Sustainability has always been, and will always be, an important topic for us all to take into consideration, as it directly ties into the environment that we live in.
A simple definition of sustainability would be to meet our own needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. This is often referring to the three pillars of social, economic and environmental sustainability (Adams, 2006). These are the key areas of importance within the broad topic on sustainability.
In today’s blog, we will focus on how the environmental sustainability and how this links to the Fairtrade Fortnight. Environmental sustainability is the interaction with the Earth to maintain the natural resources and avoid risking the ability for future generations to meet their needs. Fairtrade is about more than just fair prices, but it is also to fighting for living wages for workers, training farmers to be more resilient to climate change or investing education within the communities.
Picture this into your mind: while taking a walk along the coastline, you see the coral reefs present in the bed of the coastline which is just one good example of many, of a sustainable ecosystem. Imagine if these are removed, as a result of pollution due to human activities, i.e. the burning of fossil fuels, which increases the CO2 levels causing ocean acidification, which can damage and kill the coral reefs over time. Hence, coral reefs no longer can protect coastlines from hurricane flooding and erosion, which will impact the coastal environment and onto agricultural land.
As environmental protection is a key element of Fairtrade’s view of sustainability. Therefore, it is essential to protect the current environment we are living in and reduce the destruction impact to a minimum. This can be done by learning how to become more sustainable and environmentally friendly in our homes, in our communities, in our ecosystems and around the globe.
By taking the sustainable agricultural practices as the key starting point, we can reduce pollution and help make a positive change, to a more sustainable environment, where we all live.
Hopefully this blog has inspired you on the importance of sustainability, let’s do this together to make a greener, brighter and better future!
Thank you all for reading!
Written by Pok Lim Lai (Student Voice Ambassador)
References
Adams, W.M. (2006). “The Future of Sustainability: Re-thinking Environment and Development in the Twenty-first Century.” Report of the IUCN Renowned Thinkers Meeting, 29–31 January 2006.