Community Development - Essay Example

Community development involves all processes applied with an aim to improve the various aspects of a local community. This can be implemented by activists, civic leaders, citizens, and other professionals. The major focus is the provision of skills to the community members through social institutions that help them improve their living conditions. To this end, formulation and implementation of sustainable practices is necessary. Sustainable practices aim at meeting community needs while preserving the environment.  This essay will explore how we can apply sustainable practices in community development.

The first method can be used in the formation of controlled social institutions. This involves the formation of centralized and controlled development initiatives such as training centers, Polytechnics among others. These are controlled by the relative government authorities in order to provide education aimed at avoiding the overexploitation of resources. Through these institutions, individuals can get to learn different skills as well as how to manage the different scarce resources that are available. The second method that can be employed is encouraging environmental sustainability in the community. This can be done by educating people on the importance of practicing sound environmental processes aimed at preservation. For example, the conservation of water and water catchment areas and forests, and managing the utilization of natural resources like wood. Wider goals involve global environmental protection through campaigns that educate people on the importance of cutting down carbon emission that has contributed to global warming (Wulfhorst & Haugestad, 2006).

Economic Sustainability is the other method that can be employed. It involves effective management of capital including human-capital, natural- capital, and knowledge- capital. Irreversible resource depletion should be avoided or controlled, for instance, mining and oil exploration.  Other measures include implementing an affordable tax structure, as well as proper fiscal and monetary policies. Finally, the use of social sustainability can be applied. This involves effective management of social relations within a community including how the members of the society relate with each other. This can be achieved through allowing various social freedoms such as freedom of religion, congregation, or association. The implementation of social initiatives such as community projects bring people together and enhance social relationships (Wulfhorst & Haugestad, 2006).

All these practices can be applied anywhere in the world, U. S. being one of them. This is because these practices are universal and in one way or the other touch on individuals irrespective of their geographical location. For example, the practice of encouraging environmental sustainability can be employed anywhere. This is because the issue of global warming is a threat to all nations in the world and hence the need to create awareness on the importance of conservation of the environment and control of pollution in different sectors of the economy.