Online Activity

Alex Steffen sees a sustainable future

This video starts to talk about sustainable development and gives a brief description of how our society came to be. He then discusses the ecological foot print and how we are using the earth at a rate where we need about five planets to become sustainable. Well, we only have one planet which the resources are not shared equally on. He claims that we need a change in our society but right now no one knows what our new society should exactly be like. What we do know is that we can take the cities we live in and turn them into bright green cities that are denser, more eco-friendly, have better technology, and where the people are learning to use less. We can still help make our society as sustainable as possible. One of the biggest concerns is mega cities in developing nations who do not have a solid infrastructure in place and are growing at a extremely fast rate. A common problem with these nations is that when they do develop they tend to skip to the latest technology and do not get a basic structure in place so not everyone ends of being able to benefit. A lot of help can be given to developing nations from developed ones which will be of benefit to everyone. He talks about how most of the population in the world is children and that they are growing up in a different society than their parents and have different values. We need to help them learn to value our resources and environment so that they grow up using sustainable practices. He also believes that it's not just enough to survive but we need to make things better than they previously were. He finishes with a famous quote from H.G. Wells about the past being the beginning of the beginning, meaning that what we learn from the past helps us better ourselves for the future. I think that Alex Steffen is right in that no one knows the exact solution to a sustainable future. We do know how to help, which he talks about, by changing to greener cities, helping developing nations, and raising good values in our children since they are the leaders of tomorrow. I think that poverty is a major concern for sustainability because those in poverty are just trying to survive and are not concerned with global and future issues. Some of the technology he shows in the video is very interesting. The fan that resembles a shell is just good design that is taken from nature. The seeds that can detect land mines by producing red flowers are a genius way to help save lives and is very sustainable since it is a biological organism. I think that green roofs are sustainable building design at its best and should be required in all public buildings in cities. Just look at the Manitoba Hydro Place in downtown Winnipeg and how it saves so much energy every year because of sustainable architect. I especially liked the water pump that was a merry-go-round because kids have lots of energy and wouldn't have fun pumping a normal well. In general I think that a sustainable future is in a shorter grasp than we can see and that one day we will no longer be resource dependant.