Science For Sustainable Future

".....وَكُلُوا۟ وَٱشْرَبُوا۟  وَلَا تُسْرِفُوٓا۟ۚ

 إِنَّهُۥ لَا يُحِبُّٱلْمُسْرِفِينَ" 

                            ( Surah Araf)                           

"Mujhe apnay jeenay  ka haq chahiyee

Zameen jis pe merayy qadam Tiik sakeen

Aur taaron bhara kuchh falak chahiye 

Saaf paanii, hava, barishen, chandini

Saat rangoon bhari ik dhanak chAahiye 

Ye to har ibn-e-Aadam ki jagiir haii 

Ye hamari tumhari kisii kii nahiii

Mujhe apnyy jeenaay kaa haq chaahiye"

The Year was 1992 and day June the 7th, the worlds largest gathering "till then" convened at Rio de Janiero, a city in Brazil with 117 heads of state and representatives of 178 countries attending the conference. This popularly came to be known as "The Earth summit".



It was in this particular summit when the term "Sustainable Development" was first coined.

But what is meant by sustainable development?

Sustainable development is the development with the least depletion of natural resources and keeping enough for generations that are yet to come.

As Mahatama Gandhi said and I quote;

"Earth provides enough to satisfy every mans need but not for any mans greed" 

Sustainable development is judicious use of resources with the least increase in entropy.

It is capacity to measure progress and promotion of equity.

It is ability to adopt to the shocks and  promotion of cooperative governance.

Last but not least it means capacity to link knowledge with the action.


In September 2015, at a conference at New York USA, the nations of world adopted 17 sustainable development goals as a part of its AGENDA 2030. All these 17 goals have fundamental basis in the science. It is the science which will help to achieve these goals.


Science, basic as well as applied, has huge prospectus in achieving the goals of sustainable development.

It lays the foundations for new approaches and technologies to identify and tackle global challanges of the future.

  Science is universal public good.  It  does  not only bring  progess  towards   a  more  sustainable  world; it is also a way to amalgamate  national, culural and  mental  borders.  Thus, it helps to lay  the  foundation  for  a  sustainable  world. 

One of the primary goals of sustainable development is Poverty eradication and end malnutrition. The science has important role to play in it. Let me demonstrate with few examples.

1.  Hello, I am M.S Swaminathan. I am poineer of Green revolution in India. I helped millions to come out of the poverty and malnutrition by creating high yeilding variety of wheat. I did it only because of science.

2. I am Golden rice. I am a Genetically modified crop. I helped to overcome malnutrition and diseases in south east asia. I have more vitamin A.
I exist only because of science.





Another Goal of Sustainable Development is mitigation of climate change and pollution.

It is the science that can help to tackle problems of climate change, Global warming, facades of pollution and  lower the carbon footprint.  Examples;

3.  Hi, I am Hach Company. I make instruments and reagents used to test the quality of the water. I help protect environment.  You know coca cola, Ferrari, Facebook, You may not know me. But I am the fortune 500 company and I facilitate cleaner and greener earth.

4. Hello, I am Dr Purnima Devi barman, I am   called ''Hargila baido”. I am Environmental scientist and I have been awarded  Nari Shakti Purashkar by the President of India. I help protect environment with the help of science.

5. Hey, I am Greeta Thunberg. I boldly question world leader  "how dare" they destroy our environment.  I was nominated for Nobel peace prize thrice.

6.  Hii there, In the test tube, there I am a small bacteria.  My Name is Pseudomonas chakrabarty. I am genetically  modified bacteria. I was modified by an indian scientist Anand Mohan chakrabarty.

I feed on petrol which gets spilled in oceans and seas. I help clean the environment.
I exist only because of science.






Science also helps us to create new, affordable, green and clean sources of energy which is ofcourse is a very important Sustainable Development Goal for Agenda 2030 as fossil fuels are exaustable and Non renewable.

Science helps to enhance the capacity, upgrade quality  and increase of energy quantam from green sources of energy such as Solar, Wind, Hydal, Geothermal et. al.  Examples;

7. Hello, I am Innovative Solar panels biomimicking phylotaxy of leaves. I was developed by class 10th student of Govt high school Amad khushboo Anwar under the guidance of Fawad sir. I won inspire award for year 2021. I will help increase green energy output per unit area. Right now i lie on the desk of some R&D intern at TATA.






Another SDG is that of Good health and well being which ofcourse is a core domain of science. Science has created miracles in this area. Let me cite few Examples;

8. Here, I am your enemy  COVID 19. I am frustrated with you. I came to mangle the humanity. But you had science on your side. You came with vaccines and anti viral medications within no time. You made me useless. Within year you were back on feet only because of Science.

9. Hey I am your friend CRISPR-CAS technology. I help edit genome, Cure Cancers, genetic diseases, HIV and what not. My inventor Emmi Charpentier was awarded Nobel Prize in chemistry for 2020.






Another important goal of sustainable development is Gender equality. I believe only Science is that cog which would disrupts the cycle of inequality between genders.

Science fundamentally is liberal and democratic. As Science is meritocratic there are equal rights for men, women and transgenders. It is antidote to misogyny and patriarchy.



Another sustainable development goal is improvement in Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure.

Oh God, To write on it is so enthralling as one can speak on the relation of sciences with this particular goal for days on trot. Let us cite few examples;

10. Hello, I am Elon Musk. I own tesla, SpaceX, Open AI, Hyperloop. Because of science I am able to innovate and improve industry. I am creating millions of jobs.

11. Hey, i am Mark Zukerberg. I own meta. You use its products like facebook, insta, quest. I am innovating in the arena of digital world. I am innovator and a job creator.





Last but not least let me talk of an important SDG i.e conservation of biodiversity. As the famous kashmiri saint Sheikh ul Alam R.A said, "Aan Posh,Teli Yel Van Posh" i.e "Food will last till the forests will last"

As a matter of fact, humanity can survive on planet as long the biodiversity is allowed to flourish.

Loss of biodiversity shall have negative effects on survival of humanity. Examples;

12. Hello, I am Wolly Mammoth. I am extinct. Now by use of CRISPR CAS  gene editing technology, A biotech company named Colossal is bringing me back to life to enhance biodiversity and counter climate change.

13.  Hii, I am honey bee. I give you honey. I pollinate your plants which creates genetic diversity in them and improve production of food.

Many of my species have already been extinct. If we disappear from earth. You All will die of starvation and war. Save me and I will save you.



Whereas there is huge prospectus of science vis a vis sustainable development. There are a few challanges as well.

The biggest challange is the science becoming a tool for promotion of capitalism and unchecked consumerism.

It has lead to pollution of water, land, air and light. It also led to competition for resources.

Another biggest challange is the science unfortunately becoming threat to global security.

The arms race, nuclear weapons, Use of Aritificial intelligence in military, biological and chemical warfare will have  catastrophic effects on our blue planet.


I will conclude with the quote by Pope John Paul the second;

"Earth will not offer her harvest except with faithful stewardship"

                           ..................