The Cost of Inaction.

Sustainable Development: The Cost of Inaction.

Everyone knows at least to a small degree that mankind has caused damage to the Earth. You don’t have to be a scientist to quickly ascertain that throughout history man has placed his own short term needs ahead of the long term survival of the planet and its ecosystems. So if it’s so easy to see then why in the 21^st century do we face the same glaring issue, a lack of long term thinking. Perhaps this stems from the fact that the scale of the damage is too daunting for most people to even begin to try and comprehend.

So what are the costs of inaction? Can they be easily quantified or measured? In our day and age some of the effects of our actions are common knowledge. Global warming, acid rain and the hole in the atmosphere have become common issues that our society is generally familiar with. But these are not the only costs the planet will bear as a result of unsustainable living. The costs of our own inaction are not only limited to the natural environment, in fact many of the negative results of our actions threaten human health and our way of life.

The root of human existence is planted in the natural environment; a fact which is neglected by many. Society refers to the environment in a way that makes it seem as though it is “out there” somewhere. What I mean is that it is not often recognized that the environment is everywhere not just some place outside of our day to day lives. Everything is within the environment, people, towns and cities are all a part of the environment. Our lives are directly connected to the planet and the various systems which have evolved over billions of years. The fact that in the past two centuries we could cause such intense damage to these systems is hard to comprehend.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1027610/Ministers-industry-accused-exploiting-world-food-crisis-relaunch-campaign-GM-food.html

The greatest threats to the environment stretch beyond the well known hole in the ozone layer or global warming. In fact there are so many possible consequences to humanities collective inaction that this blog is not nearly going to do justice to the situation. Some of the biggest “costs” to the planet and society include deforestation, water pollution and shortage, invasive species, loss of biodiversity, air pollution, soil degradation, food shortages, and massive population growth and not to mention the previously stated climate change, ozone depletion and acid rain which in themselves will cause a number of severe impacts. All of these threats are directly related to human activity yet they have the potential to be minimized.

When the true effects of our inability to think long term are laid out in this manner it is extremely hard to really grasp their true impact. So let’s look briefly at some of these impacts to provide a little bit more “depth” to the scenario.

One of the most obviously unsustainable practices on earth is clearly deforestation. The global forests are vitally important to the ecosystems of the earth. They are a massive carbon sink which in theory could counteract CO₂ emissions. The forests provide vital habitat for animals and millions of organisms. There are many reasons that the world’s largest forests are destroyed many of which are avoidable. The clear cutting of forest for agriculture is a common practice in South America, one that is just devastating. This leads to massive soil degradation while at the same time removing habitat for native organisms. It is said that at the current rate of deforestation, all the worlds’ rainforests would be depleted in a hundred years (National Geographic, 2010).

http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/global-warming/deforestation-overview.html

http://blog.lib.umn.edu/healy082/architecture/

Climate change is a major problem that humans are greatly contributing too. The changing of the planets climate has already caused sea ice to melt, sea levels to rise and even seen precipitation levels increase in some areas. But the true costs of global warming are interconnected. As temperatures rise drought will become more extreme in many areas of the world causing food shortages (while at the same time populations are expected to grow intensely, more on that in another blog). Sea level rise will also exacerbate this problem by displacing millions of people in countries like Bangladesh and creating environmental refugees. Extreme weather events are expected to become more common and severe again creating disaster scenes like hurricane Katrina. This will impact humanity in ways that cannot yet be clearly defined.  

http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/global-warming/gw-effects/

http://hubpages.com/hub/Global-warming-a-real-threat-or-a-scam

The loss of biodiversity is another huge area of concern as climate change, deforestation and other human threats increase. There are many reasons why this is of concern. Plants and animals play a vital role in the worlds ecosystems. Humans rely on these plants and animals for more than might at first seem apparent. Mass extinctions of species could impact food supplies across the globe leaving the poorest and the worse off without food. It is not the single species themselves that cause the problem but a collapse of entire ecosystems due to habitat loss and climate change. For example the oceans are being overfished at an alarming rate. If key species in the food web are wiped out, like a predator species such as sharks, than the entire ocean ecosystem will collapse leaving nothing left for anyone. This could however be stopped, if the natural ecosystem was respected and fishing was done sustainably then the stocks of fish could be maintained forever. Another interesting fact is that many pharmaceuticals are made from plants from the rainforests. Yet there are so many species that have yet to be even discovered or fully studied which could provide crucial medicine. Yet we destroy the biodiversity of the rainforests before there is even a chance to make these discoveries.

http://www.rferl.org/content/UN_Conference_Confronts_Dramatic_Loss_Of_Biodiversity/2193667.html

http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/nature/loss-of-biodiversity-threatens-livelihoods-of-worlds-poorest-836754.html

http://www.surfbirds.com/mb/Features/biodiversity-and-birds.html

Lastly, one aspect of un-sustainability that the majority of people neglect to consider is the concept of peak oil. Peak oil is the theory that human kind has reached a plateau in oil production. Basically we are using oil faster than we are finding new reserves and our known reserves have “peaked” which means their production from this point on will only decrease. This is cause of great concern if you consider the way we live. Our society is based on the idea of cheap oil. If oil prices soar many of the conveniences we take for granted will no longer be possible. The implications of costly oil are huge. Our food, transport and even our products will all be affected. The very way of life the western world has come to enjoy would essentially “run out of gas” (lame pun totally intended). As the prices sky rocket, people will not be able to afford to fill their cars with gas and thus could not drive. The suburbs would become a ghetto type scene since only the poorest people would not be able to move to the expensive downtown cores for work. Since gas prices will be so high commuting would become far too costly for people and living close to work would become essential. Our food could no longer be shipped from the other side of the planet. Our agricultural practices will grind to a halt since our fertilizers and pesticides are derived from petroleum. As oil prices sky rocket and we as a collective society have not made the necessary preparations and transition to a sustainable society we will face a serious set of challenges in adapting to the new world we have created for ourselves. For more details on peak oil check out these links!!

http://www.peakoil.net/

http://www.oildecline.com/

Or this video!!

As you can see the costs of inaction are absolutely huge. As a society it is time to influence decision making in whatever means necessary in order to prevent these terrible possibilities from happening. It is unlikely much of the damage could be reversed, but we can minimize the future damage and allow for a much more positive future. The “take home” message here is that the costs of inaction are far too great and far too complex to risk not acting. We must act and begin to think sustainably and put ourselves back into our environment and treat it as our home. Otherwise our home may just fall apart.

http://www.product-reviews.net/2007/02/05/global-warming-cartoon-funny-see-photo/