As students, I feel a pressing question we are constantly posed is, “What will your generation’s legacy be?” It is a heady question. It seems we are precariously balancing on the point of a knife with presidential elections looming — tip one way, and our generation may be known for exacerbating already existing environmental issues….
How do we incentivize sustainability? In previous articles, I have touched on various aspects of sustainable development. I have yet to mention economics, which is arguably one of the most important aspects of sustainable development. Ideally, developing countries would invest in more sustainable energy sources, understand- ing that while temporarily low supplies of energy may slow economic…
When considering sustainable development, it is necessary to think about environmental conditions and their effects. Quality environmental conditions serve as a base to sustainable development. Without environmental conditions that allow people to meet their basic needs — that is, biological and physiological needs and security — it will be difficult, if not impossible, to focus…
Nothing (or very little) makes sense about sustainable development except in light of social community and conservation psychology. The International Institute for Sustainable Development defines sustainable development as “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” Most definitions of sustainable development view the…
Should we model such a policy on Germany? Among the most poignant changes the United States could make for the world’s environmental future is adopting a renewable energy policy modeled on Germany’s renewable energy policy. The United States does not currently have a renewable energy policy — something I was quite surprised and disappointed to…
Always intersecting An aspect of environmental sustainability that people often overlook is the link between environmental sustainability and issues relating to basic human rights. A general set of basic human rights can be found in the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948), a document that has served as a fundamental guide to international…
As college students, it can be difficult to determine how our food is made and where it comes from. However, something to think about, something we Cobbers ought to take with us when we graduate, is that food production has an environmental impact — some foods far more than others. Given the increasing population and…
What is your reaction when a bee comes a little too close for comfort? Do you run away? Perhaps you remember the pain of being stung or fear the possibility of the experience itself. Either way, you probably do not immediately think of humans’ dependency on bees. To be clear, I am not thinking of…
One way to approach environmental activism is by utilizing systems thinking. Systems thinking is “the art and science of making reliable inferences about behavior by developing an increasingly deep understanding of underlying structure,” according to Barry Richmond, a late systems scientist for High Performance Systems, Inc., an IT Technology Solutions Provider. When one considers the…