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5.4.1: Introduction to Sustainability

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    Unit 5.4.1 - Introduction to Sustainability

    • Please read and watch the following Learning Resources
    • Reading the material for understanding, and taking notes during videos, will take approximately 2 hours.
    • Optional Activities are embedded.
    • Bolded terms are located at the end of the unit in the Glossary. There is also a Unit Summary at the end of the Unit. 
    • To navigate to Unit 5.4.2, use the Contents menu at the top of the page OR the right arrow on the side of the page.
      • If on a mobile device, use the Contents menu at the top of the page OR the links at the bottom of the page.
    Learning Objectives
    • Define sustainability and the sustainability paradigm
    • Describe the historic events that lead to the sustainability paradigm
    • Explain the three pillars of sustainability
    • Identify trade-offs in traditional economic development
    • Describe the importance of the seventeen Sustainable Development Goals from the UN

    Introduction

    Of all the different forms of life that have inhabited the Earth in its three to four-billion-year history, 99.9% are now extinct. Against this backdrop, humans, with our roughly 200,000-year history, barely merit attention. But while modern humans (Homo sapiens) might be insignificant in geologic time, we are by no means insignificant in terms of our recent planetary impact. A 1986 study estimated that 40% of the product of terrestrial plant photosynthesis — the basis of the food chain for most life — was being appropriated by humans for their use. More recent studies estimate that 25% of photosynthesis on continental shelves (coastal areas) is ultimately being used to satisfy human demand. Human appropriation of such natural resources is having a profound impact on the wide diversity of other species that also depend on them (Unit 5.2 and Unit 5.3).

    In the past, evolution has resulted in new lifeforms at a faster rate than the extinction of other species, resulting in strong biological diversity (Unit 2 and Unit 3.4). However, scientists have evidence that, for the first observable time in evolutionary history, another species — Homo sapiens — has upset this balance to the degree that the rate of species extinction is now estimated at 10,000 times the background extinction rate, on par with other mass extinction events of the past. Human beings, just one species among millions, are crowding out most species. Evidence of human interference with the natural world is visible in every ecosystem from the presence of pollutants in the stratosphere to the artificially changed courses of the majority of river systems on the planet. All organisms impact their environment to a degree but the rate, scale, and nature of human-induced global change — particularly in the post-industrial period — is unprecedented in the history of life on Earth.

    Review of Human-Induced Global Change

    1. Mechanization of both industry and agriculture in the last three hundred years has resulted in vastly improved productivity, which led to an explosion in the amount and types of goods and services. Scientific advances and technological innovations, powered by ever-increasing inputs of fossil fuels and their by-products, have revolutionized every industry and created many new ones. The development of resource-intensive consumer cultures and disposable-centric lifestyles has generated waste at an unprecedented scale. Humans are now responsible for moving more matter across the planet than all natural occurrences (earthquakes, storms, etc.) put together.
    2. While the rate of human population growth has been plateauing, the human population is still increasing: every year humans add nearly 100 million people to the planet. The environmental impact varies significantly between countries (and within them). However, the exponential growth of humans, coupled with the ideas in the first point, bring the issue of distribution to prominence. Global inequalities in resource consumption and purchasing power mark the clearest dividing line between the rich and the poor. Present patterns of production and consumption are unsustainable for a global population projected to reach 11 billion by the year 2050. If ecological crises and rising social conflict are to be countered, present rates of over-consumption by a rich minority, and under-consumption by a large majority, need to be brought into balance.
    3. It is not only the rate and the scale of change but the nature of that change that is unprecedented. Humans have introduced chemicals and materials into the environment that do not occur naturally OR do not occur in the ratios in which we have introduced them. Persistent pollutants are believed to be causing alterations in the environment, the effects of which are only slowly manifesting themselves, and the full scale of which is currently beyond calculation. Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are two examples of the approximately 100,000 human-derived chemicals currently in global circulation (between 500 and 1,000 new chemicals are being added to this list annually). Most of these chemicals have not been tested for their toxicity on humans and/or natural systems, let alone tested for their effects in combination with other chemicals. These issues are now the subject of special UN and other intergovernmental working groups.

    Video

    In this 5.5-minute Ted-Ed, discover how human impacts have become so pervasive, profound, and permanent that some geologists believe we merit our own epoch.
    Question after watching: Explain how, to some degree, humans have created a homogenous world.     

    Sustainability as a Concept

    Our Common Future (1987), also known as the Brundtland Report, by the UN's World Commission on Environment and Development, is widely credited with having popularized the concept of sustainability. Sustainability is derived from two Latin words: sus which means up, and tenere which means to hold. Thus, sustainability is about maintaining human existence by meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs. Sustainable development is not a fixed state of harmony, but rather a process of change in which the exploitation of resources, the orientation of technological development, and institutional change are made consistent with future, as well as present, needs.

    The concept of sustainability, however, can be traced back much further to the oral histories of indigenous cultures. For a species that at present is only 6,000 generations old and whose current political decision-makers operate on time scales of months or a few years, the thought that other human cultures have based their decision-making systems on time scales of many decades seems wise.

    Video

    This 7-minute video profiles how Indigenous Peoples are reviving traditional stewardship in the temperate rainforests of Clayoquot Sound, BC.
    Question after watching: How do the Guardian programs help to maintain the health of the ecosystems and humans in the region?

    It is not uncommon to think of sustainability as being a recent interpretation of environmental policy, one that was given credence by the Brundtland Report. However, sustainability did not suddenly come into being at a single moment in time. Most environmental historians who have studied policy have discerned at least three distinct periods of the modern era during which new concepts and ideas, scientific understandings, technological advances, political institutions, and laws and regulations came or were brought into being in order to understand and manage human impacts on the environment. 

    History of Environmental Movements

    1. The conservation movement: This 19th-century movement's main objective was the conservation of land and resources and it grew out of opposite philosophies. On one side, those like Gifford Pinchot (first head of the USA's National Forest Service) were very pragmatic about their desire for conservation. For example, conservationists observed that policies for harvesting some resources (like lumber) were not sustainable, so they began sustainability research and new policies so the resources would not run out in the foreseeable future. On the other side were people like John Muir and Theodore Roosevelt that saw land/habitats/wildlife as intrinsic entities, meaning that they had value in their own right, separate from economic value.
    2. Environmental scientists became alarmed by the extent and degree of damage that was being documented: The publication of Silent Spring in 1962 by Rachel Carson (1907-1964), about the impact of the widespread and indiscriminate use of pesticides, was a watershed moment, bringing environmental concerns to the forefront of policy discussions. Carson collected evidence on the effects of pesticides, particularly dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT), heptachlor, and dieldrin, on humans, mammals, and birds, and the systemic disruption they caused to ecosystems. Silent Spring is credited with bringing about a ban on the use of DDT in many countries. It also set in motion a chain of events that would ultimately result in the transformation of environmental public policy from one based on the problems and attitudes based in 19th-century conservation, to one based on the management of risks from chemical toxins. 
    3. The rise of environmental risk management as a basis for policy: The beginnings of environmental risk management can be traced to the spread of disease, a particularly troublesome problem as the country continued to urbanize in the latter decades of the 19th-century and beginning of the 20th.
    4. The integration of social and economic factors into the sustainability paradigm: Eventually, humanity realized that in order to solve environmental issues, human social and economic factors had to be accounted for. This is what defines the sustainability paradigm: environmental, social, and economic disciplines. Only superficial solutions can be applied if we only take a one-minded approach.

    Video

    This 4-minute video explores how, through a change in perspective, we can re-design the way our economy works: designing products that can be 'made to be made again' and powering the system with renewable energy. 
    Question after watching: This process is known as a 'circular economy'. Why do you think it is named this?

    Indigenous Connections: UNDRIP

    "The High Commissioner for Human Rights welcomed the adoption of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) by the General Assembly on 13 September 2007, as a triumph for justice and human dignity following more than two decades of negotiations between governments and Indigenous peoples' representatives.

    It was adopted with 144 votes in favour, 11 abstentions, and four States against (Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States of America). Since then, a number of States have changed their position, including the four which voted against but have now endorsed the Declaration.

    The Declaration is the most comprehensive instrument detailing the rights of indigenous peoples in international law and policy, containing minimum standards for the recognition, protection and promotion of these rights. It establishes a universal framework of minimum standards for the survival, dignity, wellbeing and rights of the world's Indigenous peoples.

    The Declaration addresses both individual and collective rights; cultural rights and identity; rights to education, health, employment, language, and others. It outlaws discrimination against indigenous peoples and promotes their full and effective participation in all matters that concern them. It also ensures their right to remain distinct and to pursue their own priorities in economic, social and cultural development. The Declaration explicitly encourages harmonious and cooperative relations between States and Indigenous peoples." (UN, 2022)

    Included in the Declaration are Articles expressing the rights of Indigenous Peoples to practice sustainability as they see fit:

    • Article 25:
      • Indigenous peoples have the right to maintain and strengthen their distinctive spiritual relationship with their traditionally owned or otherwise occupied and used lands, territories, waters and coastal seas and other resources and to uphold their responsibilities to future generations in this regard.
    • Article 29: 
      • Indigenous peoples have the right to the conservation and protection of the environment and the productive capacity of their lands or territories and resources. States shall establish and implement assistance programmes for Indigenous peoples for such conservation and protection, without discrimination.
      • States shall take effective measures to ensure that no storage or disposal of hazardous materials shall take place in the lands or territories of Indigenous peoples without their free, prior and informed consent.
      • States shall also take effective measures to ensure, as needed, that programmes for monitoring, maintaining and restoring the health of Indigenous peoples, as developed and implemented by the peoples affected by such materials, are duly implemented.
    • Article 31: 
      • Indigenous peoples have the right to maintain, control, protect and develop their cultural heritage, traditional knowledge and traditional cultural expressions, as well as the manifestations of their sciences, technologies and cultures, including human and genetic resources, seeds, medicines, knowledge of the properties of fauna and flora, oral traditions, literatures, designs, sports and traditional games and visual and performing arts. They also have the right to maintain, control, protect and develop their intellectual property over such cultural heritage, traditional knowledge, and traditional cultural expressions.
      • In conjunction with Indigenous peoples, States shall take effective measures to recognize and protect the exercise of these rights.
    • Article 32: 
      • Indigenous peoples have the right to determine and develop priorities and strategies for the development or use of their lands or territories and other resources.
      • States shall consult and cooperate in good faith with the Indigenous peoples concerned through their own representative institutions in order to obtain their free and informed consent prior to the approval of any project affecting their lands or territories and other resources, particularly in connection with the development, utilization or exploitation of mineral, water or other resources.
      • States shall provide effective mechanisms for just and fair redress for any such activities, and appropriate measures shall be taken to mitigate adverse environmental, economic, social, cultural or spiritual impact.  

    Find the full Declaration here: https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N06/512/07/PDF/N0651207.pdf?OpenElement

    United Nations. 2022. United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. New York, NY. Available from: https://www.ohchr.org/en/publication...genous-peoples

    The Three Pillars of Sustainability

    As mentioned above, there are three pillars, or dimensions, that sustainability seeks to integrate: economic, environmental, and social (including sociopolitical).

    • Economic interests define the framework for making decisions, the flow of money, and the facilitation of commerce, including the knowledge, skills, competencies, and other attributes embodied in individuals that are relevant to economic activity.
    • Environmental aspects recognize the diversity and interdependence within living systems, the goods and services produced by the world’s ecosystems, and the impacts of anthropogenic wastes.
    • Social/Socio-political dimension refers to interactions between institutions/firms and people, functions expressive of human values, aspirations, well-being, ethical issues, and decision-making that depends upon collective action.

    The intersection of social and economic elements can form the basis of social "equitability". In the sense of enlightened management, "viability" is formed through consideration of economic and environmental interests. Between environment and social elements lies “bearability”, the recognition that the functioning of societies is dependent on environmental resources and services. At the intersection of all three of these lies sustainability (Figure \(\PageIndex{1}\)).

    clipboard_ea183eb890ce109ddf301075ac32333f4.png
    Figure \(\PageIndex{1}\): Venn diagram of defining the components of sustainability. Based on “sustainable development” from Wikimedia.org CC-BY.Adapted from United Nations (1987), International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) (2005), Makkar (2013), and Makkar and Ankers (2014).

    Trade-Offs

    The three main elements of the sustainability Venn diagram above are thought of as equally important. However, tradeoffs occur depending on the local/global objective. For example, it may be deemed necessary to degrade a particular ecosystem in order to facilitate the economy, food production, or housing. In reality, the extent to which tradeoffs can be made before irreversible damage results is not always known. This has led to the notion of 'strong sustainability', where tradeoffs among natural, human, and social capital are not allowed or are very restricted, and 'weak sustainability', where tradeoffs are unrestricted or have few limits. Whether or not one follows the strong or weak form of sustainability, it is important to understand that while economic and social systems are human creations, the environment is not. Rather, a functioning environment underpins both society and the economy.

    Sustainable development is the progress made toward an economic system that is ultimately based on the wise use of renewable resources. Therefore, a sustainable economy would not deplete its capital of natural resources, and so would not compromise the availability of those necessities for use by future generations of humans. Ecologically-focused sustainable development would allow humans to thrive, but without causing unacceptable damage to other species or natural ecosystems.

    By the criteria above, developed economies (such as that of Canada, the United States, countries of Western Europe, Japan, and Australia) are currently unsustainable. There are two major reasons for this conclusion:

    1. The continued push of politicians, economists, and other managers of national and international economies for rapid economic growth (both to keep up with an expanding population and to increase the standard of living).
    2. The likelihood that the present size of advanced economies is already too large to be sustained for long.

    The rationale for these two statements is briefly explained in the following paragraphs.

    Economic growth is achieved by pushing both non-renewable and potentially renewable resources through an economy, thereby making the economy larger. Rapid economic growth can be achieved only as long as resources continue to be readily available. However, most non-renewable and potentially renewable resources are rapidly being depleted. Moreover, many scientists and environmentalists believe that the present sizes of advanced economies (such as that of Canada) are already too large to be sustained.

    It is common for politicians, corporations, and resource managers to assert that they support sustainability efforts. However, most of them are confusing genuine sustainable development, as it was defined earlier, with “sustainable economic growth.” On a resource-constrained Earth, unlimited economic growth can never be sustained over the long term. Ecologists and environmental economists believe that further growth is undesirable. It is better to limit the economies to a level that can be supported by Earth’s biosphere and resources over the longer term. Fundamental considerations in a sustainable human economy are:

    • the number of people that must be supported
    • the total intensity of their resource use
    • the equitability of standards of living among the world’s peoples
    • and the environmental damage that is caused

    In part, the resolution of resource dilemmas will require a more equitable sharing of wealth among people living in poorer and richer countries. This would moderate the importance of poverty as a key factor in causing environmental degradation.

    United Nations' 17 Sustainable Development Goals

    A Brief History of the SDGs

    "The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted by all United Nations Member States in 2015, provides a shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future. At its heart are the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which are an urgent call for action by all countries - developed and developing - in a global partnership. They recognize that ending poverty and other deprivations must go hand-in-hand with strategies that improve health and education, reduce inequality, and spur economic growth – all while tackling climate change and working to preserve our oceans and forests."

    Today, the Division for Sustainable Development Goals (DSDG) in the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA) provides substantive support and capacity-building for the SDGs and their related thematic issues, including water, energy, climate, oceans, urbanization, transport, science and technology, the Global Sustainable Development Report (GSDR), partnerships and Small Island Developing States. DSDG plays a key role in the evaluation of UN systemwide implementation of the 2030 Agenda and on advocacy and outreach activities relating to the SDGs. In order to make the 2030 Agenda a reality, broad ownership of the SDGs must translate into a strong commitment by all stakeholders to implement the global goals. DSDG aims to help facilitate this engagement." (UN, 2022)

    Reference: United Nations, 2022. "The 17 Goals: History". New York, New York. Available From: https://sdgs.un.org/goals#history 

    This 3.5-minute video profiles the seventeen goals that 193 United Nations member states unanimously adopted to achieve by 2030. These are known as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
    Question after watching: Describe ways in which these goals overlap and tie into one another. 

    Video

    In this first 14-minute video from social progress expert Michael Green in 2015, Green invites us to imagine how the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and their vision for a better world can be achieved.
    Question after watching: What are some of the trade-offs from progression towards the goals? What were some of the positive signs?

    Video

    A simple 3.5-minute introduction to sustainable development and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
    Question after watching: Which concepts in this video are review from the textbook? Which are new?

    Video

    Discover what a sustainable, universally beneficial economy might look like in this 15-minute video.
    Question after watching: What ecological limits are taken into account in this model?

    Sustainability in Practice

    Cities in the 21st century now hold most of the world's population. Sustainable cities are key to balancing a sustainable society, economy, and environment. According to a 2017 report that rated sustainability across 32 indicators, Zurich, Switzerland, was ranked number one. Zurich invests in renewable energies, sustainable public transport, public green space, and public education. One of the most notable ways Zurich is leading global sustainability efforts is its dedication to keeping its carbon dioxide emissions low. Figure \(\PageIndex{2}\) below shows the difference in emissions for Canada and Switzerland.

    clipboard_e4e1ad217b9aa6800e4a74e0034510997.png

    Figure \(\PageIndex{2}\): Per capita emissions of carbon dioxide between Canada and Switzerland. Graph by Our World in Data (CC-BY4.0)

    Video

    More than half of the world's population already lives in cities, and another 2.5 billion people are projected to move to urban areas by 2050. In this 14-minute video, learn how the way we build new cities will be at the heart of so much that matters, from climate change to economic vitality to our very well-being and sense of connectedness.
    Question after watching: What are the seven universal principles for sustainable cities?

    This page titled 5.4.1: Introduction to Sustainability is shared under a CC BY-SA 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Tara Jo Holmberg.