The Ecological Footprint Taking the Environmental Problem Personally

The Ecological Footprint

Taking the Environmental Problem Personally

The Earth is one but the world is not

We all depend on one biosphere for sustaining our lives

Yet each community , each country , strives for survival and prosperity

with little regard for its impacts on others

Our Common Future (1987

Brundtland Commission

The time for change is now . The Inconvenient Truth---a documentary by the former Vice-President of the United States of America , Al Gore brought environmental problems to the limelight . This has brought about a change in the world 's

thinking . Before , we used to think that environmental problems were the problems of the scientists , politicians environmentalists , etc . However , today , there is an increasing trend for everyday people to be environmentally conscious . This reflects the idea that environmentalists have been trying to teach us for years when it comes to the environment , all human beings on the planet (regardless of religion , nationality , sex or wealth ) are all part of the environmental problem therefore we must all be a part of the environmental solution

The environment , and all the natural resources we get from it , is considered a common good . Whether or not the problems are caused by a few people , the consequences are for EVERYONE . Therefore , it is important that environmental issues are solved within the context of an entire community , society , country and planet . Environmental consciousness , therefore , cannot exist only in laws but must be translated to the lives of the everyday people . The greatest difficulty with this way of thinking is trying to come up with an environmental solution that involves everyone on the planet and it must be included into every aspect of society . This would require a lot of international agreement , national commitment and individual dedication

On the international arena , environmental issues , as a policy-making issue , have slowly taken shape . International concern for environmental issues was demonstrated at the 1972 United Nations Conference on the Human Environment , and the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development , the 1992 Earth Summit held in Rio de Janeiro ' These two conferences are important because considerable progress was made concerning public and political awareness of the importance of environmental problems . In Rio the discussion was no longer confined to diplomats and secretary generals , but was embraced by business and non-governmental representatives as well . The number of actors involved in international environmental decision-making had increased

Even though there has been some progress in the environmental debate such progress has taken a painfully long time to come about . One possible explanation to this is the lack of political will due to economic considerations . Some are of the opinion that cutting back on production and industry for the sake of the environment will cause negative effects for the global economy and therefore environmentalism is not harmonious with development . In counter to these ideas , the Modern Growth Theory relates that environmental sustainability is potentially compatible with positive economic growth but also , perhaps more importantly , that failure to achieve environmental sustainability may become an obstacle to...