource to be exploited. The function of work is to legitimize, even create, hierarchy.

For this reason understanding the transformation of organic into hierarchical societies is crucial to finding a way forward. Social ecology, founded by Bookchin, is based on the conviction that nearly all of humanity's present ecological problems originate in, indeed are mere symptoms of, dysfunctional social arrangements. Whereas most authors proceed as if our ecological problems can be fixed by implementing recommendations which stem from physical, biological, economic etc.

Deep ecology establishes principles for the well-being of all life on Earth and the richness and diversity of life forms. This is only compatible with a substantial decrease of the human population and the end of human interference with the nonhuman world.

To achieve this, deep ecologists advocate policies for basic economic, technological, and ideological structures that will improve the quality of life rather than the standard of living. Those who subscribe to these principles are obliged to make the necessary change happen.

Reduce dependence upon fossil fuels, underground metals, and minerals 2. Reduce dependence upon synthetic chemicals and other unnatural substances 3. Reduce encroachment upon nature 4. One approach to sustainable living, exemplified by small-scale urban transition towns and rural ecovillages, seeks to create self-reliant communities based on principles of simple living, which maximise self-sufficiency particularly in food production. These principles, on a broader scale, underpin the concept of a bioregional economy.

Residents in compact urban neighbourhoods drive fewer miles, and have significantly lower environmental impacts across a range of measures, compared with those living in sprawling suburbs. Ultimately, the degree of human progress towards sustainability will depend on large scale social movements which influence both community choices and the built environment.

Eco-municipalities may be one such movement. The eco-municipality movement is participatory, involving community members in a bottom-up approach. In Sweden, more than 70 cities and towns — 25 per cent of all municipalities in the country — have adopted a common set of "Sustainability Principles" and implemented these systematically throughout their municipal operations. There are now twelve eco-municipalities in the United States and the American Planning Association has adopted sustainability objectives based on the same principles.

There is a wealth of advice available to individuals wishing to reduce their personal impact on the environment through small, cheap and easily achievable steps. Home What is Sustainability? Sustainability Sustainability is the capacity to endure. In ecology the word describes how biological systems remain diverse and productive over time.

For humans it is the potential for long-term maintenance of well being, which in turn depends on the maintenance of the natural world and natural resources. Main article: History of sustainability. Main article: Sustainability measurement. Graph showing human population growth from 10, BC — AD , illustrating current exponential growth.

Further information: Carrying capacity. Further information: Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. Main article: Sustainability and environmental management. Main articles: Sustainable energy , Renewable energy , and Efficient energy use. Further information: Water resources. Further information: Food and Food security. As global population and affluence has increased, so has the use of various materials increased in volume, diversity and distance transported.

Included here are raw materials, minerals, synthetic chemicals including hazardous substances , manufactured products, food, living organisms and waste. Further information: Ecological economics and Environmental economics. On one account, sustainability "concerns the specification of a set of actions to be taken by present persons that will not diminish the prospects of future persons to enjoy levels of consumption, wealth, utility, or welfare comparable to those enjoyed by present persons.

The developed world population is only increasing slightly but consumption levels are unsustainable. The challenge for sustainability is to curb and manage Western consumption while raising the standard of living of the developing world without increasing its resource use and environmental impact. This must be done by using strategies and technology that break the link between, on the one hand, economic growth and on the other, environmental damage and resource depletion.

Further information: Ecological economics. Further information: Ecosystem services. Further information: Social sustainability. Social disruptions like war, crime and corruption divert resources from areas of greatest human need, damage the capacity of societies to plan for the future, and generally threaten human well-being and the environment.

Sustainability principles 1. Retrieved on: Thapa eds. Greifswald: Steinbecker Verlag Ulrich Rose. ISBN The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary. Oxford: Clarendon Press. United Nations General Assembly. Retrieved 1 March What is Sustainable Development? Capitalism as if the world mattered. London: Earthscan. Organization 13 6 : Retrieved on Understanding Sustainable Development. February 24, A Short History of Progress. Toronto: Anansi.

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New York: Universe Books. Living Planet Report Ecosystems and Human Well-being: Biodiversity Synthesis. Department of Commerce. Carbon Cycle Science. In depth: "Climate Change. Clark, Nancy M.