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Do We Live in a Sustainable Society?

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| Do We Live in a Sustainable Society? | MMCC Winter 2012SCI 200George Gilmore | | Jonathan Norman | 2/24/2012 | | There are many ways to define sustainability and to answer the question of whether we live in a sustainable society you should first define the question. The simplest definition of what a sustainable society is still very complex. A society that can persist over generations, one that is farseeing enough, flexible enough, and wise enough not to undermine either its physical or its social systems of support (Hubbard, 1996). Other sources label the question as an environmentally sustainable society that satisfies the basic needs of its people without depleting or degrading its natural resources and thereby …show more content…

This is the only way, in my opinion, to reduce how much energy we use. Our society works off a unique set of rules and priorities that all come down to one thing, money. Making things so expensive or giving incentives for using less is the only way to get our attention. Imagine for a moment that gas was five dollars more a gallon, putting the cost per gallon over eight dollars. How much less would each person use? What if it cost 10 times as much to turn on a light switch, would you change your habits and only use what you had to? The reality of what we are faced with here is not a change that everyone doesn’t want to make; it is more of an unwillingness to lose the comforts of our current unsustainable society. When households, businesses and local governments implement resource efficiency improvements, they free up money for other purposes. It is the responding of this saved money that generates significant community economic advantages from resource efficiency. Think of the businesses and operations in your community. Imagine the environmental and economic results if grocery stores, office buildings, industries, schools, restaurants and public operations all curbed resource use by an easy 20%, and then went on to cut other operation costs through waste reduction, recycling and pollution

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