Summary
Most of us use energy, water and other natural resources (such as metals, plastics, timber and paper) without considering the environmental cost of production. The sheer scale of global consumption is also taking many of these materials from nature faster than they can be replenished. Our ‘ecological footprint’ is clearly too heavy. Intensive land use also means that habitat for wildlife is diminishing and across the world extinctions are occurring on a huge scale.
Our use of non-renewable energy sources (fossil fuels) such as oil, coal, gas and petrol is also adding to the problem of climate change.
In Leicester we can help to mitigate these problems by being highly efficient in our use of resources, not only by reducing consumption, but also by reusing and recycling the material we do use.
Leicester's vision:
Leicester will be highly efficient in its use of energy, water and resources, and ensure that what is used is sustainably produced without damaging the wider environment.
The Issue
Technological advances now mean that for most people in the UK, energy and water are available whenever they are needed at a twist of a tap or flick of a switch. It can seem that these are endless resources as their link back to nature has been forgotten. A similar picture exists for other natural resources we use, such as metals, plastics and wood derivatives such as timber, paper and card, as we generally take these things for granted and are unaware of the mining, drilling and felling needed to provide these materials.
Whilst these raw materials may seem abundant in nature, the sheer scale of global consumption is bringing into sharp focus the reality that they are finite. Common sense, as well as the idea of sustainability, tell us that we cannot carry on for very long consuming materials faster than they are replenished. Yet this trend of unsustainable consumption is the norm, particularly in the Western developed nations, and Leicester is no exception. The world has only around 1.5 hectares of land for each person, but current patterns of consumption require around 2.3 hectares of productive land per person. Our ‘ecological footprint’ is clearly too heavy.
If everyone in the world adopted the Western lifestyle, we would need five earths to support us
It is not just an issue of matching our consumption patterns to the earth’s available natural wealth. The extraction, processing and transportation of these materials have a huge environmental impact. Quite simply, the more we take, the more damage there is. This can be tackled not only by reducing consumption, but by reusing and recycling the material we already have. Solutions to this are considered in the Waste section of this document.
As the world’s population rises, an increasing proportion of the earth’s surface is being used for growing food or timber. Increasing intensification of agriculture also means that habitat for wildlife is diminishing. The consequence is that non-human life on the earth is being squeezed out and we are seeing wildlife extinctions on an unprecedented scale (see the wildlife section).
In Leicester we can help to mitigate these problems by being highly efficient in our use of energy, water and resources, and ensure that what we do use is sustainably produced without damaging the wider environment
Energy, water and resources
Associated Articles