Paper: Sustainability In A Changing Environment

Sustainability is universally sought by individuals and groups. Few people would overtly choose to live in a non-sustainable environment. It is a part of our continually evolving nature to not become extinct in a changing environment. In contrast some people and groups view sustainability as a near static circumstance facilitated by an unchanging environment. According to them, this near original natural environment should and can be maintained indefinitely by careful management and stewardship. In some sense, the original form of nature has become sacred for them, almost worshiping nature. This paper suggests another approach to sustainability. Sustainability is viewed as dynamic concept within a changing environment. This approach permits humans to flourish indefinitely. Sustainability is a process that uses a changing set of "raw materials" and knowledge to provide goods, services, and culture for humans, indefinitely. The history and pre-history of humans is a record of developing more efficient processes to sustain an increasing human population, in which individuals have increasingly long and productive lives. It is the work of historians, and archeologists to document this process of developing human skills to serve human needs. The major transitions were as follows: Hunter / gatherer tribes Agriculturally centered societies Science and engineering based societies Information sustained societies These transitions have been viewed as waves overwhelming each other as illustrated by the book title, "The Third Wave" (Toffler, 1980). I view these transitions as foundations on which new human accomplishments may be supported, Figure1 (Parker, 2002) not waves. In this present information age we are still dependent upon the basics: Agriculture for our food Mining, including petroleum production for energy and minerals, Traditional engineering design for our essential mechanical infrastructure, The rate of change is accelerating. The transition to agriculture happened about 10,000 years ago. The industrial revolution started about 300 years ago, and the information age perhaps 60 years ago with World War I1 computers and information theory developments. Some people might say the information age started with the practical electric telegraph some 160 years ago, as inferred by the book title "The Victorian Internet" (Standage, 1998). The rate of technology change is accelerating rapidly and the rate of change is seen as impacting us directly as suggested by the book title, "Future Shock" (Toffler, 1970). The task of this paper is to partially understand the rapid, technology-driven societal changes as a process for providing sustainability, not the destruction of natural environments and so our sustainable society.