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NEW ENGLAND ABUNDANCE . MASSACHUSETTS
Green
SUSTAINABILITY IN THE PIONEER VALLEY
Sustain; v. (used with object); to support, hold,
or bear the weight of.
Sustainability is an important concept which weaves its way throughout the Pioneer Valley. The idea behind sustainability involves reimbursing or using less of the resources from which we take from the environment. One of the ways the people in the Pioneer Valley encourage sustainability is by prompting their fellow citizens to shop locally and “Be a Local Hero”. This means supporting local grocers, local farmers, and local businesses. In addition, entitles one the right of purchasing one of the many “I am a Local Hero” bumper stickers sold in many establishments across The Valley.
The reason being a local hero is so important to the Pioneer Valley is because we not only sustain each other as a community, but also contribute to the local farmers who use more environmentally friendly methods than big corporations. Therefore sustaining the environment as well.
The Pioneer Valley community is always interested in new innovations supporting sustainability, and Co-op Power plays a big role in satisfying this interest. Co-op Power is a consumer-owned company that is dedicated to developing community-owned sustainable energy and resources in New England and New York. In fact, Co-op Power is a majority owner of the Northeast Biodiesel Company LLC. This $7 million biodiesel plant will take root in Greenfield, Massachusetts, and will use recycled vegetable oils, and animal fats to produce five million gallons of biodiesel per year. This is a project that has been in the works for years, and construction will finally start this year [2009].
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Sustainability, in a broad sense, is the capacity of maintaining a certain process or state. It is now most frequently used in connection with biological and human systems. In an ecological context, sustainability can be defined as the ability of an ecosystem to maintain ecological processes, functions, biodiversity and productivity into the future
Sustainability has become a complex term that can be applied to almost every facet of life on Earth, particularly the many different levels of biological organization, such as; wetlands, prairies and forests and is expressed in human organization concepts, such as; ecovillages, eco-municipalities, sustainable cities, and human activities and disciplines, such as; sustainable agriculture, sustainable architecture and renewable energy.
For humans to live sustain-ably, the Earth's resources must be used at a rate at which they can be replenished. However, there is now clear scientific evidence that humanity is living unsustainably, and that an unprecedented collective effort is needed to return human use of natural resources to within sustainable limits.
Since the 1980s, the idea of human sustainability has become increasingly associated with the integration of economic, social and environmental spheres. In 1989, the Brundtland Commission articulated what has now become a widely accepted definition of sustainability: "[to meet] the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”
Please follow the links on the left for products, businesses, and information regarding Sustainability in New England but Massachusetts in particularly.
