Abfallvermeidung Wunsch und Wirklichkeit/Waste Minimisation: Desire & Reality

The overuse of our regional ecological systems with regard to climate change, and of the eco-system earth, has reached dimensions which pose a threat to humans, especially those of future generations. For this reason, the relationship between human beings and their natural basis of existence must be redefined. The sustainable development of our societies and economies can only be safeguarded if we significantly reduce the material turnover, volume and hazard potential of production, distribution and consumer waste going to landfills. We need new ways of thinking and acting. And we need a pact of generations to assure that future populations will encounter the same living conditions as our current populations. This requires a new way of thinking and acting as problems can only be solved in a complex manner and only through systemic thinking purely technical and economic actions must be corrected by ethical considerations exponential developments have to be mastered sustained chronic environmental damage may have a long latency period, but then comes a sudden aggressive outburst some problems are shifted and transformed before they can be identified and assessed globally attuned research and cooperation activities are needed. While trade and industry may be successful in their current endeavours to improve effectiveness and efficiency, these are inadequate to achieve sustainability, if considered in isolation. One reason is that the improved input-output ratio in production/distribution/use/disposal makes products cheaper, and so in most cases the savings in material and energy input and the lower environmental burden are thwarted by an increase in sales figures (rebound effect).