Sustainability Principles and Practices by Margaret Robertson

Chapter 1: What is Sustainability?

Quote : “Humans have already overshot Earth’s carrying capacity and are living by depleting its natural capital and overfilling its waste sinks.” (pg. 5)

This first quote stood out to me, because it was so honest. As humans we don’t realize the harm we do everyday to the planet and we take all the natural resources for granted. We are using renewable resources to rapidly that they are not being given enough time to replenish. As a society we need to try to learn how we can do better and how we can stop using “depleting the natural capital.” The end of this quote about overfilling the worlds waste sinks really spoke to me, because landfills are overflowing into natural habitats, our oceans are filled with garbage and we let that happen.

Chapter 2: A Brief History of Sustainability

Quote: “The 1970s was an extraordinary decade for environmental law.” (pg. 13)

I think this was the best quote to summarize this chapter because this chapter really went into the history of environmental law, and the 1970s was insanely important. Rachel Carsons books reached the public and made people concerned for their well being as well as the environments well being. The first Earth Day happened in 1970, April 22, 1970 to be exact. I had no idea of the history behind Earth Day, I definitely thought it was shocking that Earth Day is only about 50 years old. Starting in the 1970s, environmental law really started to change and the activism just keeps growing.

Quote: “In 2015, world leaders at the UNSDS adopted the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which aim to end poverty and hunger, fight inequality and injustice, support economic progress for all people, sustainably manage freshwater resources, restore terrestrial and marine ecosystems, address climate change, and make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable by 2030” (pg. 21)

I know this quote is long, but when I read it I was a little shocked because they want to accomplish all those great things in such little time. 2030 is now only 11 years away and I think we are very far from any of the Sustainable Development Goals actually happening. Fighting for inequality and injustice should be a main issue, but I don’t see that happening, especially right now since we are in a government shutdown. I think the UNSDS was very hopeful with the SDGs, but I personally think they will be impossible to make happen if society continues to act the way it has been. I think a really important goal of theirs, to restore marine ecosystems should be a top priority because the oceans are so full of trash; there are now floating islands of trash. I want these SDGs to become a reality and I hoping by 2030 they could possibly happen.

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