Sustainability
Lecture Part 4
SOC165
Spring 2010
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In Part 4
•Sustainability in debate:
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•Some critiques of the sustainability concept
MMj01740200000[1]
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Is Sustainability Possible?
•Intergenerational responsibility
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•Can we guess the needs of future generations?
–Example: Maybe in the future, cars will run on water or sand – in which case, conservation of oil
is not necessary
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Critique of “Sustainability”
•Vague concept
•Wide range of opinions
•Cornucopians: it’s not necessary to restrict growth
•Others say growth is inherently unsustainable
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Perspectives on Sustainability
Handshake cornucopia istockphoto_1997299_revolution_graffiti shrug
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Debates About Sustainability
•Cornucopians: “Sustainability” is nothing to worry about
•Reformists: Work within existing structures to make society more “green”
•Revolutionaries: Sustainability is not possible without radical change
•Environmental determinists: Ecological limits will impose changes on society whether we like it or
not
200px-Thomas_Malthus
Thomas Malthus
1766-1834
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Cornucopians?
Cornucopia
cornucopia
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Cornucopians
•There are plenty of natural resources
•Prices for many basic industrial inputs have declined
•Human intelligence is the “ultimate resource”
•More people is good
•We can create new technologies
jsimon
Julian Simon
1932-1998
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Sustainable Growth Impossible?
•Limits to growth
•For physical reasons, there is a limit to the amount of resources on earth and the number of
people that can live on earth.
•Thus, economic growth cannot be infinite.
•The current economic system is based on the assumption that growth is desirable and infinite.
•Thus, the present economic system is unsustainable.
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Daly: Sustainable Development vs. “Sustainable Growth”
•Sustainable development = economic improvement without growth
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•Growth vs. development: “When something grows it gets bigger.  When something develops it gets
different.”
daly
Herman Daly
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Daly and Development
•Sustainable development should start with the wealthy industrialized countries
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•The wealthy can better afford new technologies and practices, such as:
–Tax resource extraction
–Reduce the income tax
–Tax pollution
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•Sustainable economy: Stops increasing raw natural resource inputs, and at some point stops at a
scale at which the environment can continue to function and renew itself naturally.  This
“non-growing” economy is always changing and adapting – not stagnant.
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Sustainability – Different Views
•Simon: no need for “sustainability”
•Daly: Sustainability necessary, requires economic reform
•ToP: radical reform necessary
•Determinists have little hope society can make the necessary changes
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Sustainability Views
•“Can we keep doing what we’re doing?”
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•Simon: Yes!
•Daly: No, we need to scale back
•ToP: No, we need to get off the “treadmill”
•Determinists: We will keep doing what we’re doing until we can’t any more
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Summary
•In this lecture we discussed …
•What is sustainability?
•Social and ecological dimensions of sustainability
•Debates about possibility of sustainable society and example of GMO’s
•
•In the next lecture, we…
•Discuss environment and human health
•Environmental justice
•Social and personal risks from environmental problems
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Citations Used in This Lecture
•Daly, H. (1990) “Sustainable Growth: An Impossibility Theorem.” Development 3(4):45-48.
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•Simon, J., and Buckley, Jr., W. F. (1982) “Answer to Malthus? Julian Simon Interviewed by William
Buckley.” Population and Development Review 8(1):205-218.