The document discusses sustainable development in the city of Al-Khobar, Saudi Arabia. It notes that there is currently no link between social, economic, and environmental issues in the city. It then lists several examples of unsustainable behavior observed in the city, including excess consumption of resources like food, water, electricity, and fuel. The document proposes that individuals, societies, and governments need to recognize ecological limits and find ways to live within Earth's bounds. It advocates for reducing consumption and waste, promoting alternatives like public transport and renewable energy, and increasing recycling and conservation awareness.

1. Do you think that the lifestyle of the
inhabitants of your town or city reflects
behavior that is --in line with the concept of
sustainable development? In your
opinion, what should be improved?
Syed Aftab Ahmad

2. What is sustainable development ?
• "Development that meets the needs of the
present without compromising the ability of
future generations to meet their own needs.“
• — from the World Commission on Environment and
Development’s
(the Brundtland Commission) report Our Common Future
(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1987).

3. Sustainable development is about
• how well we balance social, economic, and
environmental objectives/needs when making
decisions today.

4. I live in the city of Al-Khobar, Saudi
Arabia. In my city
• No link between
social, economic and
environmental issues.
• Each free to go its own
way like free balloons

5. What I see in my city:
Excess consumption of food

6. What I see in my city:
Consumption of unhealthy food

7. What I see in my city:
Wastage of food

8. What I see in my city:
-Wastage of water in homes and outside
-Poor awareness despite government effort
-Apathetic attitude of people despite water
shortage in this region

9. What I see in my city:
Wastage of gasolene
Overconsumption of fuel
Absence of public transport in cities
No concept of car pooling

10. What I see in my city:
Excess consumption of electricity
Wastage of electricity
No concept of energy efficient bulbs

11. What I see in my city
-At home, our whole lifestyle is centered around these
electricity consuming appliances
-75% of electricity generated in Saudi Arabia goes for
air-conditioning

12. What I see in my city
Large amount of industrial and domestic waste
Poor disposal of waste
Poor concept and awareness of recycling waste

13. What I see in my city
Pollution in land, air and water from industrial
and domestic waste

14. Don’t test the limit of EARTH
Because we have only ONE earth
• Earth gives us more than we need
• Its time to look into our lifestyles
• All of us leave traces/ecological footprint during their
time on Earth: some are large, others are small
• Our ecological footprints depend on our lifestyles
– they depend on how much water and energy we use and whether or
not we acquire large quantities of unnecessary things

15. ….we know that…
…there is a difference between human wants
and human needs.
• Gandhi said that the world could surely
provide for the needs of the many but not the
greed of the few.

16. Sustainable development is a collective
responsibility of
• 1. Individual
• 2. Society and Institutions
• 3. Government and policy makers
MOST IMPORTANT
Accept the fact that we are heading for a trouble

17. Where to start?
• Individuals, societies and governments worldwide must begin
to recognize ecological limits
– Consideration of ecological limits must be central to our decision-making
– Find ways to live within the Earth’s bounds
• This means investing in technology and infrastructure that
will allow us to operate in a resource-constrained world:
• Knowing how much nature we have, how much we use, and
who uses what is the first step, and will allow us to track our
progress as we work toward our goal of sustainable, one-planet
living

18. Broad principles of Sustainable
development
• Take no more than we need.
• Don't use potentially renewable resources faster than they
are replenished.
• Try not to harm life, air, water, soil.
• Protect biodiversity.
• Help maintain Earth's capacity for self repair.
• Don't waste resources.
• Don't release pollutants faster than Earth's natural processes
can dilute or degrade them.
• Slow the rate of population growth.
• Leave the earth as good or better than we found it.

19. In my city, I would like to see
individuals taking the lead-FOOD
- Demand local foods:
*Some facts:
-The average food item set before a U.S. consumer traveled 1300 miles to
get there.
-Transporting 5 calories’ worth of strawberry from California to New York
costs 435 calories of fossil fuel.
- Don’t take more than you can eat
*Some facts:
-Almost 1 billion people across the globe will go to bed hungry
tonight, 200 million of them children. USAID, 2013
- Avoid wastage of food and improve public awareness.
- Adapt a healthy eating habit

20. Water
• Conserve every drop of water
- Nearly 1 billion people in the developing world don't have access to
clean, safe drinking water
- Water is scarce and costly in this country, produced in desalination plants
across the sea coast and transported through pipelines to different areas: A
process that leaves large carbon footprint.
- WATER IS THREE TIMES COSTLIER THAN GASOLENE IN SAUDI
- Individuals should make themselves and other aware of the importance of
conservation of water and strive towards zero wastage goal.

21. Electricity
-Avoid overconsumption and wastage
-Create an awareness in yourself and people around you
-Use energy efficient apparatus, CFL and LED bulbs
-Eco friendly habits
-Government should promote and invest in better home designs, well
insulated homes and eco friendly construction materials.
-Develop alternate source of energy like wind and solar energy which
are in abundance in Saudi Arabia
TURN OFF THE COMPUTER

22. Pollution
• At government level
- Good public transport system should be there in the city to
reduce number of private vehicles on road, reduce air & noise
pollution and excess consumption of fossil fuel
-Effort to promote alternative fuel efficient vehicles, electric
vehicles

23. Pollution
*At government level
-Proper disposal of domestic and industrial waste after proper
treatment
-ABSOLUTE NO to open air disposal of waste
-Spread of awareness of pollution and concept of Sustainable
development as a whole
- Make the awareness campaign a part of school syllabus, part of
public debate and involve the local population in it.
ABSOLUTE NO

24. Pollution
• At individual level
- Car pooling
-Proper disposal of waste to help recycle, composting.
We don’t throw garbage AWAY. There is no AWAY!
– We either burry it or we burn it
– Landfills leak, they are toxic and contribute to ground water poisoning
– Recycling is as close to ‘away’ as its possible
- Adopt the concept of Reduce, Re-use, Recycle,
and Rebuy

25. I would like to the individuals in my city
practice Reduce, Re-use and Recycle
• Reduce/Refuse: products or it’s packaging are made of materials
likely to produce large carbon footprint when used or thrown away
(like batteries, disposable dishware or plastic packaging).
• Re-use: Use packaging which is returnable or reusable. Donate
clothes, games and kitchenware, furniture’s, books and magazines if
you are not using it any more
• Recycle: Sort out the solid waste. It’s utility increases with this

26. Take away message
• If we don’t act know this is our future
*We are also responsible to bring some of the creatures, who
share the planet with us, to the very brink of existence