Do you think that the lifestyle of the inhabitants of your town or city reflects behavior that is --in line with the concept of sustainable development? In your opinion, what should be improved?

Syed Aftab Ahmad

What is sustainable development ?

• "Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.“• — from the World Commission on Environment and

Development’s(the Brundtland Commission) report Our Common Future

(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1987).

Sustainable development is about• how well we balance social, economic, and

environmental objectives/needs when making decisions today.

I live in the city of Al-Khobar, Saudi Arabia. In my city

• No link between social, economic and environmental issues.

• Each free to go its own way like free balloons

What I see in my city:Excess consumption of food

What I see in my city:Consumption of unhealthy food

What I see in my city:Wastage of food

What I see in my city:-Wastage of water in homes and outside-Poor awareness despite government effort-Apathetic attitude of people despite water shortage in this region

What I see in my city:Wastage of gasoleneOverconsumption of fuelAbsence of public transport in citiesNo concept of car pooling

What I see in my city:

Excess consumption of electricityWastage of electricityNo concept of energy efficient bulbs

What I see in my city-At home, our whole lifestyle is centered around these electricity consuming appliances-75% of electricity generated in Saudi Arabia goes for air-conditioning

What I see in my city

Large amount of industrial and domestic wastePoor disposal of wastePoor concept and awareness of recycling waste

What I see in my city Pollution in land, air and water from

industrial and domestic waste

Don’t test the limit of EARTHBecause we have only ONE earth

• Earth gives us more than we need

• Its time to look into our lifestyles

• All of us leave traces/ecological footprint during their time on Earth: some are large, others are small

• Our ecological footprints depend on our lifestyles

– they depend on how much water and energy we use and whether or not we acquire large quantities of unnecessary things

….we know that…

…there is a difference between human wants and human needs.

• Gandhi said that the world could surely provide for the needs of the many but not the greed of the few.

Sustainable development is a collective responsibility of

• 1. Individual• 2. Society and Institutions• 3. Government and policy makers

MOST IMPORTANTAccept the fact that we are heading for a trouble

Where to start?

• Individuals, societies and governments worldwide must begin to recognize ecological limits – Consideration of ecological limits must be central to our decision-making – Find ways to live within the Earth’s bounds

• This means investing in technology and infrastructure that will allow us to operate in a resource-constrained world:

• Knowing how much nature we have, how much we use, and who uses what is the first step, and will allow us to track our progress as we work toward our goal of sustainable, one-planet living

Broad principles of Sustainable development

• Take no more than we need.• Don't use potentially renewable resources faster than they are

replenished.• Try not to harm life, air, water, soil.• Protect biodiversity.• Help maintain Earth's capacity for self repair.• Don't waste resources.• Don't release pollutants faster than Earth's natural processes can

dilute or degrade them.• Slow the rate of population growth.• Leave the earth as good or better than we found it.

In my city, I would like to see individuals taking the lead-FOOD

- Demand local foods: *Some facts:

-The average food item set before a U.S. consumer traveled 1300 miles to get there. -Transporting 5 calories’ worth of strawberry from California to New York costs 435 calories of fossil fuel.

- Don’t take more than you can eat *Some facts:

-Almost 1 billion people across the globe will go to bed hungry tonight, 200 million of them children. USAID, 2013

- Avoid wastage of food and improve public awareness.

- Adapt a healthy eating habit

Water

• Conserve every drop of water- Nearly 1 billion people in the developing world don't have access to clean,

safe drinking water

- Water is scarce and costly in this country, produced in desalination plants across the sea coast and transported through pipelines to different areas: A process that leaves large carbon footprint.

- WATER IS THREE TIMES COSTLIER THAN GASOLENE IN SAUDI

- Individuals should make themselves and other aware of the importance of conservation of water and strive towards zero wastage goal.

Electricity-Avoid overconsumption and wastage

-Create an awareness in yourself and people around you

-Use energy efficient apparatus, CFL and LED bulbs

-Eco friendly habits

-Government should promote and invest in better home designs, well insulated homes and eco friendly construction materials.

-Develop alternate source of energy like wind and solar energy which are in abundance in Saudi Arabia

TURN OFF THE COMPUTER

Pollution• At government level - Good public transport system should be there in the city to reduce number of private vehicles on road, reduce air & noise pollution and excess consumption of fossil fuel

-Effort to promote alternative fuel efficient vehicles, electric vehicles

Pollution

*At government level-Proper disposal of domestic and industrial waste after proper treatment

-ABSOLUTE NO to open air disposal of waste

-Spread of awareness of pollution and concept of Sustainable development as a whole

- Make the awareness campaign a part of school syllabus, part of public debate and involve the local population in it.

ABSOLUTE NO

Pollution• At individual level - Car pooling

-Proper disposal of waste to help recycle, composting. We don’t throw garbage AWAY. There is no AWAY!

– We either burry it or we burn it – Landfills leak, they are toxic and contribute to ground water poisoning– Recycling is as close to ‘away’ as its possible

- Adopt the concept of Reduce, Re-use, Recycle,

and Rebuy

I would like to the individuals in my city practice Reduce, Re-use and Recycle

• Reduce/Refuse: products or it’s packaging are made of materials likely to produce large carbon footprint when used or thrown away (like batteries, disposable dishware or plastic packaging).

• Re-use: Use packaging which is returnable or reusable. Donate clothes, games and kitchenware, furniture’s, books and magazines if you are not using it any more

• Recycle: Sort out the solid waste. It’s utility increases with this

Take away message

• If we don’t act know this is our future

*We are also responsible to bring some of the creatures, who share the planet with us, to the very brink of existence