Sustainable Development

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Sustainable Development

• David Fisk
• Prof Engineering for Sustainable Development

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The Plot

• Some History
• What does it mean?
• Even more history
• Tomorrow
• Thinking in the 4th dimension
• Its ethics stupid!

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Origins
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Brundtlands Findings

• since no one owns it though it supports everyone

• Series of case studies
• Government efforts to remove poverty
• solved todays problem often by.
• making tomorrows problems worse
• created off balance sheet liabilities
• often (but not always) by raiding the
  environment

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Brundtlands Recomendation

• Governments should commit themselves to
• development that meets the needs of the present
  without compromising the ability of future
  generations to meet their needs

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Too Abstract?

• Really?
• Testing how what we do now effects everything in
  the future
• Environment cant survive in social or economic
  collapse

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Dividends
Un-sustained development is obvious when you see
it!!
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New Thinking 1

• Thinking in 3 capitals not one

Soc
Env
Econ
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New Thinking 1

• Thinking in 3 capitals not one
• Some trade-offs

Soc
Env
Econ
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New Thinking 1

• Thinking in 3 capitals not one
• Some trade-offs
• But one down all down!!!

Env
Soc
Econ
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New Thinking 2

• Thinking in the 4th dimension
• investing in real options
• always exposing future liabilities
• saying the unspeakable
• Governments find this hard!!
• 200 civilisations failed so far

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Trying Hard
Leviticus Law Or Ecology Manual?
200 failed so far
Soviet Union most recent
Old Testament?
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Was Christianity that bad?

• Abbeys an exemplar of sustainability
• Power of fossil fuel has overwhelmed everyone

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Unsustainable Consumption?

• You used to be what you owned
• Now you are what you consume
• Once it was great just to be rich
• Now you worry if you arent getting richer
• Once productivity meant more leisure
• Now it is needed to even to stay where you are

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Not So Hard

• But its actually everyones objective
• The trick how to meet it but not at the expense
  of anyone else

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A moral issue

• First Great Commandment Creation
• But with extended definition of neighbour
• Polluting the Samaritans air?
• Stealing the Samaritans future?

Sustainable development is the synthesis not the
conflict of the 2 Greatest Commandments
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