How is Sustainable Development in Practice?

There are many examples of sustainable development in today`s society.  Some of theses examples are small scale while others are large scale practices.  Sustainable development practices are also dependent on their location and the values of the people living in the said location. 

The construction of sustainable development project or community is very reliant on its relative location.  A prime example of this would be the use of solar panels, whether they are photovoltaic panels for electricity, or solar thermal panels for hot water heating.  A solar development will only benefit the society if there are lots of hours of sunshine each year.  The same would be true for wind power, it would only be beneficial if it was built in an area that receives lots of wind.  An example of a wind powered community that is in practice today is Rock Port, Missouri.  This town is powered 100% by wind power and this is due to the presence of four wind turbines that are found on the towns farmland.  Rock Port uses approximately 13million kwh/year.  This means that they will be selling power back to the grid, which to me is a strong sign of a positive example of sustainable development.  (Science Daily, 2008)    

As mentioned above, another factor that contributes to sustainable development is the values of a population.  Some individuals value the environment and sustainability more than others do, and this can result in the formation of sustainable development.  An example of a population that values the environment is the First Nations people, specifically the T'Sou-ke Nations people who were addressed in an earlier blog.  These individuals place a strong value on the environment and this makes them more willing to input or retrofit their homes and communities with sustainable systems.  

http://uaecommunity.blogspot.com/2009/02/pod-cars-over-abu-dhabi.html

Some examples of sustainable development can be small scale or large scale.  Large scale examples of sustainable development would be such things as housing projects like Solar Colwood, or else Zero Carbon Cities.  The concept of a Zero Carbon City is fascinating to me, since it is something I had never heard of until now.  An example of a Zero Carbon City is the City of Masdar near Saudi Arabia.  This city has undergone a number of development plans that are all pointing towards clean energy.  The city strives to be car-free and they have made it easy for pedestrians to travel around.  Personally, the most interesting thing that I have found about this community is its use of pod cars, that are simply electric taxi's.    

There are also a ton of examples of small scale examples of sustainable development that are currently being practiced.  These examples can include such things as commitments to the environment by large companies.  Most travel companies such as cruise ships, airplanes, and trains have some form of an environmental agreement that states how they will minimize their impacts on the planet.  If you were to check out the Air Canada's "Commitment to the Environment" you would find such things as their compliance to environmental standards as well as ways on how they are minimizing their environmental risks.  The image below is a simplified version of how Air Canada meets their environmental standards and how they can find ways to improve their environmental impacts.              


http://www.aircanada.com/en/about/environment/

It may not seem as if we are living in a sustainable society, but we must remember that sustainable development takes time.  There are lots of examples of small scale practices that are currently being used as well as a number of large scale processes.  So from this point on all we can do is improve our society and implement even more sustainable developments.