Hey guys,
After the seminar yesterday I got to thinking about what actually is the definition of sustainable? Is it mainstream or alternative? I would argue sustainable really ought to mean, by definition, if every person on the planet lived like that, then it truly would preserve the environment and resources for future generations (see Brundtland 1987).
Anyway, I then got to thinking, I buy organic food, sometimes even fairtrade food. This is argued to be sustainable. I buy responsibly sourced fish, local meats and on the whole this looks good. However, I then began to think about my appetite. I play a lot of sport, and my house mates jokingly say I am always hungry. I do eat a fair bit, and this then led to thinking about the next step professional sportsmen and women go to. Cyclists in the tour de France regularly ingest 8000 calories a day to maintain their physical exertions. The great swimmer Phelps is alleged to eat a whopping 12,000 calories a day to fuel his exercise. To me this presents a neat little question regardless of the origin and principles with which your food is grown.
Are athletes sustainable?
I know this is only one aspect of consumption, but this is a truly basic human need. Does playing sport then entitle you to consume more than your fair share?
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ReplyDeletehaha,i got your point,it just reminds me something,I'm not sure if we could try to explain it by 'the law of conservation of energy',if possible,I got the horrible result:the entire human activities are unsustainable,if only the sun continuously provide energy to the planet,we can keep up eating and consuming until the earth is empty.
ReplyDeletebecause it seems impossible for us to offset all of consumption impacts from those energy up to the carbon neutral situation.Low-carbon is far from enough.
sorry,I really got shocked by myself = =
I am definitely in favour of culling some athletes.
ReplyDeleteHaha, That could be a practical solution Luke!
ReplyDeleteI am quite into sport and I do enjoy watching the competitions however, moving on from just food I was thinking about the carbon footprint a few weeks ago...
Commonwealth games, diamond league athletics, football world cup, international cycling...
All involve flying large numbers of sportsmen and women around the world. I know some teams, like team Sky are getting into carbon offsetting and "rainforest rescue" but does this go far enough?
We shouldn't wipe out everything that isn't sustainable. Sports are good entertainment (for some) and encourage us to push our boundaries.
ReplyDeleteSpace research and travel is phenomenally expensive, but I still rate that as important.