Personal definition of sustainability - Anne O'Donovan

Sustainability is an ideal which consists of the sum of each generation’s altruism for the next. The altruistic favour in this case would be the lifestyle change necessary to live within a means which would allow the next generation to survive at the same standard of living.

Anne O'Donovan - Microbiology

Personal definition of sustainability - Joy Kennedy

Sustainability is the human obligation to accept, respect and take responsibility for our planet’s needs and the future generation’s wellbeing by taking action to improve and then maintain the way in which we use our natural resources.

Joy Kennedy – Physiology

personal definition of sustainability- Katie Smith

Sustainability means personally getting involved in maintaining all the natural resources, which we take for granted, for the people that will live here after us. It also means leaving a good example behind us, so that those people will continue to get involved in the maintenance of these vital resources.

Katie Smith  Human Genetics

New definitions of Sustainability - Bredeen Rooney

Each year on the Living Sustainably course students are asked to write their own persoanl definition of sustainability.  Over the coming weeks some of these will be posted on our blog:

Today definition is by  Bredeen Rooney

“Sustainability” is a moral obligation regarding our planet. Our generation needs to alter the current pace of development and use of resources so that it is sustainable enough to guarantee future generations have the same opportunities that we do, and also for the sake of our shared planet.

Living Sustainably Course 2013: Defining Sustainability

This year’s Living Sustainably course (BCBOT) started on Monday and each year students are asked to write a personal definition of sustainability in no more than 50 words.  Last year’s students wrote some amazing definitions, many of which were posted.  To mark their achievement and to give our new students some inspiration you can download the complete list from last year here.

Watch out for new definitions which will be posted over the coming weeks.

Nick Gray

Bill Gates on Zero Carbon Energy

Bill Gates presents an interesting TED talk about the need to develop alternative energy sources to develop Zero carbon emissions globally by 2050.  The thing that comes over for me is the need to set a realistic and fixed price for carbon emissions to stimulate the type of research that we need right now.

Review: Fundamentals of Sustainable Development by Niko Roorda

There is an ever increasingly large number  of books on the market dealing with sustainable development, so any new book has to offer something new.  Fundamentals of Sustainable Development By Niko Roorda published under the  Earthscan imprint by Routledge (2012) offers just that in a very innovative way.  It goes against the trend of specialization within the area of sustainable development, which often creates inaccessible and  to my mind overly confusingly complex views, but gives a fresh approach to understanding the problems and to some extent the solutions to the crisis facing us today. Roorda describes the crisis in the develop world as the triple crunch  (i.e. climate change, economic crisis and oil depletion), which illustrates his no nonsense approach.

The book is broken down into two parts. Part I is called SWOT analysis (i.e. strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) which explores the global situation. This is made up of four chapters: 1. Sustainable development: an introduction; 2.  Flaws in the fabric: people and nature; 3. Flaws in the fabric: people and society,; and 4. Sources of vigour, this later chapter dealing with global strengths.  Part II is Solution Strategies and  explores some of the ways in which sustainability can be achieved through a further four chapters : 5. Here and there; 6. Now and later; 7. Climate and energy; and 8. Sustainable business practices.  Based on case studies and littered with other examples and colour images  this is a fascinating book  and is as complete a text as I think could have been achieved.  It has numerous student questions which, with the support of an equally innovative and exciting website (www.routledge.com/cw/roorda), makes this text very interactive.

The book really is interdisciplinary, and while challenging in places is truly accessible to readers of all backgrounds.   The presentation of the book is excellent and the format makes this a very attractive paperback, and at 350 pages, it is not too big for students (and lecturers) to carry around. This is a colourful and intriguing textbook which I highly recommend.  It is the sort of book you wish you had written yourself, but Niko Roorda has done just that and in the process added a remarkable edition to the sustainability library.

Nick Gray
@nickgraytcd