Episode 2 : Theories and Principles of Sustainability | Sustainable Development Goals | SDG Plus
Summary
TLDRThe video explores the concept of sustainability and its historical roots, tracing back to ancient civilizations like the Aztecs, Indians, and African tribes. It highlights their sustainable practices, such as recycling, biological conservation, and sustainable agriculture. The video contrasts these with the unsustainable practices of civilizations like the Greeks and Romans, emphasizing the need to learn from our ancestors rather than seeking new definitions. It suggests that modern societies can benefit by adopting time-tested sustainable practices from history, rather than reinventing them, to address today's environmental challenges.
Takeaways
- 🌿 The concept of sustainability dates back over 30 years, popularized by the Brundtland Commission's 1987 report, defining it as development that meets present needs without compromising future generations.
- 🌱 The roots of sustainable development predate the term 'sustainability', with early civilizations like the Aztecs practicing sustainable agriculture through agrarian urbanism and waste recycling.
- 📚 Ancient Indian literature, influenced by Buddhism and Jainism, promoted sustainability through biological conservation and respect for all living things.
- 🏞️ The Aztecs viewed waste as a valuable resource, creating a competitive economy and maintaining cleanliness in their cities through stringent recycling practices.
- 🌳 The Bantus, Semi-Bantus, and Sudanese tribes of Cameroon have maintained sustainable agricultural practices like crop rotation and mixed cropping, passed down through generations.
- 🌏 The Mesopotamian, Egyptian, Greek, and Roman civilizations faced sustainability issues such as deforestation and soil fertility loss due to excessive farming and logging.
- 🌱 These ancient civilizations were aware of the negative impacts of their practices and suggested measures to maintain the earth's 'everlasting youth'.
- 🔄 The historical analysis of sustainability shows that many civilizations have embedded sustainable practices in their cultures, offering lessons for modern societies.
- 💡 The solution to sustainability may lie in learning from our rich ancestral history rather than seeking a single definition or theory, emphasizing the importance of implementing learned practices.
- 🌟 The video encourages viewers to learn from history's examples of sustainability, such as the Aztecs' agricultural practices and the conservation beliefs of Indian religions, and to apply these lessons today.
Q & A
What is the origin of the term 'sustainability' as mentioned in the script?
-The term 'sustainability' was popularized by the Brundtland Commission's report 'Our Common Future' in 1987, which gave it a universal definition.
What is the definition of sustainable development according to the Brundtland report?
-Sustainable development is defined as development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.
Why is the concept of sustainable development often misunderstood?
-The concept of sustainable development is often misunderstood because of the openness to interpretation of Brundtland's definition, which allows for various interpretations.
How did prehistoric people approach sustainability?
-Prehistoric people approached sustainability by either leaving their land to allow natural resources to replenish or by living within their means, such as breeding animals and harvesting plants.
What is an example of early sustainable agriculture as mentioned in the script?
-The Aztecs are an example of early civilizations that practiced sustainable agriculture through agrarian urbanism, where they viewed waste as a valuable resource.
How did ancient Indian literature and religions like Buddhism and Jainism contribute to sustainability?
-Ancient Indian literature and religions like Buddhism and Jainism contributed to sustainability by advocating for biological conservation, with strict rules against unnecessary killing and deforestation.
What is the significance of the Bantus, Semi-Bantus, and Sudanese tribes of Cameroon in the context of sustainability?
-The Bantus, Semi-Bantus, and Sudanese tribes of Cameroon exemplify sustainability through their knowledge passed down generations, effective agricultural land management, and conservation practices.
What were the sustainability problems faced by Mesopotamian, Egyptian, Greek, and Roman civilizations?
-These civilizations faced sustainability problems such as deforestation and loss of soil fertility due to excess farming and logging.
What is the script's suggestion for modern civilizations to approach sustainability?
-The script suggests that modern civilizations should learn from historical examples of sustainability and implement practices from their rich ancestral history rather than trying to reinvent the wheel.
What is the significance of the Aztecs' recycling practices in the context of sustainable development?
-The Aztecs' recycling practices, which viewed waste as a valuable resource, created a competitive economy, reduced waste, and kept cities clean, demonstrating an early form of sustainable development.
How can we learn from the past to improve our understanding and practice of sustainability today?
-We can learn from the past by studying historical examples of sustainable practices across different civilizations and implementing those lessons into modern sustainable development strategies.
Outlines
🌿 Origins and Evolution of Sustainability
The paragraph delves into the historical roots of sustainability, tracing its origins back to prehistoric times. It discusses how early civilizations like the Aztecs practiced sustainable agriculture through agrarian urbanism and waste recycling. The Aztecs viewed waste as a valuable resource, creating a competitive economy while maintaining cleanliness. Ancient Indian literature, particularly Buddhism and Jainism, is highlighted for advocating sustainability through biological conservation and respect for all life forms. The paragraph also touches on the environmental practices of African tribes like the Bantus, SEMI-buntus, and Sudanese, who have preserved knowledge of sustainability through generations, using techniques like crop rotation and mixed cropping. It contrasts these practices with those of ancient civilizations like Mesopotamian, Egyptian, Greek, and Roman, which faced sustainability issues due to deforestation and soil fertility loss, despite being aware of the need for environmental care.
🔄 Learning from Ancestral Sustainability Practices
This paragraph emphasizes the importance of learning from historical examples of sustainability rather than attempting to reinvent solutions. It provides a recap of the sustainable practices discussed in the previous paragraph, such as the Aztecs' stringent recycling practices, the biological conservation advocated by Buddhism and Jainism in India, and the knowledge of sustainability passed down by African tribes. The paragraph also mentions the awareness of unsustainable practices by ancient civilizations and suggests that modern societies should draw from this rich ancestral history to implement sustainable practices, rather than seeking a single definition or theory of sustainability. The video concludes with a call to action for viewers to engage with the content, subscribe for more, and participate in the SDG Plus community to learn and interact more about sustainability.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Sustainability
💡Sustainable Development
💡Brundtland Commission
💡Agrarian Urbanism
💡Biological Conservation
💡Resource Management
💡Deforestation
💡Soil Fertility
💡Religious Beliefs
💡Ancestral History
💡SDG Plus Community
Highlights
Sustainability and sustainable development became prominent over 30 years ago.
The Brundtland Commission's report in 1987 popularized the term 'sustainability'.
Sustainable development is defined as meeting present needs without compromising future generations' ability to meet their own.
The concept of sustainable development predates the term 'sustainability'.
Prehistoric people adapted to dwindling resources by moving or adopting sustainable practices.
The Aztecs practiced sustainable agriculture through agrarian urbanism.
For the Aztecs, sustainability involved recycling waste as a valuable resource.
Ancient Indian literature promotes holistic methods of sustainability.
Buddhism and Jainism in India advocated sustainability through biological conservation.
Rabindranath Tagore emphasized the connection between Indian civilization and nature.
The Bantus, Semi Bantus, and Sudanese tribes of Cameroon have a long-standing tradition of sustainability.
Mesopotamian, Egyptian, Greek, and Roman civilizations faced sustainability problems.
Ancient literature indicates awareness of sustainability issues and suggested solutions.
Historical civilizations often conquered new lands to replenish resources.
Sustainable development theories and principles are deeply embedded in many civilizations' cultures.
Learning from ancestral history may provide solutions to modern sustainability challenges.
The Aztecs' stringent recycling practices created a competitive economy and kept cities clean.
Indian religions and philosophies have long advocated for sustainability.
The Bantus and related tribes of Cameroon have passed down knowledge of sustainability through generations.
Egyptian, Mesopotamian, Greek, and Roman civilizations were aware of their unsustainable practices.
Implementing sustainable practices from our rich ancestral history is suggested over reinventing the wheel.
Transcripts
It has been over 30 years since the terms sustainability and sustainable
development rose to the prominence of a mantra . In 1987 the word sustainability
was popularized by the Brundtland commission's report "our common future",
giving it an almost universal definition - development that meets the needs of the
present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own
needs. With the publication of Brundtland report the word sustainable development
has often been used without understanding its real value and
implications. This is because of the openness to interpretation of Brundtland's
definition. However the roots from which the concept of sustainable development
grew predates the use of the term sustainability.
Therefore, historical analysis of the term is the first step in developing a
greater understanding of the theories and principles of sustainability. In
prehistoric times people lived their lives as either hunters or gatherers
as the human population grew within a confined piece of land natural resources
around them would start to dwindle. to adapt some of the people moved away from
their ancestral lands in search of new land and resources. Others decided to
settle on the land to breed animals and harvest plants. the principle of
sustainability for these people was either to leave their land and allow its
natural resources to replenish or living within their means. So what was
sustainability for the people who decided to live within their means. One
of the early examples of civilizations that practiced sustainable agriculture were
the Aztecs. the Aztecs decided to settle for a
sedentary agricultural lifestyle known as agrarian urbanism. For the Aztecs,
sustainability was recycling, viewing waste as a valuable resource which can
be bought and sold. Like food leftovers, crop residue and even human faeces, their
stringent recycling practices created an economy that was competitive, reduced
waste and kept the cities clean. reading through the ancient Indian
literature it is evident that sophisticated holistic methods of
sustainability have always been encouraged and practiced. Buddhism and
Jainism both advocated sustainability in the form of biological conservation.
Buddhism allows killing of animals and deforestation only when it's absolutely
necessary and Jainism condemns killing of any kind even insects as it views all
living things as equal and that they need to be protected. ancient Indian
literature even regarded rivers as being divine. the famous poet Rabindranath
Tagore in his essay "topovan" or forest purity wrote that Indian civilization
has been distinctive in locating its source of regeneration material and
intellectual in the forest not the city. India's best ideas have come where man
was in communion with the trees and rivers and lakes away from the crowd.
from 6000 BCE ancient Africa to its current local traditions and beliefs
there has always been a tight bond that existed between the environment and the
people the buntus, SEMi buntus and Sudanese tribes of Cameroon in Central
Africa are a great example they have passed down the knowledge of
sustainability down generations they have learned how to effectively manage
their agricultural lands using crop rotation and mixed cropping without ever
exploiting it. they made hunting only accessible to
veteran hunters who are allocated confined spaces of land . farming and
logging are banned from sacred parts of the forest. people even grew fruit
bearing trees around their houses and farms to maximize land use. on the other
hand ,let us look at the Mesopotamian, Egyptian Greek and Roman
civilizations. at some point in time these civilizations were all faced with
sustainability problems such as the deforestation and loss of soil fertility
as a result of excess farming and logging. ancient literature indicates
that the people around the time period were fully aware of these problems. they
even suggested that they should maintain the everlasting youth of the earth and
care for the earth by lessening the evil effects of such practices.
however history has shown us that these civilizations often conquered new land
to replenish depleting resources. looking at historical examples of sustainability
and sustainable development its theories and principles have all been deeply
embedded in the rich cultures of many civilizations from efficiently recycling
their resources and creating a competitive economy conserving nature as
part of religious beliefs practicing local sustainability traditions that
have been passed down hundreds of generations advocating against
unsustainable practices... it is evident that history is filled with great
examples of sustainable development which our current modern civilizations
can learn from. maybe the solution is not to search for a single definition, theory
or principle of sustainability and sustainable development. the solution may
be to learn and implement sustainable practices from our rich ancestral
history rather than trying to reinvent the wheel. here's a quick recap
history is ripe with great examples of sustainability and it's important we
don't forget it : how Aztecs practiced sustainable agriculture using
their stringent recycling practices. India's religion of Buddhism and Jainism
advocated sustainability in the form of biological conservation. the Bantus SEMi
bunters and Sudanese tribes of Cameroon have been passing down knowledge of
sustainability. Egyptian Mesopotamian, Greek and Roman civilizations were aware
of their disastrous and unsustainable practices. We should learn sustainable
practices from our rich ancestral history and implement it, rather than
trying to reinvent the wheel.
thanks for watching hope you enjoyed our video if you did leave us a like and
subscribe if you haven't already and let us know in the comments what you'd like
us to cover next if you'd like to learn more about sustainability assess your
skills and interact with like-minded people come join our SDG Plus community
Voir Plus de Vidéos Connexes
Episode 5 : Sustainable and Unsustainable Practices from around the Globe | SDG 2030 | SDG Plus
Agriculture
TED: Carolyn Steel - How food shapes our cities
Nachhaltigkeit einfach erklärt (explainity® Erklärvideo)
Food and Textiles Studies G9 U2L1 Definition of sustainable food production and consumption
The History Of Beer
5.0 / 5 (0 votes)