Sustainable development is such a broad subject that it is often difficult for many people to know how informed they really are, and how easy it can be to become more informed about several areas. The most known area of sustainable development is most probably climate change and global warming; however there are also many more aspects to this, broken down into smaller parts such as recycling and carbon emissions. Learning about sustainable development in my A-levels, I also found that the topic also covered such areas as preserving coasts. I learnt that it could involve anything that was developed in a way that would help future generations without affecting them and causing maintenance to be needed. The reason I mentioned coastal areas is that I found that Dune Stabilisation methods was more sustainable than sea walls, as sea walls would crack and need maintenance, but dune stabilisation would last a long time.
There have even been debates and articles written on mining. This is because sustainable development is the development that will not prevent the needs of future generations from being met. ‘…sustainable development -- defined as meeting the needs of this generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs. There is much public antagonism towards mining, and three years ago chief executives of leading mining companies recognised the need for constructive engagement with the industry's critics.’ (http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-77133470.html) This quote shows a definition for sustainable development and is almost self explanatory as to why mining is badly looked upon. It has nothing to do with global warming in this case, but is an important aspect of sustainable development as if it was to continue, future generations could miss out on fuels that they need and this is not sustainable.
I therefore believe that is my duty as a citizen to be ‘informed’, however some areas of the subject are more important to citizens than others. As I believe that global warming is happening and it is a danger to the world for the future, I think that it is extremely important that citizens make an effort to understand the importance of the changes that are occurring, because if everyone had an understanding, changes could be made, and maybe the consequences of global warming could be reduced. I also think that as citizens it is easy to be informed about these issues, from recycling to your carbon footprint to the effects of global warming on the world. As it is such a huge subject in the news. There are newspapers, websites, books, television programmes and even films such as Al Gores ‘An Inconvenient Truth’ that inform people about climate change and global warming. I think that this is one of the most researched issues and there is a huge amount of evidence and information that is easily accessible to any member of the public. However, it is in many ways a controversial issue and therefore there are many biased articles, particularly on the internet and in certain newspapers. Sceptics that believe that global warming is a natural occurrence will do as much as they can to get this point across. I therefore believe that as citizens it is important to understand the issue and have an opinion on it, but we need to be more educated in the facts. If people were to watch ‘An inconvenient truth’ I believe that they would see some of the scientific evidence that shows the extent of the consequences of climate change. I think that the film shows enough information to inform citizens of all they need to know about climate change.
People who are studying the subject of sustainable development or areas around it need to know more than most citizens and therefore there are more resources available to them. It is also easier for these people to understand as they are interested in the subject and want to read more into the facts and evidence. They need to understand why there are different opinions on certain topics and what evidence proves, why it is trustworthy and how to interpret graphs and data. This is important as these people are those who will be making people in the future understand what is happening and some will be finding and giving the evidence.
I believe that I am fairly well informed about sustainable development, but this is due to my education and what I have chosen to study at a higher level. I have been taught about the topic, and I sometimes find it hard to understand as it is such a broad area, however, I find it extremely interesting and therefore look more into the subject than many citizens might. As I mentioned at the beginning, sustainable development covers several areas, and not all citizens may realise this as it is not made very public. It is mainly global warming and climate change that is broadcast on the news and that makes headlines in newspapers, however there are many more areas that may not be as important worldwide as they are to individuals. This includes being healthy, staying safe, clean environments to live in and the effects of drink and drugs, plus much more. Lifestyle has a lot to do with sustainable development, but as citizens we are not well informed about this in a clear way. There have been TV programmes to do with health for example such as Jamie Oliver’s school dinners and even the programme ‘Embarrassing Illnesses’ however many people wouldn’t see this as a way of being sustainable it is just entertainment on the television and many people may not see the significance as they are not informed about these things.
Complicated decisions such as ways to reduce emissions should be left up to others as they are the more educated individuals who specialise in the area that they are making the decision in. The decision makers should be the scientists who find the evidence because they know the facts and the best ways to deal with the matters. As professional as many politicians may be, they do not know the facts, and in many cases, this is why mistakes are made in dealing with complicated issues such as climate change, even they are not as informed as they should be to make such decisions. This is just my personal opinion, but citizens do need to be informed to an extent that they understand the matter; however they do not have to know specific figures and data, that should be left to the experts.
In conclusion I believe that it is important for citizens to understand some areas of sustainable development in a simple way, but enough so that they are able to form and opinion and have an understanding of what is published in the news. It is climate change that I believe that people should have some understanding of, but also they need to understand that sustainable development is also about looking after themselves and keeping things in a way that won’t affect future generations. My conclusion is therefore that the experts of the different areas should make the complicated decisions as they understand fully what it is about.
Bibliography
Mining Journal. (2001). Article: Sustainable development: the view from the bridge.(People antagonistic to mining)(Brief Article) . Available: http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-77133470.html. Last accessed 11 November 2009.
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These are all sound comments. Do you ever want to actually be one of those people who are entrusted to make the big decisions about serious issues? Why not?
ReplyDeleteDoing the research into serious issues, particularly climate change could possibly be interesting, however, making the decisions is a different matter. This is because the responsibility to correctly inform the public about what is happening is huge, and it is difficult to get anything with issues like this 100% accurate. I would feel that if a decision was made and it went wrong, affecting the public that it was partly my fault. I couldn't be someone with a responsibility that could change things nationwide, or even worldwide, as these decision makers do.
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