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Sustainability is concerned withy every aspect of the
society, environmental concerns are tightly linked to sustainable
development.
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Sustainability is connected with both inter-generational
justice as well as intra-generational justice.
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Two processes led to the concept of sustainability; a
scientific and a political one.
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Sustainability is in its origin an abstract notion. To
discuss the practical consequences it has to be interpreted and
operationalised.
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Objectives of sustainability is to maximise simultaneously
the biological system goals, economic system goals and the social system
goals.
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The carrying capacity understood as the maximum continually supportable
rate of flow is an important part of the sustainability concept.
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The ecological footprint designates the area which is taken
into account to supply energy and matter to a supported system and absorb
its discharged waste and pollution.
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It has been estimated that we need to reduce the flows by a
factor 2 to achieve sustainability. However, the existing flow is unevenly
distributed over the world. The richer 20% of the population moves about 80%
of the total material.
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The Environmental Utilization Space (EUS) is a measure of
the amount of environmental pressure that an ecosystem can be subjected to
without being seriously damaged.
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There are estimates that the world passed its carrying
capacity at about 1970, since then the overuse has increased and the
carrying capacity has decreased.
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The environmental impact of the materials flow can be
reduced by dematerialization or by transmaterialization.
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Recycling is a key project in the sustainable society.
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Energy utilization in the Scandinavian countries has grown
by about 5% a year during nearly 200 years, a doubling of the the energy
consumption every 15 years.
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The exergy content of a storage or a flow is measured by the
product of an energy quantity and an energy quality, Both of these can be
subjected to conservation measures and efficiency improvements.
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Co-generation of heat and electricity and the heat pump are
examples of systems solutions that can improve exergy efficiency of the society
as a whole.
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Car, air and sea traffic are in many cases abominable from
an ecological point of view.
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Exergy effective ways of transport include bicycles and
trains.
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The ecological model is effective in describing any material
system that contains life.
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The Brundtland report states that industry: "introduces
both products and pollution into the environment".
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The Baltic Sea region is richly endowed by nature and could
be self-sufficient in foodstuffs. However, the management of nutrients is a
big problem.
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Ecological farming in the Baltic Sea region is now practiced
on a fairly small framing area.
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Sustainable, ecological, forestry takes into account the use
of forests for other purposes than wood production as a source for
biodiversity and landscape diversity.
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The Baltic Sea is inherently very productive as regards fish
although the number of species is limited.
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For the advancement of the sustainability principle whole
governments must be committed and the policies must be formulated
nationally.
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Science ha a role of creating new knowledge also on the
state of the environment.
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Education is important on sustainability matters, especially
for those who work practically with planning and resource management in
society.
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Local communities and initiatives by smaller groups have key
roles.
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A sustainable society will not be built in one day. Many
gradual improvements are needed.
