Sustainable Development in the Social Environment - Essay Example

sustainable development by The of the The of the School The and where it islocated The Date Sustainable development Introduction It is often suggested that living in the social environment should be seen as an important prerequisite for the development of the inner potential of a person. Indeed, if it had not been for it, a considerable amount of features that are regarded as characteristic ones could not have developed. However, what some people tend to realize that in the course of the history, the world population has been growing; so, the number of individuals who comprise the global community increased every year. Nowadays, the world is concerned with the issue of sustainable development claiming that this should be seen as the only viable alternative for the future of the humanity. In addition to that, population growth surely has a tremendous effect on it. This paper will analyze this influence and examine both positive and negative sides of it. Defining key terms To begin with, it may be particularly important to pay close attention to several concepts that will be used throughout the paper. The first of them is obviously sustainable development. In spite of the fact that this is often fought to be one of the most complex modern concepts which were created by the humanity, one is able to come up with a simple definition of it. Thus, the researchers argue that sustainable development is a kind of development which occurs when there is no decrease the pace of advancement over time (Pearce & Barbier 1990, p. 3). For example, the current pattern of development can not be fully recognized as a sustainable one since it heavily relies on petroleum which is a resource will become extinct if the current pattern of using it continues. The next important concept that should be taken into account is the idea of population growth. Thus, it would not be a mistake to suggest that the word is divided into separate, independent and sovereign countries each of which has its own population. However, it may be particularly important to treat the mankind as a unified group of people. If one does so, one will be able to witness quite a peculiar statistics: the second half of the twentieth century is market with a steady increase in the population which is now beyond the mark of seven billion people ("Population, Total." n.d.). In addition to that, the annual rate of growth is around two percent, so this number will become even bigger. Negative aspect of influence One can hardly dismiss the fact that population growth is able to influence the process of sustainable development in a negative way. For example, the more there are people, the more products they will be able to consume (Searle 1995, p. 43). Since the rate of increase of volume of production is behind the rate of population growth, one should not that there are might be situations when there would be a demand which could not be satisfied. It is obvious that this will not be experienced in the developed countries which have already forgotten about such phenomena as starvation; nevertheless, this is a reality for undeveloped countries. All this leads to the understanding that sustainable growth is not possible when a considerable part of the world is starving. Another aspect which should be engaged when considering the influence of population growth on the above mentioned concept is decrease of production. Indeed, on the one hand, there is a tremendous number of people who are turning senior and will not be able to participate actively in the economy; in addition to that, there are many individuals who are preparing to enter work force, but due to the increased competition the employers will cut on their wages (Ahlburg & Kelley 1996, p. 2). In other words, nowadays it is possible to develop one’s business extensively, not intensively which is contrary to the spirit of sustainable development. The next point of view which should be taken into account is the process of migration. As it has already been noted, the growth of the population is steady; so gradually people will find themselves surrounded by other people and many will be willing to move to a different place (Unruh 2004, p. 223). As a result, the world is likely to witness migration which has not been seen before as nowadays due to the advancements of technology and particularly transportation, it is much easier to start living in a different country. Keeping all this in mind, one will be able to see that the social environment will be rather unstable which does not enable the world to pursue the path of sustainable development. The issue of employment is the one which should be noted in particular when it comes to examining the relationship between population growth and sustainable development. Many people understand that under current conditions it is extremely important to secure a stable source of income. That is why many companies will not be willing to recruit new people and keep the old staff. Indeed, an organization is likely to trust experienced employees, rather than novices, even though the latter may want to work for less (Eversley & Jackson 2013, p. 112). So, some companies will put their efforts in retaining the old state of affairs which is incompatible with the idea of sustainable development which advocated introducing changes to abandon the old ineffective ways. What is even more important is that the process of income distribution will be corrupted by the population growth. Thus, there will be a relatively small group of people who will be actually working and they would want to keep their earned money to themselves, rather than sharing it with other parts of the population. In addition to that, as it has already been mentioned before, some people will understand that the conditions are difficult and they should put aside something in case of global economic crises (Firebaugh 2003, p. 133). As a result, the money that is created by the people will not work entirely, but a small portion of it will be left without any use. Under these circumstances sustainable development can hardly be achieved. Finally, one should also point out that an increase in the number of people will surely make the question of social protection more acute (Gilbert 2003, p. 129). Indeed, the number of people who are able to work and take care of themselves will be getting smaller, while the number of people who the government takes care of such as seniors, small children in deprived families and so on will become bigger. Therefore, the funds which circulate in every society in the world will often be reallocated to satisfy these needs. As a result, there would be no or little resources left to direct them to sustainable development which sets the world back in its advancement. Positive aspect of influence Nevertheless, it must be noted that in the relationship between population growth and sustainable development one is able to witness some positive dynamics as well. One of the first as well as the most obvious advantages of the former process is the increase in the human capital (Sirageldin 2002, p. 1). Indeed, the more people there are, the more there will be talented individuals. It is quite understandable that the new generation will not consist of famous scientists entirely, but from the point of view of probability theory a bigger number of people translates a bigger number of those who are able to influence the world in a positive way. So, sustainable development may be achieved with the help of the efforts of these people. In addition to that, population growth will encourage the governments all over the world develop cities so that they could provide enough room for the people who live in them. However, there is a clear limitation to the physical size of a city. That is why the government will have to think about how to use the already available space with the maximum productivity. The latter approach is fundamental to the concept of sustainable development (Cocks 1996, p. 140). In other words, the growth of the population poses realistic challenges that should be taken care of by the contemporary people which might be regarded as a first step to achieve sustainable development. The above mentioned practice gradually leads the humanity towards another change in the way it organizes its activity. Thus, with the number of people on this planet growing while the available space does not increase, the issue of effectiveness becomes essential. As a result, people will have to think about the ways to increase the positive outcome of every action so that it would satisfy the needs of many simultaneously. For example, the population growth will result in the fact that more people will be using public transportation, but if the current technology is employed further, it will simply not be able to carry the passengers. So, a new means of public transportation will not be seen as a fancy alternative, but the only way to secure this industry. This means that sustainable development will in future become an irreplaceable part of life. The next idea which is likely to explain the peculiarities of the relationship between population growth and sustainable development is the increase in the diversity of the local communities. Indeed, as has been previously mentioned that people are likely to migrate due to the pressure that is caused by other people. That is why it is logical that they are going to bring their own culture to the new host country. It is quite understandable that this might be seen as a valuable to contribution to the cultural life of the local community which is likely to generate new ideas. The latter are likely to lead to the emergence of novel ways to cope with the existing problems, avoiding the old fallacies such as relying on nonrenewable resources. So, gradually, cultural exchange will contribute to emergence on new practices. The fact that the global population is increasing will make sure that those who are perform a work will become more flexible, interchangeable and effective. In other words, such organization of the working place is likely to boost the performance as this will be the only way to maintain it on a sufficient level and make sure that the company is not operate well. This also means that every employee will gradually become more valuable to a company which will lead to a qualitative increase in performance. Keeping in mind that in the future more and more organization will rely on people as their most valuable asset, one might suggest that sustainable development will be achieved through placing a bigger emphasis on the people who will be engaged in the economic activity. All the elements which were discussed previously are likely to lead to the fact that the social structure as we know it today will be redefined. While some might be afraid of this outcome, it is clear that this should be seen as an essential precondition of the emergence of sustainable development. This means that the world as it is perceived today is not able to get rid of its addiction of using nonrenewable resources; however, the latter is likely to lead the humanity in the dead end the only escape from which is introducing new ways of organizing production, performance and social relations. Conclusion Having examined all the evidence, one is able to come to the following conclusion: the effect of population growth on sustainable development is evident; however, it can not be characterized in one dimension only which leads to the understanding that there is a positive as well as negative side to it. On the one hand, population growth surely puts many obstacles on the way of achieving sustainable development by the humanity, but, on the other hand, the growth of the global population also allows the world to step on the path of sustainable development earlier that we think as it will be seen as a viable way to retain the satisfactory state of affairs. References Ahlburg, D & Kelley, A 1996, The impact of population growth on well-being in developing countries, Springer, Berlin. Cocks, K 1996, People policy: Australias population choices, UNSW Press, Sydney. Eversley, D & Jackson, V 2013, Population Growth and Planning Policy Housing and Employment Location in the West Midlands, Taylor and Francis, Hoboken. Firebaugh, G 2003, The new geography of global income inequality, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA. Gilbert, N 2003, Changing patterns of social protection, Transaction, New Brunswick, NJ. Pearce, D & Barbier, E 1990, Sustainable development: Economics and environment in the Third World, E. Elgar, Aldershot. Population, total n.d., Retrieved March 8, 2015, from http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.POP.TOTL/countries?display=graph Searle, D 1995, Population growth, resource consumption and the environment seeking a common vision for a troubled world, Centre for Studies in Religion and Society, University of Victoria, Victoria. Sirageldin, I 2002, Human capital: Population economics in the Middle East, I.B. Tauris, London. Unruh, J 2004, Environmental change and its implications for population migration, Kluwer Academic, Dordrecht. Read More