The Problem: Unsustainability

Problems of unsustainability are no longer new. On the contrary, there is evidence of ecological disaster in relation to many early civilizations. Recent scholarship (Seymour and Girardet, 1986) points to an alarming picture of unsustainable land use practices in ancient Mesopotamia, Presia, Greece, the Roman Empire, as well as in the "Modern" era, Spain (in its golden age), the Sahel, the upper Brahmaputra, the Murray-Darling Basin.... Recognition of unsustainable practices is also not new. Plato shows a real understanding of human ecology in his quote from Critias:

All other lands were surpassed by ours in goodness of soil, so that it was actually able at that period to support a large host which was exempt from the labours of husbandry ... . And, just as happens in small islands, what now remains compared with what then existed is like the skeleton of a sick man, all the fat and soft earth having wasted away, and only the bare framework of the land being left. But at that epoch the country was unimpaired, and for its mountains it had high arable hills, and in place of the swamps as they are now called, it contained plains full of rich soil; and it had much forest-land in its mountains, of which there are visible signs even to this day. Moreover, it was enriched by the yearly rains from Zeus, which were not lost to it, as now, by flowing from the bare land into the sea; but the soil it had was deep, and therein it received the water, storing it up in the retentive loamy soil; and by drawing off into the hollows from the heights the water that was there absorbed, it provided all the various districts with abundant supplies of springwater and streams, where shrines still remain even now, at the spots where the fountains formerly existed. Such, then, was the natural condition of the rest of the country, and it was ornamented as you would expect from genuine husbandmen who made husbandry their sole task, and possessed of most excellent land and a great abundance of water, and also, above the land, a climate of most happily tempered seasons.
(Plato, 5th century BC: 1929 translation by Bury)

Plato clearly understood the effect of deforestation on water retention, climate and soil fertility. Ironically, two and a half thousand years later, it is still these aspects of the environment that give cause for concern. Now, though, some of the issues are of global not just regional concern, reflecting the shift from basically agrarian societies to global industrialization.

THE CURRENT ISSUES of global and regional ecology are well documented. Below they are summarized.

Global Climate:
* Increased likelihood of global warming and climate change as a result of high levels of greenhouse gas emission from fossil fuel burning and land use change (including deforestation and draining of bogs).
* As a direct result of the above, an unacceptable risk to low lying coastal cities and villages from rising sea levels as oceans expand and polar ice melts.

Biodiversity:
* Progressive loss in the range and extent of wildlife habitats both at the world scale and within the UK specifically, due to the impact of development and human activity.
* As a result of the above, the endangering or total loss of rare/vulnerable species globally and within specific regions. The global "gene-bank" is thus being impoverished.

Air Quality:
* Poor air quality, especially in urban areas, as a result of traffic and industry, leading to health problems-- e.g. the increase in asthma.
* Atmospheric pollution on a wider scale, causing the problems of ozone depletion and acid rain.

Water:
* In some areas: declining ground water levels, with consequent problems for water supply; increased run off, with consequent risk of flooding; water contamination in both urban and rural areas.

Earth:
* In some areas: loss of soil through increased erosion rates; loss of nutrients and soil fertility; problems of land contamination/dereliction.

Minerals:
* High rate of extraction of non-renewable mineral reserves and sterilization of potential renewable resourses.

Articles under this Sustainable Development topic have been lifted from Part IV- Planning for Sustainability by Hugh Barton, from the book: Investigating Town Planning- Creating Perspectives and Agendas, edited by Clara Greed.