ENVIRON 207 Midterm Exam

sustainable development (Kates 2005)

"Development meeting the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs." (Kates 2005) - requires economic growth, equity, and effective citizen participation

sustainability

"meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs" - Brundtland Commission, Our Common Future (1987) - society, economy, and environment are all fundamental - value-laden contested term that helps with understanding and reworking the relationship between nature and society

sustainable development: indicators

stakeholders' varied views on what should be sustained and developed

Herman Daly

steady-state economy - ecological economist - Toward a Steady-State Economy (1973) where economy is a wholly owned subsidiary of the environment - Thought the economy should be intertwined/dependant on the earth, don't drain natural capital

E.F. Schumacher

sustainable development - British economist - Small is Beautiful (1973) argues for better management of nonrenewable resources, sustainable development, in context of oil embargo - Challenges traditional notions of "eternal growth" and "bigger is better"

Rio Earth Summit 1992

- Effort to move environment to center of development policy - Degradation of nature should be accounted for in term of its cost -> loss of natural environment redacted GNP (incl. environment in a "green GDP") - Problems: imports/exports, standardization between countries - Third World environmental problems due to First World development policies, so First World should subsidize Third World to redress past inequities and reverse cycle resource depletion

Agenda 21 Goals (Rio Summit)

- Provision of adequate shelter - Improvement settlement management - Promote sustainable land use - Ensure integrated provision of infrastructure - Develop sustainable energy/transport systems - Encourage settlement planning in hazard zones - Promote sustainable construction practices - Meet urban environmental health challenges

Young Activists in UN Forums

- Severn Suzuki at RIO (1992) - Greta Thunberg at UN Climate Change Conference (2018)

Local Agenda 21 (Rio Summit)

- Voluntary process of developing strategies for local sustainability - Recognition of the importance of localities to global sustainability - ICLEI: by 2001, 6500 local governments adopted Local Agenda 21 plans

History of Sustainability: Industrialization 18th-19th century

- concerns about population and resource management - nature is finite

sustainable development: practice

- defining the concept, establishing goals, creating indicators, and asserting values - developing social movements, organizing institutions, crafting sustainability science and technology

Isle de Jean Charles

- first federally funded climate change resettlement - Isle de Jean Charles lost 98 of land% - excessive weather conditions incl. frequent hurricanes - flooding and intensive winds -> housing collapse difficult to rebuild due to the continuous acts of destruction

characterizing & measuring sustainable development

- goals: broad, but specific qualitative statements about objectives chosen - indicators: quantitative measures selected to assess progress toward a goal - targets: use indicators to make goals specific with endpoints and timetables - trends: changes in the value of indicators over time - driving forces and policy responses: processes that influence trends and our ability to meet targets

evolution of sustainable development

- institutional Integration: central theme in national, international, and nongovernmental institutions - Sustainability Science and Technology: efforts from scientists, technologists, and educators aimed at providing scientific support to sustainable development - Compromise: represents a grand compromise between various stakeholders concerned with the environment, economic development, and improving human well-being - Evolving Rhetoric: defined and redefined by numerous scholars - Participation and Negotiation: involves negotiations and compromises among stakeholders with different values and goals

current discourses in sustainability: what is to be sustained?

- nature: earth, biodiversity, ecosystems - community: cultures, groups, places - life support: resources, ecosystem services

current discourses in sustainability: what is to be developed?

- people: child survival, life expectancy, education, equity, equal opportunity - society: institutions, social capital, states, regions - economy: wealth, productive sectors, consumption

emergence of multilateral institutions

- problems are global but solution need to be glocal and coordinated amongst counties

history of sustainability: 20th century

- rapid economic growth - more advanced economies - growing dependence on nonrenewable resources for construction, food, and consumer goods - increasing awareness of pollution, loss of biodiversity, ozone hole, and climate change

post WWII establishment of UN 1945

- rapid population growth - persistent poverty/famine - efforts to harness technology to advance development (Green Revolution in Asia) - UN's Conference of Parties (COP)

late great maya collapse

- ruled modern southern Mexico and Yucatan, peninsula starting ~2000 BC - population crashed ~900 AD collapse remains a mystery but causes → drought, malnutrition, susceptibility to disease, failure in agriculture - no universally accepted theory - lack of biodiversity - simple diet of primary maize imposed stress of land - droughts when reliability source of water for drinking and transportation dried

sustainable development: specific goals

- short term goals: specific targets, i.e. reducing poverty and achieving universal primary education - sustainability transition: two generation time horizon: meeting human needs, preserving life support systems - long term goals: reduce greenhouse gas emissions, richer quality of life

evolution of the term sustainability

- started w roots in ideas of "ecological sustainability" instead of international development discourse or growth economics - started considering industrialized world more - more emphasis on creating alternative human systems to protect natural and human capital and promote equity - more emphasis on "bottom up" corporate, local strategies vs state action

discourse over what is sustained vs. to be developed

- sustained: nature, life support systems, and community - developed: people, economy, and society

norse vikings of greenland collapse

- vikings settled Greenland from Iceland ~985 AD - less than ~300 years later, this population disappeared - climate differences - hunting with harpoons for seal and fish - vulnerability of poorly-built vessels -> sea hazards of "Angry North Atlantic"

3 pillars of sustainable development

1. environmental 2. economic aka. human development 3. social progress *no universal agreement on the details

UN Conference of the Parties (COP) on Climate Change

COP 3 in Kyoto, Japan 1997 - First global convention to restrict global greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) - Cap and Trade Program established - Previously at Glasgow and Paris

3 key movements (18th-19th century) in US

Conservation, Preservation, Pollution

economic inequality between North and South

North vs. south divide - north created problem, south faces consequences and proposed responsibility to help

evolution of sustainable development (SD)

SD "over there" - strong emphasis on alleviating poverty within the natural limits in the developing world - catalysts/promoters are UN are international development agencies, large NGOs, some corporate interest groups - critics view SD as a globalized structure of capitalist political economy to: - maintain existing power structures to avoid significant change - changes in resource consumption patterns in industrialized countries

UN Millenium Declaration (2000)

adoption of 60 goals regarding peace, development, environment, human rights, vulnerable, hungry, and poor

Cocoyoc Declaration of 1974

challenged idea of environmental protection as an 'add on' to development

Thomas Malthus

concerned about population, population growth exponential but resource production is linear - An Essay on the Principle of Population 1798-1826

Brundtland Commission "Our Common Future 1987"

defines 'sustainable development'

pollution (local reformers)

degradation of ambient environment, people working to stop pollution/thinking of its impacts on people and ecosystems

three Es

environment, economy, equity = optimal zone

1980 World Conservation Strategy

first coins term 'sustainable development'

sustainable development: values of UN Millenium Declaration UN (2015)

freedom, equality, solidarity, tolerance, respect for nature, and shared responsibility

Hubbert curve

global crude oil production will eventually peak, then go into terminal decline over time following a roughly bell-shaped curve - helps to specify natural limits

limits to sustainable development

imposed by technology and biosphere's capacity

wicked problems

large-scale problems complex enough to have no simple solution and whose very nature changes over time - difficult to define - many interdependencies, often multi-causal - no "stopping rules", lack discrete solution or end point - very socially complex - involves changing behavior - i.e. climate change, water management, animal welfare, energy production and use

M King Hubbert

oil - Shell geoscientist - thought oil production would peak in 1970 (predicted in 1956) - Hubbert curve - Fracking made it more possible to get oil, sparked debates on natural limits for harnessing resoures

Club of Rome

overpopulation and resource depletion - Global think tank commissioned a study modeling consequences of rapid population growth - The Limits to Growth (1972) - "Sustainable feedback pattern": altering growth rates of variables so natural and human systems can coexist into perpetuity

Paul Ehrlich

overpopulation and starvation - Stanford biologist - The Population Bomb (1968) predicted mass starvation due to overpopulation - Some proved inaccurate, but theories are still relevant: overpopulation as global threat, "Malthusian" thinking

Rachel Carson

pollution/biodiversity loss - marine biologist - Silent Spring (1962) chronicled harmful effects of DDT on birds - credited with launching pop. environmental movement

preservation (Thoreau & Muir)

protecting wilderness, saying nature has intrinsic value

Stockholm Conference on Human Environments and establishment of UNEP 1974:

recognizing development-environment nexus

conservation (Pinchot & Roosevelt)

resource sufficiency, science of resource use