How We Reach Environmental Sustainability

The second pillar of sustainability is likely the one you’d think of first when you think of sustainability.

Environmental sustainability is a concept we need to embrace and perfect, as this is how we maintain the health of our planet and ensure there will still be a planet for future generations to come.

Humans haven’t been super great in this regard but we still have the potential to turn things around and make the right choices to ensure the planet remains healthy. We just have to create and follow the right chain.

So what do we do?

The most obvious thing is work harder to protect our natural resources. Sustainable Development Goals 15 and 16 look at the importance of protecting life below water and life on land and these are two goals intrinsically tied to environmental sustainability.

There are incredible groups working hard to find solutions. Take the Nature Conservancy for example. This initiative works all across the globe, helping countries and communities protect their natural resources. Whether it’s by buying land, creating water funds or working with the government to change policy this amazing team is making a real positive change.

The next thing to do is take a good look at our energy sources. To achieve environmental sustainability we need to derive our energy from renewable sources.

For some parts of the world this won’t be too hard a task. Hydropower is already the main source of electricity in Canada and China, Brazil and the U.S. rely heavily on its power as well.

Samoa has also been working towards a greater shift to sustainable energy, starting up hydro projects to help move the country away from a reliance on diesel.

Reliance on solar power is also growing and the global solar energy storage market is set to grow over 63% by 2023.

This is fantastic to see. Now we just need to find a clean replacement for crude oil.

We also need to ensure that our businesses and economy are acting in an environmentally sustainable way.

For businesses, this requires them to act and do business in a way that limits their footprint as much as possible.

Although this may seem like an impossible battle, the economic benefits that can come from moving your business into eco-friendly territory may win over even the hardest capitalists.

This is why so many major names have taken on the quest to position themselves as green warriors, turning to sustainable energy and supplies (IKEA), switching up their packaging (Unilever), reducing their employees’ commuting time (Panasonic) and working in smart buildings (IBM).

With the Millennials and Generation Y now firmly established in the business world and eco-concerns ranking high on the list of importance in these age groups we can expect that more businesses will be open to operating sustainably.

Let’s make sure they have what they need to go down this route.

Finally we need to ensure our society is environmentally sustainable.

This may seem complicated, but all it really means is we all go about our day to day lives in an environmentally sustainable way. Seemingly small steps like producing and eating local food, following the three Rs (reduce, reuse, recycle), taking public transit or carpooling can help in the quest to create a sustainable planet.

Once this societal shift happens the entire chain will be strong enough to make a positive impact. We need that if we want there to be a healthy planet for our descendants.