Are there any limits to sustainability and sustainable development?

We are all aware of the adverse effects of climate change that are causing eco-sensationalism throughout the world, which is evident on social media every day. When a topic becomes widely popular or subject to global attention, it is always open to criticism and opposition. There are thousands of opinions and solutions that people come up with daily to accuse governments and authorities or even each other of not doing enough to protect the environment. While the sentiment is understood most of us forget to look at the challenges and limitations on sustainability objectively.  

Here are are a few points that limit the progress of sustainable development throughout the world today – 

1- Public Policies, how much are public policies willing to support environmental, social, and or economic sustainability? 

Sustainability is only possible when there is an equal contribution. And in a world, as divided as ours, most of our current efforts are invested in improving understanding and propagating peace between different communities, races, religions, and countries of the world. Unless there is more stability on that aspect, we will never able to dedicate enough attention to burning issues of world environment conservation.

2- Economic Growth

The capitalistic governance of our global economies in the developed and developing countries(especially including China in this), puts many economic limitations to the sustainable solutions proposed. A sustainable solution that does not result in economic growth and financial gain to the business applying it (not necessary maximum profit though) will mostly end up not being applied or implemented. 

3- Technology, Science, and Research Constraints: 

Not all emerging technologies take the concept of sustainability into consideration. And no technology (even clean energy technologies) is fully sustainable. These are just ways to make our daily life easier, and technologies can only reduce the negative impact on like carbon emission or energy usage. But the bottom line remains, the more progress we make, the more energy we will need to consume to sustain it. 

4- Social Awareness: 

It is a point well-made and widely known that the majority of the general public, especially in developing countries, aren’t as aware of the significance of supporting even social-sustainability solutions. That is because most of them are struggling to make ends meet and they are willing to sacrifice any larger goals or just don’t have the luxury of looking at the bigger picture. Therefore, social awareness in a way to make the masses understand the daily disadvantages of eco-deterioration is the way to go head here.