In recent years, sustainability has become a hot topic in the news; from plastic straw bans to ethical investing, navigating all the emerging fields that sustainability encompasses can be challenging.
Pillars of Sustainability
The three pillars of sustainability include environmental, economic, and social sustainability. The Environmental pillar focuses on ecological integrity and balancing human natural resource consumption. The Social pillar focuses on developing healthy communities and their access to necessities & universal human rights. The Economic pillar of sustainability focuses on maintaining financial independence and securing sources of livelihood within those same communities.
Impacts of Sustainably
When it comes to sustainable development, the goal is to meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations. Some commonly seen examples of this are renewable energy, water efficiency, and crop rotation. As the impacts of climate change become more and more prevalent over the coming years, it will be a combination of these efforts that helps us to mitigate the effects.
~By Michaela Flynn, Intern at Seed Solar, Electric and Engineering. Michaela is a 2021 graduate from UAlbany with a major in Environmental Science and a minor in Sustainability & Policy.