IDS 3150 Midterm

Problems with the rational decision-making model

EX: 100% chance of getting $5k VS 50% chance of getting $20k (50% chance of getting $0

solutions to Costanza's social traps

Education, mutual coercion, mutually agreed upon, religion, restructuring incentives

GDP downsides

Environmental conditions are NOT included in GDP

What are the four caricatures of nature?

-flat -balanced -anarchic -resilience model

Transdisciplinary

-highest level of integration -inclusion of stakeholder insights

Multidisciplinary

-involves input from people representing more than one discipline -disciplines are not integrated

mental model

-misconceptions: false analogies (climate/weather, CO2 and air pollution)

panarchy (cross-scale interaction)

-pan: greek god, change -broad to fine scale control -fine to broad scale control

provisioning services

-part of millennium ecosystem assessment -food, water, forest products

regulating services

-part of millennium ecosystem assessment -moderating climate, regulating foods

cultural services

-part of millennium ecosystem assessment -recreational, aesthetic, spiritual benefits

supporting services

-part of millennium ecosystem assessment -soil formation, photosynthesis, nutrient cycling

What are the foundations of interdisciplinary?

-perspective taking -critical thinking -integration

four categories from Millennium Ecosystem Assessment

-provisioning services -regulating services -cultural services -supporting services

absolute decoupling

-resource use decreases as economy grows -material use/emissions decline as economy grows -analogy: $12 per pizza-two pizzas for $10

relative decoupling

-resource use increases more slowly than the economic growth -material use/emissions still grows -analogy: $12 per pizza-two pizzas for $20

Disciplinary

-shared language, methods, epistemological commitments -focus on what matters within the discipline

water

-stock: ocean, lake, etc. -flow: evaporation

instrumental (utility) value

-the ability of a person to help another achieve his or her goals -based on usefulness -what can you do for me?

interdisciplinary

-unified problem formation -integrating disciplinary insights to solve a problem -complex problems require integrated approaches

intrinsic value

-value independent of any benefit to humans -an end in itself -moral considerability

What is the energy flow through an ecosystem?

1. Producers (10,000) 2. Primary Consumers (herbivores; 1,000) 3. Secondary Consumers (carnivores; 100) 4. Tertiary Consumers (top carnivores; 10) 90% of energy is lost- only 10% goes to the next level

social-ecological system

Linked system of people and nature

Collective (Hardin's tragedy of the commons)

logical decisions at the individual level but adds up to a tragedy when the group is considered

material cycling

machines, buildings, tractors

Environmental Science

the branch of science concerned with the physical, chemical, and biological conditions of the environment and their effect on organisms

complicated systems

Cog world; many connected parts; not complex because the components never change and the manner in which the system responds to the external environment is linear and predictable

What are the interdisciplinary values?

-empathy -humility -apprication of diversity -tolerance of ambiguity

Empty world vs. full world economics

-empty world: limits to growth, human or manufactured capital -full world: limits to growth, natural capital

business as usual

- Optimize specific goods and services - Agricultural production (crops, trees, fish catch) - Preserving as many species as possible - Get the system into an optimal state and hold it there - Assumptions: changes will be incremental and linear - Leads to overshoot & collapse

iceberg model

-events -patterns and trends -systemic structures -mental models (remember in class activity)

environmentalist's paradox (4 hypotheses)

-60% of ecosystem services are in decline -Consumption increasing -Most decline: regulating and supporting services -Most increase: provisioning services

Resilience model

-Characterized by cyckes of change that can move variables among stability domains -Characterized by periods of growth, collapse, stability, and instability -A view of an actively shifting stability landscape with self-organization (mutual causability between stability landscape and variables) -I.e. the bumps and holes change

Nature Anarchic

-Characterized by destabilizing forces -Positive feedback dominates -Value in diversity of the small and local -Stay small in order to localize catastrophes -Held by some environmentalists

social norms

-Explicit or implied rules about how you should behave -We underestimate the influence of these norms

cultural cognition thesis

-Identifies psychological pre-disposition -Behavior they see as honorable = socially beneficial -Behavior they see as base = socially detrimental 2 dimensions -Hierarchical/ Egalitarian -Individualist/ Communitarian

What are Costanza's Social Traps?

-Ignorance -Collective -Externality -Time Delay -Vicious cycles -Hybrid

Nature balanced

-Nature in harmonious balance -Left alone, nature is stable; negative feedback -Nature can handle small shocks and maintain its stable state -Forces of balance that can become overwhelmed -Held by: Brundtland commission

effect of uncertainty

-Noise in information being received -Dynamic of complex systems -Uncertainty undermines cooperation

group identity

-Strong In-group identity -Increases cooperation within -Can inhibit intergroup cooperation

Nature flat

-Strong stochastic elements -Timing of decisions is important -Human ingenuity is a powerful force for change -Held by: julian

resilience

-The ability of a system to absorb disturbance and still retain its basic function and structure

Environmentalism

-concern about and action aimed at protecting the environment -the theory that environment, as opposed to heredity, has the primary influence on the development of a person or group

sustainability index

An index that accurately reflects true environmental impact of a product

Rio Declaration on Environment and development: Ecocentric or anthropocentric?

Anthropocentric - First principle states: Human beings are at the centre of concerns for sustainable development. They are entitled to a healthy and productive life in harmony with nature.

matter

Anything that has mass and takes up space

complex systems

Bug world; bugs interact with each other and the overall performance of Bugworld depends on these interactions; some subgroups of bugs are only loosely connected to other subgroups of bugs. Bugs can make and break connections with other bugs, and unlike the cogs in Cogworld, the bugs reproduce and each generation of bugs come with subtle variations in size or differences in behavior; system is self-organizing

limits to growth

Business as usual, technology, stabilization

Time delay

Lack of immidete feedback between response such as global warming, sunburn

Brundtland definition of sustainability

Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs

Externality

Impact/cost of decision are not being bore by the people who made that decision Living downstream analogy

framing

Labels: Carbon Taxes vs Carbon Fees Defaults: preference for status quo Personal experience (ex: climate change - extreme weather) Psychological distance: extent to which an object or event is removed from the self (time, space, social distance)

Ignorance

Negative consequences of an action are unknown (CFCs, asbestos)

business as usual vs. resilience approach

Optimization - Change is linear & incremental; ignore dynamics at broader scale; narrow view of efficiency; achieve optimum state Resilience - Changes are often nonlinear; systems molded by extreme events; linkages between scales often drive changes; there is no single "optimum" state (multiple single states are optimal, as seen in in-class outdoor example)

vicious cycles

Positive feedback loop heading towards an undesirable outcome

threshold effects

Social-ecological systems can exist in more than one kind of stable state. If a system changes too much it crosses a threshold and begins behaving in a different way, with different feedbacks between its component parts and a different structure. It is said to have undergone a "regime shift."

Sustainability indicator

Some characteristic you can track

adaptive cycle

The other central theme to a resilience approach is how social-ecological systems change over time— systems dynamics. Social-ecological systems are always changing. A useful way to think about this is to conceive of the system moving through four phases: rapid growth, conservation, release, and reorganization

systems thinking concepts

We all exist within social-ecological systems; changes in one aspect of the system affect the other.

Weak sustainability vs. strong sustainability

Weak -Utility must not be decreased -Relies on substitution of capital Strong -Limits to substitutability -Different types of capital must be maintained independently

Precautionary principle

When an activity raises threats of harm to the environment or human health, precautionary measures should be taken even if some cause and effect relationships are not fully established scientifically "Where there are threats of serious or irreversible damage, lack of full scientific certainty shall not be used as a reason for postponing cost-effective measures to prevent environmental degradation"

Ecosystem

a biological community of interacting organisms and their physical environment

Energy

a degree or level of energy possessed by something or required by a process

Discipline

a field of study or body of knowledge with an accepted vocabulary, epistemology, and set of methods

Scientific Method

a method of procedure that has characterized natural science since the 17th century, consisting in systematic observation, measurement, and experiment, and the formulation, testing, and modification of hypotheses

Environmental Studies

a multidisciplinary academic field which systematically studies human interaction with the environment in the interests of solving complex problems

stocks

accumulation of something

hybrid

any of the other social traps combined into one

Stocks and flow equation

change=inflow+outflow

Ecosystem services

flows of "materials, energy, and information from natural capital stocks, which combine with manufactured and human capital services to produce human welfare"

biocentric

focus on environment

altruistic

focus on other people

egocentric

focus on self

first law of thermodynamics

heat is a form of energy, and thermodynamic processes are therefore subject to the principle of conservation of energy. This means that heat energy cannot be created or destroyed

second law of thermodynamics

in all energy exchanges, if no energy enters or leaves the system, the potential energy of the state will always be less than that of the initial state

flow

movement from one stock to another

abiotic factors of an ecosystem

non-living factors such as temperature, water flow, soil, wind, etc.

New ecological paradigm (survey tool)

research tool designed to measure environmental worldview groups of people

What does "SDG" stand for in the United Nations lingo?

sustainable development goals

ecological footprint

the impact of a person or community on the environment, expressed as the amount of land required to sustain their use of natural resources

biotic factors of an ecosystem

the living components of an ecosystem and are sorted into three groups: producers or autotrophs, consumers or heterotrophs, and decomposers or detritivores

gross domestic product

the monetary value of all final goods as services produced in a country in one year

moral considerability

this entity's well-being deserves consideration when making decisions that effect it