What is sustainability?
Sustainability refers to the ability of anyone to fulfill their current needs without compromising the ability for the future generations to fulfill the same needs. The main reason as to why sustainability is not common or highly practiced in all fields is because nature and the natural eco system has not been directly valued in a business chain and has hence not been given its appropriate importance. The dependency for current human needs on natural resources is drastically overlooked and hence, the problem of resource crisis is not given the level of importance that it should actually possess
Reasons for lack of sustainability:
The general business practices and economic development does not actively consider the effects of the immediate and extended environment, biodiversity, ecosystem and natural resources consumed. Industrial waste is not properly disposed that adds on to the existing problems of overuse of nature. Hence, current and conventional processes of a business are not only exploiting the natural resources but are also damaging the nature in and around the industry that definitely has long term implications for sustaining any biodiversity
Environmental degradation has also been boosted by the shortcomings of having multiple common spaces that can be accessed by the general public. Since everyone has access to these common grounds, there is very less regard for preservation or no misuse of resources that are available here.
The short term goals of a business for profit making can also be a driving force for lack of sustainability in the business practices as the first and foremost focus will be on cost cutting regardless of the damage one to the environment. From the procurement stage to the delivery of goods, sustainable development practices can be integrated. But this is seldom practiced as it generally requires certain initial investments which companies are hesitant to spend on.
Political powers are also of a short term that does not give high incentives to developing sustainable practices as the uncertainty of change may not be interesting enough to develop long term investing factors in sustainable development.
Whenever a firm pollutes natural resources or exploits the available sources, it creates a n externality that someone will have to deal with, someday. This causes a delayed cause and action effect that can often be very hard to pinpoint to the exact source. It is also very difficult to apply an exact value in monetary terms to the environment. Hence, even if companies pay for the damages that they have created in the form of fines, it generally does not contribute to the actual solving and reversing of the damages but is just a cushion for the same.
With a constant increase in population and demand for products, the pollution levels are also steadily rising that does not nature an opportunity to replenish its resources. This can be damaging for future generations and the effects of lack of sustainable options will be felt on a later date. It can be avoided and delayed with responsible actions of the present generation.
