Sustainability in Armenia as an Ethnographic Problem Case Study

Sustainability in Armenia as an Ethnographic Problem - Case Study Example Cultures and the lifestyles that people in a location practice leads to sustainability issues. For instance, a normal environmentally conscious citizen of the United Kingdom leaves a carbon foot print of over 6 tons of CO2 and an ecological footprint of 3.4 global hectares. This is the case with most of the western countries. The US for instance has a higher footprint on an average. This indicates the usage of more fossil and non-renewable energy sources causing more of environmental problems (WWF 2004). Sustainability is not only scientific or engineering related; it is also related to the cultural and ethical values of the community. Any community that does not have a tendency to protect its own environment and is interested more in commercialization of its own resources would end up denuding the environment faster; reducing sustainability. Sustainability reflects in many of the performance indexes of the country. While the gross domestic product (GDP) of a country could indicate the amount of money the country has spend or has earned over the period in consideration, other indexes take into consideration various parameters including the overall development of the country. Demographic and ethnographic factors hurt the performance of the country as a voter for sustained development. In the case of Armenia, it is ranked at 83rd position in 2005 with a Human Development Index of 0.775. This has increased from 0.701 in 1995, according to UNDP (UNDP 2008). At the same time, the percentage of people living below the national poverty line is well over 50%. This indicates that the wealth is not distributed uniformly across the population resulting in increased poverty at one end and extremely rich people at the other. This is one of the factors that will affect sustainable development in the Armenian Society. The Happy Planet Index is a measure of the long and happy lives people lead in that country or place. In the case of Armenia, it was found to be 36.1 out of 100 and the country was ranked at 130 out of 178 countries. This is a measure of the long lives people live and indicates how happy people are (nef 2006). As Aristotle says, the purpose of social living is to be happy. The same is supported by the US constitution when it says that every individual has the right to pursue his own happiness. This indicates that Armenia has a long way to go before it can turn into a happier place to lead human life. The Environmental Sustainability Index is produced out of 25 different factors in six policy categories. Multiple happenings in a country, including large corporate and social projects, affect the performance of a country when this index is measured. The index is a measure of the environmental health, air and water pollution levels, Productive natural resources, Biodiversity and habitat and finally, climate change contribution by the country. Environmental sustainability is an important criterion while looking for sustainable development. In case of Armenia, the ESI released in 2005 ranked it at 44 (CIESIN 2005). With the changes made in the factors estimated, the Environmental Performance Index was produced in 2008 where Armenia was ranked at 62 a substantial loss of position. There had been a number of factors that affect the