Transcript Creating a Common Understanding of Sustainability

Sustainability by Design
Creating a Common Understanding of Sustainability
Jay Moynihan Community Development Education Shawano County
[email protected]
Most common definition of sustainability:
"meets the needs of the present generation
without compromising the ability of future
generations to meet their own needs.”
Actually, of “sustainable development”, From “Our Common Future”, by the
Brundtland Commission, aka UN World Commission on the Environment and
Development (1987)
Chair Gro Harlem Brundtland
"meets the needs of the present generation
without compromising the ability of future
generations to meet their own needs.”
Hmmmmmmmmm…
What does that mean?
…And how?
What do we know?
Sustainability:
• Describes a future state
• Science provides a description of the key features of that state
• That state is dynamic and adaptable
• “Sustainable development” is the process….
……of moving towards that state
We also know:
In nature there are no winners or losers.
Only survivors.
“Pleistocene of South America” by D. Bogdanov
We also know:
Culture
Economy
Natural
Capital &
Services
Our economic and cultural behaviors are totally
dependent on the non-human world.
We also know:
Natural Capital
& Services
What we spend nearly all of our time thinking about.
We also know
Culture
Natural
Capital
&
Services
The Economy
We also know:
Yesterday’s solutions are often today’s problems.
We are now facing the challenges of our species’ success
We also know:
We are facingThe Perfect Storm
Rapid Climate Change
“Peak Oil”/Energy Costs
(once again, when the economy
improves)
Fresh Water Scarcity
A story
In the early 1990’s Paul Hawken was
working on his book The Ecology of
Commerce, and had hundreds of 3x5
cards pasted all over the walls and ceiling.
…The cards were about our problems.
Paul got really depressed.
All of a sudden he said to himself,
Geez, it is a design problem!
Luckily, we are good at design!
Luckily, science provides us with the broad, general “specs” for
sustainability,
The parameters within which we are free to design solutions.
Scientific Laws & Principles
Matter and energy
cannot be created or destroyed.
Meaning
It is impossible to
“throw something away”.
1st law of thermodynamics and
the principle of conservation of
matter.
It just changes form.
Matter and energy
tend to disperse.
(2nd law of thermodynamics)
Entropy
Matter and energy never go away, they
change form. Matter tends to simplify
absent an energy input.
3
Material quality is characterized
by concentration and structure
of matter.
We never consume energy or matter-only its quality , (the degree of order
within energy and matter), purity and
structure.
All the energy for everything we do was
and is produced by the sun.
4
Net increase in material quality on
earth can only be produced by
sun-driven processes.
1
2
Add together the 4 laws & principles, and you get:
The cyclic principle
Waste must not systematically
accumulate in nature, and
reconstruction of material quality
must be at least as large as its
dissipation.
The Cyclic Principle is not just some cool idea.
• It
is the most basic rule of long term survival here
• It provides the core of our design space
• It is at the center of the new economic path and long term
job growth in the 21st century
Waste must not systematically
accumulate in nature, and
reconstruction of material quality must
be at least as large as its dissipation.
Mother Nature
What we Know
A
Design
Framework
→
The Cyclic Principle
System
Conditions
System Conditions Describe a Sustainable Society
They are not negotiable.
But
The way you satisfy them
and
the rate you at which you satisfy them, is.
(But remember, nature always bats last.)
System Conditions
In a sustainable society, nature is not subject to systematically increasing...
...concentrations of substances
extracted from the Earth’s crust,
...concentrations of substances
produced by society,
...degradation of nature by physical means,
…and, in that society, people are not subject to
conditions that sytematically undermine...
...their capacity to meet their needs.
System Conditions
In a sustainable society, nature is not subject to systematically increasing...
1. concentrations of substances extracted from the earth’s
crust
e.g. heavy metals, mercury, lead, cadmium; fossil fuels
2. concentrations of substances produced by society
e.g. 70,000+ chemicals; dioxins, PCBs, flame retardants
3. degradation by physical means
e.g. forests, fisheries, farm lands
… and in that society …
4. people’s needs are met worldwide
e.g. air, water, food, shelter, quality of life
Change is really the only constant in our universe.
Rapid Change
=
Risk + Opportunity
Opportunities…
Apollo Alliance
Coalition of business, labor, environmental, and community
leaders representing over 17M Americans
Created in 2004.
Inspired by Apollo space program
Working to catalyze a clean energy revolution in the U.S. to
reduce dependence on foreign oil, cut the carbon emissions that
are destabilizing the climate, and expand opportunities for U.S.
businesses and workers.
Promotes policies and initiatives to speed investment in clean
energy technology and energy efficiency, put millions of
Americans to work in well-paid, green collar jobs, and make the
U.S. a global leader in clean energy products and services.
http://apolloalliance.org/
Clean Tech: Magnet for Venture Capital
“Green Gold Rush"
Global investment in renewable energy surged 60% to
$148B in 2007,
(UNEP report, July 08)
2007-2017 Global Projections for Clean Tech
(Clean Edge forecast, March 08)
from $77B to $254.5B (4X)
• Biofuels (ethanol & biodiesel): from $25.4B to $81.1B
• Wind power: from $30.1B to $83.4B
• Solar photovoltaics: from a $20.3B to $74B
• Fuel cell / distributed hydrogen: from $1.4B to $15.6B
Green Retrofits
Job Creation
“Every $1B capital investment in energy and
efficiency would create approximately 9,500
building-retrofit jobs. Such an investment
would also create 1,200 jobs from building and
installing solar photovoltaic panels
and about 900 wind-energy jobs”
"In the jobs-creation sweepstakes, retrofitting
buildings runs away with it. That's about 10-to-1
over any other investment."
~ Lester Brown, Earth Policy Institute founder
(Nov 08) ~
http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2008/09/green_recovery.html
Potential Green Jobs in U.S.
Study by Global Insight for US Conference of Mayors (Oct 08)
2008: 750,000 green jobs
419,000 in Engineering, Legal, Research and Consulting
127,000 Renewable power generation
57,500 in Agriculture and Forestry
2038: 4.2M jobs - 5 times today; fastest growing job segment
1.23M in renewable electricity production
1.50M in alternative transportation fuels
1.40M in engineering, legal, research, and consulting
0.81M in commercial and residential Retrofits
2038 Assumptions
40% alternative electricity; retrofits reduce electricity demand by
35% in existing buildings; 30% alternate fuels.
http://www.globalinsight.com/Highlight/HighlightDetail14474.htm
Crisis is Resetting the Economy
“If you think this is only a cycle, you’re just wrong. This
is a permanent reset. There are going to be elements
of the economy that will never be the same, ever.”
“The NA companies best positioned to tap that growth
will be the ones that double-down on investments in
innovation and technology during the downturn. If you
keep investing in technology and innovation in the
worst of times, your competitive advantage grows."
(Jeff Immelt, CEO, General Electric, Feb 09)
Tyler Hamilton, The Toronto Star, Feb. 11, 2009
And that is just the beginning….
“Green Jobs”
The jobs that it will
take to essentially
redesign the
industrial and
consumer economy
Rapid climate change
Declining fresh water resource
Decline of fossil fuels
Increasing economic disparity
All
hands
on
deck!
Are you up to the job?
Tools
for
the
Job
Systems Thinking
Systems Dynamics
Triple Bottom Line
Industrial Ecology
Cradle to Cradle
Rapid Climate Change & Energy Strategy
Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy
Green Building
Bio-based Production
Full Cost Accounting
Life Cycle Assessment
Ecological Design
Biomimetics/Biomimicry
www.capacitycenter.org
Innovation
Political Will
Courage
Communication
Cooperation
A sense of urgency
A desire for a better life for our children
“It is not the strongest of the species that
survive, nor the most intelligent, but the
one most responsive to change.”
Charles Darwin
“In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.”
Albert Einstein
www.capacitycenter.org