Unsustainable development is often created when there is ignorance towards the links between the 3 spheres of sustainable development. In order to look at the sustainability of a development, it must be considered a closed system, where the only input is the sun's energy and there should be only heat as an output. The old way of developing included open system economics:
The new way of developing a sustainable system is to use closed system economics. Making developers responsible for their products waste and recycling it back into the system if possible. This will ensure the only output will be heat and the only input should be the sun.Unsustainable Systems
An unsustainable system or open system is defined by a weighted look at one or two of the three critical components of sustainable development. This usually results in the collapse of another sector of sustainable development and eventually a collapse of the system.
When the world was much "bigger", meaning more land per person, often developments were creating using an open system framework. An open system assumes that you can take what you need from the Earth to create a development and send out any waste from the development into the environment. In the past, this idea possibly wasn't all that bad because the Earth was still "big" and could assimilate the waste and renew its resources. As population and development began to grow, the Earth became a great deal smaller and unable to renew itself from the waste (output) and natural resources we were using (input). Environmental vitality became a massive issue as economy and human health were being degraded. When creating a development, the focus is to insure they are long lasting and prosperous and thus the inputs and outputs need to be managed. This can be difficult as the world is not in a steady state; every day the human population grows exponentially. In the last 12 years, we have gone from 6 billion to 7 billion people on this planet. To watch the population grow visit the world clock by clicking on this link.
Every time our population increases it puts more stress on our Earth and it makes it harder to create sustainable developments. The demand for resources grows, yet our Earth stays the same size and renews itself at the same pace it did when there was half the population there is today. This requires an increase in the efficiency of our developments. There is a constant demand for the system to be continually improving. Not only is the growing population changing the way we manage sustainable developments, but the nature of our environment is changing every day. Every day the Earth's orbit changes slightly, plate technonic shift, the sun radiates more and our climate changes. The complexities of our natural world and the uncertainties of our future make sustainable developments extremely hard to structure and require continuous improvements. The environment is not the only sphere that is ignored when creating new developments. Too much emphasis on environmental factors often results in economic failure requiring private or government funding.
Alberta Oil Sands as a Classic Example
Some examples of unsustainable developments are the famous oil sands in Alberta. This is a classic example of placing a large amount of weight into the economic sphere while the social and environmental components of sustainable development crumble. The oil sands development has not been completely ignorant of the environmental impacts their development will have currently and to future generations. They are mandated by the Government of Alberta and Alberta’s Sustainable Resource Development to completely restore the ~1000km2 disturbed area to at least equal value of the ecosystem that was present before development.
Can the Oil Sands really be restored to an Ecosystem of equal value?
Currently Disturbed by the Oil Sands
Undisturbed Northern Alberta Wetlands
This mandate does not take into account the extent of the current impacts on the environment during development. These impacts may not be seen until it is too late and the environmental destruction cannot be undone. There is also rising doubt for the ability of developers to completely restore such a large area of disturbed and polluted land. The major problem is the nature of the previous ecosystems. These wetlands were created over hundreds of years and are a habitat for many endangered species. These endangered species have been forced from their natural habitats and restoration won't take place until years after development ceases. It could be too late. To view Alberta’s current plan for wetland restoration on the reclaimed oil sands, click here.
The oil sands are currently experiencing large lawsuits from the native people who inhabit the region and have been using the Athabasca River for fish and water for many years. The native people have recently experiencing drastic changes in water quality and quantity since the oil sands development has come to town. Here is a youtube video of David Suzuki investigating this issue, even Alberta Environment is ignoring the social and environmental issues arising. These issues are bound to cost the oil sands developers a great deal of money.
The oil sands are a large scale example, but unsustainable developments can happen on a small-scale as well. It is important to understand the extreme implications of poorly planned and executed developments. The emphasis on creating sustainable solutions is very important when enhancing the economies of developed nations or building the economies of undeveloped nations.
Related Links
Defining Sustainability and unsustainability: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3341323
Unsustainable Canadian Salmon Aquaculture: http://www.elements.nb.ca/theme/oceans06/janice/janice.htm
The Unsustainable World: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn12834-unsustainable-development-puts-humanity-at-risk.html
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