The Analysis of Sustainability

First of all, if I’ve learned anything from Horticulture 101, it’s the official Brundtland Report’s definition of sustainable development: development that meets the needs of current generations without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. This definition needed to be established to examine the propositions of both of the videos. 

The first video centers around efficiency of using resources. The suggestion that society should mimic structures from biology is an ingenious. The man states that “ideas from biology can lead to radical increases in resource efficiency” and is correct because nature can only progress by the survival of the fittest. The imitation of examples in nature would ensure efficiency of reaching a purpose using minimal amounts of resources. The man is also correct in saying that we could “increase resource efficiency” by choosing more easily-replenished sources of energy, such as solar power.

 The second video expresses how we should reduce our carbon footprint. But he basically doesn’t explain in the slightest way how to do so. The only suggestion that he mentions that could actually begin to lead to more sustainable future is the idea of sharing resources, as exemplified by the car-sharing club. The rest of his examples basically explain how less fortunate countries are being given the opportunity to interact with technology now. But this has nothing to do with sustainability it is not describing how resources are being conserved. The fact that these programs are for free means that electricity would be used up using the electronics while wasting money (yes. Money is also a resource.) on the said electricity. I’m not saying that these people don’t deserve these opportunities. I’m only shedding light on the fact that the only thing gained from these processes is the education of less fortunate individuals, but this would use up more resources than would be returned.

Consumerism is basically the bane of Sustainability’s existence. The more someone buys, the more he/she wants. This tends to lead to spending/wasting a lot of money, which would not exist to support the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Consumers, when able, tend to purchase unnecessary items. More demand would mean more supply produced, meaning resources wasted on basically nothing. Also, consumerism gets in the way of sustainability as the sustainable inventions would put a lot of people out of business. For example, solar power lessens the need for gasoline, which would cripple the gasoline industry.

My sustainable invention is genius. I’m not sure how it would be engineered, but my invention is a vehicle that charges itself. The car would use a certain amount of energy to accelerate, but, once driving, would produce a sufficient amount of electricity to power the car. The turning of the axils would somehow build up electricity, like a turbine building up power. This could probably be done with carefully-placed magnets and coils. This would be sustainable as it would cut the need to use up fossil fuels.