Resource Use and Sustainability

February 2003

Citation:

ELR 10143

Issue

Author

Amit Kapur & Thomas E. Graedel

Overview

Sustainability with respect to the use of resources has two components: (1) how is the rate of resource use related to the overall stock of resources, and (2) what portion of resources in use are lost to the environment. The first component assumes critical importance in the United States. In 1990, the average American was responsible for the extraction and employment of over 50 kilograms (kg) of material daily, more than anywhere else in the world. Ten years later, the quantity has increased by about 10%, and some of the associated environmental impacts have increased as well. The lack of conscious efforts and proactive policies has promoted what appears to be unsustainable behavior. Overall, however, no attempt has been made to define sustainability in quantitative terms, to set goals for improvement, and to measure progress toward these goals. A variety of activities characterized as sustainable have been proposed, and clearly would be beneficial. Until precise measures are taken to address and understand sustainability, however, the United States and the world will have no clear picture of how sustainable or unsustainable they are, whether or not they are moving in the right direction, and when resource sustainability will be achieved.

[Editors' Note: In June 1992, at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro, the nations of the world formally endorsed the concept of sustainable development and agreed to a plan of action for achieving it. One of those nations was the United States. In August 2002, at the World Summit on Sustainable Development, these nations gathered in Johannesburg to review progress in the 10-year period since UNCED and to identify steps that need to be taken next. Prof. John C. Dernbach has edited a book, Stumbling Toward Sustainability, that assesses progress made by the United States on sustainable development in the past 10 years and recommends next steps. The book, published by the Environmental Law Institute in July 2002, is comprised of chapters on various subjects by experts from around the country. This Article appears as a chapter in that book. Further information on Stumbling Toward Sustainability will be available at www.eli.org or by calling 1-800-433-5120 or 202-939-3844.]

Amit Kapur is a Doctor of Forestry and Environmental Studies candidate at the School of Forestry and Environmental Studies at Yale University. Thomas E. Graedel is the Clifton R Musser Professor of Industrial Ecology at the School of Forestry and Environmental Studies at Yale University.

Resource Use and Sustainability

You must be an ELR-The Environmental Law Reporter subscriber to download the full article.

Resource Use and Sustainability