Sustainability:Easy Concept, Hard Conversation

Mark StewartSenior Project ManagerOffice of Sustainability

The most commonly referenced definition of Sustainability / Sustainable Development:

“Meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”

-Brundtland Commission, 1987

“Sustainable development, sustainable growth, and sustainable use have been used interchangeably, as if their meanings were the same. They are not. Sustainable growth is a contradiction in terms: nothing physical can grow indefinitely. Sustainable use is only applicable to renewable resources. Sustainable development is used to mean: improving the quality of human life whilst living within the carrying capacity of the ecosystems.”

-IUCN, UNEP, WWF (1991)

“Sustainability is equity over time. As a value, it refers to giving equal weight in your decisions to the future as well as the present. You might think of it as extending the Golden Rule through time, so that you do unto future generations as you would have them do unto you.”

-Robert Gilman, Director, Context Institute

“A transition to sustainability involves moving from linear to cyclical processes and technologies. The only processes we can rely on indefinitely are cyclical; all linear processes must eventually come to an end.”

-Dr. Karl Henrik-Robert, MD, founder of The Natural Step, Sweden

“A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise.”

-Aldo Leopold

Sustainability is about harmony. It is a process that exists at the delicate balance between

environmental health, social justice, and economic development.

EndowmentNature

InterestEcosystem Services

WithdrawsEcological Footprint

For the Ecologically Literate: Eco-nomics

For the Economically Literate:

1

1.5

$33T.1997 USD

$50T.1997 USD

Debt

EndowmentNature

InterestEcosystem Services

For the Ecologically Literate: For the Economically Literate:

1 $33T.1997 USD

5 $165T.1997 USD

WithdrawsEcological Footprint

If everyone consumed as much If everyone consumed as much as the average Americanas the average American

Huge Debt!Huge Debt!

EndowmentNature

InterestEcosystem Services

WithdrawsEcological Footprint

Eco-nomicsFor the Ecologically Literate: For the Economically Literate:

1 $33T.1997 USD

1 $33T.1997 USD

Sustainability?

Sustainability is inevitable,but we want to be in control of when and how we get there!

~1987

The Greatest Challenge of the 21st Century:Live within the biological productivity of Earth.

i.e. Decrease gross consumption 33% from 2010 levels

Greatly decrease per capita consumption

Increase per capita consumption?

Share resources equitably

We must reduce the real and perceived barriers to achieve behavioral/cultural/economic transformation!

Step 1: Identify the Barriers

What are some perceived barriers to reducing consumption?

Step 2: Break the Barriers

Pick one barrier and suggest how you can breakdown that barrier for your students.

“If you look at the science about what is happening on Earth and aren’t pessimistic, you don’t understand data.

But if you meet the people who are working to restore this Earth and the lives of the poor, and you aren’t optimistic, you haven’t got a pulse.”

-Paul Hawken