A sustainable economy is a fundamental
requirement for a sustainable City. A sustainable economy will
provide a good quality of life for all City residents without
undermining the biological and physical processes of the environment
upon which people depend. Its four main characteristics are:
The predominant use of renewable energy;
Energy and resource efficiency, including complete recycling of
minimized resources;
Minimum use of toxic material and no release into the environment;
and
The use of full-cost pricing (an analysis of the costs involved in
the full cycle of a product's existence, from the pollution caused
in production to the cost of disposal) in policy, production, and
consumer decision-making.
The transition to an ecologically sustainable economy involves
changing from a linear to a circular flow of resources. A linear
flow transforms raw materials into products and pollution whose
ultimate destination is a landfill, the air or the water. In a
circular flow, resources are continually used, broken down, and
recombined -- waste is eliminated as discards become the resources
of reuse or of other production processes. A sustainable economy
follows the principles of industrial ecology: the complete
interaction of production, services, resource and energy use through
the complete recycling of by-products, elimination of waste, and
reduction of use of toxins or products harmful to local ecosystems
and communities.
Creating the foundation for sustainable economic prosperity
involves identifying the needs of an ecologically sustainable
economy and seizing the market opportunities involved in meeting
them. The City's challenge will be to create the goods and services
(processes, tools, machines, management, and labor) needed by
enterprises and households so that production and consumption
ultimately have no adverse effect on the environment.
The transition to an environmentally sustainable economy must
include the integration of community values and purposes with those
of commerce and the environment. Crucial to this integration will be
City government's leadership role in both the public and private
sectors of the economy.
However, there are many residents of the City who lack the education
or skills to take advantage of these new, knowledge-based
industries. Industrial society has not only undervalued the natural
resources it makes into disposable products, it has also disregarded
the value to society of providing meaningful employment and a high
quality of life to people of all skill levels. The conservation and
reuse of resources is notable for its production of useful work for
people of limited education and training, from sorting collected
recyclables, to tending neighborhood gardens, to installing
weather-stripping on doors and windows. Moving toward a sustainable
economy provides opportunities for the economic betterment.
Source: http://www.sustainable-city.org/ |
