How is sustainable development in practice?

Without going straight to Google to endlessly search for examples of sustainable development practices, I instead tried to think of sustainable examples that I was already currently aware of.  However, this was no easy task if you ignore the obvious local examples such as the Dockside Green community here in Victoria or the Colwood solar program. Eco-Industrial park development programs such as the one in Halifax seem to be getting a lot of attention and arguably so. The concept of having a collection of businesses and light industry facilities in one area with power supplied through various green technologies as well as major waste diversion programs and not to mention to natural beauty that is preserved throughout these areas is very interesting. These eco-parks are designed to incorporate a series of closed loop systems that make use of nearly every waste product. They employ large amounts of people and create a work atmosphere that gives people something to be proud of because they are a part of a system that is worth being proud of. During the summer they can spend their lunch breaks outside taking in the social benefits of being on the coast and they are an alternative to having massive industrial slum sections in a city where many people will hold jobs but absolutely no one wants to every spend one second more than they are forced to. There are a lot of these examples in the GTA where I come from and an interesting fact about these industrial slums, after roughly 4:30pm everyday they become ghost towns until 5:00am the next morning.

         It’s easy to be pessimistic and suggest that currently there are only a few examples of sustainable development in practice throughout the world but even after using Google to search for some examples it seems as such is the case. However, there are thousands of examples of communities, industry, nation’s etc. that are currently developing sustainable practices. That seems to be where a lot of the world currently stands, in the development process of designing sustainable alternatives. The concept is not a new idea but its popularity has only recently begun to come into the spotlight. Buildings are being raised to generate a portion of their own electricity with nearly 100% waste diversion programs. Elementary schools are being built completely off the grid with LEED platinum certification. Intensive bicycle programs are being implemented in many major cities across the world. I should mention that such is not the case in Toronto after our new mayor decided the proposed bicycle lane project is a complete waste of cash and scrapped it. With over 6 million people living in the GTA and over 2.5 million living downtown T.O. is it not ridiculous that we don’t have a bike lane?  I like to believe the future holds the key, if we can get our act together, continue to develop programs that promote sustainability, change our current wasteful mentality, reduce our reliance on automobiles and begin to enthusiastically seek alternatives we can achieve our goal. I don’t think it’s impossible; it’s just going to take a lot of work. 

Here is a great link to the California Academy of Sciences. This building holds a world class aquarium, planetarium, a museum, rain-forest, lecture halls, gardens and a green roof terrace. This building is a prime example of what is possible with sustainable development. LINK

I found this video on it too, Cheers.