CSUS 300 Final

Limits to Growth

1972 report, Donella Meadows (simulation of exponential economic and population growth with a finite supply of resources).

Paradigms

A mindset out of which the system-- its goals, structure, rules, delays, parameters-- arises. A typical standard for what constitutes legitimate contributions to scientific field, including theories, research methods, and postulate. A distinct set of concepts or thought patterns

Capital

ASSETS Stock of real goods; produced means of production of goods that can be used to produce future goods; an accumulation of foregone consumption... saved for later use.

Sustainable (or sustained) Yield

Able to maintain biological productivity a level of exploitation or crop production that is maintained by restricting the quantity harvested to avoid long-term depletion.

Thinking like a mountain:

Aldo Leopold Kill more wolves = more deer = better hunting, but in reality the deer died from overabundance -Humans need to let the ecosystem be, observe rather than intervene

Reading examples

Bomb trains video: talks about effecting large populations, often can cause massive explosions putting individuals at risk. owl & ethics article: benefits and costs lumber vs owl. Zolli and healy, resilience impartive: how things bounce back, Implications to understand the world in which we live. Maintain core purposes, adapt. -- choosing the best paths to avoid danger. Many meanings of sustainability: debates in which approach of paradigm to address sustainability. Robust: must resist both internal and external sources of failure. Biodiversity loss and the functioning of ecosystems: nature can not keep up with the rate of extinction, biodiversity is important, effects processes in ecosystems. Loss of biodiversity threatens the services it provides. Rowe & our phony economy: For one thing, the national accounts leave out a crucial dimension of the economy-the part that exists outside the realm of monetary exchange. not much definition to where the money is coming or going, focused entirely on GDP. (not welfare) Malthus foiled again and again (1st question maybe answer) : with the population increasing, must find new ways to increase yields while preserving natural habitats.

Welfare Economics

Branch of economics that uses microeconomic techniques to evaluate wellbeing at the aggregate level. The study criteria for ranking alternative situations on the scale of better to worse. When economic opportunities increase, welfare increases

Summarize the key ideas and goals of Peter Jacques on planetary boundaries model & the resilience institute as well as Brundtland commission reports approaches in sustainability theory and evaluate the extent to which each exemplifies resource sufficiency or function integrity, respectively pg. 110 - utilization of human and natural capital : profits, planet, and people -- all components to sustainability. Resource sufficiency might be thought of as dynamic if we include the possibility that we will shift and substitute our resource use as scarcity increases or technology changes. A system or practice is sustainable if the resources needed to carry it out are foreseeably available. Functional Integrity: a system or practice that is sustainable if it is resilient or relatively invulnerable to the threat of internal collapse. This might apply to ecosystem functions, but it might be applied more broadly.

Brundtland Report goals (pg 76): Make development sustainable to ensure it meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs. Concluded widespread poverty is no longer inevitable; we need to rid it in order to be sustainable - ensure there is economic equality and cooperation in national and international systems. Grow economically through better technology, utilize our human & natural capital (resource sufficiency) in reasonable ways. Change norms and behavior at all levels in interest of all - this will depend on campaigns of education, debate, and public participation. Planetary boundaries: the amount of CO2 in the environment. Biodiversity loss-- ireeverable In pg. 110 of Sustainability, FUNCTION DIVERSITY is a supporting ecosystem service. losing biodiversity reduces overall ecosystem functions.

What is the role of capital in sustainable development? How does the debate over weak and strong sustainability reflect both agreement and disagreement about this role? (that is, advocates of weak sustainability and strong agree on certain things, disagree on others. Explain both what they agree on, and where they disagree)

Capital plays a major role in sustainable development. Utilizing human capital to create technology that will innovate problems faced through development. Making improvements! Agriculture research provides benefits globally. Banding together to create change that you can not create individually. Weak sustainability has less of a focus on renovation; strong sustainability focuses more on a dramatic transformation of society. -- they differ because of the way they utilize capital. Weak says we can continue to consume ecological goods at a growing rate, while strong wants to limit our consumption. Sustainable development meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. This implies that "resources" should be understood in terms of various types of capital. Weak and strong sustainability advocates agree upon maintaining (or improving) human welfare. However, weak sustainability also does so without declining the amount of total capital. Strong sustainability does so while maintaining natural capital (Functional Integrity Powerpoint) **

If we understand a sustainability goal as a goal that is either indispensable for or that makes a strong contribution to overall sustainability, discuss one social goal from the following list that does count as a sustainability goal, and one that does not. Explain how you interpret each goal and then discuss why you classify each in the way that you do?

Economic Growth: Like the GDP argument, a growing economy does not ensure sustainability. More money being spent, more investments being made, more transactions, etc. Doesn't inherently create any sustaining factors, only that there is growth. Having a larger, likely more complex, economy can even make it less sustainable (ex. the 2007 economic crash) Democracy: This is an unsustainable goal. With democracy, every person gets to express their opinion. Some people can elect an official that doesn't believe in climate change, or wants to destroy the environment. This is environmentally unsustainable. Nature Preservation: This is a sustainability goal. You are trying to preserve nature, and make the resources last for future generations. By trying to to maximize the resources, you are demonstrating resource sufficiency. Also, its environmental sustainable for obvious reasons.

How are stock and flow models used to explain or exemplify important concepts in economics and in ecology? Provide detailed examples that make direct reference to at least one assigned reading from each discipline (two in all) and discuss how stock and flow modeling is used by practitioners to develop each disciplines approach sustainability. Do you think these approaches are compatible, or are economists and ecologists often talking about different things?

Economics - focusing on growth - using leverage points to continue growing. Vs. Ecologist looking for resilience Economists use stock and flow models to represent a tool to show the functional integrity of a system. (such as the housing market stock and flow system); how to calculate the futures of a market. Economists goal: growth? outputs being greater than inputs. Maybe could also show resources sufficiency with flows of money, who has it, where it goes, etc. Trying to get growth out of the system by modeling with stocks and flows. Way to understand things that are happening. Ecologists use these systems to model the functional integrity and to assess the system. - Maybe could also show resources sufficiency with flows of resources, where it is coming from, where it is going, etc. - Trying to bring balance back to the system by modeling with stock and flows. - Looking for resilience, trying to avoid things that could happen. Fisheries is an example. Maybe policy- Meadows example about a simple economy. Pg. 60 basic investment and depreciation stock and flow model that could be used for economic example. Economics and ecology are systems as a whole. Effective for modeling supply and demand, the heart of economics. Demonstrates influx of population (consumer demand) Feedback loops (reinforcing, balancing) Reading examples: Common & Stagle the economy: taking about capital as a stock four components that deliver services to the economy. Ice cream example and depreciation -- stock resources: future availability.

Defensive Expenditures

Expenditures that seek to minimize damage to oneself Examples: insurance, defense

Sustainability as resource sufficiency: Brundtland Era

External costs (toxicology, pollution, ecosystem services) Production economics: input, output, supply chain modeling. Basic accounting: life cycle analysis, resource depletion, renewal Grounded in Economic Development: Just/fair savings. Growth theory, discounting, measurement

How would you interpret the orientation of these two ways of thinking about sustainability in light of our competing paradigms? Your essay should cite a few explicit examples from each reading (in the case of Jacques, you may cite from any part of the book) and should clearly articulate how you are understanding resource sufficiency and functional integrity in sustainability thinking.

FUNCTIONAL INTEGIRTY VS RESOURCE SUFFICIENCY -can either look at them as contrasting viewpoints or argue that both see sustainability from both paradigms Reading from Feb. 5th (Prugh/Assadourian) What is sustainability anyways, talks about functional integrity. This article mentions several cases of internal collapse in systems, such as the biosphere example, Easter Island, and how many people earth can support without collapse, what level of biodiversity is needed before systems collapse, etc. Ex. Biosphere II Humans as species are not in question when it comes to survival, but the survival of many individuals and life as we know it. Jacques reading focuses on both resource sufficiency and functional integrity. -Weak vs. Strong sustainability Cod fishing as an example - focuses of resource sufficiency Pg. 44- First principles of sustainability, talks about resilience and function integrity. Pg. 41- sustainable development definitions covers resource sufficiency. The article, "What is sustainability Anyway?" by Prough and Assadourian and chapter 2 out of the book Sustainability: The Basics by Peer Jacques both dive deep in questioning the true meaning of sustainability. Although they have similar viewpoints, their overall understanding of what it means to truly be sustainable differ. Each author has a competing paradigm of what sustainability should look like in the real world; Jacques, having the ideology of resource sufficiency, and Prugh and Assadourian, arguing for action rooted in a functional integrity mindset. These paradigms both value sustainability but ultimately differ in what is thought to be "central" or important. Resource sufficiency views a practice or process as sustainable if the resources needed to carry it out are foreseeably available. Although Jacques focuses on both paradigms, resource sufficiency is the basis for most of Jacques argument. He opens the chapter with an example of a cod fishery collapse in Newfoundland, where the archetype "tragedy of the commons" occurred as people continued to ignore warning signs of a weakening fish population in pursuit of their immediate profits. Eventually the resource, fish, ran out, and only then did the community understand the unsustainability of their actions as the implications resulted in famine and a crashed economy. Jacques uses this example to help his readers understand the importance of resource sufficiency in sustainability- everything has boundaries, and if those aren't respected, then the system will collapse. Jacques sums this up by stating that the problem with the structure of sustainability is, "...the contradiction between needing to consume and the damage that consumption can bring", referencing resource sufficiency and how it can be difficult to find the maximum sustainable yield of a system. After this point he introduces the reader to the ideas of weak and strong sustainability as different viewpoints about resource sufficiency- paradigms inside paradigms. Weak sustainability is a viewpoint that we can continue to consume ecological goods and services at a growing rate, whereas strong sustainability insists on strict limits to consuming ecosystems. His main point here is that resource sufficiency can vary among people depending on if your interpretation of resource sufficiency comes from an economic or ecological point of view. What can be said about this is that the solution lies somewhere in the middle, because without our ecosystems there is no economy. Prough and Assadourian's article, "What is Sustainability Anyway?" tries to tackle sustainability from the opposing paradigm, functional integrity. Functional integrity holds the viewpoint that a system is sustainable if it is robust, resilient, and adaptive. They also open their article with an anecdote, but they tell their readers the story of Biosphere 2, an experiment that had 16 men and women live in an airtight greenhouse that was meant to be a replication of Biosphere 1, being Earth. Although it started smoothly, many unforeseen problems arose that made the greenhouse unlivable and resulted them in ending the experiment early; what came out of this was the question of how to make a self-contained place to live and keep it going for a long time. This question applies not to the next biosphere, but the one we all live in together. The authors concluded that ecosystems are often complex, dynamic, and poorly understood, and it is our job to live in a way that doesn't threaten the functional integrity of systems we depend on for life. Their article focuses sustainability on preserving 4 crucial dimensions of life; a pyramid similar to Maslow's hierarchy of needs puts the humans, biodiversity, equity, and life quality in order from bottom to top, stating that each one relies on the level below it. They go into specifics on each one but conclude with the fact that these 4 dimensions are things that allow us to thrive instead of just survive. If we want this fate, then we must preserve and protect the things that constitute life as a whole: ecosystems, ourselves, and each other. They point out the ways we've disrupted our ecosystems both currently and, in the past, including the industrial revolution, dead zones from nutrient pollution, and so forth. Instead, we must return to a cyclical system and act in ways that don't disrupt the way these systems work- the functional integrity. A bone chilling message lies at the end that is meant to leave readers feeling called upon- we either act, or we continue down the path of human destruction. If we neglect to importance of functional integrity, the only thing we will have left is, "the knowledge of superior choices foregone and forever lost". To put it simply- we either change now, or our opportunity will be gone forever. In the end, both resource sufficiency and functional integrity help to better define the vague ideology that is "sustainability". There is no right or wrong answer- as with any wicked problem- but it is clear that to achieve sustainability, we must find a way to combine the values of both how and how much.

The ethical maxim (links to resource sufficiency)

Find the optimal ratio between benefit and risk. Example for sustainability is technology: when it increases the efficiency of a production process or a consumption activity or when it substitutes plentiful for scarce resources. It is bad when it increases total resource consumption

How does the system of National Accounts that is used to calculate GDP utilize stock and flow systems analysis? Are there other stocks or flows that could be included, but that are not?

For one thing, the national accounts leave out a crucial dimension of the economy-the part that exists outside the realm of monetary exchange. The national accounts and the GDP utilizes stock and flow systems a little differently than we've talked about in class. In the case of the national accounts and the GDP, I believe that in essence there is only one main stock. This stock is money that is changing hands. In this case, inflows would be a process or event that takes money that was previously sitting idle (such as in a savings account) and reinserts it into the system, which is the economy. Outflows would be a process or event that takes money that was changing hands (or part of the stock), and causes it to sit to idle (such as a savings account, a piggly bank, safe, etc.) Drivers could be a lot of things, such as war, divorce, inflation, increased production, and many more. All of these events or processes drive more money to change hands, thereby increasing the pool of the stock. This is a very abstract way of looking at it, but I think that it captures the main ideas behind the National Accounts and GDP. What I would recommend be included instead are stocks and flows that actually measure the value in the system, instead of merely the amount of money that is changing hands, regardless of where it is going, where it has been, or what is being used for. Some stocks that I have identified are natural resources, personal health, and strong families. The inflows into natural resources would be things like the natural production of these resources (such as births or other reproductive events), while outflows would be things like death. Drivers could be human events that either help or hurt the resources, such as replanting a forest which would increase the stock, or using the wood in a forest which would decrease a stock. Inflows into strong families could be things like marriages, parental care of children, and quality of family time. Outflows could be things like divorces, and societal corruption of children. Inflows into personal health are quite abstract. It is easier to identify drivers of personal health, which would be things like exercise, dieting, and healthy lifestyles. Outflows could be things like sickness, disease, or disorders. There would be many drivers that could reduce personal health, such as drugs, alcoholism, fast food, a sedentary lifestyle, and so forth. While what I have recommended is fairly abstract and nearly impossible to measure, if a way could be developed to take into account things that actually add value to a system instead of merely looking at the money that changes hands like the GDP does, I think that we would be in a better place as a society.

How would someone working from the resource sufficiency paradigm view the socio-environmental collapse experienced in the Dust Bowl differently from someone working from the functional integrity paradigm?

Functional integrity - before farmers started using the plains for agricultural needs, the plains had great functional integrity. The native grasses in that area had evolved to find the perfect equilibrium that could stand the weather patterns in the plains. Since then, the land has been completely remodeled and the soil has a much different composition. The soil can no longer hold up to the weather patterns in the plains and has completely lost its functional integrity. The system is now not resistant to threats and has proved not to be resilient. Resource sufficiency - May have had resource sufficiency at one point because the resources (grain) needed were foreseeably available. Obviously, that is not the case anymore. The land is no longer good for agricultural use and the resources needed are not available. Resource Sufficiency: The practice or process is sustainable if the resources needed to carry it out are foreseeably available. I don't think that people would see why the Dust Bowl was a problem caused in part by human cultivation of the land. They would probably see it as land that they had a lot of and would be wasted if it were not used. By their standards they had the resources to be able to use that land. The lack of rain would be the cause of the Dust Bowl for them, in my opinion. Functional Integrity: A system that is sustainable to the extent that it is robust (resists threats or perturbation), resilient (recovers from failure), and adaptive (able to change in response to external conditions). Someone looking at it from this side might say that it was doomed from the beginning because the techniques used and practices at the same time weren't sustainable and instead made the land a lot weaker and less likely to be resilient or adaptive to change in environment conditions. The soil was already bad before, but when the drought happened, the topsoil turned to dust.

Sustainability as Functional Integrity

Grounded in ecology: sustainable yield, resilience, ecological integrity, functionalist social science. System resilience and reproducibility Human as stressors: pollution, life cycle analysis, production/economics Policy science: market, failure, regulation, incentives. Importance of social movements* sustainability is a banner that can promote human rights and environmental concerns.

How do different paradigms and different disciplinary perspectives contribute to the wickedness of sustainability problems? Explain how these differ making oil into a wicked problem, and consider the examples of moving oil (including the ongoing controversy over the Enbridge pipeline under the Straits of Mackinac)

Looking at the sustainability problems from different paradigms makes it look even more wicked because we start looking at the issues from multiple perspectives and truly seeing all of the difficulties within the problem.

Is continued growth in GDP a reliable indicator of sustainability? Why or why not? Is it informative?

Not a reliable indicator, because it does not account for disparity between upper and lower classes. If the upper class (whoever has the most spending power) is growing more than the lower class is sinking/struggling, the GDP will be positive and reflect positive growth. - Could be elaborated through a capitalism government, such as inequity in the means of production. Is informative of spending power of the top members of society, but is not an indicator of the average person. GDP is the best measure of market value of goods and services, though it is not necessarily a measure of welfare or even a significant measure of standard of living.

Trophic Cascade

Powerful indirect interactions that can control entire ecosystems, occurs when predators in a food web suppress the abundance of/alter behavior of their prey and thereby release the the next trophic level from predation. Effects of predators on prey that alter abundance, biomass, or productivity of a population, community or trophic level.

Anthropocentrism

Regarding humankind as the central or most important element of existence

How would you explain the role of ethics in sustainability studies, as well as in actual projects that are intended to promote sustainability? How do sustainability paradigms such as resource sufficiency or functional integrity either reflect ethical commitments, or lead to different types of ethical problems? Use direct references to at least two assigned readings to develop your answer, and discuss how ethical values or choices (such as the difference between utilitarian ethics vs. a rights view, or between anthropocentric and ecocentric ethics) might influence the way someone using a stock and flow systems modeling approach might construct or interpret their models.

Resource sufficiency drive ethics related to: Issues of sustainability effect large populations of people. Making these decisions, utilizing methods, etc. reflect a majority of people and effect numerous communities. You need to have an ethical consideration, so you aren't negatively effecting populations. Examples of this are oil trains and pipelines. Reading examples could be the owl and ethics article we read... must weigh the costs and benefits to making decisions... Another example could be video on bomb trains, entering large cities.

Real Estate Values

Resource sufficiency: real estate values are sustainable if there are enough home buyers entering the market to prevent a surplus. Functional Integrity: real estate values are sustainable if the home finance system is not vulnerable to structural factors that distort the incentives of lenders.

Technology & Functional Integrity

Technology should not introduce fragility or brittleness into the system. It should not create new sources of vulnerability.

Functional Diversity

The amount of functionally different groups of species; redundancy in function -take water at different depths, grow at different speeds, and store different amounts of carbon and nutrients

Resilience

The capacity of a system to maintain its core purpose and integrity in the face of dramatically changed circumstances Characteristics that make a system adaptive to change -feedback mechanisms -dynamic reorganization -modular structure -diversity of resources

We discussed the 2007 collapse of the residential real estate market in the US as an example of functional integrity. Analyze the failure in terms of robustness, resilience and or adaptive capacity, and then contrast this to the way that someone focused on resource sufficiency might view the collapse.

The collapse happened essentially because of the lack of both robustness and resilience in the real estate market. There were a few big firms that crashed (not robust) and the crash led to large scale evictions/foreclosures, etc. (not resilient) Resource Sufficiency: Real estate values are sustainable if there are enough home buyers entering the market to prevent a surplus. Functional Integrity: Real estate values are sustainable if the home finance system is not vulnerable to structural factors that distort the incentives of lenders.

Human Capital

The difference between skilled and unskilled labor (intellectual property creating change, utilizing intelligence)

Utilitarianism

The doctrine that actions are right if they are useful or for the benefit of a majority. 1. value is welfare 2. include impact on all affected parties 3. choice should maximize net aggregate welfare

Natural Capital

The worlds stocks of natural assets that deliver goods and services to the economy. Such as renewable/nonrenewable resources

The Brundtland Report

UN, 1983, gave us current defineiton of sustainability. (also known as the our common mission) "Meets the needs of current generations without sacrificing the ability of future generations to meet their needs" This commission's goal was the unite countries together for sustainable development. Un came to realization that there was heavy deterioration of human resources and the environment.

How do different approaches to understanding ethics (utilitarianism, libertarianism, egalitarianism) lead to different interpretations of what was at stake in the Dust Bowl? How would you translate these approaches to another issue such as climate change or moving oil?

Utilitarianism: The idea the ends justifies the means; it is justified if it benefits the majority (moving oil, going through highly populated areas) Libertarianism: Minimal state of intervention Egalitarianism: Everyone should be equal Maybe the view that the land was ruined for a majority due to the unfavorable methods of farming. There was kind of liberal approach during the dust bowl. The government and other people didn't really intervene that much, and all of the people involved in the dust bowl migrated to find work. Dust Bowl: Droughts & unsustainable farming practices lead to the dust and eroded area and lost vegetation. - obligated people to move -people and livestock were killed across the region -intensified crushing economic impacts of the Great Depression, and drove farming families and individuals to migrate in search of work. (manifest destiny)

The story of wolves in Yellowstone National Park and on Isle Royale enables us to connect a number of different concepts from throughout the course. Select three concepts from the list below and explain them in the context of the Yellowstone or Isle Royale Ecosystem (Isle Royale: wolves play a critical role in the ecosystem's health, dwindling numbers result in higher moose population. -- need more wolves for a balanced ecosystem) (Yellow stone: reintroducing grey wolves)

Wicked problems: They brought new issues within their problems. Humans have replaced wolves as apex predators for many systems creating a trophic cascade, resulting in potential over grazing, social erosion, and overpopulation of ungulates, showcasing that more problems surface due to any changes within. trying to reduce the complexity of a system, often makes it more complex. - changing requirements Biodiversity: when you decrease biodiversity, you increase the risk of one species becoming a keystone species in a system, such as the wolves for their predation. When you alter that one species, you inevitably alter the entire system. Trophic Webs : Wanted to predict effects when introducing wolves

Game Management Aldo Leopold: Functional Integrity

Wild game populations are sustainable if the ecosystem that regulates habitat and population level is intact.

Game Management Aldo Leopold: Resource sufficiency

Wild game populations are sustainable if there are enough individuals for hunters to shoot.

A system or practice is unsustainable if it is generations acts of

resistance, protest, and political change. Sustainability is conceptually linked to social justice, fairness, and recognition.

Weak Sustainability

total stock is non-declining Maintaining (or improving) Human welfare without declines the amount of total capital. An economy or system of production and exchange in which capital does not decline.