Transcript HW2_0_rbh
Chapter 0 Our Common Journey Executive Summary Chapters: Contents 1. Our Common Journey 2. Trends and Transitions 3. Exploring the Future 4. Environmental Threats and Opportunities 5. Reporting on the Transition 6. Integrating Knowledge and Action 1. Our Common Journey • "Sustainable development"—the reconciliation of society's developmental goals with its environmental limits over the long term • SD attempts to reconcile the real conflicts between economy and environment and between the present and the future • However, key differences in the specific issues: 1. what is to be sustained 2. what is to be developed 3. how should sustained and developed entities be linked 4. what is the extent of the future envisioned • The approach to managing SD is partly captured in the metaphor of Compass and Gyroscope. Science can provide compass direction, while the gyroscope of politics can maintain some steadiness of course across often-uncharted seas. 2. Trends and Transitions 3. Exploring the Future 4. Environmental Threats and Opportunities 5. Reporting on the Transition 6. Integrating Knowledge and Action Key Goals and Questions • "Sustainable development"—the reconciliation of society's developmental goals with its environmental limits over the long term • SD attempts to reconcile the real conflicts between economy and environment and between the present and the future • There is agreement that SD is "to ensure that it meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.“ • However, key differences in the specific issues: 1. 2. 3. 4. what is to be sustained what is to be developed how should sustained and developed entities be linked what is the extent of the future envisioned Development-Sustainability Consumption-Environment • While Population growth rates continue to decline, the number of people living in poverty has increased. • While globalization has presented new opportunities for sustainable development, the income inequality between the richest and poorest countries have all increased. • While some countries have significantly reduced pollution and slowed resource depletion, the state of the global environment has continued to deteriorate. Goals for a Sustainability Transition • The approach to managing SD is partly captured in the metaphor of Compass and Gyroscope. • Science can provide compass direction, while the gyroscope of politics can maintain some steadiness of course across often-uncharted seas. • In light of the trends of population growth, consumption, .. environmental stress, a sustainability transition (ST) appears necessary. • ‘The goals of ST over the next two generations should be to meet the needs of a much larger but stabilizing human population, to sustain the life support systems of the planet, and to substantially reduce hunger and poverty’. Preserving life support system will include • – – – – Ensuring the Quality and Supply of Fresh Water Controlling Emissions into the Atmosphere Protecting the Oceans Maintaining Species and Ecosystems and Learning, Knowledge and Know-how • Successfully navigating the transition lies in conceptualizing sustainable development as a process of social learning and adaptive response amid turbulence and surprise. • There is little guidance on how to identify and create the knowledge and know-how for SD. • * Knowledge [Webster's Dict.].. the fact or condition of knowing something with familiarity gained through experience or association...or the acquaintance with or understanding of a science, art, or technique." • ** Know-how here refers to the Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary definition, "knowledge [conveyed by expertise] of how to do something smoothly and efficiently."