Sustainability

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Sustainability
Developing
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Class Game Plan

• My background
• Tips for success
• What is Sustainability?
• Sustainability concepts
• Cornerstones of Sustainability
• Sustainability Themes
• Buzzwords
• Areas of Concern
• Measuring Sustainability
• Final Thoughts

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Any questions so far?
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A little about me

• BS in Bioenvironmental Science,
• Texas AM University
• MS in Aquatic Biology
• Stephen F. Austin State University
• 3rd year PhD Student
• Research focus
• Human dimensions of Coastal Recreational
  Fisheries, Conservation of Coastal Resources
• Teaching assistant for RENR 375 and RPTS 400
  South Pacific Study Abroad Programs
• Australia, Fiji, New Zealand

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Tips for Success in RENR 375

• Come to class and participate in discussion
• Youll learn much more
• Have better grasp of what will be covered on exam
• Could add 20-26 pts to one of the four exams
• Do well on the first exam!
• Dont dig a hole too big to get out of
• Dont rely exclusively on your cheat sheet
• How exams are developed
• How to study

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• What is Conservation?
• What is Sustainability?
• What is the difference?

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Sustainability Defined

• The ability to meet the needs of the present
  generation without compromising the ability of
  future generations to meet their own needs.
• United Nations Conference on the Human
  Environment (1972)
• 1st global effort to address sustainable
• 1987 World Commission on Environment and
  Development (WCED) convened (aka Brundtland
  Report)
• Produced Our Common Future, which formally
  defined sustainability

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Sustainability Defined

• Sustainability, sustainable development and
  developing sustainability represent semantic
  efforts used to describe an alternative approach
  to understanding humanitys role on the planet
• Support of economic viability and healthy
  ecosystems by modifying consumption patterns and
  implementing a more equitable social framework
  (Edwards, 2005, p. 3)
• Treating the Earth as if we meant to stay Sir
  Crispin Tickell
• Turn resources into junk no faster than nature
  can turn junk back into resources Steve
  Goldfinger on ecological sustainability

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The importance of Sustainability

• Whats the big deal?

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Cornerstones of Sustainability

• In order to develop sustainability all three
  components must be addressed
• Society, Economics and Environment
• AKA the three Es
• Equity/Equality (Society)
• Economics
• Environment
• Only three components should be easy to achieve -
  Right? Very dynamic, multi-dimensional,
• US corn subsidies

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Sustaining the Rainforest

• With much of our remaining global ecosystems
  services housed in developing countries, how do
  we as global citizens maintain and revitalize
  these ecosystems?
• Example Brazils Amazon Rainforest
• 4.1 million square km in 1970
• 3.4 million square km in 2006 about 20 loss
• rainforests are home for up to three-fourths of
  all known species of plans and animals
• 55 percent of the remaining Amazon may be either
  cleared or damaged by 2030
• Should developed countries have any say?

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Thoughts on Sustainability

• Mans epiphany of sustainability
• Biomimicry
• What is an inherent difficulty in defining and
  planning for sustainability?

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• Are the predictions regarding global crisis
  related to unsustainable behavior legit or
  rhetoric of an alarmist few?
• Is global sustainability even achievable?

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Sustainability Buzzwords

• Biocentric
• Anthropocentric
• Technological utopians
• Natural capital
• Carrying capacity
• LEED certified
• Carbon footprint
• Ecological Footprint Analysis

• Biomimicry
• Biosphere
• Social Justice
• Social Equity
• Green Marketing
• Carbon credits, carbon dioxide sinks
• Biofuels

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Our Global Sustainability Predicament

• Soaring Population
• Low Scenario 7.4 billion people by 2050, 2.3
  billion by 2300
• High Scenario 10.5 billion people by 2050, 36.4
  billion by 2300
• taken from UNs 2004 Report WORLD POPULATION
  TO 2300
• Inequitable distribution of natural capital and
  subsequently economic prosperity
• The 1.1 billion who live in affluence consume
  over 75 of the worlds total output
• Ecosystems are strained, stressed and depleted
• Land degradation/desertification, deforestation,
• Freshwater ecosystems dams, irrigation,
  pollution, nutrient loading (The construction of
  dams and other structures along rivers has
  moderately or strongly affected flows in 60 of
  the large river systems in the world.) Millennium
  Ecosystem Assessment Synthesis Report (2005),
  Summary for Decision Makers

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Our Global Predicament

• Loss of biodiversity, genetic diversity
• There are approximately 100 documented
  extinctions of birds, mammal, and amphibians over
  the past 100 years, a rate 50500 times higher
  than background rates.
• Between 10 and 30 of mammal, bird, and
  amphibian species are currently threatened with
  extinction
• Climate Change
• Energy crisis, dependency on fossil fuels
• By the end of the century, climate change and its
  impacts may be the dominant direct driver of
  biodiversity loss and changes in ecosystem
  services globally
• Millennium Ecosystem Assessment Synthesis Report
  (2005), Summary for Decision Makers

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Land Cover Change 1980-2000
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Assessing Sustainability

• Ecological Footprint analysis Whats Your EF
• is an accounting tool and methodology which
  estimates how much productive land is needed to
  offset the resource consumption and waste
  assimilation of a defined area, person or process
  Wackernagel Rees, 1996, p.9)
• Ecological Footprint analysis argues that each
  category of consumption and waste outflow can be
  defined by a finite area of land or water
• Five major categories of consumption (food,
  housing, transportation, consumer goods and
  services)

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Assessing Sustainability

• Eight general categories of land use
• (i.e. land appropriated for fossil energy use and
  carbon sinks, constructed or built environments,
  reversible built environments such as gardens,
  cultivated land for crops, pastures and forests,
  untouched forests and non-productive land
  including deserts and ice caps) are analyzed
• Calculated using aggregate consumption (total
  load population x per capita consumption) and
  then converted to a corresponding area of land
• Patagonia

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Sustainability Themes

• As in life, many opportunities to live
  sustainably come with TRADE OFFS
• What are we willing to give up?
• Insufficient baseline data and information make
  it difficult to assess and plan sustainably
• Determining where youre going is tough when your
  not sure where your are
• Decisions regarding sustainable behavior are
  always as simple as do or dont
• Often shades of gray, complex, extenuating
  circumstances

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Sustainability Themes

• What are some factors that contribute to adoption
  of sustainable behavior?
• Economic
• Political
• Civic
• Personal
• Spiritual
• Emotional

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What Can We Do?

• Agriculture
• Reduce meat consumption
• Purchase organically grown foods (in U.S. food
  travels an average of 1300 miles from farm to
  plate)
• Buy organically produced food or grown your own
• Dont use pesticides on your lawn or garden
  (preserves biodiversity)
• Transportation
• Drive an energy efficient vehicle
• Walk, bike, carpool, take mass transit
• Work at home or live near your work
• Reduce car use by 10

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What Can We Do?

• Home energy use
• Turn your A/C thermostat up
• Energy efficient appliances
• Line dry your clothes
• Use renewable energy (solar, etc)
• Water
• Limit shower time
• Reduce lawn irrigation
• Live Simply
• Reduce, reuse, recycle

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Final Thoughts

• On developing sustainability
• Make it personal
• Think globally Act locally
• Individual community state national
  global
• Developing sustainability is a dynamic,
  multidimensional task with many stakeholders
  designed for the long haul
• No magic pill to cure all our ills
• We didnt create these problems overnight
• comprehensive, cooperative, holistic, biocentric
  approaches to developing sustainability