If  efforts ,at making people think (and act) sustainable, are to succeed then there is need for systematic collective continuous work by governments, educators, clergymen, and information heroes of the press. Few examples of how work could be done with respect to saving water: governments can order a reduction in water flow rates to places where water is consumed heavily, educators& clergymen can give advice to the students & the public about the necessity of saving water, and press heroes & heroines can expose those who use water unwisely or waste it on trivial matters. If there is no adequate response, then penalties ought to be applied since there is an escalating problem which will have grave consequences in the near future.  

If you have everything, do you think sustainable or are able to think like that?

If you have nothing, do you think sustainable or are able to think like that?

Think, how one's present actions will affect future generations beneficially.

Dear Sir, You can not force people to think sustainable. You know that so many problems around you as you already mentioned the missing of water. So one has to make intelligently smart use of water and try to save it at all point of time by community. Than only people may think sustainable I believe. Regards

That's a good point Sarwan, but I'll not force people think like me, I'll say to them what I think, just like philosophy, that makes people think about something and then they make their own opinion. Well, it is just na ideia. About the water, I'm still studying that.

Thank you very much for your intelligent answer, my friend!

Kinds Regards.

Marcel, I'm able to think like that, and I'm still trying to think more sustainable possible. I don't know why, but I've got love for that subject!

Kinds Regards.

Generically speaking, we, brazilian, do not tend to think in a sustainable way. We live in a rich country, when thinking of natural resources. At least for us, who live in the southeast side of the country, it is not usual dealing with the missing of water.

Personally, I think that there are basically two ways of teaching the people to be sustainable: education and need/privation/deprivation. Not having the first  has led our people to the second one.

Any way, I suppose those are a propitious times to teach or chlidren and educate our people on how to properly use our natural resources.

I think you should talk a  lot with people around you, You should believe in your philosophy and with time everything will be ok

Scarcity is the mother of invention and it is also a rigorous teacher for future. Every developing country goes through this kind of crunched resources route. In 1976, aged 11, I still remember how we in Chennai (Madras those days) was affected with water shortage. We used to run behind water lorries to stop and catch water in plastic buckets and cans etc., Remember those times houses had hand pumps and every household in low lying areas will quickly get the water suction depriving high lands with no water. Then the government transported water through lorries, provided huge plastic tanks, end of each street, and supplied water. Then can conservation practices, artificial rain, more bore wells etc., macro thinking of pipelining water from remote catchment areas into city pumping stations through giant pipes came and now linking of rivers is being worked out ...etc., ....Brazil will come out with a suitable style to combat the present hardship.

Happiness Sustainability

Interesting interview on Brown's Gas.  Mr. Knudson a friend for several years has many sustainability projects including reforestation of the Sinai through an array of water collectors. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1MShNUwp6VM

If  efforts ,at making people think (and act) sustainable, are to succeed then there is need for systematic collective continuous work by governments, educators, clergymen, and information heroes of the press. Few examples of how work could be done with respect to saving water: governments can order a reduction in water flow rates to places where water is consumed heavily, educators& clergymen can give advice to the students & the public about the necessity of saving water, and press heroes & heroines can expose those who use water unwisely or waste it on trivial matters. If there is no adequate response, then penalties ought to be applied since there is an escalating problem which will have grave consequences in the near future.  

Improving the sustainability of water and sanitation services is about making solutions more effective through development and innovation.Explore new ways of working, such as focusing on ways to improve surface water storage.Apply basic technologies, such as sand-dams and rainwater harvesting ensure that when it does rain, more water is stored in a safe way for drinking later

https://www.google.co.in/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=177&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CEQQFjAGOKoB&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.wateraid.org%2Fuk%2Fwhat-we-do%2Fthe-crisis%2Fsustainability&ei=hi0RVcvtG8OhugSRiYHQDg&usg=AFQjCNEEyyC1A_yjuTjIqqGfpgvSYZRbJw

Dear All,

The equation is easy: democracy, education, good examples.

The trouble is that a business minded society basically negates sustainability because the easiest way to get profit is commercialisation and pollution of commons (soil, water, air).

Dear Marcelo

In the province of Andhra Pradesh, India; Anantapur district is a dry district and receives very less rainfall. The district head quarters and the villages in the district suffered for many decades for want of water. A pilot project was initiated in 1994 at a cost of US$ 63 million and a number of sustainable methods were adopted to create a water grid covering over 700 villages and a population of over 900000! Today people of that district are grateful to Sri Satya Sai Baba the visionary who made this possible.

http://www.sathyasai.org/saiwater/content.htm

http://www.srisathyasai.org.in/Pages/service_projects/watersupply.htm

http://www.srisathyasai.org.in/Pdf/SSSCT_SSS%20Drinking%20Water%20Supply%20Project_%20Brochure.pdf

http://www.srisathyasai.org.in/pages/service_projects/anantapur.htm

Dear Marcelo

I am giving another example of a committed humanist helping village communities to revive and manage their water bodies. Where there is commitment success follows.

Difference between environment protection and living with sustainability.

Hi everyone,

I find this thread very interesting. In my research I am interested in how we can pursue well-being and live sustainanbly at the same time. For example I wrote an article called  Sustainable well-being: A potential synergy between sustainability and well-being research .

More recently I have argued that the pursuit of satisfaction with life imply that the surroundings should be according to one's expectations; and that this view can be complemented by fitting in and living in balance with others and nature. So we developed the Harmony in Life Scale as a complement to the Satisfaction with life Scale. When participants were asked to write words that they associate with harmony verus satiscation, we found that Satisfaction individuals assocaited with Money, Career, Reward, Education Job etc; menahwile Harmony they assocaited with Peace, Balance, Friendship, Nature, Cooperation etc.

This article is called: The Harmony in Life Scale Complements the Satisfaction with Life Scale: Expanding the Conceptualization of the Cognitive Component of Subjective Well-Being

Thanks,

Oscar

Article The Harmony in Life Scale Complements the Satisfaction with ...

Article Sustainable Well-Being: A Potential Synergy Between Sustaina...

Dear friend, your initiative is important and necessary not only in the community where you live, but the sustainability should concern us all. I think it is important for community members to realize that resources are limited and that we should use them carefully and preserve them for the future generations. If you would like it, I will sent to you some materials regarding this subject.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1VBeiJ_YNn8

Jana Maftei

Dear Marcelo,

I believe that education is the answer to your question!

However new legislation can always support to reduction in wasteful activities, as for example the newly voted law in California http://time.com/2990069/california-drought-regulations/. In the UK all the builders have to fit water saving devices in all taps to reduce the waste of water. Even the water providers offer free kits for reduction of water usage as in the following link: http://www.thameswater.co.uk/save-water/9692.htm.

Like any other complex problem, there is no silver bullet, but I believe that a great starting point would be education and perhaps the setting up of a committee with experts in the field to look at the root cause of the problem in Sao Paulo. 

Best regards

Marcos

I believe that sustainable are be succeed through education, innovation, good government policy and planning. It should be a continuous process and it take time too.

Example the country I live in Singapore, a small island without any natural resources, we have imported water from neighbor country, but our government knew that it should not be long term strategic, therefore, they launch the save water campaigns starting from school children, educate the residents to reduce of water usage and invest in water innovation project. Today, we have our  "Newater" plant and this water project also brought to other countries as well.

I agreed with Marcos that a great starting point through education, it will be great if starting the education from young children and take this opportunity to let the young children "educate" their parent or elderly too. This matter work in Singapore.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BGUT7BjPl0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rkdEJD5ySs

Hi Marcelo Negri Soares,

thank you very much for inviting me. When I was pursuing my studies about The Next Generation of Infrastructures, Sustainability was one of the most important topics. In my opinion, sustainability is intricately related with the common sense and education, in basic terms. It is the main challenge nowadays in professional terms. Going into detail about your question Marcelo, I think, like I spoke before, is the common sense what makes people being more prudently and have more sustainable thought.

Independently of our point of view or curriculums, we should try to do our best for teaching to others what we may make for being more sustainable. How do you reach your goals?. Working very hard on that you are pursuing. In this way, only we are able to begin to prolong the natural resources. We must begin to change the society’s wrong habits.

I regret people is living in plastic lives, using their cars, motorcycles, laptops or phone devices everyday. The society uses natural resources or electricity without think on how this is generated. They only want to squander natural resources. For instance, in my country and in this case I do not want to annoy our colleagues, up to 70 % of  electricity generated is through Hydroelectric Plants. It is an exorbitant quantity because of our government ought to invest in designs of Renewable Sources which barely reach 1 % of electricity generated. Does it go to exist water for eternity?. Obviously no. Our society is not saving water, obviously no because we have a lot of this.

Throwing away the garbage on the street, plugging the devices all day onto the socket or using the car all day as well, is a synonym of not sustainability. I am trying to invest time and money on being more efficient in terms of energy and natural sources with the purpose of making my life much more useful and longer.

I hope all of you had understood my thoughts because I am willing to support everyone interested in this kind of projects. I am sharing for all of you some of the articles that I have read in the las couple of days and I am looking forward to talk to you in the future.

Sincerely,

Julián Gallego

Mechanical Engineer

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-debate/what-the-california-drought-means-for-canadians/article23820879/ 

http://www.un-documents.net/wced-ocf.htm 

http://kt75-mirror.blogspot.com/2015/04/brazilglobal-water-pricing-not.html 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sustainability 

Check these 2 informative publications on sustainability and sustainable development:

Dear Marcelo,

Dear All,

1.      We should implement:

to save energy and materials,

to avoid producing wastes in our personnel environment. Not to have high demands in terms of products, food and services.

2.      We should distribute these ideas where we live and work.

3.      Being a scientist one can develop technologies which help the realization of the activities mentioned in point 1. One can even teach these ideas.