Feb 06 2008
Sustainable development statement for GIN Conference
Hello to all Global Issues Club members.and readers of this blog. As we come off the success of our visit from Claire and Bisrat, it is time to switch gears a bit and begin preparation for our Global Issues Network Conference in Düsseldorf this March.
They have asked that we research and learn as much as we can about the main theme this year, which is sustainability. Here is what they have sent us:
“Sustainable development” statement for GIN Conference
“It is people who do development, not governments, and therefore sustainable development is a local activity. All people, however poor, have some ability, however constrained, of changing what they do, in small ways.”
Source: Garrett Nagle, “Development”- Hodder Murray
Please research this BEFORE the event so that you can discuss this statement during the conference. Just bear in mind that this statement gives a starting point to the discussion and that there can be many ways to address the problems around sustainability at local or international level.
Please also remember that your objective is to find solutions to these problems and to include them in your school’s Action Plan as much as possible. The idea being that this plan will be implemented when you are back in your own school after the conference…
Definition of sustainable development:
Development that improves basic standards of living without compromising the needs of future generations. This takes in economic issues, ecological concepts, sociological principles and moral rights.
- Garrett Nagle (“Development”)
The four dimensions to sustainable development generally quoted are:
- social
- economic
- environmental
- institutional
Before we start researching and learning about what sustainability means, please leave a comment on this post about what you think the term means to you. In the coming weeks, we will work with you to arrive at a more polished and sophisticated response, but in the meantime- what do you think it means for something to be sustainable?
I think if something is sustainable, it means that it will last, it can be kept up by whoever is in charge of it. Its something that can be a long lasting solution
To me the Sustainable development is as a hand that supports the balance scale on what is truly required to advance, as I would quote: ” balance within is needed possess the magic of future steps,” steps that involve solving the issues not solved before.
I looked up sustainable in my dictionary and I got quite many different definitions:
1) To support, to hold, to bear
2) Capable of being continued
3) To keep in existence
I thought about it and I noticed that that is what good charities/organizations/caring people need. They need to be able to give the people something they can use for life, like education, if you teach people essential, life saving, skills that they can survive without any help.
Sustainable development to me is growth (in any area) that is beneficial, possible, grows, supports itself, and is continuous.
A perfect example of this is knowledge. If you get an education, and educate your children as well, it can have a snowball effect. It can build and build and turn into something so much bigger, even though it started from that tiny frost of ice.
To me, sustainabilty is related to the enviornment. I think about things being sustaining and that are able to be long-lasting and ceaseless. It is something we can look back at years from now and know that it will remain, maybe not completely unscathed but it will still remain.
In my opinion something sustainable is something that isn’t temporary. It’s something that will last for years and years to come. Something that will continue to make a difference even after the people who set it up are gone. For example, donating supplies like food, clothing, or money (although very helpful) isn’t a sustainable solution. Once the food is eaten, the clothes are worn, or the money is spent the donation is done. It is done making a difference. It’s done helping. That’s why no matter how much money, food, or clothes you give to suffering people, it won’t end the suffering. You need a sustainable solution. You need to teach the people how to survive on their own. That’s why education is the key to ending poverty, because if the people can survive on their own, they don’t need our help any more. That is what sustainable means to me.
Sustainability to me means that it will last a long time. For example, the recycling program at ASD can last a long time and be continued. For the big problems, such as the people starving in Africa, just giving them food and medical care you give them. A sustainable solution to that is education, as Katie has mentioned above.
“Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” This famous quote really stands out when dealing with sustainability because it is knowledge and power that will help a nation or community rise out of its problems, instead of money. although financial stability is also needed, it is not the key, it just just the aid.
What we need to be thinking about is how can we nip the problem at the bud instead of just throw money at it. To all those helping out and wanting to join in on this thought process: I ask you to think of outside-of-the-box solutions that have never been tried and will boast long-term as well as short-term solutions. First off, identify the problem and then brainstorm every possible solution to it and then look for loopholes to plug up. Fixing the problem is a process that is thought provoking and necessary for ultimate success.
For something to be sustainable it must last for a long time. It keeps on going.
If a resource is being harvested at a sustainable rate then future generations will be able to harvest the resource without worries of depletion.
I believe that sustainability is the ability to be in a state of continuity, it is the ability for something to last for generations to come. Currently, most of our world is not sustainable, we use far too much of the precious resources our planet holds, there are simply not enough resources to support humanity for the future generations.
Here is a good government site from the UK on this topic
www.sustainable-development.gov.uk/
Thanks for reading.
http://www.sustainability.vic.gov.au/www/html/1517-home-page.asp
Here are some good sites that we found that explain all about sustainability and various ways to achieve sustainable development in our community today.
http://ecoliteracy.org/education/sustainability.html
www.sustainablemeasures.com/sustainabaility/index.html
http://www.epa.gov/sustainability/basicinfo.htm
we found a cool site that gives you info about sustainability, and it gives good questions for us to think about economically, environmentally, and socially. http://www.sustainablemeasures.com/Sustainability/index.html
I think sustainability is to have an achievement or project to last for a long time. If something is sustainable, it will have to be consistant. I believe the best way to keep something as sustainable is to be part of it, and not just knowing it. If we take action and responsibility of what we are trying to sustain, I think we can probably have it last for generations to come…
So nice to see other people thinking about this in schools, where thinking should be about important things, but so often is not.
Check out this video for a really thought-provoking exploration of what schools should be teaching to lead to successful futures for our students.
Just by thinking about these things (and coming up with very good ideas about them, by the way) you are way ahead of most adults I know. These important issues will definitely require young people’s contributions if we are to make things better.
Impressed, Bill Farren