It’s Time for a Supranational Sustainable Development Authority
The ingenuity of man that lead to the unprecedented global development of the twentieth century would certainly not have been possible without the earth’s rich natural resources. In this century, Earth has endured a population explosion, yet still has the agricultural capacity to nourish a global population of over six million people. At the same time, the quality-of-life in industrialized nations is perceived to have risen in tandem with the availability and affordability of mass-produced consumer products made possible by the resourceful use of raw materials and energy. Many trumpet this situation that man has created, and urge further industrial growth in the developing countries of the world.
Others are alarmed by these developments. They peer into the future and see population growth exceeding agricultural capacity, enlarged urban centers that provide neither the infrastructure nor the social support necessary for millions of people to coexist in such little space, increased mass-production of consumer goods leading to worsening pollution problems, and urban sprawl that encroaches upon fragile ecosystems.
Quite often, these two sides appear to face each other with opposing prescriptions for future world development. The former argues for environmental protection and creation of a stable ecosystem; the latter supports jobs and increased development of Third World countries. Yet this false dichotomy between jobs and the environment need not exist. The key is promotion of worldwide sustainable development, or development that “meets the needs of the present generation without compromising the needs of future generations,” as defined by the Worl...
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As small mobile groups of hunter-gatherers adopted a sedentary lifestyle, they mastered both agriculture and animal domestication. These small settled groups quickly evolved into cities and towns that encompassed the entire globe. Today the estimated population of the world is over 6.2 million people.1 As the population has grown, it has had several deleterious effects on the Earth. These include climate changes, the spread of diseases, declining food production, deforestation, and environment pollution (particularly air pollution). As people have become more conscious of these harmful effects, they have begun to devise strategies to combat this problem. Among the suggested responses include a switch to renewable energy, a call for zero population growth, and adopting sustainable agricultural practices.
It is a known fact that the world population is increasing without bound; however, there is a debate if this increase is a good thing or if it will prove catastrophic. The article “The Tragedy of the Commons” by Garrett Hardin discusses how the ever-increasing world population will exhaust the world of its natural resources, and eliminate human’s capability of survival. On the other side of the argument is Julian L. Simon who wrote “More People, Greater Wealth, More Resources, Healthier Environment.” This article proposes the theory that with an increase in population, human’s quality of life is amplified. One particular issue that they both mention and have drastically different views on is the future of agriculture and human’s ability to sustain it.
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Still today inequality of income and power means that almost 870 million people are chronically undernourished, and more than a billion people live below the poverty line. If current growth trends continue the planetary boundaries will be reached and this will cause rapid environmental change. This will be devastating for people living in poverty who depend upon natural resources as a livelihood. It is possible to change the current trends so that every person has a social foundation and live within the planetary boundaries. I will discuss what the Anthropocene is and what ecological and environmental effects it has. I will show you how through sustainable development we can both eradicate poverty and do this within our planet’s boundaries.
In “Kubla Khan,” Coleridge expresses his desire to use the inspirations from nature to create his own “Paradise” of poetry (54, p.1634). In the first stanza, Coleridge creates an exotic oriental garden, where the trees, gardens, hills, and the “Alph” river, together present the beauty of Mother Nature (3, p.1633). Here, the poet carefully observes his surroundings, as the nature will serve as the source of inspiration for his poetry. The “pleasure dome” (2, p.1633) in line two has two functions, one representing the creation of human beings on earth, and the other being the foundation of Coleridge’s poetic paradise. As the clash between nature and humans takes place in the second stanza with a “woman wailing for her demon-lover” (16, p.1633) the poet calls upon nature for his inspiration, represented by the powerful activity of nature. The energy of nature is released in forms of “a might fountain” (19, p.1633), “rebounding hail” (21, p.1633), or “dancing rocks” (23, p.1633) and eventually the natural disasters will accompanied by man-made destruction as “Kubla heard from far Ancestral voices prophesying war” (29-30, p.1634)! Coleridge on one hand reinforces that man and nature are inseparable and one the other uses the energy of nature to represent the spontaneous spurring of emotions in the poet’s mind.
“Kubla Khan” by Samuel Taylor Coleridge is a poem about the creative powers of the poetic mind. Through the use of vivid imagery Coleridge reproduces a paradise-like vision of the landscape and kingdom created by Kubla Khan. The poem changes to the 1st person narrative and the speaker then attempts to recreate a vision he saw. Through the description of the visions of Kubla Khan’s palace and the speaker’s visions the poem tells of the creation of an enchanting beautiful world as the result of power of human imagination. The second part of the poem reveals that although the mind has the ability to create this paradise-like world it is tragically unable to sustain this world.
...orld where not only are the readers forced to become acquainted with this unknown dreamworld, but they are also associating this unknown with a sense of wonderful pleasure and magic. Overall, the instances where Coleridge does not exemplify Negative Capability are mundane when compared to the larger associations and ideas that he creates from Keats’s theory.
with the alliteration of the frst five lines : "Kubla Khan'', ''dome decree'', and ''sunless sea''. Coleridge interlaces short exclamations (''but oh!'', ''a savage place!'') and exageratedly long exclamations (''as holy and enchanted as e'er beneath a waning moon was haunted by a woman wailing for her demon lover!'') reinforces the feeling of flowing which is related to the time ''ticking'' irregularly away, creating a sense of timelessness.
"The science of human sustenance is inherently a social science. Neither physics nor chemistry nor even biology is adequate to understand how it has been possible for one species to reshape both its own future and the destiny of an entire planet."(Overpopulation Is Not the Problem By Erle C. Ellis Sept. 13, 2013) Modern technology gives us the opportunity to start an Environmental Revolution. This revolution consists of innovative green technology. Humanity has already taken a step toward this change implementation of solar powered energy and smart cars are only a few examples. The goal that plans to be reached are more efficient advancements of technology, smarter planning both in urban and regional areas as well as policies that support industrial
Earth is the only known planet in our universe that is able to sustain life, yet we choose to carelessly mistreat the environment which supports us. Pollution and waste are quickly beginning to have lasting effects on our environment. Environmental sustainability is a topic most choose to ignore. This is because we indulge in short term comfort, and choose to ignore the long term consequences our selfish choices have on the environment. The poorest nations and societies of our world feel the biggest impact from these long term consequences. The environments they live in are continually becoming uninhabitable due to the lack of environmental justice that they receive. Environmental sustainability is also hindered by the pressures of political
According to the International Institute for Sustainable Development, sustainable development is defined as development that meets the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. If we follow this definition, it becomes easy to see that the vast majority of the “developed” world has not, and is not developing sustainably. The idea of sustainable development requires us to consider how our action of developing will affect other countries, and future generations. Many people believe in “the butterfly effect”, where the flapping of a butterfly’s wings in one part of t...
Stephen Hawking one of the greatest physicist was born on January 8, 1942 in Oxford,England. Surprisingly he was born on the 300 hundredth anniversary of Galileo. Hawking’s parents lived in Highgate during the attack of the world war II and the black out in London. For a more guarded and secure place his mother Isobel decided to give birth in Oxford, England.(Hawking.org) During this time money was very little for the Hawkings because of the war. Everything was hard for them at this time especially when raising a family. While Stephen was growing up the Hawkings were oddly different from him, during dinner time in most occasions they were often reading a book. They were recognized as being highly intelligent and very clever people. Besides for Stephen he was the more normal one in the family. Hawking at a young was recognized as being bright and his mother would say how he had a strong sense of wonder, “stars would always draw his attention,”she quoted. Yet he wouldn’t take his school work seriously. (biography.com) He was ranked no more than halfway up in his class and also struggled with reading. (Ferguson, pg.20) Even though, him and a couple of friends would solve mathematical equations together it took his friends hours to solve about 2 problems out of 10 but on the other hand, he would rush downstairs in minutes and have completed already 5 (biography.com)
Though several people see large rapidly growing populations in developing regions as the primary culprit in environmental decline, we need to focus on the costly environmental outcomes of overconsumption among the gradually increasing populations of the developed nations. These differing emphases naturally point to fundamentally different solutions: slow population increase in less-developed nations or change destructive consumption and production patterns in the more-developed nations. This debate, however, assumes a one-step answer to the complex problems created by population pressures on the environment. Both population size and consumption ...
Humans have become a threat to our own way of life by consuming more resources than needed, blind to the consequences that we may face in the future. As of 2016 the world population is at 7.4 billion and it is estimated to be at 11.2 billion by the year 2100. However 10 billion is the maximum population that can be sustained in terms of food security, only one of the many factors to global sustainability. Due to the fact that human consumption exceeds the amount of resources available, the United Nations “recognizes that eradicating poverty is the greatest global challenge” in A/RES/70/1. Sustainable development is not only required to fulfill the necessities of the present but to guarantee the capability for future generations to satisfy theirs.
Samuel Coleridge’s poem Kubla Khan is a metaphorical journey through a complex labyrinth of symbols and images that represent the unconscious and seemingly troubled mind. It is a voyage that continually spirals downward toward uncharted depths, while illustrating the unpredictable battle between the conscious and the unconscious that exists inside every individual. Moreover, the poem appears to follow a dreamlike sequence past numerous, vivid images that are mainly artificial recreations of the narrator’s (most likely Coleridge’s) previous thoughts and experiences.