History+and+Dimensions+of+Sustainabilty

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History
Main article: [|History of sustainability] The history of sustainability traces human-dominated [|ecological] systems from the earliest [|civilizations] to the present. This history is characterized by the increased regional success of a particular [|society], followed by crises that were either resolved, producing sustainability, or not, leading to decline.[|[][|29][|]][|[][|30][|]] In early human history, the use of fire and desire for specific foods may have altered the natural composition of plant and animal communities.[|[][|31][|]] Between 8,000 and 10,000 years ago, [|Agrarian] communities emerged which depended largely on their [|environment] and the creation of a "structure of permanence."[|[][|32][|]] The Western [|industrial revolution] of the 18th to 19th centuries tapped into the vast growth potential of the energy in [|fossil fuels]. [|Coal] was used to power ever more efficient engines and later to generate electricity. Modern sanitation systems and advances in medicine protected large populations from disease.[|[][|33][|]] In the mid-20th century, a gathering [|environmental movement] pointed out that there were environmental costs associated with the many material benefits that were now being enjoyed. In the late 20th century, environmental problems became global in scale.[|[][|34][|]][|[][|35][|]][|[][|36][|]][|[][|37][|]] The 1973 and 1979 [|energy crises] demonstrated the extent to which the global community had become dependent on non-renewable energy resources. In the 21st century, there is increasing global awareness of the threat posed by the human [|greenhouse effect], produced largely by forest clearing and the burning of fossil fuels.[|[][|38][|]][|[][|39][|]]

Principles and concepts
The philosophical and analytic framework of sustainability draws on and connects with many different disciplines and fields; in recent years an area that has come to be called [|sustainability science] has emerged.[|[][|40][|]] Sustainability science is not yet an autonomous field or discipline of its own, and has tended to be problem-driven and oriented towards guiding decision-making.[|[][|41][|]]

Scale and context
Sustainability is studied and managed over many scales (levels or frames of reference) of time and space and in many contexts of environmental, social and economic organization. The focus ranges from the total [|carrying capacity] (sustainability) of planet Earth to the sustainability of economic sectors, ecosystems, countries, municipalities, neighbourhoods, home gardens, individual lives, individual goods and services[//[|clarification needed]//], occupations, lifestyles, behaviour patterns and so on. In short, it can entail the full compass of biological and human activity or any part of it.[|[][|42][|]] As Daniel Botkin, author and environmentalist, has stated: "We see a landscape that is always in flux, changing over many scales of time and space."[|[][|43][|]]

Consumption — population, technology, resources
A major driver of human impact on Earth systems is the destruction of [|biophysical] [|resources], and especially, the Earth's ecosystems. The environmental impact of a community or of humankind as a whole depends both on population and impact per person, which in turn depends in complex ways on what resources are being used, whether or not those resources are renewable, and the scale of the human activity relative to the carrying capacity of the ecosystems involved. Careful resource management can be applied at many scales, from economic sectors like agriculture, manufacturing and industry, to work organizations, the consumption patterns of households and individuals and to the resource demands of individual goods and services.[|[][|44][|]][|[][|45][|]] One of the initial attempts to express human impact mathematically was developed in the 1970s and is called the [|I PAT] formula. This formulation attempts to explain human consumption in terms of three components: [|population] numbers, levels of consumption (which it terms "affluence", although the usage is different), and impact per unit of resource use (which is termed "technology", because this impact depends on the [|technology] used). The equation is expressed: I = P × A × TWhere: I = Environmental impact, P = Population, A = Affluence, T = Technology[|[][|46][|]]

Measurement
Main article: [|Sustainability measurement] Sustainability measurement is a term that denotes the measurements used as the quantitative basis for the informed management of sustainability.[|[][|47][|]] The metrics used for the measurement of sustainability (involving the sustainability of environmental, social and economic domains, both individually and in various combinations) are evolving: they include [|indicators], benchmarks, audits, [|sustainability standards and certification] systems like [|Fairtrade] and [|Organic], indexes and accounting, as well as assessment, appraisal[|[][|48][|]] and other reporting systems. They are applied over a wide range of spatial and temporal scales.[|[][|49][|]][|[][|50][|]] Some of the best known and most widely used sustainability measures include corporate [|sustainability reporting], [|Triple Bottom Line accounting], World Sustainability Society and estimates of the quality of sustainability governance for individual countries using the [|Environmental Sustainability Index] and [|Environmental Performance Index].

Population
Main article: [|Human population control] Graph showing human population growth from 10,000 BC – 2000 AD, illustrating current exponential growth According to the 2008 Revision of the official United Nations population estimates and projections, the [|world population] is projected to reach 7 billion early in 2012, up from the current 6.9 billion (May 2009), to exceed 9 billion people by 2050. Most of the increase will be in [|developing countries] whose population is projected to rise from 5.6 billion in 2009 to 7.9 billion in 2050. This increase will be distributed among the population aged 15–59 (1.2 billion) and 60 or over (1.1 billion) because the number of children under age 15 in developing countries is predicted to decrease. In contrast, the population of the more [|developed regions] is expected to undergo only slight increase from 1.23 billion to 1.28 billion, and this would have declined to 1.15 billion but for a projected net migration from developing to developed countries, which is expected to average 2.4 million persons annually from 2009 to 2050.[|[][|51][|]] Long-term estimates in 2004 of global population suggest a peak at around 2070 of nine to ten billion people, and then a slow decrease to 8.4 billion by 2100.[|[][|52][|]] Emerging economies like those of China and India aspire to the living standards of the Western world as does the non-industrialized world in general.[|[][|53][|]] It is the combination of population increase in the developing world and unsustainable consumption levels in the developed world that poses a stark challenge to sustainability.[|[][|54][|]]

Carrying capacity
Further information: [|Carrying capacity] Ecological footprint for different nations compared to their Human Development Index (HDI) At the global scale scientific data now indicates that humans are living beyond the [|carrying capacity] of planet Earth and that this cannot continue indefinitely. This scientific evidence comes from many sources but is presented in detail in the [|Millennium Ecosystem Assessment] and the [|planetary boundaries] framework.[|[][|55][|]] An early detailed examination of global limits was published in the 1972 book //[|Limits to Growth]//, which has prompted follow-up commentary and analysis.[|[][|56][|]] The [|Ecological footprint] measures human consumption in terms of the biologically productive land needed to provide the resources, and absorb the wastes of the average global citizen. In 2008 it required 2.7 [|global hectares] per person, 30% more than the natural biological capacity of 2.1 global hectares (assuming no provision for other organisms).[|[][|35][|]] The resulting [|ecological deficit] must be met from unsustainable //extra// sources and these are obtained in three ways: embedded in the goods and services of world trade; taken from the past (e.g. [|fossil fuels]); or borrowed from the future as unsustainable resource usage (e.g. by [|over exploiting] [|forests] and [|fisheries]). The figure (right) examines sustainability at the scale of individual countries by contrasting their Ecological Footprint with their UN [|Human Development Index] (a measure of standard of living). The graph shows what is necessary for countries to maintain an acceptable standard of living for their citizens while, at the same time, maintaining sustainable resource use. The general trend is for higher standards of living to become less sustainable. As always, [|population growth] has a marked influence on levels of consumption and the efficiency of resource use.[|[][|46][|]][|[][|57][|]] The sustainability goal is to raise the global standard of living without increasing the use of resources beyond globally sustainable levels; that is, to not exceed "one planet" consumption. Information generated by reports at the national, regional and city scales confirm the global trend towards societies that are becoming less sustainable over time.[|[][|58][|]][|[][|59][|]]

Global human impact on biodiversity
Further information: [|Millennium Ecosystem Assessment] At a fundamental level [|energy flow] and [|biogeochemical cycling] set an upper limit on the number and mass of organisms in any ecosystem.[|[][|60][|]] Human impacts on the Earth are demonstrated in a general way through detrimental changes in the global biogeochemical cycles of chemicals that are critical to life, most notably those of [|water], [|oxygen], [|carbon], [|nitrogen] and [|phosphorus].[|[][|61][|]] The //Millennium Ecosystem Assessment// is an international synthesis by over 1000 of the world's leading biological scientists that analyzes the state of the Earth’s [|ecosystems] and provides summaries and guidelines for decision-makers. It concludes that human activity is having a significant and escalating impact on the [|biodiversity] of world [|ecosystems], reducing both their [|resilience] and [|biocapacity]. The report refers to natural systems as humanity's "life-support system", providing essential "[|ecosystem services]". The assessment measures 24 ecosystem services concluding that only four have shown improvement over the last 50 years, 15 are in serious decline, and five are in a precarious condition.[|[][|62]