Our Common Journey: A Transition toward Sustainability

1
Our Common Journey A Transition toward
Sustainability

• Summarized by
• Asa Young
• Me 449
• Husar

2
Our Common Journey The 4 Concerns
2
1
What is to be developed?
What is to be sustained?
Sustainable Development the ability of humanity
to ensure that it meets the needs of the present
without compromising the ability of future
generations to meet their own needs."
3
4
What types of links should exist between 1 2?
What is the extent of the future envisioned?
3
Trends Transitions A Coupled Plan
Human Development
Earths Environment

• GOALS
• Meeting Human Needs
• Preserving Life Support Systems
• Reducing Hunger Poverty

Trends Transitions 1. Demographic 2. Health 3.
Economic 4. Civil Society
Trends Transitions 5. Environmental
4
Strategies for Exploring the Future
Strategies need scientific credibility, political
legitimacy, practical utility, and effectiveness.
5
Environmental Threats Opportunities Major
Concerns
Table 4.1 Assessments of the Importance of
Environmental Hazards
What are the greatest threats that humanity
will encounter as it attempts to navigate the
transition to sustainability? What are the
most promising opportunities for avoiding or
circumventing these threats on the path to
sustainability?
Sources UNCED (1992) World Bank (1992) WRI
(1996) UNEP (1982) Easterbrook (1995) Centre
for Science and Environment (1995) Council on
Environmental Quality and Department of State
(1982) Brown (1956).
6
Reporting on the Transition Indication of the
Worst
Fundamental Idea of Sustainable Development
humans can impair the life support systems of
the natural world, calling forth responses
intended to protect environmental quality.
The P-S-R Framework for designing Indicators
Critical Regions
Indicators are repeated observations of natural
and social phenomena that represent systematic
feedback.
Source Redrawn from Kasperson et al. (1995).
Courtesy of United Nations University Press.
Indicators are essential to inform society over
the coming decades how, and to what extent,
progress is being made in navigating a transition
toward sustainability.
7
Integrating Knowledge Action A Research Method
Research Priorities
Develop a research framework for the science of
sustainable development that integrates global
and local perspectives to shape a place-based
understanding of the interactions between
environment and society.

• Intellectual Foundations
• Biological
• Geophysical
• Social
• Technological
• Integrative Science
• Combine above fields
• Combine regions
• Place Based Science
• Critical Issues
• Diversity vs. Manageability

Figure 6.1Four interlinked, research-based
components ofsustainability science.