Sustainability is more than Environmentalism

“Sustainability is all about protecting the environment at any cost”. That’s something most of us must have heard while talking about sustainability. But that is not what sustainability is.

We've all been presented with a highly polarised conversation on issues relating to environmental damage. We've come to believe that environmental protection is the only solution in a world of rising temperatures and depleting wildlife. While that is the right solution, it is not the only solution. That’s because sustainable solutions need to cover the economic, social, cultural and environmental dimensions of the issue at hand.

The Social & Cultural Dimensions deal with issues such as gender equality, caste, accessibility and other such rights and freedoms. It acknowledges the unique background and privilege (or lack thereof) of people belonging to various groups and how cultures, societies and individuals interact with each other.

The Economic Dimension deals with poverty, wealth inequality, industry, and other such dimensions to create systems that are sustainable in the long-term. It sees development as a proponent of sustainable economic, environmental and social growth.

The Environmental Dimension as mentioned above, looks at the protection and growth of our environment, ecology, and wildlife. Sustaining our environment for future generations by cutting down emissions, curtailing deforestation, enforcing regulations on polluting industries, incentivizing clean energy and more.

Such a model demonstrates that development doesn't have to come at the cost of the environment and that economic, industrial and infrastructural growth does not have to be at the cost of the natural environment. Such outlooks would include, updating mass-transit systems, subsidising clean energy, investing in a robust welfare state, and other such policies.

Sustainability thinking can be applied to the issue of Mumbai’s Coastal Road as well. The Coastal Road is a multifaceted development issue that needs to be treated as one. It is a symptom of a larger problem - the brokenness of the mobility system of Mumbai. The system is not equipped to handle such an extreme capacity of private vehicular traffic. Therefore, a solution to this issue has been proposed, which is the construction of another road.

However, this solution is a short-sighted one because it creates further problems. The road actually increases traffic instead of decreasing it, puts the livelihoods of fisherfolk at risk, is a loss making project, and completely destroys the fragile coastal ecosystem of Mumbai’s western coast. This creates the need for a sustainable solution, one that caters to all the socio-cultural, economic and environmental concerns.

The Mumbai Coastal Road illustrates that sustainability issues are more complex and multifaceted than damage to the environment. There are many social, cultural, economic and environmental dimensions to each issue, and all must be given equal consideration.