Foundations of World Sustainability

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Foundations ofWorld Sustainability

• Professor Wayne Hayes
• October 16, 2012
• V. 1.2 Build 7

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Mood musicWhat a wonderful world!

• Louis Armstrong sings so.

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AgendaOctober 17, 2012

1. Overview, business, announcements
2. Introductions Who are we and why are we here?
3. What does sustainability mean? Discussion
4. Foundations of Sustainability The Brundtland
   Commission Report origins and legacy
5. Next class Economic Aspects of Sustainability

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My goals here today are to

• Get to know you.
• Introduce world sustainability through the
  Brundtland Commission Report
• Transition to Economics of Sustainability

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Introductions

• Introductions from class
• Who I am
• Why I am here
• My aspirations and goals
• Introduction by Professor Hayes
• History and design of MASS
• My concerns

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I keep in mind the SUDS acronym.

• Substance Form and content
• Urgency pressing necessity
• Depth profound, foundational thought
• Strategic effective conduct savvy, shrewd

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The Brundtland CommissionReport
The World Commission on Environment and
Development,Our Common Future, 1987
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Gro Harlem Brundtlands Message
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Who was Gro Harlem Brundtland and what was her
background?
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Brundtland has a resume!

• She was born 20 April 1939.
• She is a medical doctor with a public health
  degree. She is former director of the World
  Health Organization.
• A feminist, she was Prime Minister of Norway
   (1981, 198689, 199096), the first woman and
  youngest ever.
• She was chosen to direct the U.N. World
  Commission on Environment and Development.
• Since 2007, she is a special U.N. envoy on
  climate change.
• She is among the Elders --- view the web site.

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Note the full title of thisclassic book

• Report of the World Commission on Environment and
  DevelopmentOur Common FutureFrom One Earth to
  One World.
• Or, simply The Brundtland Commission Report.

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Brundtlands classic definition of sustainable
development

• "Humanity has the ability to make development
  sustainable to ensure that it meets the needs of
  the present without compromising the ability of
  future generations to meet their own needs.
• (Cited from original report. This is an important
  but brief section.)

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View the table of contents ofThe Brundtland
Commission Report

• Click on the web site of the Report.
• Study the organization of the report.
• Professor Hayes will provide background.

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The scope and breadth of the report is still
daunting.

• The geographical scope is planet-wide.
• The cultural worlds include all peoples, not just
  U.N. member states. Note the title of the
  overview, Our Common Future, From One Earth to
  One World.
• The time span is reckoned among generations.

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Note the Overview of the report.

• Please scan the Overview but focus on the Global
  Challenge and the Call for Action.

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Significant aspects of the message

1. The reports 21 commissioners approved the final
   version unanimously.
2. The report boldly contradicted the reigning
   paradigm of economic globalization.
3. The report redefined development, transcending
   the imperative of economic growth.
4. The report explicitly welcomed NGOs, defining a
   role for civil society.

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The challenge is to reconcile this
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With this
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Sounds familiar?

• The Brundtland Commission in 1987
• attempted to redefine and to reconcile
• the habitation of the Earth
• by the human species.
• This posed a daunting challenge.

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How does the Brundtland report changes the
paradigm?

• Ecology, economy, and equity are interlocked and
  embedded in society and must be thought of
  together. The report states (p. 5)
• Ecology and economy are becoming even more
  interwoven --- locally, regionally, nationally
  and globally --- into a seamless web of causes
  and effects

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The scope of the report is daunting.

• The time perspective is generational.
• The geographical scope is global, but attempts to
  harmonize the interest of poor nations and rich.
• The report calls for a synthesis of broad themes
  nature, society, and the economy.
• The report stands outside the dominant social
  paradigm of growth.

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The agents of sustainability were enlarged and
made inclusive.

• As an arm of the U.N., such commissions are
  generally limited to nation-states. Not so here
• Civil society organizations were central players
  in the solutions
• Poor nations were to be active and not simply a
  recipient of aid from rich and powerful nations.
• The role and status of women was central
• All stakeholders were to be empowered and
  mobilized as agents of sustainability.

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Population is still important but

• . . . population is linked to other issues such
  as
• The empowerment of women (after all, Brundtland
  is a feminist) (p. 11)
• The right of tribal and indigenous people to
  livelihood, another term for economics.

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Right after population comes the discussion of
food and agriculture

• The issue is now food security to include
• Agricultural subsidies by the rich countries that
  hurt farmers in other countries
• Lack of purchasing power among poor nations as
  income distribution
• The need for rural development (pp. 12-13 and
  later chapters).

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The report questioned the role of the
international economy.

• The destruction of the environment that was so
  obvious in the 1980s
• The growing inequality produced by the global
  economy
• The growing debt burden of the poor nations
• The lack of attention to the shared Commons
• The lack of economic diversification at the local
  and regional levels.
• See specifically the Role of the International
  Economy.

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Whats hiding in Brundtland Report?

• The Brundtland Report
• was a paradigm shift
• that altered the assumptions
• that dominated the
• existing approach to
• (economic) development.

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Brundtland re-defined the core concept
development.

• The prior definition might be called the Truman
  Doctrine (1949 Inauguration Speech)
• "All countries, including our own, will greatly
  benefit from a constructive program for the
  better use of the world's human and natural
  resources. Experience shows that our commerce
  with other countries expands as they progress
  industrially and economically.
• Truman articulated a doctrine that implied that
  progress for the multitude of the world's peoples
  and cultures was to be found through emulating
  the material progress of the USA and its partners
  in what was then called the Free World (WSY
  Wiki).

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Wolfgang Sachs explains the assumptions of the
Truman doctrine.

• "Truman's imperative to develop meant that
  societies of the Third World were no longer seen
  as diverse and incomparable possibilities of
  human living arrangements but were rather placed
  on a single 'progressive track,' judged more or
  less advanced according to the criteria of the
  Western industrial nations. Greater production is
  the key to prosperity and peace. And the key to
  greater production is a wider and more vigorous
  application of modern scientific and technical
  knowledge" (Sachs, 4).

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The Brundtland Report set the stage for the Earth
Summit in Rio in 1992.
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The Earth Summit createdAgenda 21 to guide
local implementation.
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The triple bottom linewas made explicit.

• See my wiki page for a discussion.

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Global population now poised to reach seven
billion on Halloween, 2011.
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The human ecological footprint exceeds Earths
carrying capacity.

• The ecological footprint is
• the amount of biologically productive
• land and water needed
• to produce and to consume the goods
• and to absorb the the waste
• to support all of us.

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The human ecological footprint steadily grows,
unevenly.
2008 data
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Foundations of SustainabilityWeb Resources

• Professor Hayess web page for our classes
  together
• The Brundtland Report online
• The Executive Summary of the Report
• The definition of sustainability from the report

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Background to the Brundtland Commission Report

1. See my summary wiki page on Brundtland.
2. Examine my Prelude to Brundtland.
3. The reception by the Reagan administration was
   chilly. The report clearly responded to Prime
   Minister Thatchers TINA There was an
   alternative.

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Statement of Concern

• Read my online statement for class discussion.
  The stakes are high, the trends disturbing,
  crises intersect --- or soon will.
• What do you think?

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But we can . . .
Imagine John Lennon
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Next class

• Introduction to Economic Aspects
• of Sustainability.
• See my
• Foundations of Sustainability web site.

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Which puts Brundtlands classic definition of
sustainability in context.

• "Humanity has the ability to make development
  sustainable to ensure that it meets the needs of
  the present without compromising the ability of
  future generations to meet their own needs.
• (Cited from original report. This is an important
  but brief section.)

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The challenge posed to you

• Use the assignment, the sustainability graphic
  organizer, to think through for yourself the
  challenge, scope, and meaning of sustainability.
• Convey your thinking at as high a level as
  possible to your professors. You will get
  feedback.

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Wolfgang Sachs Fairness in a Fragile World

• Who is Wolfgang Sachs?
• What prompted the report?
• Why the format a memorandum?

View the short version of the report or the long
version.
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Main points ofFairness in a Fragile World

1. A global deal was desperately needed. Still is.
   Sachs, active in civil society at U.N., is
   setting an agenda to broker that deal.
2. Johannesburg summit (WSSD) would revert to a
   growth model based on trans-national corporations
   and privatization.
3. Copycat development was impossible only one
   earth.

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Main points ofFairness in a Fragile World

1. Sachs contrasts livelihood rights vs. export-led
   growth --- an inversion of the Washington
   Consensus.
2. Land, water, energy, culture Sachs lays out a
   concept plan for sustainable development.
3. Note the significance of women throughout the
   memo.

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The proposed dealthe 3 Rs

1. Restraint on the part of the rich countries.
2. Protection of livelihood rights.
3. Restoration of nature and culture.

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Thus, sustainability is presented as

• . . . a serious response to the challenges posed
  to World Sustainability, such as
• The limits to growth
• The global crisis as interlocking natural,
  social, and economic challenges.
• The report was mindful of burning forests and of
  climate change. The report does not simplify
  these concerns.