SUSTAINABILITY

By Laurence Emerit

What does “sustainability” mean?

The concept of sustainability or sustainable development has become a universally accepted foundation for countries around the world when they contend with environmental problems today.

It was put forward with the leadership of the Norwegian Prime Minister, Dr. Gro Harlem Brundtland by the United Nations World Commission on Environment and Development, and was presented for the first time through its report in 1987, Our Common Future.

Its strict definition is a development “which responds to the needs of the present without compromising the capacity of future generations to respond to their needs.”

In practical terms, it means trying to strike a balance between economic and social progress without endangering the ecological balance of the planet, this balance being considered as a heritage for our children.

How is this possible? Methods of production and consumption must be kind to the human and natural environment and enable everyone on the planet to fulfill their basic needs: food, a home, clothes, education, work, living in a healthy environment, etc.

As former French President Jacques Chirac mentioned at the Earth summit in Johannesburg in 2002, sustainable development calls for a change in the habits of every one of us (citizens, firms, local governments, national governments, international bodies) in light of the dangers facing humanity and our planet (social inequalities, industrial and health risks, climate changes, reduced biodiversity, emissions of greenhouse gases, etc.).

We can say that in order to succeed the recipe of sustainability, it takes three (or according to certain scientists: four*) ingredients that have to be measured out the same weight.

Here is a common way to describe sustainable development and its three dimensions (see graphic left):

Sustainable development can be achieved, and it begins with the analysis of the life cycle of each product and practice, and takes into account all of the impacts (environmental, economic and social) that a product or service will have throughout its life cycle. 

The cycle for all of these includes extraction of raw materials, manufacturing, packaging and distribution, consumption, and end of life. Life cycle thinking is an essential concept for implementing sustainable development. When applied to product design, production processes and a decision-making, this approach leads engineers and designers toward “cradle-to-cradle” design instead of cradle to grave.**

When successful, this approach considers and plans for the optimal use of resources (water, wood, fossils fuels, etc…), energy consumption (in manufacturing, packaging, distribution including transportation to shops) but also to landfill sites or other facilities for recycling, and greenhouse gas creation for transportation or other processes.

This is just the tip of the iceberg and an enormous task, but it’s where true sustainable product success lies. It is the way we must proceed if we plan to preserve the environment.

*See theory of a tetrahedron by Claude Villeneuve and his students in Eco-counselling, at University of Quebec in Chicoutimi : http://www.uqac.ca/recherche/organismes/chaire_ecoconseil.php

http://dsf.uqac.ca/dept/eco-con/chaire/documents/analyse_dev_dur_2006.pdf

** Life Cycle Management concepts excerpted from Interuniversity Research Centre for the

Life Cycle of Products, Processes and Services, Quebec, Canada www.ciraig.org

Laurence Emerit

Biologist/ Biologiste (Université de Savoie, France)

Cofounder and Vice President of  CRITERIA Environmental Managment, Inc./ Co-fondatrice et Vice-présidente de CRITERIA G.E. inc.

Residual Waste Materials Management Consultant/  Consultante en gestion des matières résiduelles

Diplômée en Performances environnementales des organisations (Collège de Rosemont, Montréal)

Spécialiste en gestion de systèmes selon la norme de certification internationale ISO-14001