7.8

• sustainability - using the earths resources in a way that would not cause permanent damage and allow them to be there in the future
• sustainable development - addressing problems caused by depletion of natural resources, mass consumption of goods, pollution of air and water, and the impact of climate change
• ways to be more sustainable:

  • use thermostat less
  • cities and town governments might operate composting programs and shopping malls might reduce unneeded lighting
  • the government might fund research into products that use less energy and industries might recycle their waste
  • countries might cooperate to protect ocean habitats for marine life
• ecological footprint - our impact on the environment

  • 7 percent of the global population is responsible for 50% of carbon dioxide emissions
  • the average ecological footprint per person in the US is 20 acres. an american football field is 1.3 acres on size, so 5 billion football fields of productive land are needed to support the consumption of the US population. the world average per person is 6.4 acres.
• pollution has multiple causes:

  • natural events
  • mixture of human actions and natural events, for example, dust storms are more likely to occur after farmers remove the deep rooted natural vegetation that holds the soil in place
  • human actions
• the worldwide cost of pollution is estimated to be $4.5 trillion per year, or 6% of the global economic output in a year
• ecotourism - traveling to a region to experience its natural environment and wildlife
• millennium development goals (MDGS) - set of 8 goals to be achieved by 2015, aimed to lift nearly a billion people out of poverty, reduce hunger, and increase the number of girls in school
• sustainable development goals (SDGS) - 17 goals to be achieved by 2030; its goal was to finish the MDGs job, but with more awareness of environmental challenges and ways to overcome them