by Marie Devine

Created on: March 31, 2008

Leaders and citizens of each nation must eventually accept the only solution available to achieve environmental sustainability and conservation of natural resources. The only question is, will they do it in time to keep us from destroying ourselves.

The United Nations and the European Union continue to work with the concept of "sustainable development" in an effort to prevent us from destroying ourselves and our planet. In 1980 the International Union for the Conservation of Nature published the World Conservation Strategy using the term "sustainable development".

The Brundtland Commission, set up by the United Nations General Assembly, published a report in 1987 focusing the international community with a definition that became the most often used for "sustainable development' as development that "meets the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs." The former name of the commission was World Commission on Environment and Development.

Sustainable development is generally focused on three considerations: environmental sustainability, economic sustainability and social-political sustainability.

The obstacles to reaching environmental sustainability are the other two considerations, the economic and social-political sides. In the foreseeable future, pollution will continue with practices such as manufacturing, packaging, processing, preserving, and transporting goods. Before 1980 the international community recognized the danger ahead of us; and twenty eight (28) years later, even with all our technologies, media coverage, and United Nations and European Union strengths to arrest the problem, the problem is worse.

Environmental Sustainability refers to all aspects of nature that contribute to the existence of mankind, and includes the conservation of natural resources. Removing the focus on the economic impact, it is easy to see that if we turn toward creating a garden paradise, we would be using nature to heal nature. We would stop the pollutions that are destroying our air, land, water, food and health. Those things we consider important economically create the pollutions and problems that threaten our future existence. If we choose to see our present reality of stress, bondage and pollution, and consider a near future reality of a retirement lifestyle in a garden paradise, we can emotionally and economically put away the dangers to our existence.

At this point, the social-political sustainability

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