Question

1. Give a short but technical explanation of when sustainability is feasible, assuming that there is a non-renewable resource used in production

Answer 1

As I write this, the term sustainability is more relevant than ever. I feel the world was late at even realizing this concept so there is a lot we need to make up for. Before we talk about sustainability in production, let's talk about sustainable development. It was first coined in 1987 in the UN world convention. According to that definition - ‘Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.’ In theory, this seems to be perfect. But, when we look at sustainable options to use in production a lot of issues pop up. Some issues are increased cost, increased labor, the time consumed may increase etc.

There are lot of debates on this, on one side people see sustainable growth as much greater than the opportunity cost, but for some it isn't efficient enough. Governments could play a big role by implimenting and maintaining certain laws, providing certain subsidies, incentivizing sustainable production etc. In the end, there needs to be a profit or at least a balance. A lot of sustainable development companies have been able to achieve this through their business models and have been quite successful. This does require more resources in the beginning but gets more efficient as we go on. Technology, research and more awareness on issues has helped us make the entire process much for cost-efficient, time-efficient, and environment friendly.

According to me the use of renewable sources and a more sustainable and environmentally friendly production process is always to go to process. From a purely economic perspective, the output should outweigh the opportunity costs.