Duurzame ontwikkeling
H1: Environmental Problems, Their Causes, and Sustainability
Concept 1-1A Nature has sustained itself for billions of years by relying on solar energy,
biodiversity, and nutrient cycling.
Concept 1-1B Our lives and economies depend on energy from the sun and on natural
resources and natural services (natural capital) provided by earth.
Sustainability is the capacity of the earth’s natural systems and human cultural systems to
survive, flourish, and adapt to changing environmental conditions into the very long-term
future. It is about people caring enough to pass on a better world to all the generation to
come.
1.1 What are three principles of sustainability?
Environment is everything around us “the environment is everything that isn’t me” – Albert
Einstein. It includes the living and the nonliving things (air, water, and engery) with which we
interact in a complex web of relationships that connect us to one another and to the world
we live in.
To learn how to live more sustainably and thus more wisely, we need to find out how life on
the earth has sustained itself. There are three overarching themes, called the three
principles of sustainability (lessons from nature):
Solar energy
The sun warms the planet and supports photosynthesis. The sun also powers indirect
forms of solar energy such as wind and flowing water, which we can use to produce
electricity.
Biodiversity
The natural services that the variety of organisms provide free of charge (such as air
and water purification). Biodiversity also provides countless ways for life to adapt to
changing environmental conditions.
Chemical cycling
Also referred to as nutrient cycling is the circulation of chemicals from the
environment through organisms and back to the environment. Natural processes
keep this cycle going, and the earth receives no new supplies of these chemicals.
Certain key components of sustainability
Natural capital – the natural resources and natural services that keep us and other forms of
life alive and support our human economies.
Natural resources are materials and energy in nature that are essential or useful to humans
(renewable or nonrenewable).
Natural services are processes in nature which support life and human economies.
Natural capital = natural resources + Natural services (figure 1-4)
H1: Environmental Problems, Their Causes, and Sustainability
Concept 1-1A Nature has sustained itself for billions of years by relying on solar energy,
biodiversity, and nutrient cycling.
Concept 1-1B Our lives and economies depend on energy from the sun and on natural
resources and natural services (natural capital) provided by earth.
Sustainability is the capacity of the earth’s natural systems and human cultural systems to
survive, flourish, and adapt to changing environmental conditions into the very long-term
future. It is about people caring enough to pass on a better world to all the generation to
come.
1.1 What are three principles of sustainability?
Environment is everything around us “the environment is everything that isn’t me” – Albert
Einstein. It includes the living and the nonliving things (air, water, and engery) with which we
interact in a complex web of relationships that connect us to one another and to the world
we live in.
To learn how to live more sustainably and thus more wisely, we need to find out how life on
the earth has sustained itself. There are three overarching themes, called the three
principles of sustainability (lessons from nature):
Solar energy
The sun warms the planet and supports photosynthesis. The sun also powers indirect
forms of solar energy such as wind and flowing water, which we can use to produce
electricity.
Biodiversity
The natural services that the variety of organisms provide free of charge (such as air
and water purification). Biodiversity also provides countless ways for life to adapt to
changing environmental conditions.
Chemical cycling
Also referred to as nutrient cycling is the circulation of chemicals from the
environment through organisms and back to the environment. Natural processes
keep this cycle going, and the earth receives no new supplies of these chemicals.
Certain key components of sustainability
Natural capital – the natural resources and natural services that keep us and other forms of
life alive and support our human economies.
Natural resources are materials and energy in nature that are essential or useful to humans
(renewable or nonrenewable).
Natural services are processes in nature which support life and human economies.
Natural capital = natural resources + Natural services (figure 1-4)
