5. Conclusion

As a scholar once said the earth belongs to each generation during its course in full and in their own way. It is the duty of preceding generation to pass it on to the next intact. No one has a right to use more than what can be paid back by them during their lifetime. Similarly the resources too, people cannot use the natural resources more than what the earth can regenerate during their life time. If there is a persistent use which exceeds the re-generational capacity of the earth a day may come where the earth is ripped off all its resources i.e. earth cannot sustain any more life.

To calculate resources used by us, ecological footprinting is a method which is gaining prominence and is commonly used to explore the sustainability of individual lifestyles, goods and services, organizations, industry sectors, regions and nations. Ecological footprint analysis approximates the amount of ecologically productive land and sea area it takes to sustain a population, manufacture a product, or undertake certain activities, by accounting the use of energy, food, water, building material and other consumables. As said earlier sustenance can be with regard to economy, ecology and society.

Most of the nations in their quest for development have ignored the environment. We have taken the nature for granted. We measure our pleasure in terms of economy only. An example could be when certain land is taken over to build a technology park or a hotel etc we only assess the good that is done to the economy. We fail to realize the damage done to the nature and the loss of habitat for various other contemporaries of our existence. To certain extent there is realization among nations and they have been coming up with eco-friendly projects in the recent past. But still a lot has to be done. If we take the US which has the worlds largest ecological footprint almost equal to a quarter of worlds ecological footprint has one of the poorest standards of environmental protection among developed nations. There is a need for ecological sustenance which has been the agenda of the Rio and Johannesburg Summits and other major conglomerations of nations. The need of the hour therefore is to invest in renewable energy.

6. Bibliography

Books:

1. Shyam Divan & Armin Rosencranz, Environmental Law and Policy in India, (Oxford India, New Delhi, 2005)

2. Thakur Kailash, Environmental Protection Law and Policy in India, (Deep & Deep Publications, New Delhi, 1999)

3. P. Leelakrishnan, Environmental Law, (Lexis Nexis, New Delhi, 2005)

4. Dr. Sukanta K. Nanda, Environmental Law, (Central Law Publication, Allahabad, 2007)

5. S.C. Shastri, Environmental Law, (Eastern Book Company, Lucknow, 2005)

6. P. Leelakrishnan, Environmental Law Case Book, (Lexis Nexis, New Delhi, 2006)

7. Mostafa Kamal Tolba, Sustainable Development: Constraints and Opportunities, (Butterworths)

Articles:

1. William C. Clark, A Transition Toward Sustainability, 27 Ecology L.Q. 1021

2. Timothy Beatley & Richard Collins, Americanizing Sustainability: Place-Based Approaches To The Global Challenge, 27 Wm. & Mary Envtl. L. & Pol'y Rev. 193

3. Jutta Brunnée, The United States And International Environmental Law: Living With An Elephant, 15 Eur. J. Int'l L. 617

4. Douglas A. Kysar, Law, Environment, And Vision, 97 Nw. U. L. Rev. 675

5. Paula Abrams, Population Control And Sustainability: It's The Same Old Song But With A Different Meaning, 27 Envtl. L. 1111

6. Timothy Beatley & Richard Collins, Smart Growth And Beyond: Transitioning To A Sustainable Society, 19 Va. Envtl. L.J. 287

7. Martin S. High, Sustainable Development: How Far Does U.S. Industry Have To Go To Meet World Guidelines?, 14 Alb. L.J. Sci. & Tech. 131

8. Bosire Maragia, The Indigenous Sustainability Paradox And The Quest For Sustainability In Post-Colonial Societies: Is Indigenous Knowledge All That Is Needed?, 18 Geo. Int'l Envtl. L. Rev. 197

1* Student of IV year, Gujarat National Law University.

A graduate student working with Rees at the University of British Columbia at the time.

2 http://www.greenchoices.utah.gov/Recreation/footprint.htm, visited on 18/07/09.

3 http://permaculture.wikia.com/wiki/Ecological_footprint, visited on 19/08/09.

4 Eco-FootPrint Network, http://www.igreenbuild.com/cd_3042.aspx, visited on 20/08/09.

5 http://pubs.wri.org/pubs_content_text.cfm?ContentID=284, visited on 19/7/09.

6 Supra note 4

7 Ibid.

8 U.S. Dep’t of Energy, Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Network, Smart Communities Network: Creating Energy Smart Communities - Definitions of Sustainable Development (2003), <http://www. sustainable.doe.gov/overview/definitions.html> visited on 20/7/09.

9 Ibid

10 Jari Kaivo-Oja, Alternative Scenarios of Social Development: Is Analytical Sustainability Policy Analysis Possible? How?, 7 Sustainable Dev. 140, 146 (1999).

11 Ibid

12 Bosire Maragia, The Indigenous Sustainability Paradox And The Quest For Sustainability In Post-Colonial Societies: Is Indigenous Knowledge All That Is Needed?, 18 Geo. Int’l Envtl. L. Rev. 197

13 Ibid

14 Jutta Gutberlet, Rural Development and Social Exclusion: A Case Study of Sustainability and Distributive Issues in Brazil, 30 Austl. Geographer 221, 223 (1999)

15 C. Lee Campbell & Walter W. Heck, An Ecological Perspective on Sustainable Development, in Principles Of Sustainable Development, as cited from Supra note 12

16 Id

17 Carl Folke et al., The Problem of Fit Between Ecosystems and Institutions (Int’l Hum. Dimensions Programme on Global Envtl. Change, Working Paper No. 2, 1998) as cited from Supra note 12.

18 Huyin Huai & Jianchu Xu, Indigenous Knowledge: An Inexhaustible “Information Bank” for Toxin Research, 38 Toxicon 745 (2000) as cited from Supra note 12.

19 George Martine, Gender and Sustainability: Re-assessing Linkages and Issues (1997), <http://www. fao.org/sd/Wpdirect/Wpan0020.htm> as visited on 20/7/09.

20 Supra note 12

21 Arun Agrawal, Indigenous Knowledge and the Politics of Classification, 54 Int’l Soc. Sci. J. 287, (2002)

22 Richard Palmer-Jones & Cecile Jackson, Work Intensity, Gender and Sustainable Development, 22 Food Pol’y 39, 41 (1997)

23 R.E. Johannes, Fishing and Traditional Knowledge, in Traditional Ecological Knowledge: A Collection Of Essays 39, (Robert E. Johannes ed., 1989)

24 Supra note 12

25 T.N. Jenkins, Putting Postmodernity into Practice: Endogenous Development and the Role of Traditional Cultures in the Rural Development of Marginal Regions, 34 Eco. Econ. 301, 304 (2000)

26 Melissa Leach & James Fairhead, Manners Of Contestation: “Citizen Science” And “Indigenous Knowledge” In West Africa And The Caribbean, 54 Int’l Soc. Sci.J.299, (2002) as cited from Supra note 12.

27 Ibid

28 Richard E. Saunier, Environmental Management Consultant, Organization of American States, A History, http:// www.oas.org/osde/publications/Unit/oea83e/ch04.htm as visited on 10/8/09.

29 Gavin Emmons, The Development of Degradation and Impoverishment: Neocolonialism and the Crisis of People and the Environment in East Africa ch. 3 (1996) (A.B. thesis, Lewis & Clark College), http://www.lclark.edu/~soan/precolonial.html as visited on 21/7/09.

30 Claudia Maria Vargas, Sustainable Development Education: Averting or Mitigating Cultural Collision, 20 Int’l J. Educ. & Dev. 377, 378 (2000), As Cited From Supra Note 12.

31 Maurice Bazin, The Technological Mystique And Third World Options, 38 Monthly Rev. 98 (1986)

32 Murray A. Rudd, Live Long and Prosper: Collective Action, Social Capital and Social Vision, 34 Ecological Econ. 131 (2000) as cited from Supra 9.

33 Carl Hanore, Welcome to the City’s Speed Limits, Nat’l Post, Jan. 29, 2002 as cited from Infra 32.

34 David Ivanovich & Greg Hassell, SUVs Drive Effort to Raise Fuel Economy, Hous. Chron., Jul. 16, 2001, at 1

35 Living Planet Report 2002 4 (Jonathan Loh, ed. 2002), http:// www.panda.org/downloads/general /LPR_2002.pdf as visited on 1/9/09.

36 Timothy Beatley & Richard Collins, Americanizing Sustainability: Place-Based Approaches To The Global Challenge, 27 Wm. & Mary Envtl. L. & Pol’y Rev. 193

37 Ibid

38 Ibid

39 Supra note 36

40 Ibid

41 The Nature Conservancy, 1997 Species Report Card: The State of U.S. Plants And Animals (Feb. 1997) <http:// www.tnc.org/frames/index.html?/html/list.html>, visited on 30/7/09.

42 World Wildlife Fund; Wwf In Action: Global 200 Ecoregions (1999), http://www.panda.org/resources/ publications/sustainability/global/global.html as visited on 2/8/09.

43 Timothy Beatley & Richard Collins, Smart Growth and Beyond: Transitioning To a Sustainable Society, 19 Va. Envtl. L.J. 287

44 Herman Daly, Beyond Growth 81 (1996) as cited from Id.

45 Meredith Burke, Only Population Depletes Resources; ‘Smart Growth’ Treats the Symptoms, San Diego Union-Tribune, June 9, 1999, at B9 as cited from Supra note 44.

46 Douglas A. Kysar, Law, Environment, and Vision, 97 Nw. U. L. Rev. 675

47 Jutta Brunnée, The United States And International Environmental Law: Living With An Elephant, 15 Eur. J. Int'l L. 617

48 Supra note 46