Unit 6

Social Issue and Environment

UNSUSTAINABLE AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Sustainable development is defined as “meeting the needs of the present without compromising
the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”. Today sustainable development has
become a buzz word and hundreds of programs have been initiated in the name of sustainable
development. If you want to test whether or not a proposal will achieve the goals of
sustainability just try to find out the following.

 Does it protect our biodiversity?

 Does it prevent soil erosion?
 Does it slow down population growth?
 Does it increase forest cover?
 Does it cut off the emissions of CFC, SOx, NOx and CO2?
 Does it reduce waste generation and does it bring benefits to all?

These are only a few parameters for achieving sustainable growth.

Until now development has been human-oriented, that too mainly, for a few rich nations. They
have touched the greatest heights of scientific and technological development, but at what cost?
The air we breathe, the water we drink and the food we eat have all been badly polluted. Our
natural resources are just dwindling due to over exploitation. If growth continues in the same
way, very soon we will be facing a”doom’s day” as suggested by Meadows et al (1972) in their
world famous academic report.

”The Limits to Growth”.” This is unsustainable development which will lead to a collapse of
the interrelated systems of this earth. Although the fears about such unsustainable growth and
development started in 1970’ s, yet a clear discussion on sustainable development emerged on
an international level in 1992, in the UN Conference on Environment and Development
(UNCED), popularly known as The Earth Summit, held at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The Rio
Declaration aims at “ ”a new and equitable global partnership through the creation of new
levels of cooperation among states….”

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These are the key aspects for sustainable development (Agenda-21):

(a) Inter-generational equity:

This emphasizes that we should minimize any adverse impacts on resources and environment for
future generations i.e. we should hand over a safe, healthy and resourceful environment to our
future generations. This can be possible only if we stop over exploitation of resources, reduce
waste discharge and emissions and maintain ecological balance.

(b) Intra-generational equity:

This emphasizes that the development processes should seek to minimize the wealth gaps within
and between nations. The Human Development Report of United Nations (2001) emphasizes that
the benefits of technology should seek to achieve the goals of intra-generational equity. The
technology should address to the problems of the developing countries, producing drought
tolerant varieties for uncertain climates, vaccines for infectious diseases, clean fuels for domestic
and industrial use. This type of technological development will support the economic growth of
the poor countries and help in narrowing the wealth gap and lead to sustainability.

Measures for Sustainable Development:

l. Using appropriate technology is one which is locally adaptable, eco-friendly, resource

efficient and culturally suitable. It mostly involves local resources and local labor. Indigenous
technologies are more useful, cost-effective and sustainable. Nature is often taken as a model,
using the natural conditions of that region as its components. This concept is known as “design
with nature”The Technology should use less of resources and should produce minimum waste.

2. Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle approach: The 3-R approach advocating minimization of
resource use, using them again and again instead of passing it on to the waste stream and
recycling the materials goes a long way in achieving the goals of sustainability. It reduces
pressure on our resources as well as reduces waste generation and pollution.

3. Prompting environmental education and awareness: Making environmental education the

center of all learning process will greatly help in changing the thinking and attitude of people
towards our earth and the environment. Introducing the subject right from the school stage will
inculcate a feeling of belongingness to earth in the small children. “Earth thinking” will
gradually get incorporated in our thinking and action which will greatly help in transforming our
life styles to sustainable ones.

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4. Resource utilization as per carrying capacity: Any system can sustain a limited number of
organisms on a long-term basis which is known as its carrying capacity. In case of human
beings, the carrying capacity concept becomes all the more complex. It is because unlike other
animals, human beings, not only need food to live, but need so many other things to maintain the
quality of life.

Sustainability of a system depends largely upon the carrying capacity of the system. If the
carrying capacity of a system is crossed (say, by over exploitation of a resource), environmental
degradation starts and continues till it reaches a point of no return.

Carrying capacity has two basic components:

a. Supporting capacity i.e. the capacity to regenerate

b. Assimilative capacity i.e. the capacity to tolerate different stresses.

In order to attain sustainability it is very important to utilize the resources based upon the above
two properties of the system. Consumption should not exceed regeneration and changes should
not be allowed to occur beyond the tolerance capacity of the system.

The Indian Context

India has still to go a long way in implementing the concept of sustainable development. We
have to lay emphasis on framing a well-planned strategy for our developmental activity while
increasing our economic growth. We have tremendous natural diversity as well as a huge
population which makes planning for sustainable growth all the more important and complex.
The National Council of Environmental Planning and Coordination (NCPC) set up in 1972 was
the focal agency in this regard. The Ministry of Environment & Forests, set up in 1985 has
formulated guidelines for various developmental activities keeping in view the sustainability
principles. National Green Tribunal (NGT) established in 2010 for effective and quick decision
in case related environmental conservation and protection.

URBAN PROBLEMS RELATED TO ENERGY

Cities are the main centers of economic growth, trade, education, innovations and employment.
Until recently, a big majority of human population lived in rural areas and their economic
activities centered around agriculture, cattle rearing, fishing, hunting or some cottage industry. It
was some 200 years ago, with the dawn of Industrial era, the cities showed a rapid development.

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Now about 50 percent of the world population lives in urban areas and there is increasing
movement of rural folk to cities in search of employment. The urban growth is so fast that it is
becoming difficult to accommodate all the industrial, commercial and residential facilities within
a limited municipal boundary. As a result, there is spreading of the cities into the sub-urban or
rural areas too, a phenomenon known as urban sprawl. In developing countries too urban growth
is very fast and in most of the cases it is uncontrollable and unplanned growth. In contrast to the
rural set-up the urban set-up is densely populated, consumes a lot of energy and materials and
generates a lot of waste. The energy requirements of urban population are much higher than that
of rural ones. This is because urban people have a higher standard of life and their life style
demands more energy inputs in every sphere of life.

The energy demanding activities include:

(i) Residential and commercial lighting.

(ii) Transportation means including automobiles and public transport for moving from residence
to workplace.
(iii) Modern life-style using a large number of electrical gadgets in everyday life.
(iv) Industrial plants using a big proportion of energy.
(v) A large amount of waste generation which has to be disposed off properly using energy based
techniques.
(vi) Control and prevention of air and water pollution which need energy dependent
technologies.

WATER CONSERVATION

Water being one of the most precious and indispensable resources needs to be conserved.

The following strategies can be adopted for conservation of water.

(i) Decreasing run-off losses: Huge water-loss occurs due to runoff on most of the soils, which
can be reduced by allowing most of the water to infiltrate into the soil.

This can be achieved by using many ways such as:

a). Contour cultivation on small furrows and ridges across the slopes trap rainwater and allow
more time for infiltration. Terracing constructed on deep soils has large water-storage capacity.
On gentle slopes trapped run off is spread over a large area for better infiltration.
b). Conservation-bench terracing involves construction of a series of benches for catching the
run-off water.
c). Water spreading is done by channeling or lagoon-leveling. In channeling, the water-flow is
controlled by a series of diversions with vertical intervals. In lagoon leveling, small depressions
are dug in the area so that there is temporary storage of water.

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d). Chemical wetting agents (Surfactants) increase the water intake rates when added to
normal irrigated soils.
e). Surface crop residues, Tillage, mulch, animal residues etc. help in reducing run-off by
allowing more time for water to penetrate into the land.
f). Chemical conditioners like gypsum (CaSO4.2H2O) when applied to sodic soils improve soil
permeability and reduce run off. Another useful conditioner is HPAN (hydrolysed
polyacrylonitrile).
g). Water-storage structures like farm ponds, dug-outs etc. built by individual farmers can be
useful measures for conserving water through reduction of runoff.

(ii) Reducing evaporation losses: This is more relevant in humid regions. Horizontal barriers of
asphalt placed below the soil surface increase water availability and increase crop yield by 35-
40%. This is more effective on sandy soil but less effective on loamy sand soils.
A co-polymer of starch and acrylonitrile called super slurper has been reported to absorb water
upto 1400 times its weight. The chemical has been found to be useful for sandy soils.

(iii)Storing water in soil: Storage of water takes place in the soil root zone in humid regions
when the soil is wetted to field capacity. By leaving the soil fallow for one season water can be
made available for the crop grown in next season.

(iv) Reducing irrigation losses

a). Use of lined or covered canals to reduce seepage.
b). Irrigation in early morning or late evening to reduce evaporation losses.
c). Sprinkling irrigation and drip irrigation to conserve water by 30-50%.
d). Growing hybrid crop varieties with less water requirements and tolerance to saline water help
conserve water.

(v) Re-use of water

a). Treated wastewater can be used for ferti-irrigation.
b). Using grey water from washings, bath-tubs etc. for watering gardens, washing cars or paths
help in saving fresh water.
(vi) Preventing wastage of water: This can be done in households, commercial buildings and
public places.
a. Closing taps when not in use
b. Repairing any leakage from pipes
c. Using small capacity flush in toilets.
(vii)Increasing block pricing: The consumer has to pay a proportionately higher bill with higher
use of water. This helps in economic use of water by the consumers.