Living within environmental limits

We do not take more from the earth than we give back

You have chosen to Sus Out how your group can develop more sustainably by living within environmental limits. This page will help you to understand the relationship between what you take from the earth and what you give back and how you can use this knowledge to contribute to the sustainable development of your community and others.

What is living within environmental limits?

Living within environmental limits means using the natural resources of the planet in such a way that the systems that regenerate them are not damaged beyond repair. These systems include the climate, which determines living conditions from deserts to tropical rain forests, the nitrogen cycle through which decaying material contributes to future fertility on which our food chain depends and water systems that provide the basis of marine, plant, animal and human life. These and other systems are closely inter-connected; for example, over-use of resources such as carbon, in the form of coal or oil, is producing 'greenhouse' gases that damage the planet's protective ozone layer and lead to the melting of the arctic and polar ice caps.

Climate change has occurred since the birth of the planet. The land on which we live today has, at some time, been under ice and has also been tropical forest. The problem is that human activity is promoting global warming in a way that is causing climate change to happen faster than our natural systems can bear. There has always been change in the ways that life occupies the planet and the future of the planet does not depend on the presence of human beings but, so long as we intend to have a role in this future, it is in our interests to ensure that nothing we do pushes these environmental systems beyond their capacity to provide the conditions we need to live.

Environmental Limits and Sustainable Development

The history of human development, from hunter gathering, to agriculture, to industry and post-industrial development, has been intimately connected with changes in the ways in which we have used natural resources. In earlier times the rate at which we extracted energy (or embedded energy in the form of timber and minerals) appeared to have little impact on the supply that would be needed for future generations and the waste that we created could be easily absorbed back in to the environment. Today, we are extracting carbon-based energy that cannot be replaced in time for future generations and we are severely stretching the capacity of the planet to re-absorb the waste we are producing. This is an unsustainable pattern of development.

However, this unsustainable behaviour is not evenly distributed. Countries in the global north and west are consuming carbon based energy and creating waste in greater quantities than those in the south and east leading to significant inequalities of development. One measure of consumption, the ecological footprint, shows that if everyone used the same amount of energy as people in the most developed countries we would already need between three and five planets to meet these energy demands.

As 'less developed' people demand greater technological improvements to the quality of their lives, this demand for energy and the consequent problems of waste will only increase. Sustainable development requires a substantial change in our approach to energy and waste and to the social and economic systems in which they play such a central role.

How living within environmental limits affect you group?

As a group you are, inevitably, using energy and creating waste. You are also a part of a larger, community wide energy and waste system that is having an impact on the local and wider environment. How aware are you of the choices you can make about energy and waste and do you include an assessment of your environmental impact when you audit the social and economic benefits your group provides? Possibilities for reducing damaging environmental impacts are summarised as 'reduce, re-use, recycle' and use alternative energy sources. On a small scale, these might require only small changes to the ways in which you operate. On a community level this might lead you to rethink some fundamental aspects of the way in which your community behaves and to explore ideas for substantial change.

Developing your ability to use resources in a more sustainable way

Your group decided that it would like to live more closely within environmental limits and you pledged yourselves to an action you could take to show that you have achieved this. A three step approach will help you to clarify your pledge and to put an action plan in place:

Develop your understanding of the impact of your community on the wider environment.
Think about how your group uses natural resources.
Review your pledge and plan what you will do.

When you have clarified your pledge and agreed on your action plan, a range of organisations are available to help you.

Helpful organisations

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Useful resources