We could have saved the earth, but we were too damn cheap. –Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.,
American author
In Chapter 1 we learned that sustainable living reduces risk and preserves economic, social,
and environmental capital for current and future generations. Sustainable living offers an
ethical alternative to the unsustainable consumer lifestyle, one that can reconnect people with
nature and their neighbors. Living sustainably can save money and time and increase the quality
of life. It can also prepare people for the coming challenges posed by Peak Oil and GCC.
In this chapter we review basic principles of sustainability, define measures of sustainability,
compare sustainable and unsustainable societies, and explore the concept of sustainable
development and how it can be implemented. We cannot live sustainably without a healthy environment,
but our unsustainable lifestyles are causing environmental degradation, making it
more difficult to live sustainably. Humanity’s enormous environmental impact is causing a
global crisis. Fig. 2.1 summarizes the increase in human activities since the beginning of the Industrial
Revolution. Fig. 2.2 shows the effects of increased human activity on the global environment.
Critical shortages of resources, extreme pollution, plummeting biodiversity, and global
climate change all point to a need for reduced resource consumption and more sustainable
living. These negative trends are cause for great concern. Some can be reversed, but only a
monumental effort - a societal mobilization on the scale practiced by the U.S. during WWII - will
restore the earth’s ability to sustain us (Brown 2009). The sooner we take action and the more
drastic the changes we make, the less risk we, and our offspring, will face in the future.