Welcome to my blog!
This blog is part of my study at the University of Auckland pursuing a Bachelor of Planning Degree. One of the outcomes from studying the many aspects of planning is the change in my view and perspective towards the natural environment. We are currently living to kill many species that are becoming extinct and degrade our natural resources that we cannot possibly survive without. New Zealand is not doing so great in living sustainably - research shown that if everyone in the world lived like we do in New Zealand with our lifestyle, we would need more than 3 planets!!
So, what is sustainability?
One definition is that it refers to the quality of a state or process that allows it to be maintains indefinitely. A more commonly used definition of "sustainable development" as I have learnt from an Environmental Planning paper last year is
"meeting the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs"
This emphasizes the crucial need of both inter- and intra- generational equity in the planning process.
Enough of the boring intro..so why sustainability? why is it so important to us?
As I was procrastinating in doing uni work and browsing interesting world news on the internet a couple of weeks ago, I came across a powerful and shocking article titled, "Earth 'on brink' of mass extinction". The article suggests that Earth may face an apocalyptic event that could wiped out all species and organisms from the planet, including all of us human beings! Scientists have seen an estimated of at least 80 species of mammals have become extinct within only the past 500 years - this is shockingly unacceptable, in comparison with an average extinction rate for mammals is less than 2 species every million of years! This modern global mass extinction is largely caused by climate change and human activities.
"If currently threatened species - those officially classed as critically endangered - actually went extinct, and that rate of extinction continued, the sixth mass extinction could arrive within as little as three to 22 centuries" - Aaaaaaah !!!
This scary fact should acts as a wake-up call for all of us to stop and think what we are doing, and think of ways to improve our lifestyles on this planet! Decreasing natural resources may lead to conflict and war, changes in climate could displace millions of people and loss of natural ecosystems could result in massive species loss.
I believe that every single human being in this world can collaboratively work together and contribute to save our planet. Every little positive changes and small actions in our life count! In this blog, we will further discuss at ways to help change our lifestyle and move further towards sustainable living! Contributing your comments and opinion on my posts here will be much appreciated. I want to hear what you have to say!
ps: if you want to read more on the article discussed, go to this link
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