Ayers-sustainiblity

Question 1

Which is the most imp year?

Answer 1

1987 when the UN World Commission on Environment published “Our Common Future.”

Question 2

What is sustainable development?

Answer 2

The authors defined sustainable development as development that “meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs.”

Question 3

Explain more

Answer 3

It is intragenerational (current) and intergenerational (future)

Question 4

When is a system called sustainable?

Answer 4

A system or process is considered sustainable if it can be maintained indefinitely; it is unsustainable if it is likely to fail sometime in the future.

Question 5

Define sustainable development

Answer 5

It is the process of building a sustainable system (community, city, country, etc.) that meets human needs indefinitely.

Question 6

Define sustainability in new terms

Answer 6

While the Brundtland Report defined sustainability in terms of meeting human needs, sustain- ability now usually refers to maintaining human well-being now and in the future

Question 7

What does the Stiglitz report argue?

Answer 7

The Stiglitz report (2009) argues that we need to develop accurate measures of human well-being so that we can set well-being targets and gauge progress toward meeting those targets.

Question 8

What are the measures of human well being?

Answer 8

Measures of human well-being should include material living standards such as income, consump- tion, and wealth; health; education; personal activities including work; political voice and governance; social connections and relationships; environment (present and future conditions); and insecurity, of an economic as well as a physical nature.

Question 9

What is the objective of sustainable development?

Answer 9

The objective of sustainable development is therefore to increase quality of life by improving all of the components of human well-being.

Question 10

What is the measure of well being?

Answer 10

The most widely used measure of well-being in a country is the human development index (HDI), developed by the United Nations Development Program.

Question 12

What does it take into account?

Answer 12

It takes into account progress in life expectancy, education, and standard of living as measured by the gross domestic product (GDP).

Question 12

What is human well being index?

Answer 12

The human well-being index is an average of indices of health and population, wealth, knowl- edge, community, and equity

Question 13

What is the goal of sustainability?

Answer 13

Thus, the goal of sustainability is to maximize our economic, social, and environmental well-being.

Question 14

What is the measure of well being?

Answer 14

One measure of well-being is the accumulated amounts of economic capital, social capital, and natural capital

Question 15

What does preserving capital require?

Answer 15

Preserving capital requires maintaining or increasing economic, environmental, and social secu- rity, which reduces risk and increases resilience

Question 16

What is reslience?

Answer 16

resilience is the capacity of an individual or a system to survive disturbances unchanged

Question 17

What is a system?

Answer 17

A system is a set of interacting or interdependent components forming an integrated whole

Question 18

What do we need to do to quantify sustainability?

Answer 18

To quantify sustainability and measure progress toward it, we need to estimate the amounts of economic, social, and natural capital over time.

Question 18

How to preserve capital?

Answer 18

Keeping the rate of capital consumption (demand) less than or equal to the rate of capital produc- tion (supply) grows or preserves capital.

Question 18

What is full cost accounting?

Answer 18

Full cost account- ing (FCA), also known as triple bottom line accounting, is used to keep track of all three forms of capital and to identify sustainable purchasing and policy options

Question 19

What are stock and flow diagrams?

Answer 19

Stock and flow diagrams are used to illustrate how capital stocks change over time

Question 19

What is economic sustainabilty?

Answer 19

Economic sustainability means a steady-state economy that equitably provides the resources required for all citizens to enjoy healthy, productive lives.

Question 20

What is environmental sustainability?

Answer 20

Environmental sustainability means preserving biodiver- sity and therefore ecosystem services, the benefits that ecosystems provide to humanity, including purification of air and water.

Question 21

What are ecosystem services?

Answer 21

Ecosystem services are the benefits that humans derive from ecosystems. They are vital for our well-being and can be categorized into four main types:
Provisioning Services: These are the tangible products obtained from ecosystems, such as food, water, timber, fiber, and medicinal resources.

Regulating Services: These services help regulate environmental conditions, including climate regulation, flood control, water purification, and pollination of crops.

Cultural Services: These encompass non-material benefits, such as recreational activities, aesthetic enjoyment, spiritual enrichment, and educational opportunities that ecosystems provide.

Supporting Services: These are the fundamental processes that maintain ecosystem function, including nutrient cycling, soil formation, and habitat provision.

Question 22

What is weak sustainability?

Answer 22

Weak sustainability assumes that substituting one form of capital for another is possible, that is, we can compensate for a reduction in one type of capital (typically natural capital) with an increase in another type of capital (typically e.g., economic capital).

Question 23

What is strong sustainability?

Answer 23

strong sustainability argues that substitution is not always possible between different types of capital, and therefore that we must maintain eco- nomic, social, and natural capital stocks independently

Question 24

What is another argument against substitution?

Answer 24

Another argument against substitution is that natural resources often serve many purposes, and we have to find substitutes for each one.

Question 25

What does capital stocks include?

Answer 25

Capital stocks include resources that we can use to attain a high level of well-being.

Question 26

What are renewable resources?

Answer 26

Renewable resources can be continuously replenished by natural processes.

Question 27

What are non renewable resources?

Answer 27

Nonrenewable resources are fixed in quantity on a human timescale, so the faster we use them, the sooner they disappear.

Question 28

When is resource use sustainable?

Answer 28

Resource use is sustainable if the rate of withdrawal is less than or equal to the rate of replenish- ment.

Question 29

when is the system in steady state?

Answer 29

When inflow equals outflow, the stock (water level) remains constant and the system is in a steady state.

Question 30

Define net zero

Answer 30

When the amount of resources we consume equals the amount we produce, we are “net zero.”

Question 31

Imp info about resources

Answer 31

renewable resources are flow or rate limited, while nonre- newable resources are stock limited

Question 32

What is modeling?

Answer 32

Modeling allows us to evaluate future scenarios in which changes in the environment or in human resource use affect the supply of renew- able resources such as water over time.

Question 33

What is overshoot?

Answer 33

The overshoot of the system is the amount that demand exceeds supply

Question 34

How can consumption of a nonrenewable resource be sustainable, since by definition its replenishment rate is zero?

Answer 34

For our purposes, it can be sustainable only if it is replaced with a renewable resource at a rate high enough to maintain the stock.

Question 35

How to achieve sustainability?

Answer 35

To achieve sustainability, we must not only decrease our consumption of renewable resources to a sustainable level, but also decrease the waste produced so as not to exceed the waste absorption capacity of the environment.

Question 36

the sustainable rate of use can be no greater than?

Answer 36

1. The rate of regeneration of a renewable resource
2. The rate at which a renewable resource, used sustainably, can be substituted for a non-renewable resource
3. The rate at which a pollutant can be recycled, absorbed, or rendered harmless in its sink

Question 37

Why are ecosystems are considered capital assets?

Answer 37

because they provide services such as water purification.

Question 38

What does environmental degradation do?

Answer 38

Environmental degradation results in the loss of ecosystem services.

Question 39

What is precautionary principle?

Answer 39

precautionary principle, a risk management approach which states that we should not change a system unless we are reasonably confident that those changes will not cause harm to the public or the environment.