Foundations for Sustainability HEN0670 Brian D. Fath, Ph.D. – bfath@towson.edu Professor, Department of Biological Sciences, Towson University, Baltimore, Maryland, USA Senior Research Scholar, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, Laxenburg, Austria •Course Description: –This graduate-level course investigates the concept of sustainability from first principles of energetics and ecology applied to socio-economic systems. It deals with the ecological, physical, economic, social, and moral dimensions of sustainability. – •Grade evaluation (points available): –Paper (100), Exercises (50), Discussion (100), Final Exam (150) = Total (400) – •Format: –Each session will begin with a 30 minute overview and summary of the topic/reading, 20 minute exercise, and 40 minute discussion. Students are expected to come to class prepared and ready to discuss with an open and curious mind. • HEN 670: Syllabus highlights Schedule Sustainable Development •“development that meets the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” –Our Common Future/ United Nations Brundtland Report, 1987 •To develop? • –Or – •To sustain? Goal Some of the most threatening environmental problems are caused by widespread poverty Development is based on squandering our biological capital Image result for global inequality Image result for global inequality Image result for sustainable development Three pillars of SD File:Sustainable development.svg Image result for environment economy society Environment is foundation for all aspects, others are subsets Sustainable Development vs Sustainability •Sustainable Development: “development that meets the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” – Our Common Future/ Brundtland Report, 1987 • • •Sustainability: “the capacity to endure” – wikipedia Hurricane https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Irma https://www.weather.gov/safety/tornado Tornado Ecosystem City Campus All are open systems with energy driving and maintaining the processes All import, reuse, and export resources (water, wood, waste, minerals, metals, materials, etc.) http://autocww.colorado.edu/%7Etoldy3/E64ContentFiles/VirusesMoneransAndProtists/Protista.jpg A single cell possesses all the necessary aspects to be alive What is life? https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f9/Loxodonta_africana_-_old_bull_%28Ngorongoro,_20 09%29.jpg A single organism possesses all the necessary aspects to be alive What is life? Mental models and outcomes Real impacts of choice of system boundaries Life Environment Tragedy of the Commons Humans win, environment degrades davinci-man-sepia earth 002 Figures by Dan Fiscus •Inherent in this paradigm, life is separate from environment in mind and action •Once fragmented, it is possible and likely that the value of environment is seen and treated as less than the value of life • •Environment is consumed and degraded as manifest in many symptoms of ecological crisis Art work of Jan Heath, entitled “food chain” Ecosystem is full of Interconnections and Interdependencies •Contrary to the dominant mainstream view, the basis of all current biology and life science education, it now is becoming clear that life is not only (or even primarily) an organismal property. • •In the view actively emerging, life is not centered on or emanating from organisms, nor is it primarily a localized, objectified or material phenomenon. • •Life is inherently relational, distributed, and non-localized A bottom up re-visioning is vital: A new holistic paradigm for life https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f9/Loxodonta_africana_-_old_bull_%28Ngorongoro,_20 09%29.jpg A single organism possesses all the necessary aspects to be alive http://www.bostonbakesforbreastcancer.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/sun.jpg Rain Cloud Clip Art http://www.cityfarmer.info/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/soil.jpg Abiotic and ecological interactions http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRJjKUkHB6gIOngBao_fcpDbgu_RIESE5qVbRcAMNPToWb6yep-bRiTohCA jg Interacting ecological community and its abiotic environment is an ecosystem An ecosystem possesses all the necessary aspects to sustain life 1)Life and environment are best understood and modeled as unified as a single “life–environment” system. Recursive nature of nature Fiscus D, Fath BD, Goerner S. 2012. E:CO 14(3), 44–88. Bounty of the Commons Humans win, environment improves Three unit models of Life: Organism Ecosystem Environment Artwork by McManus Joseph Priestley discovered oxygen in 1774 www.acs.org/content/acs/en/education/whatischemistry/landmarks/josephpriestleyoxygen.html Adopted September 2015 – also called Agenda 2030 • https://www.stockholmresilience.org/images/18.36c25848153d54bdba33eda2/1465905983520/sdgs-food-azot e-web.jpg • Misuse of the term sustainable •Adjective that means “green” •“A little better for the environment than the alternative” •Less bad •greenwashing • What are we tracking? •If development is not sustainable, is it development – why so many bad decisions? • • • Triple Bottom line: Environmental, Social, & Economic Development Is sustainability still possible? •“Growing human populations are eating more meat, using more carbon-based energy, shouldering aside more natural resources, and tapping into more renewable and nonrenewable commodities than ever before.” •“If humanity fails to achieve sustainability, when, and how, will unsustainable trends end?” • • Is sustainability still possible? •Why has it proved so hard to conform human behavior to the needs of a life-supporting future? •Our political and economic institutions evolved before anyone imagined the need to restrain human behavior out of concern for the future. • Great Law of the Iroquois •In every deliberation, we must consider the impact on the seventh generation (~140 years into the future) • •What is the purpose of expressing concern for the consequences of decision-making down to the seventh generation from their own? • Guidance for answers •Western insight into the needed physical and ethical transformations •Alternatively, we should look to other traditions as well: indigenous, Eastern Aldo Leopold •Forest Service and Wisconsin professor, eloquent and passionate writer of our duty to protect the balance of nature: –humans should extend to nature the same ethical sense of responsibility that we extend to each other. • •A Sand County Almanac (1949) – regarded as the most influential book on conservation ever written. • •“The land ethic simply enlarges the boundaries of the community to include soils, waters, plants, and animals, or collectively: the land.” http://www.historycooperative.org/journals/ht/37.1/images/frese_fig02b.jpg Rachel Carson •1960s – The modern environmental movement is born • •1962 Silent Spring •Carson, writer and marine biologist, told how chemical use on farms, forests, and gardens, poison the environment. Insects were dying (not just the pest species) which meant no food for the birds. No birds, no bird song – a silent spring • •Public awareness that humans are damaging environment http://www.todayinliterature.com/assets/photos/c/rachel-carson-190x290.jpg http://library.furman.edu/resources/subject/women/images/rachelcarson.gif Greta Thunberg •2018 – School Strike for climate – Friday’s for Future • •2019 Spoke before UN Climate conference • •We will remember… • Cartoon by Joel Pett from USA Today, December 2009 Decoupling –greater resource efficiency • Do more with less degrowth •Reduce scale to fit within planetary boundaries Do less