Week 14 - Sustainable designs

As greater numbers of the population are choosing to reside in urban areas (up to 80% in some countries) and with a global population predicted to be reach 10 billion within the next 30 years, sustainability has become a recent focus for our industry.

As the human population increases the subsequent demand for resources and waste disposal increases.  We are close to reaching the stage at which a predicted capacity of two Earth's would be required to keep up with resource demand and absorb waste.  Natural ecosystems have provided these services historically but the growing decline in ecosystem services worldwide (made worse by the increasing population and a demand for living space) can a=only accelerate this problem.

Ecosystems services are "essential to our well-being and are a key attribute of a sustainable site" (Venhaus, 2012).  How many examples of beneficial ecosystem services can you think of ?

The estimated wealth of an ecosystem is around $33 billion (USD), which is about twice as much at the global gross national product (Costanza et al. 1997).  How do you think you can put a value on their worth ?  What may be missing from this estimate ?  Do all ecosystems provide the same services?