Sustainable Design Sustainable Development Searching for Sustainability

Sustainable Design

Sustainable Development

Searching for Sustainability

When researchers analyzed the global resource flow trends that emerged between 1980 and 2002 they found a 25% worldwide increase in material extraction and natural resource use (Behren, Giljum, Kovanda, and Niza, 2005). The increased material extraction rates were attributed to growing economies in developing nations like China and the growing size of the consumer class in these countries. When compared to trends in economic activity in terms of gross domestic product (GDP), the percent generated by material extraction shrank by 25% during the same study period. The rapid growth in the size of the less resource-intensive service sector was blamed for this finding.

The growing size of the service sector has some advantages in terms of sustainability, including lower resource utilization and cleaner technologies, but based on the findings of Behren and colleagues (2007) the growth in material extraction and utilization outstrips any sustainability advantage that the growing service sector provides. In essence, the growing size of the consumer class in developing nations continues to worsen the outlook for eventually achieving an environmentally-sustainable global economy, despite the growing service sector.

The above research study revealed that material extraction activities are greatest in places like South America and Asia, regions where the consumer class is growing the fastest (Behren, Giljum, Kovanda, and Niza, 2005). China represented 30% of new consumers by 2000 and this growth was at the expense of the environment. Estimates published in 2006 suggested that pollution stripped approximately 3% to 13% from China's GDP, which Behren and colleagues viewed as evidence that China's economy is incapable of making significant contributions to the country's wealth. This was due in part to the increasing rates of car ownership in China, which grew 445% between 1990 and 2000. Within approximately the same period carbon emissions grew by about 47%, making China responsible for 14% of all carbon emissions globally by 2000.