Sustainable Societies

SUSTAINABLE SOCIETIES
By Tanuja van Aarssen


A sustainable society is one that has thrived for 300 years or more until now, or one that has survived 800 years before leading to an eventual collapse. What makes a society sustainable is its potential to meet the needs and challenges it is faced with.

HYPOTHESIS
We can learn from past societies that have collapsed to ensure that the societies of today don’t. A sustainable society may have some factors of a collapsing society but it has the ability to overcome these problems and therefore survive.
There are many factors that contribute to a society’s sustainability. A society that has a functioning government, cares for its environment, manages its economy, protects itself from invasion and ensures that it will flourish in the future has the potential to be maintained for a long period of time, granted it is supplied with all the recourses necessary to do so. The main contributing factors I will focus on are ; management of the environment, social sustainability and a functioning economy.

FRAMEWORK
Managing the environment involves using the natural resources available and making sure they don’t run out. The society should take care of its environment too, because pollution is very dangerous not only to the environment but also to the people living in it’s health. The location of the society and its ability to survive in the habitat is also very important.
Social sustainability means the society has a functioning government that maintains order within the society and makes decisions that will help the society to succeed. Having a culture that is willing to adapt and change can be very important when it comes to what the society needs to do in order to survive. A well operating defence force is important so that the society can prevent invasion and if there is an invasion, the society will remain more or less intact. Having strong allies is also a good way to prevent invasion.

Having a functioning Economy involves the society’s ability to manage resources and handle currency. Also, having positive trade partners allows the society to gain vital resources by trading with neighboring societies.

Although, for a society to be sustainable it does not need all of these factors, just those that are relevant to that society’s particular situation.



ENVIRONMENT

Resources are very important to the society’s survival. If the society does not have enough resources or cannot maintain them well it is very likely to collapse. For example, the ancient Mayans collapsed due to extreme deforestation. Whether the natural resources in a society remain intact or not depends on the government’s decision or the society’s culture or belief system. Many past societies have collapsed due to poor resource management so it is important for societies today to balance and limit themselves as to how much of that resource they are using so that there will be some for the people in the future.

A good example of a culture managed their resources badly are the Easter Islanders. They deforested all their land leaving no trees and used all the top rock to build giant statues known as the Moai causing the soil underneath to erode. With no soil, there was no water and crops became a lot harder to grow. They believed that building the Moai would bring them good fortune and that was in their religion so they made no effort to change. This caused them to starve to death.

Another society that poorly managed their resources was the Sumerians. They were constantly irrigating their water for their farms and when it evaporated, it left salt and increased salinity levels in the soil. This made it impossible for the Sumerians to have a proper agricultural system and caused the society to collapse.

An example of a civilisation that adapted and made changes just in time are the Japanese in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. They cut down almost all their trees from mining and logging . This triggered landslides and copper poisoning due to waste. The Japanese soon realised that what they were doing was wrong and developed a system of forest management that limited them as to how many trees they could cut down. Today, forests cover 70% of Japan.

The geographic location of the society also plays a big role in the sustainability of the society. The people need to know how to manage the resources available and adapt to suit the environment around them. For example, Australia has very limited water sources, unlike European countries where water is abundance. This means that Australia has to manage their water usage more wisely because of its geographical location.

An example of a society today that is slowly failing to succeed is China. China has a huge problem with pollution and it has heavily damaged the environment and the health of people who live there. The producers of goods there believe that income is more important than health.
If a resource runs out in a society it usually means that the people are very dependant on that particular resource and they need to be able to adapt in order to live without it.


SOCIAL

Culture is the beliefs and customs that a society follows and is usually what the leader uses to base decisions on. Although sometimes culture gets in the way of what the society really needs. If a society is in some sort of trouble (e.g. running out of a certain resource) the culture sometimes directs the society as to what they are going to do about it.

An example of a society where culture caused the society to make the wrong decision and lead to collapse is the Greenland Norse. Their culture is believed to be what stopped them from eating fish like their neighbours, the Inuit people. Even though they lived right next to the ocean, the Greenland Norse refused to let go of their Norwegian ways. They introduced horses, cattle and sheep to Greenland and this severely decreased the natural vegetation. Because of the climate, it was very hard for it all to grow back. Their livestock began to decline in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries and so because their culture restricted them, they refused to adapt and their society collapsed.

A society where culture helped them to survive was the Incas. Their beliefs told them never to take more food than was needed and this ensured that their environment and resources would not be wasted and would be there for future generations.

To stop it from getting invaded, a society needs at least one of two things; a strong military or good allies. If a society is invaded they stand the chance of dying out completely either by disease or force. The people may also end up as slaves. It is very helpful for a society if it is surrounded by weaker societies, or if it has positive relations with stronger countries. The Ming Dynasty had a very powerful military with over one million soldiers. Any form of rebellion or invasion in their society was efficiently taken care of because of their military.
Another example of a society that is very unlikely to be invaded is modern day Australia. Australia has extremely powerful allies including the United States and the UK. Australia is also surrounded by weaker countries so if it was going to be invaded, it would have a very good chance of overpowering the invaders.
In order for a society to function properly, it needs a stable government. The government should make decisions for the better of the society and work to keep it under control and thriving. An example of where the government’s decision went wrong is the Romans. After they lost the battle of Adrianople they had problems recruiting soldiers. It was the government’s decision to recruit Germanic barbarians into the army. However, the barbarians revolted causing the society to collapse.

Governments also need to be able to adapt in order for their society to stay stable for long periods of time. A good example of a government that adapted and made changes to save their country was the Roosevelt government during the great depression in the United States. Because of the stock market crash, President Roosevelt came up with the “new deal”, a system of programs and promises to try and provide relief to the people, reform the society and recover the people and economy between 1933 and 1938.

ECONOMY
Good trade relations are important to a society’s economy. If a society trades their goods and resources with other societies, it can be very good for that society’s economy. Importing resources is very helpful when the society’s environment cannot supply them with it.

An example of a country that has very good trade relations is China. They manufacture and export billions of goods which helps their economy. Also, because of their good relationship with other countries they are able to import gas and coal which they need and cannot mine enough for themselves.
An example of a country with a very wealthy economy is Switzerland. Because it is so small, Switzerland has very limited resources for mining. It imports raw materials in order to produce quality goods to export.

An example of a country with a very wealthy economy is Switzerland. Because it is so small, Switzerland has very limited resources for mining. It imports raw materials in order to produce quality goods to export. Switzerland is also a neutral country. This means that it has no allies but also no enemies. This is very helpful because their economy will not be damaged by war.

CONCLUSION

For a society to sustain it needs to have a functioning economy, a strong government and care for it’s environment. These three factors all interlink because without a stable government, a society will not be able to make the decisions needed to control resource usage and care for the environment so there are available resources for the future. If a society does not take care of the resources it does have, it will not be able to trade with other societies for resources it doesn’t have and this is where a stable economy comes in handy. Also, societies now can look at societies from the past and learn from mistakes to ensure a longer lasting survival.


BIBLIOGRAPHY

“Why the Greenland Norse Collapsed”, [2008], Kate Duffhttp://kated6.blogspot.com/
“A Definition of a Sustainable society”, Kirvil Skinnarland,http://www.sustainableseattle.org/SustCommunity
"The Swiss Economy", [2008], Swissworld.org, www.swissworld.org/en/economy/?gclid=CKvEvsiutJICFQWiiQodrhcJjQ
"Collapse of the Easter Islanders", [2008], Harry Bird, exsephiroth.blogspot.com/
"Fall of the Roman Empire", [2008], Sean Ding, docs.google.com/View?docid=dccp4pm7_5cxmc6jgw
“Mayan Collapse”, [2008], Michael Mroz http://shadeseven.110mb.com/mayan_collapse.pdf

“Sumerians”, Chris Croft-Crossland
http://home.cfl.rr.com/crossland/AncientCivilizations/Middle_East_Civilizations/Sumerians/sumerians.html

"19 Century China", [2001], University of San Fransisco, www.usfca.edu/classes/AuthEd/immigration/chinainfo.htm


“Underlying Causes of Deforestation and Forest Degradation”, Yoichi Kuroda
http://www.wrm.org.uy/deforestation/Asia/Japan.html