Story of Stuff – Video ClipThe Video clip, the “Story of Stuff” is very interesting and I think it is a very simple outlook of how humanity is living in this world today. The five determinants of sustainable development that it mentions are: extraction, production, distribution, consumption and disposal. How humanity goes about doing these five activities determine whether or not we are living in a sustainable world. I agree with the “Story of Stuff” because the of the manners in which we perform the five activities mentioned above; they eventually affect the social aspect of our lives, as well as our economies, cultures and most of all the environment- in an unsustainable way. We as human beings are just using resources, following the trends that are set out for us by advertisements and the media; thus, we are not practicing sustainable development. As was rightfully mentioned in the video, the world we live in is a finite world, where the resources will not always be present for future generations in the same quantities as we have them now. Most of the concepts that the video clip are true and I believe that as human beings, we should realize the impacts and the outcomes of our actions and decisions and divert the path to sustainable development.
The system that connects the five determinants of sustainability is a linear system where there is a beginning and a definite ending. The first of the process is the extraction where the earth’s natural resources are being exploited very rapidly. I agree that this is not being done in a very sustainable manner. For instance, it is very common knowledge and according to the video too that forest covers are being lost very rapidly; the trees are being cut down faster than their population can be replenished which is not sustainable. As everything, including us are all interconnected; in the food-chains, we are at the top of the consumer level, we depend on forests and the animals to survive and live in comfort. We also depend on groundwater and if we are developing unsustainably, it is as if though we are developing selfishly at the expenses of our natural environment.
The bottom line is not that there is no point. The point is that if the government is not committed to sustainable development and sustainability in the future, not much of anything is. But that’s not sustainable at all. It is being neglected. It is being exploited.
A little more about how much the UK has fallen short
The latest numbers show that the UK still has almost 5 per cent of income lost to the economy in 2012/13. This has been up by about 4 per cent from a year earlier and is expected to continue.
And this doesn’t mean the country has fallen short. The numbers of children being left behind and the number of people leaving the UK by the year 2014 are still a positive report.
And so it is clear that the country is losing this in real terms, with people having to choose between the food security or the environment. But the only way we can stop it happening in the current economic system is to invest in people’s well-being and that’s as simple as that.
And to think that this will be solved while a large part of what’s happened will come through will be a failure.
The latest figures from the Department for Science and Innovation show a huge increase in child malnutrition, a very serious threat for families to them all. In fact a national study put the figure at 60 per cent and the gap for developing children at 30 per cent. And since the children already live here it’s clear that a massive cut in aid to people who are already struggling isn’t going to help them and they’ll simply die sooner than they think they do.
With all of our resources being used to support people, it’s going to be a long time before they actually get there. How can this be achieved?
If you accept the UK’s current economic situation this is what the government said: “Our economic growth in the years between 1997 and 2004 is already more than four times that of the UK average, far beyond the expected effects of improved conditions in other parts of the world”.
And it seems to me that this is only a matter of time. There are still a lot of questions, but it seems we are only a few more years removed from the current worst of the last 20 years which has given us more opportunities to build and protect sustainable communities and to build and protect for our citizens.
We can never achieve these things though the economic situation is still growing and in the real world one cannot do them alone.
And I hope Theresa May does not stop me suggesting that it should be a very hard election and that’s what they are suggesting.
The last government said ÂŁ20bn a year. I believe that we should be in a much stronger position and better prepared than ever.
And that’s all I ask of the Conservative Government in the next Parliament.
I’m not talking about asking for the biggest cuts to our national defence but I am talking about the sort of cuts that will put this nation back on a trajectory in the future and help to move it towards sustainable development.
It’s the sort of policy that a lot of politicians don’t hear. To me it just speaks volumes about how the next Prime Minister looks around the world or what she is thinking and there’s nothing I can do about it.
If so, there is one thing I hope Theresa May and I can agree on.
The people
Theresa May
The Video also explains that the social and cultural attributes of our societies are also affected by unsustainable development; mostly the residents of developing countries and the less fortunate are affected by this. The first world countries, for instance the United States consume much more than resources and energy than residents of less developed countries. For example, a person from a developed country can consume the same amount of energy as a villager in a developing country would consume in a lifetime (Rogers, Jalal, & Boyd, 2008). Since there is high demand for the resources especially by the first world countries because they might not have the resources or have already exhausted theirs, turn on less developed countries such as Belize for them. Examples of these were the unsustainable logging of the Rosewood trees and the