Chapter 1- Definitions and concept of sustainable development Flashcards
Sustainable development
It is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Enough - for all - forever.
*Paris agreement: limit 1.5°C —> so we have to reduce carbon dioxide CO2 emissions by 100% to gain by 2050.
1950s
- technological progress
- little concern for the environment
- little action
1960s
- Downsides of progress become visible - dead fish, toxic waste dumping, …
- Little regulations
- Little action
- 1962 Silent spring - book about environmental problems- a symbolic book
- the golden 60s
- the baby boom generation
1970s
1972- Club of Rome report (The Limits to Growth)
Limits to growth- if the present growth trends continue the limits to growth on our planet will be reached within 100 years
- most probable result: death and economic collapse basically
- It is possible to alter these growth trends and establish a balanced and sustainable growth that will satisfy the needs of the people
- The sooner the better, we need to get started to make a successful change
1972- Stockholm Conference
Placed environmental issues at the forefront of international concerns, laid the groundwork for progress in the environment and development, creation of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP).
- Rising media attention careful environmental policy
- Environmental policy was in the margins of politics
1979- Solar panels on the White House
- 1981 removed by Reegan (supported free market economy → petroleum ++)
- 2003 on the ground by Bush
- 2010 back on the roof with Obama
1980s
No full awareness (outside scientific community) of climate change (dumped nuclear waste in the sea)
- New perception of relationship between industry, society and land
- Decade for the consolidation of modern environmental awareness
- 1987 Brundtland - Our Common Future - World Commission on Environment and Development
- 1987 Montreal Protocol - global agreement to protect the stratospheric ozone layer by phasing out the production and consumption of ozone-depleting substances (ODS) (this is when they found a hole in the ozone layer)
- 1988- Testimonial NASA Scientist James Hansen- frontpage article in the New York Times stating that the greenhouse effects had been detected, indicating that the climate was in fact changing.
Publicly challenged the science behind global warming.
1990s
1990 IPCC-report - gathers all climate change facts from all the world. Gave a best estimate of climate sensitivity as 2.5C warming for doubled CO2, with a range of 1.5- 4.5C.
1992 First Earth summit
- Famous speech Severn Suzuki - she gives a feeling and true personal experience
- Largest ever environmental conference
- Many global problems on the agenda
— Awareness that there are global problems
— National interests prevail
— North-South relations become clear
- Convention contained non-binding obligations
— Big principles -> little translation into policy
Results from the Rio Summit:
- Rio Declaration: 27 principles intended to guide future sustainable development around the world
- Agenda 21: a blueprint on how to make development socially, economically & environmentally sustainable.
- The Forest Principles: statement on how to guide the management, conservation & sustainable development of all types of forest, which are essential to economic development & the maintenance of all forms of life.
- The Convention on Climate Change: to stabilize greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere at levels that will not dangerously upset the global climate system.
- The Convention on Biological Diversity: requiring countries to adopt ways & means to conserve the variety of living species & ensure that the benefits from using biological diversity are equitably shared
Kyoto Protocol 1997- climate change decision
2010s
2011 Canada dropped out of the Kyoto protocol, it was cheaper to pay the fine.
2012 Rio+20 Earth Summit:
Focus was on two main themes:
- how to build a green economy to achieve sustainable
development and lift people out of poverty
- how to improve international coordination for sustainable development
- non binding
- start of the SDGs
Outcome:
Agreement by Member States to launch a process to develop a set of sustainable development goals (SDGs).
2015-2016 Sustainable Development Goals
- 17 goals to transform our world
- reach them before 2030
2015-2016 Paris Climate Agreement - is a legally binding international treaty on climate change. 1,5 degrees.
2019 Student call for radical climate action
2019 European Green Deal - the action plan for the EU to become the first climate neutral continent by 2050, resulting in a cleaner environment, more affordable energy, smarter transport, new jobs and an overall better quality of life.
2020s
- 2020 COVID - lower emissions.
- 2020 Trump withdraws from the Paris agreement because they didn’t want to listen to other countries, they would do it “themselves”
- 2021 IPCC - Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) - climate changes will increase in all regions of the globe over the coming decades and that even with 1.5°C of global warming, there will be increasing heat waves, longer warm seasons, and shorter cold seasons – which will become more intense at 2oC of warming.
- 2022 Energy crisis - Energy prices have hit all-time highs in 2022, especially as a consequence of Russia’s unjustified invasion of Ukraine and its use of gas supplies as a weapon of war.
- 2022 US Climate Bill - A new, historic climate bill has been passed that will devote nearly 369 billion dollars to clean energy programs in order for the U.S. to develop self-sufficiency in the energy sector.
Triple bottom line
- 3P’s – people, profit, planet -> 5P’s – prosperity, people, planet, peace, partnership
- System thinking:
The challenge is that society is very complex, you have to look deeper and try to understand why it’s happening. - If you don’t understand the inner relatedness of things, solutions often cause more problems. Simple questions often require complex and reflective things if good solutions are to be found.
- It is always better to manage by design then by default.
–> (+) –> both depend, if one rises another rises as well
–> (-) –> if one rises another drops and vice versa
Living planet index
The Living Planet Index (LPI) is a measure of the state of the world’s biological diversity based on population trends of vertebrate species from terrestrial, freshwater and marine habitats.
Diversity index. They want to bend the curve; they want to make it grow as fast as possible.
- overspending our biological budget
2000s
2006- An Inconvenient Truth
- a movie amount the consequences of climate change
- Hollywood movie
- made the problems known and popular
raise awareness of the climate change
2009 - Copenhagen Accord- Climate conference in Copenhagen
- aim to find an successor for Kyoto
- failed to find one, countries couldn’t work together etc
- same problems as in Kyoto
- optimism was totally gone
The Mickey Mouse model
assumes that economy is the main sphere of the analysis, with the environment and society playing subsidiary roles
The triple bottom line model
assumes that all three sub spheres (society, economy and environment) are equally important, and that their equal interaction produces sustainable development
The strong sustainability model
The environment sustain all other life forms. It encompasses the social and economic spheres. Without environment neither man (society) nor his economy can exist. The environment is the set, and economy and society are the sub-sets.
Strong sustainability are rooted in the following principles:
- The scale of human activities should be constrained by the actual carrying capacity of the planet. This means addressing issues of sufficiency and efficiency with the implementation of limits to the physical scale.
- Technological development should focus on improving the efficiency of resource use as opposed to increasing the “throughput” (the flow of goods/services from natural to human systems).
- Renewable natural capital should be sustainably managed by harvesting at rates not higher than regeneration rates and keeping waste production to levels that do not exceed the renewable assimilative capacity of the environment.
- Non-renewable natural resources should not be exploited faster than the rate of creation for renewable substitutes. (better suited to weak sustainability).
