Sustainability and capitalism

‘The most common definition of sustainability is from Brundtland Commission’s Our Common Future: “sustainable development is the development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”. However what is more often than not disregarded is the negative affect this demand may have on those unable to meet the demands.
Sustainability as the mass see it is a fairly new concept despite sustainability being an old term. How we see it today is being ‘green’, producing less carbon emission and reducing your carbon footprint. These are all new terms and ‘buzzwords’ introduced to us within the last 10 years. The ‘green revolution’ has been drilled into us and undoubtedly any negative affects seem impossible or at least improbable. On the contrary what has occurred is the inability for LEDC to meet the new demands set by the capitalist voice that controls the MEDC. ‘The emergence of environmental technologies has further oppressed the poor’ What is therefore realized is ‘the Brundtland Commission resulted in a vague, human centered definition that does not recognize the external limits on the human systems’. Not fully understanding the effect capitalist ideals have more often than not lead to crisis or problems even when it comes to something as seemingly innocent and moral as being sustainable. One has to realize that capitalism encourages consumption and as a result often results in supply problems. If buyers and sellers are given control of markets with a laissez-faire government attitudes, booms and of course slumps are immanent. Therefore with the sale of oil and burning of fossil fuels playing such a large part in a capitalist economy a shortage was indefinite. Sustainability could therefore be identified as capitalisms way of covering its tracks. Yet again a result of new green policies has affected some negatively. ‘Capitalism is not a simplistic linear system in which subsumes singular items. Rather it’s a diverse web that is continuously expanding and trapping things’. Donella Meadows attempts to address the Bruntland Commission’s limitations in her book, Limits to Growth: “a sustainable society is one that can persist over generations, one that is far- seeing enough, flexible enough, and wise enough not to undermine either its physical or social systems of support” (Meadows 8). This is a far more accurate and fair idea of sustainability but one that has not been voiced by capitalist countries. I do however feel It is possible for Capitalism and sustainability to run alongside but a different approach is needed. Although it is a common characteristic of capitalism to think of future generations, this is done within capitalism not outside of it.