Sustainability

19Ethical Aspects of Sustainability

Anita Talan¹, Rajwinder Kaur¹, R.D. Tyagi¹, and Tian C. Zhang²

¹INRS, Université du Québec, Québec, Canada

²Department of Civil Engineering, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Omaha, NE, USA

The most important human endeavor is the striving for morality in our actions. Our inner balance and even our very existence depend on it. Only morality in our actions can give beauty and dignity to life

−Albert Einstein

19.1 Introduction

A sustainable society always lives within the accepted carrying capacity of its natural and social domain. A sustainable society forms upon the pledge of its members to adapt and follow the rules willingly (Jennings 2013). Sustainable society has a system of rules, encouragements and incentives that support restocking of resources and limit the depletion and pollution present in the sustainable society. For sustainable development, the society needs to integrate its industrial, societal and environmental systems, and establish decision support systems that can not only evaluate environmental, societal and economic impacts, but also accept input from society and address the associated ethical implications.

In order to meet the global grant challenges, sustainable development has gained significant attention worldwide. However, many policies (e.g. about climate change and mitigation) related to sustainable development rely on various economic arguments, but ignore completely the ethical and justice limitations of these ...