Abstract

A people’s environment depicts to a great extent, who the people are, as well as whatever may be obtained among such people. For example, the majority of the people in the Baltic Sea Region live in small and medium sized cities   or rural areas, and as such there is a strong urbanization trend found among them. This in no small measure makes sustainability of some basic natural products an important challenge for them. To survive in such areas, the search  for environmental conservation and sustainable development becomes inevitable. However, this has to start from what we may consider as an inward-personal environmental arrangement. By this, we mean a situation where we must individually work towards accepting our environment as it is and work seriously towards improving that aspect of the environment which pushes us into striving for better environmental conditions, thus this mad rush for urbanization or greener pasture. In this way we can be assured that sustainable development will be eminent. There is no doubt that with personal effort those attractions of the urban areas could be made present within our immediate environment thereby reducing drastically this continuous rush to urban areas. As such, the reverse will be the case or better still, the level of urban-rural interaction will increase. If we look at urban–rural interaction from a quality of life perspective, by integrating not only the aspects of wealth and employment, but also environment and social belonging, we can raise the overall living standard for both city-dwellers and inhabitants of the countryside, at the same time as enhancing sustainable development. By so doing, we work on improved urban-rural linkages in pilot initiatives that give us the tools to meet the challenges of increased urbanization and improve the quality of life in the rural areas. I am quite optimistic that if we work for sustainable resource management, developing better practices in agriculture and forest management, strategies for truly sustainable tourism will foster smarter use of natural, cultural heritage and landscapes, thereby allowing profitable business and preserving our treasures for the future generations. The aim of this paper is to philosophical look into our environment to see how best to conserve it for this all important sustainable development without the need for urban migration but rather increase rural-urban interaction.

 

Keywords: Sustainable development, Environment, Moral activity, Ecosystem, Instrumental value, Intrinsic value, Anthropocentri- cism and Ecosophy