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MODULE 3

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27% of the world's coral reefs were severely damaged by 2000, compared to only 10% in 1992 ... fish species (in mangroves and coral reefs in particular) ... – PowerPoint PPT presentation

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Title: MODULE 3


1
Teachers Resource
2
(No Transcript)
3
Learning from the past
  • The Mayans
  • Easter Island
  • Mesopotamia
  • Biosphere 2

1.3
4
WHY IS SUSTAINABILITY AN ISSUE?
1.4
5
State of the world - social
  • In 2000
  • Global population 6.1 billion, up from 2.5
    billion in 1950
  • 95 of population growth in developing countries
  • 1.2 billion in severe poverty (lt1/day)
  • More than 1 billion people overweight (in the US,
    61 adults overweight, 27 obese)
  • 1.1 billion without access to safe water
  • 3 million people died of AIDS (cumulative total
    now almost 22 million) and 58 million had HIV
  • On average a person was infected with HIV every
    six seconds
  • In Botswana, one in three adults was infected
    with HIV

1.5
6
State of the world - social
(continued)
  • United States
  • Fordham University index of social health 44
    lower in 1996 than in 1973, despite stock market
    highs
  • Now the worlds largest penal colony (nearly five
    million men in the US awaiting trial, in prison,
    on probation or on parole)
  • There is no cost difference between incarceration
    and an Ivy League education
  • Australia
  • In 1996, 2 million lived below the poverty line
  • Top 20 percent of households had 44 percent of
    private income while the bottom 20 percent had
    just 3 percent
  • Now one of the most unequal of all developed
    countries (having slipped from 7th to 15th on the
    UN Index of Human Development)

1.6
7
State of the world - environment
  • 12 of 9,900 bird species in the world threatened
    with extinction
  • Over the last 200 years, 103 bird extinctions
    have been already documented rate more than 50
    times background rates of extinction
  • 27 of the worlds coral reefs were severely
    damaged by 2000, compared to only 10 in 1992
  • In the last 100 years, Earth has lost over half
    its wetlands in South-east Australia this
    figure is 89
  • Aquifers are being depleted worldwide, with water
    tables in many parts falling by as much as a
    metre a year

1.7
8
State of the world - environment
(continued)
  • Atmospheric carbon dioxide (a greenhouse gas) is
    30 higher than pre-industrial times and highest
    in at least 420,000 years
  • Strong scientific consensus that most warming
    observed over the last 50 years is attributable
    to human activities
  • 10 decrease in snow cover since the 1960s
  • Global average sea level has risen 10-20 cm
  • IPCC projections - by the year 2100
  • globally averaged surface temperature will warm
    by 1.4 to 5.8ºC (relative to 1990)
  • global mean sea level will rise by 9 to 88cm
    (relative to 1990)

1.8
9
State of the world - economic
  • In 2000, foreign debt of developing and former
    Eastern bloc nations stood at US2.57 trillion
    (2,570,000,000,000) (1999 dollars)
  • During the 1990s the economic toll of natural
    disasters topped US608 billion, more than the
    previous four decades combined
  • Of the US9 trillion spent every year in the
    United States, US2 trillion is wasted

1.9
10
State of the environment - Australia
  • Between 1996 and 2001
  • Additional 500,000 hectares of land became salt
    affected (bringing total to at least 2.5 million
    hectares or 5 of our cultivated land
  • Further 5.7 million hectares identified as having
    a high potential for developing dryland salinity
  • Common cause of dryland salinity has been changes
    to water tables from inappropriate land use

1.10
11
State of the environment - Australia
(continued)
  • Predicted that without significant action, within
    20 years Adelaides drinking water would fail
    World Health Organisation standards in two days
    out of five
  • Predicted if nothing is done, salinity will cost
    1 billion a year by 2100
  • Many coastal areas have poor water quality from
    sediment, resulting from soil erosion. 11.7
    million tonnes/sediment/year enter Great Barrier
    Reef alone. In North Queensland, grazing lands
    product about 66 of estimated annual sediment to
    rivers

1.11
12
State of the environment - Australia
(continued)
  • Air quality generally improved or remained
    constant
  • Threatening processes to biodiversity include
    salinisation, land clearing, fragmentation of
    ecosystems, exotic organisms and changing
    hydrological conditions
  • Australia has 10 of worlds endangered species,
    second only to the US
  • Net loss in vegetative cover since 1996
  • In 1999, 469,000 hectares of woody vegetation
    cleared nationally (425,000 ha in Queensland)
  • Many heritage buildings damaged through
    inappropriate development
  • Decline in Indigenous languages

1.12
13
Valuing the environment
  • Wealth is
  • something that that has real value in terms of
    meeting our needs and fulfilling our wants the
    natural productive systems of the planet and
    physical things like factories, homes, farms,
    stores, actual transportation and communications
    facilities, as well as the people who work to
    produce the goods and services that sustain us.
    Modern money is only a number on a piece of paper
    or an electronic trace in a computer, that by a
    social convention gives its holder a claim on
    that real wealth. In our confusion, weve
    concentrated on the money, to the neglect of
    those things that actually sustain a good life.
  • David Korten

1.13
14
Valuing the environment
  • Ecosystem services include
  • photosynthesis
  • pollination
  • nurseries for commercial fish species (in
    mangroves and coral reefs in particular)
  • regulation of climate
  • soil production and protection
  • storage and cycling of essential nutrients
  • absorption, breakdown and dispersal of organic
    wastes and pollutants
  • control of crop and livestock pests through
    predation
  • Services provided globally by the environment
    estimated at least US36 trillion annually. In
    Australia, services estimated at 1.3 billion
    annually

1.14
15
Measurement of the amount of raw materials
consumed in the United States (WW I World War
I, WW II World War II) Source Matos and
Wagner
1.15
16
  • Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful,
    committed citizens can change the world indeed,
    its the only thing that ever has.
  • - Margaret Mead

1.16
17
One can of cola ...
1.17
18
KEY ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES A SUMMARY
19
Enhanced greenhouse effect and global warming
  • Atmosphere surrounding the earth a mixture of
    gases
  • Greenhouse gases (eg water vapour, carbon dioxide
    and methane) so called because they trap heat,
    leading to warming lower atmosphere. This process
    occurs naturally and is essential to sustaining
    life on earth
  • Human activities in last 200 years (e.g. burning
    fossil fuels) have increased concentration of
    greenhouse gases, resulting in increased warming
    of the lower atmosphere - the enhanced greenhouse
    effect

1.19
20
Enhanced greenhouse effect and global warming
(continued)
  • Some gases, e.g. those used in air conditioning,
    have strong global warming potential
  • Other sources of emissions include agriculture
    (methane from animals and rice paddies), and
    waste in landfills (methane)
  • Plants convert carbon dioxide to oxygen so land
    clearing diminishes this potential

1.20
21
Enhanced greenhouse effect and global warming
(continued)
1.21
22
Ozone depletion
  • Ozone layer is a concentration of ozone molecules
    in the stratosphere (10-50km above earths
    surface)
  • Stratospheric ozone shields earth from suns
    ultraviolet (UV) rays, reducing radiation
  • Increased UV radiation causes skin cancer,
    cataracts, weakened immune systems, reduce crop
    yield and impacts on marine systems
  • Ozone molecules are attacked by ozone-depleting
    substances, such as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs)
  • In the stratosphere, chlorine or bromine atoms
    split apart from ozone-depleting substances and
    destroy ozone molecules. One chlorine atom can
    break apart more than 100,000 ozone molecules

1.22
23
Ozone depletion
(continued)
  • In the 1980s, an ozone hole was identified
    above the Antarctic and concluded to be more than
    natural variations in concentrations
  • International agreement such as Montreal Protocol
    have committed nations to phase-out or reduce
    ozone-depleting substances
  • CFC production banned in developed countries
    since 1995 and alternatives have been developed

1.23
24
Loss of biodiversity
  • Biodiversity is defined as the variety of life on
    earth, including plants, animals and
    micro-organisms, along with the genetic material
    they contain and the ecological systems in which
    they occur
  • Biodiversity is being eroded globally through
    native vegetation clearance, pollution of air,
    land and water, inappropriate land use,
    disruption of natural ecological cycles, invasion
    of exotic weeds and pests and depletion of
    forests, fisheries and other natural resources

1.24
25
Loss of biodiversity
(continued)
  • Australia is among the most biologically diverse
    nations in the world - 290,000 species of
    Australian flora and 200,000 species of
    Australian fauna. Currently 1,478 species and 27
    ecological communities currently listed at the
    national level as either endangered or vulnerable
  • We do not even know all species we are
    endangering or their potential for humans
  • We do not know what overall impact steady
    degradation of ecosystems will have - the thin
    end of the wedge?

1.25
26
Soil degradation
  • Threatens global ability to continue to produce
    food.
  • By 1990, poor agricultural practices had
    contributed to degradation of 562 million
    hectares, (38 of the roughly 1.5 billion
    hectares in cropland worldwide.
  • Each year, an additional 5 6 million hectares
    of land estimated to be lost to soil degradation
  • Soil degradation includes
  • soil erosion by water and wind - depleting
    topsoil and causing water and wind pollution
  • physical degradation through mechanical tilling
  • desertification - the degradation of land in
    arid, semi-arid, and dry sub-humid areas, caused
    primarily by inappropriate land use and climatic
    variations. salinisation and waterlogging of soil
  • depletion of soil nutrients through application
    of fertilisers
  • loss of beneficial soil organisms through
    over-application of agricultural chemicals

1.26
27
Soil degradation
(continued)
  • Major causes of soil degradation include
    overworking soil mechanically, land clearing and
    deforestation, overgrazing, irrigation, and
    over-application of agricultural chemicals
  • Soil erosion is expected to severely reduce
    agricultural production in regions including
    southeast Nigeria, Haiti and the Himalayan
    foothills, and part of southern China, Southeast
    Asia and Central America
  • Over 250 million people are directly affected by
    desertification, with one billion people in over
    one hundred countries at risk
  • Salinity affecting enormous areas of land and
    water quality in rivers. Saline areas can result
    from natural processes, however, most newly
    salinised areas are the result of changes in land
    use and hydrological cycles. Most salinity
    results from rising groundwater. Types of
    salinity include dryland, irrigation, urban,
    river and industrial

1.27
28
Dryland salinity
1.28
  • Source former NSW Department of Land and Water
    Conservation

29
Resource depletion
  • We are steadily using up available non-renewable
    resources. Non-renewable resources resources
    that are not replenished, or at least not
    replenished within hundreds of thousands of
    years, e.g. metals and fossil fuels
  • We are harvesting many renewable resources at
    rates greater than their rate of replenishment
    (e.g. many forests)
  • Use of energy from fossil fuels, which are
    effectively non-renewable, is of huge concern.
    Fossil fuels include petrol, diesel, natural gas,
    LPG, black and brown coal, oil, kerosene and
    aviation gasoline
  • Energy use and environmental impacts are closely
    linked, as the extraction, transport and use of
    fuels and the production of electricity impact
    the environment on local, regional and global
    levels, particularly the enhanced greenhouse
    effect and global warming
  • Global use of fossil fuel increased by over three
    and a half times between 1950 and 2000

1.29
30
Resource depletion
(continued)
1.30
World fossil fuel consumption, 1950-2000 Source
Worldwatch Institute (2001)
31
Resource depletion
(continued)
  • Australia, which compared to many countries has
    large reserves in comparison to annual use, is
    nonetheless facing a decline in crude oil
    production over the next decade, with estimates
    that self-sufficiency for this product will
    decline from 85 percent in 2001 to less than 40
    percent in 2010
  • In Australia, the ultimate constraint to use of
    non-renewable energy resources may well be the
    environmental impacts of extraction and
    consumption, rather than availability
  • Potable water another critical resource being
    depleted, particularly in Australia. Australia is
    the worlds driest inhabited continent, yet in
    1996/97 used 24,058 gigalitres (approx. 24
    billion cubic metres) annually an increase of
    65 percent since 1985. There was a 75 percent
    increase in the annual volume of water used for
    irrigation between 1985 and 1996/97

1.31
32
Resource depletion
(continued)
  • About one-third of the worlds population lives
    in regions with moderate to high water stress. If
    present consumption trends continue, two thirds
    of people in the world will live in
    water-stressed conditions by the year 2025
  • Extraction of non-renewable resources has many
    environmental impacts, but is also a social issue
    - current wasteful practices reduce the
    opportunities for future generations to access
    these resources to satisfy their own needs.
    Within current generations, there is enormous
    inequity in how resources are distributed,
    leading to increasing global tensions

1.32
33
Waste generation
  • Each year, every Australian contributes about one
    tonne of waste to landfill
  • Of the 21.2 million tonnes of waste disposed of
    at landfills in 1996/97, approx. 40 domestic
    waste, 23 commercial and industrial waste, and
    37 construction and demolition waste
  • Waste is a problem not only because raw materials
    are not used to their full potential, but also
    because of disposal challenges

1.33
34
Waste generation
(continued)
  • Traditional approaches to waste management rely
    on the natural environment to absorb and
    assimilate unwanted by-products. Environmental
    impacts associated with waste disposal include
    land contamination, methane emissions, leachate
    discharges, odour, flammability, toxicity, and
    consumption of land resources
  • Landfill has been the most common method of
    dealing with solid waste in Australia. In large
    cities, and increasingly in towns, existing
    landfills are filling up and it is difficult to
    find new sites. Waste disposal costs have also
    risen substantially in recent decades
  • Hazardous waste creates additional problems, as
    it is difficult and costly to safely treat, or
    store, such materials

1.34
35
Pollution
  • Impacts of pollution to air, land and water
    include harm to human health, degradation of
    natural ecosystems, and loss of productive land
    resources
  • In developed countries, pollution is now
    relatively well-regulated with significant
    penalties and industry has significantly improved
    its practices. However, we still have the burden
    of cleaning up many of the problems that have
    been caused from the polluting practices of many
    past industrial processes

1.35
36
Pollution
(continued)
  • Some pollutants are extremely persistent, and do
    not readily break down in the environment. As a
    consequence, they can bioaccumulate
  • Minamata in Japan suffered one of the worst cases
    of industrial pollution in history
  • Non-point source pollution, such as oil and
    litter in stormwater, still an environmental
    problem in Australia
  • In many developing countries, where env.
    legislation non-existent or not enforced,
    industrial pollution remains a serious problem

1.36
37
DEFINITIONS OF SUSTAINABILITY
1.37
38
Sustainable development is ...
  • development that meets the needs of the present
    without compromising the ability of future
    generations to meet their own needs
  • - 1987 World Commission on Environment and
    Development Report Our Common Future (The
    Brundtland Report)

1.38
39
Ecologically sustainable development
  • using, conserving and enhancing the communitys
    resources so that ecological processes, on which
    life depends, are maintained and the total
    quality of life, now and in the future, can be
    increased
  • National Strategy for Ecologically Sustainable
    Development (1992)

1.39
40
Sustainability
  • in scientific terms, it means a system state
    that can endure indefinitely
  • (AtKisson, 2001)
  • has come to mean long-term survival and
    well-being in general, both for human
    civilization and the rest of nature
  • (AtKisson, 2001)

1.40
41
Conceptual approach of sustainability
1.41
42
Alternative conceptual approach
1.42
43
Interrelationship between social, environmental
and economic aspects. Source National Centre
for Sustainability, Swinburne University of
Technology
1.43
44
Sustainable growth vs sustainable development
  • growth the increase in human population,
    resource use, and the emission of waste
  • development improvements in human technology
    and advances in the human condition, including
    health, education, intelligence, wisdom, freedom,
    and the capacityto love (AtKisson, 1999)

1.44
45
  • Sustainable development has become one of
    the politically-correct theses of our era.
    Everybody is in favour of it - and everybody
    defines the term, on Humpty Dumptys principle,
    to mean what they want it to mean - (Sir
    Martin Holdgate)

1.45
46
  • Sustainable development a term so misapplied
    as to be nearly beyond rescue is not
    development-as-usual with a few green-looking
    additions or nods to social equity but that is
    what is has often been reduced to in practice
    (AtKisson, 2001)

1.46
47
Sustainability
  • as a wordis dying because of misuse, and
    dryness, and reduction to buzzword. It is dying
    because it is attached to too many initiatives
    that are failing to achieve their stated goals
    or even, in many cases, to make any significant
    progress in that direction.
  • (AtKisson, 2001)

1.47
48
CONCEPTS RELATED TO SUSTAINABILITY
1.48
49
Triple-bottom line
  • The triple bottom line focuses corporations not
    just on the economic value they add, but also on
    the environmental and social value they add and
    destroy. At its narrowest, the term triple
    bottom line is used as a framework for measuring
    and reporting corporate performance against
    economic, social and environmental parameters.
  • (Elkington, 1980)

1.49
50
Ecological footprints
  • A means of quantifying the environmental impacts
    of various lifestyles
  • Summarises into a single value the level of
    sustainability of an individual, organisation,
    region, State or country
  • Allows for estimation of the area of land needed
    to support a household, a school, a business or
    society as they currently operate
  • Provides a simple way of identifying whether or
    not lifestyles and activities fit within the
    carrying capacity of the earth
  • If everyone else in the world consumed resources
    and energy and produced wastes the way Victorians
    currently do, we would need at least three earths
    to support such behaviours

1.50
51
Ecological Footprints
1.51
52
Ecological rucksacks
  • A German concept defined by the European
    Environment Agency (1999) as
  • The material input of a product (service) minus
    the weight of the product itself. The material
    input is defined as the life cycle wide total
    quantity (in kg) of natural material moved
    (physically displaced) by humans in order to
    generate a good.
  • A semiconductor chip generates over 100,000 times
    its weight in waste during production
  • A laptop computer generates close to 4,000 times
    its weight in waste

1.52
53
Cleaner production
  • an overall approach to business management to
    reduce the use of energy, water and material
    resources and to minimise waste and pollution. It
    involves a shift in environmental protection from
    an end-of-pipe approach where pollution is
    managed after it is created, to a
    front-of-process approach where the creation of
    pollution is avoided or minimised at the
    sourceit involves changing attitudes and
    rethinking products and processes. However,
    cleaner production is not only about
    manufacturing and production. It covers all
    processes, products and services and their
    impacts, including planning and design
  • (former NSW Environment Protection Authority)

1.53
54
Life cycle assessment
  • Sometimes called life cycle analysis
  • A tool that assesses a range of environmental
    impacts of a product or material across its whole
    life cycle that is from the extraction of raw
    materials through to manufacturing,
    transportation, use and eventual disposal
  • Useful in making more informed decisions about
    appropriate choices of products and materials

1.54
55
Extended producer responsibility
  • States that the manufacturer of a particular
    product should be responsible for that product
    during its use and at the time of disposal
  • The rationale is that this will encourage
    manufacturers to design products that are less
    hazardous, easier to dismantle and recycle, and
    so forth
  • This concept has been most explored in Europe,
    where it has been considered for example for
    adoption by white goods and automobile
    manufacturers

1.55
56
Eco-labelling
  • A means of rating a product or service in terms
    of its environmental credentials according to
    agreed sets of guidelines and products. Most
    eco-labelling schemes require the use of a
    third-party to verify claims prior to certain
    labels being used
  • The energy-rating scheme for white goods is a
    form of eco-labelling
  • For more information see the Australian
    Environmental Labelling Association, Inc. at
    http//www.aela.org.au/StandardsDirections.htm

1.56
57
Greenwash
  • The term given to a claim that a product or
    service is environmentally-friendly or otherwise
    superior to its competitors, when in fact this is
    not the case
  • Greenwash hurts organisations that are
    legitimately trying to do the right thing, by
    making it harder for consumers to differentiate,
    while potentially also increasing consumer
    cynicism
  • It is hoped that as eco-labelling of products and
    services is increasingly adopted and refined,
    greenwash will be less of a problem

1.57
58
CASE STYUDY CORAL REEFS
59
The state of coral reefs
  • Coral reefs cover less than 0.2 of ocean area,
    but are among Earths most complex and productive
    ecosystems
  • In late 2000, 27 of the worlds coral reefs were
    severely damaged. In 1992 this figure was only
    10 which demonstrates the speed with which the
    health of reefs is deteriorating
  • The greatest losses have occurred in the Indian
    Ocean, the Arabian Sea and Persian Gulf, and in
    Southeast Asia

1.59
60
The state of coral reefs
(continued)
  • In 1998, a survey of reefs in some 40 countries
    found that many high-value species such as
    lobster, grouper and giant clams, were missing
    from areas where they were once abundant
  • Live reef fish exports in South-east Asia
    increased nearly 13-fold between 1989 and 1995,
    then dropped 22 percent in 1996 a crash
    attributed to overfishing

1.60
61
The state of coral reefs
(continued)
  • Coral reefs offer a number of essential goods and
    services that have been valued at some 375
    billion per year. These goods and services
    include
  • shelter to coastlines from storm damage, erosion
    and flooding (estimated to globally provide such
    protection for half a billion people)
  • habitat for as many as a million species,
    including more than a quarter of all known marine
    fish species
  • important feeding and breeding grounds for
    commercial fisheries, producing about a tenth of
    the global fish catch and a quarter of the catch
    in the developing world
  • significant tourism revenue, with the Carribean
    reefs alone estimated to bring in some 140
    billion annually
  • potential medicines. Reef-derived molecules have
    been used to develop medicines from antibiotics
    to HIV drugs

1.61
62
The state of coral reefs
(continued)
  • An estimated 11 of the worlds coral reefs have
    been lost, and a further 60 are threatened, as a
    result of direct human pressures, including
  • overfishing (for food and for aquariums)
  • trawling, with a single pass removing up to a
    quarter of seabed life
  • coral mining
  • coastal development
  • waste dumping
  • vessel collision
  • nutrients and sediments resulting from inland
    deforestation and farming
  • blasting of reefs, with up to 10 separate
    explosions to obtain 1 ton of fish, shattering up
    to 20 square meters of reef per blast. This
    practice has degraded an estimated 75 of
    Indonesias reefs
  • cyanide injection. In the Philippines, more than
    a million kilograms of cyanide have been injected
    into reefs since the 1960s a procedure that stuns
    or kills many non-target species as well

1.62
63
The state of coral reefs
(continued)
  • The greatest threat to coral reefs today is from
    global warming
  • Coral are inhabited by microscopic plants that
    provide food and colour. Warming by as little as
    one degree Celsius can stress these plants, and
    if the stress endures, the coral will expel the
    plants and turn white (coral bleaching), often
    eventually dying

1.63
64
The state of coral reefs
(continued)
  • Coral bleaching events have increased in
    frequency and intensity since the early 1980s.
    1997-98 saw the worst episode on record,
    affecting some 16 of the worlds reefs, in at
    least 60 countries. Indian Ocean reefs alone
    suffered damages estimated as high as 8.2
    billion. In some areas, 1,000-year old corals
    died and losses neared 90, at depths nearing 40
    meters
  • It is estimated that about half of coral affected
    by bleaching could rebound in the next 20-50
    years, but only if ocean temperatures remain
    steady and human pressures are low. If global
    warming continues it is predicted that as many as
    60 of all reefs could be lost by 2030

1.64
65
(No Transcript)
66
IMPLEMENTING SUSTAINABLE PRACTICE
2.2
67
What do we need to do?
  • If there is little consensus on definitions of
    sustainability and sustainable development, there
    is even less about the path that should be taken
    to get there.
  • In a transition to a sustainable society, efforts
    will be required at both the individual and
    collective levels.
  • Different interpretations of living sustainably
  • one extreme - renouncing all possessions and
    living in communes
  • or are we now committed to a high-technology
    future?)

2.3
68
  • some of the very products of our technology
    plutonium, for instance, require of us that we
    maintain a very high degree of cultural
    continuity, economic and political stability, and
    technological capacity and sophistication, far
    into the future. To ensure our safety and the
    safety of all forms of life, we must always be
    able to store, clean up, and contain poisons like
    plutonium and persistent organic toxins.
    Eventually we must be able to eliminate them
    safelyIn the case of certain creations, like
    nuclear materials and some artificially
    constructed or genetically modified organisms,
    our secure custodianship must be maintained for
    thousands of years. (AtKisson, 2001)

2.4
69
The great tasks of our time?
  • to change energy systems
  • to phase out the use of certain chemicals and
    metals that nature cannot assimilate
  • to manage the life-supportive ecosystems in a
    sustainable way fresh water flows, forest,
    fields and fishing waters
  • to heal the battered and broken cultures around
    the world
  • (Robèrt, 2001)

2.5
70
Objectives and principles of ecologically
sustainable development
  • Integration of economic and environmental goals
    in policies and activities
  • Intergenerational equity (that is, equity between
    one generation and the next)
  • Conservation of biodiversity and ecological
    integrity
  • Recognising the global dimension
  • Dealing cautiously with risk and irreversibility
    (anticipatory and precautionary policy approach).
    Anticipatory approach - to be cautious of
    actions that may have serious/irreversible
    environmental damage. Precautionary approach -
    Where there are threats of serious or
    irreversible environmental damage, lack of full
    scientific certainty should not be used as a
    reason for postponing measures to prevent
    environmental degradation.

2.6
71
Objectives and principles of ecologically
sustainable development
(continued)
  • Ensuring that environmental assets are properly
    valued
  • Constant natural capital and sustainable income
  • Social equity (intragenerational equity)
  • Limits on natural resource use
  • Qualitative development. Economic development
    that also develops the quality of life
    cultural, social, ethical
  • Efficiency in use of resources
  • A resilient economy that has an increased
    capacity for environmental protection
  • International competitiveness in an
    environmentallysound manner external trade
    balance in favour ofsustainable development
  • Community participation

2.7
72
Objectives and principles of ecologically
sustainable development
(continued)
  • International competitiveness in an
    environmentally sound manner external trade
    balance in favour of sustainable development
  • Community participation
  • Harding, 1998, derived from the National Strategy
    for Ecologically Sustainable Development and the
    four largest environmental groups in Australia

2.8
73
The Natural Step System Conditions
  • 50 scientists, including ecologists, chemists,
    physicists and medical doctors wrote a consensus
    statement about the conditions that are essential
    to life as a basis for sound decision-making.
  • Agreed on four system conditions for
    sustainability
  • In a sustainable society nature is not subject to
    systematically increasing
  • concentrations of substances extracted from the
    earths crust
  • concentrations of substances produced by society
  • degradation by physical means
  • and in that society
  • human needs are met worldwide

2.9
74
The Natural Step System Conditions
(continued)
  • eliminate our contribution to systematic
    increases in concentrations of substances from
    the Earths crust
  • eliminate our contribution to systematic
    increases in concentrations of substances
    produced by society
  • eliminate our contribution to systematic physical
    degradation of nature through over-harvesting,
    depletion, foreign introductions and other forms
    of modification
  • contribute as much as we can to the goal of
    meeting human needs in our society and worldwide,
    going over and above all the substitution and
    dematerialization measures taken in meeting the
    first three objectives

2.10
75
The Hannover Principles
  • Developed by green architect William McDonough
    but apply equally to non-architectural work
  • Insist on rights of humanity and nature to
    co-exist in a healthy, supportive, diverse and
    sustainable condition
  • Recognize interdependence the elements of human
    design interact with and depend upon the natural
    world, with broad and diverse implications at
    every scale. Expand design considerations to
    recognize even distant effects
  • Respect relationships between spirit and matter
    consider all aspects of human settlement
    including community, dwelling, industry and trade
    in terms of existing and evolving connections
    between spiritual and material consciousness

2.11
76
The Hannover Principles
(continued)
  • Accept responsibility for the consequences of
    design decisions upon human well-being, the
    viability of natural systems and their right to
    co-exist
  • Create safe objects of long-term value do not
    burden future generations with requirements for
    maintenance or vigilant administration of
    potential danger due to the careless creation of
    products, processes or standards
  • Eliminate the concept of waste evaluate and
    optimise the full life-cycle of products and
    processes to approach the state of natural
    systems in which there is no waste
  • Rely on natural energy flows human designs
    should, like the living world, derive their
    creative forces from perpetual solar income.
    Incorporate this energy efficiently and safely
    for responsible use

2.12
77
The Hannover Principles
(continued)
  • Understand the limitations of design no human
    creation lasts forever and design does not solve
    all problems. Those who create and plan should
    practice humility in the face of nature. Treat
    nature as a model and mentor, not as an
    inconvenience to be evaded or controlled
  • Seek constant improvement by the sharing of
    knowledge encourage direct and open
    communication between colleagues, patrons,
    manufacturers and users to link long term
    sustainable considerations with ethical
    responsibility, and re-establish the integral
    relationship between natural processes and human
    activity

2.13
78
Guiding Steps
  • Develop an environment which supports human
    dignity through gender and racial equality and
    promotes intergenerational respect
  • Develop honesty and integrity in daily life
  • Encourage the fair distribution of wealth
  • Work to strengthen local communities and
    safeguard the health and safety of all
  • Commit to maintaining and enhancing the integrity
    and biodiversity of the natural environment
  • Use natural resources, such as water and land
    wisely and aim to reduce consumption
  • Refuse, reduce, reuse, repair and recycle

2.14
79
Guiding Steps
(continued)
  • Where possible buy green products, locally
    produced with reduced packaging.
  • Understand the synergies between advances in
    technology and behavioural change to achieve
    sustainability.
  • Encourage ethical business practices
  • Develop business strategies which promote good
    corporate governance.
  • Encourage financial success through openness and
    transparency.
  • (Source the National Centre for Sustainability
    at Swinburne University of Technology)

2.15
80
  • In terms of a business, sustainability can be
    evaluated by a wide range of factors. Examples
    include energy efficiency community relations
    eco design materials efficiency product
    recyclability and employee relations. All relate
    back to the bottom line and to intangible asset
    management such as brand and reputation.
  • (Mays, 2003, p. 10)

2.16
81
Benefits of sustainable practice
  • improved environmental performance
  • reduced occupational health and safety risk
  • financial savings
  • market advantages
  • development of new product lines
  • enhanced reputation
  • better community relationships
  • more efficient processes
  • reduced liability and insurance premiums
  • improved working environment for staff

2.17
82
Barriers to sustainability
  • Vested interests in maintaining the status quo
  • Pressure upon people to consume more
  • Emphasis upon entertainment
  • Mental models - including subconscious and
    unspoken assumptions that
  • the Earth is infinite
  • that there is an away where you can throw
    things
  • materials from the Earths crust can be removed
    and re-emitted almost anywhere without a problem
    (e.g. metals, burnt fossil fuels, arsenic,
    asbestos etc)
  • the individual is powerless to effect change
    within large and complex systems
  • (Sharp, 2002)

2.18
83
Barriers to sustainability
(continued)
  • people are conditioned to conform to group
    perceptions and to doubt and withhold their
    individual perceptions if they are in conflict
    with the shared reality of those around themhas
    enormous significance when considering how people
    are currently responding to the demise of the
    planetary systems that support human life. The
    degree of inaction around this profoundly life
    threatening situation can perhaps best be
    explained by viewing our state as a massive
    absurd consensus that is the product of our
    social conditioning which has enforced our
    subservience to, and blind confidence in, shared
    societal constructs of reality.
  • (Sharp, 2002)

2.19
84
Framework for Integration
  • You need to identify exactly what a successful
    sustainability literate graduate will be able to
    do as a result of your course.
  • Graduates are likely to have developed
  • Professional specialist elements (eg accountancy,
    business, plumbing)
  • Professional but transferable elements (eg
    book-keeping, management)
  • Personal elements (eg interpersonal skills,
    critical evaluation, reflective learning).

2.20
85
What is sustainability literacy?
  • The best possible characteristics for a person
    who is sustainability literate, would be
    demonstrated through
  • Recognising the need to become more sustainable
    in their behaviour
  • A person who recognises the need for sustainable
    approaches will be able to articulate the need to
    support this behaviour, draw examples from their
    own lives and will be able to transfer this
    knowledge to various situations and environments.
  • Having sufficient skills and knowledge to be able
    to decide and act in a sustainable way
  • A person with these skills will be equipped with
    a number of tools and strategies that enable them
    to make informed decisions that are likely to
    contribute to a more sustainable society.
  • Encouraging and rewarding sustainable behaviour
    in others Recognition of sustainable behaviour
    and rewarding and reinforcing this approach

2.21
86
Sphere of Influence
2.22
87
The Matrix
2.23
88
Business
  • Other influences could include
  • Money
  • Financiers
  • Creditors
  • Customers
  • Insurance
  • Electricity
  • GST
  • Taxes
  • Computers
  • IT Resources
  • Paper
  • Buildings
  • Others?

2.24
89
Trades
  • Other influences could include
  • Money
  • Suppliers
  • Creditors
  • Customers
  • Insurance
  • Electricity
  • GST
  • Taxes
  • Natural resources
  • Computers
  • Training
  • Paper
  • Professional associations
  • Buildings
  • Landscapes
  • Community
  • Manufacturers
  • Others?

2.25
90
Engineering
  • Other influences could include
  • Research
  • Suppliers
  • Creditors
  • Customers
  • Insurance
  • Energy consumption
  • GST
  • Natural resources
  • Computers
  • Paper/ water
  • Professional associations
  • Buildings
  • Bridges
  • Community
  • Contractors
  • Others?

2.26
91
Service Industry
  • Other influences could include
  • Food
  • Suppliers
  • Creditors
  • Food safety
  • Insurance
  • Energy consumption
  • GST
  • Natural resources
  • Computers
  • Paper/ water
  • Professional associations
  • Disposables
  • Biodiversity
  • Community
  • Contractors
  • Others?

2.27
92
Natural Resources
  • Other influences could include
  • Plants
  • Suppliers
  • Creditors
  • Urban design
  • Insurance
  • Water use
  • GST
  • Natural resources
  • Computers
  • Paper
  • Professional associations
  • Land
  • Biodiversity
  • Community
  • Contractors
  • Wildlife
  • Oceans
  • Others?

2.28
93
Science
  • Other influences could include
  • Plants
  • Suppliers
  • Radioactive material
  • Dangerous goods
  • Insurance
  • Water use
  • GST
  • Natural resources
  • Computers
  • Paper
  • Professional associations
  • Land
  • Biodiversity
  • Community
  • Contractors
  • Wildlife
  • Oceans
  • Others?

2.29
94
Social Sciences
  • Other influences could include
  • Staff
  • Suppliers
  • Tax benefits
  • Government
  • Insurance
  • Caring
  • GST
  • Donations
  • Computers
  • Paper
  • Professional associations
  • Philanthropy
  • Grants
  • Community
  • Contractors
  • Disabled
  • Children
  • Others?

2.30
95
Arts
  • Other influences could include
  • Money
  • Suppliers
  • Tax benefits
  • Government
  • Insurance
  • Creativity
  • GST
  • Sponsors
  • Computers
  • Paper
  • Professional associations
  • IT Software
  • Grants
  • Community
  • Contractors
  • Canvases
  • Art groups
  • Others?

2.31
96
Research
  • Other influences could include
  • Staff
  • Suppliers
  • Tax benefits
  • Government
  • Insurance
  • Caring
  • Ethics
  • GST
  • Donations
  • Computers
  • Paper
  • Professional associations
  • Philanthropy
  • Grants
  • Community
  • Contractors
  • Disabled
  • Children

2.32
97
Matrix of the learning environment
What should the learner be good at to be able to
manage relationships in their sphere of influence
which

encourages and maintains resources, ethics and
values?
Areas
which need to
Suggested Competency

Examples of issues to explore with students

supported to ensure a
beneficial flow

Natural Capital



The resources and services


provided by the natural
world




Social capital


Relationship building,
health, social groupings
(families, universities,

TAFEs)




Financial capital
The money and value
placed on objects and how
they can be more
accurately represented and

measured.
2.33

98
A manufacturing example
Areas which need to be supported to ensure a
benefit
Suggested Competency
Examples of issues to explore with students
Examine the benefits of lean manufacturing
Identify opportunities to design for reduced
environmental impacts
Natural Capital The resources and services
provided by the natural world
Social capital Relationship building, health,
social groupings
Discuss the value of stakeholder consultation in
the engineering/ manufacturing sector
Role playing examining the importance of
community-based decision making
Describe concepts of eco-design, eco-efficiency
and lean manufacturing.
Examine case studies on lean manufacturing
practises
Financial capital The money and value placed on
objects
2.34
99
Getting there ...
  • Countless possible ways to operate more
    sustainably
  • There is no silver bullet everyone has to
    figure out their own path
  • Can be either a series of incremental steps, with
    a goal of continuous improvement, or can be a
    quantum leap, where entire processes and
    products are completely re-evaluated and may
    change radically
  • Do we have time for incremental improvements?
  • eg current global agreements for carbon emissions
    for modest reductions are hard to reach,
    impossible to enforce, and virtually without
    effect and even if they were successful, they
    would have a negligible impact on the critical
    trend

2.35
100
Additional Resources
  • http//www.ecorecycle.vic.gov.au/www/default.asp?c
    asid2799 Ecorecycle Victoria site with
    information on reducing waste in the office
  • http//www.epa.nsw.gov.au/cleaner_production/selfh
    elptool.pdf - Profits from Cleaner Production A
    Self-Help Tool for Small to Medium-Sized
    Businesses (NSW Dept State Regional Development
    and the former NSW EPA)
  • http//www.greenhouse.gov.au/community_household.h
    tml - an AGO site with information on greenhouse
    gas issues, eg energy efficiency and tips for
    reducing emissions
  • http//www.energy.unsw.edu.au/unswitch/experts.htm
    l - dispels some of the myths about turning off
    your computer monitor
  • Russell (2003) lists numerous additional
    websites

2.36
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