[Music]
This is Peter. Peter is a teacher. He's
sure that he leads a sustainable life.
He buys organic products at the
supermarket, rides to work on a bike [bike horn],
and his lights use green electricity [light ding].
But is that really sustainable living?
[Sliding sound, click]
Let's go back to the beginning. Even in the 18th
century, people were interested in the
environment. For example, Carl von Carlowitz
realized that you shouldn't cut
down more trees than will grow again to
replace them.
[Breaking wood]
So he had recognized the basic
principle of sustainability.
[Sliding]
Nowadays,
sustainability is seen as a global concept.
This can be explained with the
help of the three pillar model.
The model is based on environmental, [Pop]
economic, [Pop] and social considerations [Pop]
which must always be regarded as
belonging together. [Sliding]
First, the environmental pillar. It includes,
among other things, climate protection
which is widespread. Protection of
resources and biodiversity. [Sliding] Also,
food should be grown organically.
That is, we should stop using pesticides
and farm animals should be given fodder
produced on the farm. [Sliding] We must use
natural resources more sparingly, too. One
of them is petrol, which we need for our cars,
[Car accelerates]
but, sooner or later, this resource will be
exhausted, so there'll be no fuel for the
cars. [Car skids] This is why we're looking very
hard for an environmentally friendly
alternative, so that future generations
will have environmentally friendly cars.
[Car accelerates]
Electric ones, for example.
[Sliding]
The next pillar
is the economy; that is, business
and industry. In future, at the
supermarket, Peter should only find
produce that's in season in his region,
like strawberries in summer. [Clack]
[Sliding] Mangos from Brazil, or
bananas from Colombia, and
Ecuador, arrive by air from a very long
way away. Transporting them causes a lot
of pollution. The third pillar of
sustainability is the social element.
Goals here include, for example, better
education and training opportunities [Sliding],
equal rights for men and women,
fighting poverty,
and prosperity for the whole of Humanity.
[Sliding]
One beverage manufacturer from an
industrialized country has quite a bit
of catching up to do here. It repeatedly
takes over the wells of villages in
India, because it needs the water to make
its products there.
[Water bubbling]
That isn't very sustainable.
Peter doesn't think so either.
After all, at least a little water
should be left in the wells for the
Indian population. [Sliding]
So Peter tries to do justice to the
three pillar model: when he buys
organically grown produce, when he goes
to work on his bike, and by using green
power from wind turbines. He really does
live sustainably. [Sliding]
But be careful.
A lot of companies exploit consumers'
environmental awareness. [Sliding] Not all the
products that claim to be from FairTrade
or organic farming are sustainable. [Pop]
It's up to consumers to be well informed
[Ding] about the products they're consuming.
[Music]
