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# Before Sustainable Development.
The vision of sustainable development is a relatively young one. 50 or 60 years ago, there was no similar term because the mindset of the people at that time was very different from today's. Shortly before WWII, the modern world's mainstream thinking was determined by two essential ideas: first, "spread out across the earth and make it your servant" or conquering colonies, and second, "If chimneys are smoking, the land prospers." Words like "nylon-age" and "green revolution" stand for the belief of boundless technical progress leading mankind into a golden age.
The Industrial Revolution, which began in England, quickly spread throughout the rest of the world and drastically increased the damage caused by society to the natural environment. People began acting as if they were not a part of the natural environment. To those who forgot that they were a part of the natural environment, the natural environment was like a faraway farm or unlimited junkyard. People began using significant amounts of resources, engaging in mass production, and dumping huge amounts of waste. Back then, industrialization was the symbol of a rich society. Pollution ruined the natural environment of many places around the world, but the problem was handled locally, not globally.
The damages exceeding the self-recovery capacity of the natural environment started to affect society and the economy. People soon begin noticing unusual occurrences of natural disasters, such as floods caused by extreme weather and outbreaks of plague, that endanger the survival of the earth. As global warming and the ozone gap become widely known, people started to realize that the environmental impact caused by society influences the earth as a whole. .
# Sustainable Development Through the Years.
In 1972, the UN Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment marked the first great international meeting on how human activities were harming the environment and putting humans at risk.