transition towns michael field
DESCRIPTION
A presentation I did for 'Transition Towns' on generic sustainability.TRANSCRIPT
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Michael Field - Sustainability Practitioner
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Who am I?Who am I? Sustainability Manager – North Shore City Council
Corporate sustainability programmes Energy management Procurement Fleet management WasteWise programme Carbon accounting Sustainability reporting
Sustainability Consultant Specialising in Corporate Sustainability
Sustainability Manager – Interface Inc Management Consultant
Specialising in Hertzberg’s theories
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SustainabilitySustainability
Over the last 200 years… Some food for thought…
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Mammal species – 25% threatened
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Coral reefs – 50% in danger
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Sea fisheries 70% over-fishedor collapsed
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Farmland – 67% degraded
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Wetlands – 50% gone
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Freshwater fish populations50% less
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Large rivers 60% dammedor diverted
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Bird species – 10% threatened
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Mangroves – 50% gone
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Original forest – 80% gone
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So what areour chance of
survival?
50%
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Depressed yet?
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Sustainability definitionsSustainability definitions
Official definition: Intergenerational Equity
But what does this mean?
“Meeting the needs of today, without inhibiting future generations from
meeting their own needs”
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InterconnectivityInterconnectivity
We live in an interconnected and interdependent ecological system
This is a fact, not an opinion
Every single action we take impacts on something else
Often numerous other things
This needs to be recognised and accounted for when we make decisions
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Joined up thinkingJoined up thinking
Sustainability is really all about how we think
A new way of thinking We think one topic at a time
After all, it’s easier to do This needs to change fast
Includes Environmental, Social, Economic and Cultural impacts (massively simplified)
An unpopular example…
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Huntly Power StationHuntly Power Station Environmental push to close Huntly
Good for the environment But what else will it do? Energy shortage (just one aspect)
Impacts on families (ability to heat and cook) Impacts on industry (ability to produce) Impacts on the price of energy (hits both industry
and families) Impacts on the economy (the cost to produce
goes up – hits employment and cost of living) Impacts on the available money circulating within
the economy – potential to lead to a recession
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The Precautionary PrincipleThe Precautionary Principle
Erring on the side of caution If we don’t clearly understand the range
of impacts from an action or the severity of them, we should not do it
CFC’s – a great example CFC’s are totally benign Didn’t realise the effect that solar
radiation would have on it once it hit the ozone layer
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The urgent driversThe urgent drivers Climate Change
Regardless of whether you believe it’s ‘human induced’ or not, it’s happening Again, this is a fact, not an opinion
Major impacts for New Zealand Ocean level rise (1m to 5m – NIWA report
Oct 08) Temperature extremes (hotter and colder) Severe weather events (storms, ocean
surges, extreme rainfall events
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Energy depletionEnergy depletion
It’s far bigger than just peak oil – it’s peak energy
All non-renewable resources are being depleted
This includes materials required for nuclear power production (Uranium)
Remember that nuclear power requires water (more on that in a moment)
But it’s even more than that…
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Resource depletionResource depletion
In fact, the vast majority of resources are being depleted or cannot be replaced as fast as the growth in demand:
Again, often through interconnected issues like climate change
Food both crop yields and animal stocks
Water Through use and pollution
Metals
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Resource useResource use - - The Funnel MetaphorThe Funnel Metaphor
Res
ou
rces
Time
Demand
Supply
?
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The causeThe cause
All of the issues we face can sound very confusing and complex (and they are)
But really it is due wholeheartedly to one single cause…
Human population levels!
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PopulationPopulation
1950 = 2.56 billion Exceeded in ’80s 2006 = 6.53 billion Each year 77
million added
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The solutionThe solution
Since a culling spree is pretty much out of the question, what can we do?
We need to reduce the ‘impact’ and ‘resource usage’ per capita
A frugal existence can start with obvious ‘waste’ elimination
For example…
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Energy in our homesEnergy in our homes
Space heating – 34% Water Heating – 29% Lights & appliances – 37% NZ uses about $128 million per year on
stand-by mode alone We get no value from this whatsoever An example of truly wasted resources for
no gain Lighting…
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Energy efficiencyEnergy efficiency Lights
Energy efficient florescent bulbs Remember, they are a hazardous waste
Light Emitting Diodes (LED’s) use around 60% less energy than eco-
bulbs ‘white’ light (more like sunlight, better for
the eyes) Dimmable No ‘start up’ energy spike
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‘‘A Deeper Shade of Green’A Deeper Shade of Green’
A collaborative book by matter experts A great resource on all thing ‘Sustainable
Living’ related - $65 per copy
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Organisational SustainabilityOrganisational Sustainability
Organisations have a major impact
Managing this not only delivers environmental gains, but financial ones as well
But why engage (we’re doing OK right now aren’t we)?
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Risk and LiabilityRisk and Liability
Who’s job is it to manage the risks and liabilities of an organisation?
Ultimately the CE’s Where do all the risks and liabilities come
from?
How can you know without sustainable thinking?
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The cost of changeThe cost of change
Sustainability
Legislation
Minimum requirement
Cost of change too highBusiness fails
Gradual investment over time
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Basic Finance 101Basic Finance 101
Waste = Money Waste in any form costs money
people, materials, energy
Reducing waste therefore saves money Also future proofs you
The concept of ‘lean’ operations
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What’s includedWhat’s included Ecological protection Climate change Peak oil Energy Transport Infrastructure Reputation management Buildings Materials efficiency Waste minimisation Species protection Impact assessment (holistic) Sustainable development???
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In real terms…In real terms…
Materials minimisation Emissions
carbon accounting Effluents and waste Green procurement Energy efficiency Biodiversity Work-flow efficiency
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Economic performance Sustainability policies Sustainability training and education Stakeholder engagement Sustainability reporting Environmental / Sustainability
Management System
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Start with what you measureStart with what you measure It’s true what they say:
“you can’t manage what you don’t measure” Start with ‘accounting’ related areas
(those you’ll have invoices for) Fuel (how can you reduce) Electricity (energy efficient technologies) Gas (reduction technologies) Office consumables (paper usage etc)
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Ideas from what we’re doingIdeas from what we’re doing Seaweed diversion = $70k per year Organic waste diversion = $90k per year
Also generates income from fertiliser Energy efficiency = $120k in 1 year
1 million kWh (enough to power 1000 homes) Gas boiler efficiency = $174k per year for 1 unit Plastic cup removal = $4k per year LED lighting = 60% energy
reduction We have 64 projects in total
right now
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Government, business and usGovernment, business and us
The biggest issue – how do we all work together to move in the right direction?
A couple of my personal thoughts that may help…
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GovernmentGovernment
We all expect government to lead us, but why?
We live in a democratic society, so by definition, governments don’t lead, they follow
They exist and stay in power, so long as they do what we want them to do
So we need to start asking!
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BusinessBusiness Business only exists to provide us with the
goods and services that we pay them for In fact, they are almost wholeheartedly funded
by us So why do we buy from organisations that don’t
act in a sustainable manner? Why aren’t we demanding they change? We are paying for them to do the wrong thing
Without our money they cannot exist
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UsUs So, it really boils down to us (humanity)
and our lack of engagement We don’t ask governments to do what we
want them to do Threatening to withhold our vote
We don’t demand businesses act sustainably
Threatening to withhold our money But why?
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A lack of knowledgeA lack of knowledge In general, people don’t know enough
about the issues we all face If they do, it’s all too big for them They don’t know what to ask for
Or even that they can ask or how
The messages we put out are unclear And the way we communicate these
messages doesn’t work…
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Communicating the messageCommunicating the message
We communicate to educate or influence It’s wasted effort if people don’t ‘get it’ or
don’t engage
Definitely must not sound ‘preachy’
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Why preaching doesn’t workWhy preaching doesn’t work
Guilt based messages have worked with some people
most were already ‘left of the centre’
We just need to ask them to do things and they’ll generally do it
But what about everyone else the vast majority?
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Everyone elseEveryone else
The old messages haven’t engaged them quite often pushed them the other way
Guilt doesn’t work with them – they tune out or become defensive
It needs to be meaningful and easy Tell them ‘what to do’ not ‘what not to do’ Simply leads to Cognitive Dissonance
Another technical term nobody understands..
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Cognitive DissonanceCognitive Dissonance
Values
Behaviour
‘Behaviour’ must match our ‘Values’
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The theoryThe theory
If values and behaviours don’t match, this leads to stress
Either behaviour or values must change We assume people will change behaviour
if a value conflict is pointed out In fact, much easier to change our values
than our behaviour
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A positive exampleA positive example
But we’re getting there Paying attention to human psychology
Even the traditionally ‘extreme left’ have started to recognise it
Focus on changing ‘what’s acceptable’ Removing the ‘status’ from negative
behaviour
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Leaving on a positive noteLeaving on a positive note We’re getting far better at communicating
messages Learning from PR and Communications
companies If their strategies can sell widgets we
don’t need, why not sustainability?
A Greenpeace example…
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Doing it better…Doing it better…
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Questions?Questions?