SUSTAINABILITY

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"Chemicals are a burden to our farmland and soils".

Not only do they represent a serious health hazards, but they have been proven to go against nature, whereby they might be able to boost plant growth, but they destroy our soil at the same time. This is what today is preventing rising yields in many places of the world.

Snowy Mountains is committed to managing the land with no chemicals and still achieve the following:

• Re-establish Productivity

• Improve Productivity

• Cleanse and fully rehabilitate the natural abilities of the soil 

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This is done through monitoring soil condition, soil fertility and water quality on a regular basis using standards that are consistent with best international practice – and all agricultural inputs used in the cultivation of crops and pasture management have to be non-chemical.

Crop production will still be sustained at optimum levels and meet all international environmental standards.

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What is sustainability?

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The definition of “sustainability” is the study of how natural systems function, remain diverse and produce everything it needs for the ecology to remain in balance. It also acknowledges that human civilization takes resources to sustain our modern way of life. There are countless examples throughout human history where a civilization has damaged its own environment and seriously affected its own survival chances. 

Sustainability takes into account how we might live in harmony with the natural world around us, protecting it from damage and destruction.

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We now live in a modern, consumerist and largely urban existence throughout the developed world and we consume a lot of natural resources every day. In our urban centers, we consume more power than those who live in rural settings and urban centers use a lot more power than average, keeping our streets and civic buildings lit, to power our appliances, our heating and other public and household power requirements. That's not to say that sustainable living should only focus on people who live in urban centers though, there are improvements to be made everywhere - it is estimated that we use about 40% more resources every year than we can put back and that needs to change.

Sustainability and sustainable development focuses on balancing that fine line between competing needs - our need to move forward technologically and economically, and the needs to protect the environments in which we and others live. Sustainability is not just about the environment, it's also about our health as a society in ensuring that no people or areas of life suffer as a result of environmental legislation, and it's also about examining the longer term effects of the actions humanity takes and asking questions about how it may be improved.

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What are the Primary Goals of Sustainability?

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The sustainable development professional network thinks, acts and works globally. In 2012, the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development met to discuss and develop a set of goals to work towards; they grew out of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) that claimed success in reducing global poverty while acknowledging there was still much more to do. The MDG eventually came up with a list of 17 items which included the following main points:

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• The end of poverty and hunger

• Better standards of education and healthcare - particularly as it pertains to water quality and better sanitation

• To achieve gender equality

• Sustainable economic growth while promoting jobs and stronger economies

• All of the above and more while tackling the effects of climate change, pollution and other environmental factors that can harm and do harm people's health, livelihoods and lives.

• Sustainability to include health of the land, air and sea

Finally, it acknowledged the concept of nature having certain rights - that people have stewardship of the world and the importance of putting people at the forefront of solving the above global issues through management of the environment and of consumption (for example, reducing packaging and discouraging food waste as well as promoting the use of recyclable materials).

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A Sustainable Future

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It is not yet clear what our sustainable future will look like, but with emerging technologies and the improvement of older cleaner fuel sources, many people now look to a post fossil fuel world - including businesses.

Since the 1950's, we have experienced unprecedented growth including intensive farming, a technological revolution and a massive increase in our power needs putting even greater pressure and strain on the planet's resources. We are also far more aware of the plight of the developing world and that facing our planet as we now observe both natural and human-caused disasters and the effects that these can have on the ecosystems and on human population. It's vital that we develop new, cleaner technologies to cope with our food demands, but sustainability is not just about the environment.

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The biggest social activism movement related to the social development side of sustainability, has been programs such as Fair Trade and the Rainforest Alliance in encouraging good farming practices while ensuring farmers who produce luxury goods such as coffee and cocoa receive a decent living wage (14). Activist and sustainability professionals hope to remove trade barriers in future so that they may benefit everyone, contributing to the economic and social development core of sustainability while promoting good environmental practice.

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