So, what is actually the difference between Green vs. Eco-friendly vs. Sustainable ? Lets try to look at these in a simple way.
The term “Green” apply to almost everything related to benefiting the environment, regardless of how big or small, the scale is. For example we use green bins to recycle organic waste. This is helping the environment so it’s a “green” thing.
Eco-friendly isn’t quite so broad. It means that something doesn’t harm the planet in anyway…. Drive less, reduce waste, consume less energy….
“Sustainable” represents wider scope of issues and activities that, do not compromise the ability of future generations to meet their needs. Sustainability sets the focus on the future.
It means the item or action is generating environmental, social and economic benefits, while not using up too many resources or causing pollution.
Compared to ‘”green” and “eco-friendly,” sustainability has higher standards. Sustainability includes eco-friendly activities and green products, but green doesn’t necessarily mean sustainable. For instance, a product made from renewable resources is considered green, yet if a life-cycle analysis shows that it required a lot of energy to manufacture and ship to you, and if there isn’t a proper way to dispose of the product, then it’s not considered sustainable.
Sustainability is about living within the earth’s limit of resources; There are four root causes of unsustainability:
The extraction of large quantities of materials from the earth such as oil, natural gas and heavy metals that the planet can’t cope with. For example, climate change is largely the result of the impact of excessive burning of fossil fuels.
The creation of manmade substances that nature can’t break down such as plastic micro-beads that have invaded the oceans
The degradation of the Earth’s ability to keep us and our environment healthy caused by development that displaces helpful ecosystems. For example: draining wetlands that filter pollutants from water or clearing forests that clean air, faster than they can regenerate.
The unequal consumption of resources by different societies is leading to social inequity and creating barriers to meeting basic human needs worldwide.
In the broadest sense of the definition, environmental sustainability involves the entire global ecosystem (oceans, freshwater systems, land and atmosphere). However, environmental sustainability principles can equally be applied to ecosystems of any size, even down to the scale of a small home garden.
The aspect of sustainability that most people are familiar with, environmental sustainability, means making sure we don’t overuse natural resources to the point where we run out of them or destroy the environment. Put another way, it’s about the sustainable management of natural resources.
Next up the myth of Bio-Degradabl.
