From Here to Sustainability

Prepared by Cesidio Parissi B.App.Sc.EH (Hons)

PhD candidate & casual lecturer, School of Natural Sciences, UWS.

Tutor in School of Medicine.

Points on Our Journey

• Introduction.• Exercise.• Differences and

positions.• Concluding case study.• Questions.

Reading X

Why bother with this?Sustainability relevant to all courses in 4 ways:• Sustainability directly applies to all courses &

disciplines- health, law, philosophy, science…• All disciplines apply to sustainability, it’s a trans-

disciplinary discourse.• You’ll be asked to examine evidence, but, what

evidence? Which position to support? Well….• Sustainability also helps develop skills of academic

critical thinking and critical analysis.

(Discipline: a branch of academic study. Discourse: a range of views about a topic or discipline)

Reading 11: The Climate Institute, re ‘Aust attitudes’

What’s it all about?

• Many global indicators are getting worse, not better: – environmental (eg, climate change; loss of biodiversity;

loss of ecodiversity; pollution of air, land and water) – economic (eg, loss of resources; public cost of

remediation; fish stocks threatened) – social (eg, loss of community, resource wars, increasing

gap between rich & poor; ).

• New issues arise, for example, – regarding human health: eg, increase in mosquito

borne diseases; Readings - 3: D. Eamus; 12: IPCC 2007 Report

‘Environmentalism’, ‘Sustainable Development’, & ‘Sustainability’

• Environmentalism is concerned with biological, physical, chem. and geological problems & is about:– discovering if they exist, what they are and finding

solutions.

• Sustainable Development adds ‘social’ and ‘economic’ to ‘environmental’

• Sustainability is about finding a way to organise human society so that we do not cause these problems in the first place.

(Partly in – Readings - 1: Sharon Beder; 7: Paul Newman;

8: JD Marshall & MW Toffel

Sustainability: a beginning point

• Simply – ‘the ability to sustain’• Whose ability? Ability to sustain what?• The most common definition of sustainable

development is from Gro Harlem Brundtland: “…development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”

Reference: (The ‘Brundtland Report’ p.8 & p. 43): World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED) 1987, Our Common Future, Oxford University Press, Oxford. Reading 1: Sharon Beder

From the 1987 Brundtland Report

• Society• Economy • Environment

Economy

Society

Environment

Three elements of sustainable development.

The Australian Context• ‘sustainable development’ (world = SD) and

‘ecologically sustainable development’(Aust = ESD)

• ESD is also Education for Sustainable Development (as in, the UN decade for…)

• 1992 Council of Australian Governments set the National Strategy for Ecologically Sustainable Development, defines ESD as …

“…using, conserving and enhancing community resources so that ecological processes on which life depends are maintained and the total quality of life now and in the future can be increased”

Readings - 1: Sharon Beder; 7: Peter Newman

In New South Wales…• 1993 Local Government Act (& 1997

amendment) states the basis for ESD.• 4 principles of ESD

– Inter-generational Equity– Precautionary Principle– Maintaining Biodiversity– Improved Valuing and Pricing

(‘Intra-generational Equity’ left out of NSW law - why?)

Re: West. Aust. – Readings - 5: Alexandra de Blas; 6: Robin Williams

Is sustainability still an issue now? Consider this…

• 2004 (& 2006) CSIRO Reports state that by 2070:– Sydney temp to rise by 1-7°C; 9/10 years in drought;– Sea levels rise, 100m storm surges; frequent bushfires.

• ’06 UK Treasury’s Stern Review: economic chaos- threat to Bangladesh, Tokyo, NY, London…

– If rise in CO2 continues, with an increase of 2-10°C by 2100, Aust. agriculture virtually ends.

• ’07 UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (600experts, 620 expert reviewers): “…global warming is essentially a runaway train that cannot be stopped for hundreds of years” SMH 3-4/2/07

Readings - 12: IPCC 2007 Report; 11: The Climate Institute

Humans face An Inconvenient Truth

• “The Weather Makers: the History and Future Impact of Climate Change” – ‘once humans were subject to the weather, now we are the ones that change climates’

• http://www.climatecrisis.net/downloads/ - Al Gore

Tim Flannery

Reading 10: Tim Flannery

Map of the World

Greenland

Ice Cap Melting• … second largest ice cap …

melting three times faster than indicated by previous measurements…

• The Greenland Ice Sheet shrank at a rate of about 239 cubic kilometres per year from April 2002 to November 2005……. In the last 18 months … ice melting has appeared to accelerate, particularly in southeastern Greenland.

Source:http://www.newscientist.com/arti

cle.n?id=dn9717&feedId=onlin e-news_rss20

Where do we fit in?

• Society• Economy • Environment…

• The Individual & our communities)

Economy

Society

Environment

Us

Three elements of sustainable development.. … plus us.

For your own Ecological Footprint (under ‘Calculator’): www.epa.vic.gov.au/ecologicalfootprint/default.asp

(Also - Readings - 2: David Suzuki; 3: D. Eamus; 4: N. Chambers, et al

EXERCISE: What is your position…?

Complexity of Sustainability 1: Environmental Positions

• Bailey, B. 1995, The True State of the Planet, The Free Press, New York.

• Lomborg, B. (2001), The Skeptical Environmentalist, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

• Nigel Calder: It’s not my fault, the Sun did it. http://www.abc.net.au/rn/inconversation/default.htm

Complexity of Sustainability 2: Technological Progress…or more of

the same?

• Yes, we have problems, but….• Technology has got us out of trouble before, why

not again?

Readings – 8: J.D. Marshall & M.W.Toffel; 9: R. Robertson; 11: The Climate Institute

Complexity of Sustainability 3: 3, 4, 5 elements….or 2…

• Environment, Society and Economy

• …Culture (languages, Coca Colonisation…)

• …Ethics (what about other species?…nothing is bigger than Nature)

• 2 elements: Society and Nature.

Complexity of Sustainability 4: Five Sets of Voices for Sustainability

GovernmentGovernmentGovernment Members of Parliament, Members of Parliament, Councillors, ExecutiveCouncillors, Executive……

ProfessionalsProfessionalsProfessionals Social; economic; planning; health; law; environmental …

CommunityCommunity

Individuals

HolisticHolisticHolistic

Sense of place, of community

Personal values, experienceShared vision of a future Shared vision of a future sustainable worldsustainable world

Modified from Brown, V. et al, 2005. Readings - 11:The Climate Institute; 10: Tim Flannery

Complexity of Sustainability 5: Ethno-centric Vs Eco-centric

• The whole point of existence is for the benefit of humans…ethnocentric

• The whole point of human existence is to fit in with all of nature…ecocentric

Book of Readings: All

Complexity of Sustainability 6: Economics Vs Environment

• “…economic activity uses up … resources, … requires energy, … creates waste products … often creating pollution.” (Sharon Beder: Reading 1, p.3)

- So far the economy has helped create wealth for all – what’s wrong with that?

- ESD: ‘Economically’ Sustainable Development?

• Economic activity has, at least up until now, not taken into account environmental costs.

Readings - 1: Sharon Beder; 9: R. Robertson

Economic Development

• Was economic development too cheap an idea when it applied only to smaller countries?

• 6 billion people in the world, up to 9b. by 2050• 1.2b in industrially developed countries

– What about the 4.8b? – 2b live on less than USD$2/day… 1b on less than USD$1/day.

• It’s getting worse: in 1970 the rich/poor ratio was 35/65…in 2000 it was 20/80

• Less than 20% of people consume more than 80% of the Earth’s resources.

Simmons, M. 2000 www.greatchange.org/ov-simmons,club_of_rome_revisited.pdf

Case Study: China…• China’s economy (GDP) is growing at about 8/9%

pa (Australia’s is about 3-4%), with >1.3b in pop.“In 2003…11,000 cars were added to China’s roads

every day, a total of 4 million new cars in one year…by 2015, 150 million cars are expected in China – 18 million more than … in the US in 1999 …and if Chinese per-person paper consumption were to match the US level there would not be enough paper (or forests) available.” (Edwards 2005, p.2)

Edwards, A. R. 2005, The Sustainability Revolution: Portrait of a Paradigm Shift, New Society Publishers, Gabriola Is.

India…

• India has >1.1b in population and will overtake China within 20 years as the Earth’s most populated country.

• India’s GDP growth rate is about 9.2%.• The statistics for resource consumption that

apply to China can also apply to India.

By what Justice?

• What right has the ‘First’ world to stop the ‘Third’ world from improving its lot?

• What right have we to continue to consume 80% of the Earth’s resources?

• None?...Yet if all people consume at this rate, the possibility of anyone on Earth living a good life is in question.

Some consequences are inevitable, some are not…

• If the Greenland Ice Cap melts, sea level will rise 7 metres.

• Calcutta (India) is 3 metres above sea level.

• Dhaka (Bangladesh) is 5 metres above sea level.

Source: IPCC 2001 Review.

What Alternatives?...1

• The continued domination of the Earth’s resources by the minority – 20%?

• Eliminate the problem species?• Act as the intelligent species that we claim we

are and have the 20% decrease its over consumption and the 80% increase its share?

• Can Australia survive with a negative growth rate?

• Can it survive without one?

What Alternatives?...2

• GDP Vs GDH

• The Kingdom of Bhutan does not measure its progress with the amount of material it produces, but measures its Gross Domestic Happiness.

What Alternatives?...3

• A different ethical approach?

• Ghandi: “live simply, so that others may simply live”.

Indigenous Australians, on average:

-suffer rates of chronic disease and premature death similar people living in the developing world.

-all Australian governments have failed Indigenous people over the years.

• what risks do we face if we do not learn from their 40-70,000 years?

Alternatives?…4 Lessons from Australia’s ‘3rd World’

Web source: www.oxfam.org.au

Now…

• What is your position on climate change, sustainability and equality for all humans and for all species?

• Questions?

Additional references• An Inconvenient Truth: http://www.climatecrisis.net/downloads/• Bailey, B. 1995, The True State of the Planet, The Free Press,

New York.• Brown, V.A., Grootjans, J., Ritchie, J., Townsend, M., &

verrinder, G. 2005, Sustainability and Health: Supporting Global Ecological Integrity in Public Health, Allen & Unwin, Sydney.

• Calder, N. http://www.abc.net.au/rn/inconversation/default.htm• CSIRO Report: http://www.csiro.au/files/files/p6fy.pd• Ecological Footprint Calculator:

www.epa.vic.gov.au/ecologicalfootprint/default.asp• Edwards, A. R. 2005, The Sustainability Revolution: Portrait of a

Paradigm Shift, New Society Publishers, Gabriola Is.• Simmons, M. 2000 Revisiting The Limits to Growth: Could The

Club of Rome Have Been Correct, After All?, at: http://greatchange.org/ov-simmons,club_of_rome_revisted.pdf

• Stern Review:The Economics of Climate Change: http://www.hm- treasury.gov.uk/independent_reviews/stern_review_economics_c limate_change/sternreview_index.cfm

• UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change “Climate Change 2007”: http://www.ipcc.ch/