Midterm

Question 1

The Anthropocene

Answer 1

A new geological age. The word Anthropocene signals a time in history when human activity is a dominant factor in the destabilization of Earth’s life support systems.

Question 2

Planetary limits

Answer 2

Already exceeded limits * Biodiversity integrity * Biogeochemical flows.

Question 3

Sustainable development

Answer 3

Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

Question 4

Sustainability

Answer 4

The ability to be maintained at a certain rate or level. Avoidance of the depletion of natural resources in order to maintain an ecological balance.

Question 5

Trade-off

Answer 5

complex and often challenging decisions that must be made when trying to balance and integrate economic, environmental, and social objectives. Sustainability is typically defined as meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Achieving sustainability involves optimizing the trade-offs between various competing interests and goals

Question 6

Sustainability science

Answer 6

Discipline trying to study and understand how to best manage human interface. Interaction with humans and ecosystems.

Question 7

Pragmatic worldview

Answer 7

Sustainability scientists seek to find socio-technical solutions to yield sustainability value for society

Question 8

Green competation

Answer 8

when is it profitable to be green.

Question 9

Socio-technical solutions

Answer 9

Tools or strategies that influence practices, technologies, infrastructures, and institutions that solve sustainability problems.

Question 10

Vertical integration

Answer 10

is a business strategy in which a company expands its operations by acquiring or controlling various stages of the production and distribution process within its industry. This can involve both upstream and downstream activities.

Question 11

Environmental justice

Answer 11

Ensuring fairness in how environmental benefits and burdens are distributed, especially for marginalized communities, and involving them in decisions about environmental issues. It aims to eliminate disparities in pollution exposure and promote equitable access to clean air, water, and green spaces.

Question 12

Environmental racism

Answer 12

Unfair placement of pollution and environmental hazards in communities primarily inhabited by people of color and marginalized groups, leading to health disparities and environmental injustices.

Question 13

Environmental ethics

Answer 13

Application of ethical standards to the relationship between humans and the environment.

Question 14

Linear thinking

Answer 14

Traditional thinking, Only focuses on elements or parts Linear cause-effect reasoning Reductionist and analytical

Question 15

The Tragedy of the commons

Answer 15

What happens to the common good if everybody acts in favour of his or her own benefit? Multiple individuals acting independently, and solely and rationally consulting their own self-interest Will ultimately deplete a shared limited resource even when it is clear that it is not in anyone’s long-term interest for this to happen

Question 16

System

Answer 16

Interconnected elements (parts) organized to achieve a purpose  Whole is greater than the sum of its parts  Properties are emergent  Systems are nested within other systems.

Question 17

Systems thinking

Answer 17

Seeing interconnections yields a more accurate understanding of the world  Actions and interactions within and between elements  Multiple factors at play shaping a systems problem  Rarely a single solution.

Question 18

Example of systems thinking

Answer 18

Complex systems, feedback loop

Question 19

Resilience

Answer 19

Capacity of a system to absorb disturbance and retain its basic function and structure.

Question 20

Carrying Capacity

Answer 20

Maximum number of individuals a given environment can support indefinitely.

Question 21

Ball-in-basin model

Answer 21

Emergent properties – outcomes cannot be predicted  Can have more than one stable state  Tipping points  Critical thresholds: small changes cause state changes.

Question 22

Decoupling

Answer 22

separating of the economy from society from the environment. Provides a technological optimist’s view.

Question 23

Capital substitution

Answer 23

to the practice of replacing or shifting from non-renewable forms of capital (such as fossil fuels or finite natural resources) to renewable and sustainable forms of capital (such as renewable energy sources or sustainable agricultural practices). This substitution is aimed at reducing environmental impacts, conserving resources, and promoting long-term ecological balance while meeting the needs of present and future generations. It is a key strategy in achieving environmental sustainability and reducing the carbon footprint of various activities and industries.

Question 24

Weak sustainability

Answer 24

tends to be anti-environment.

Question 25

Strong sustainability

Answer 25

Humans are one, creating elements within an ecosystem, mindful of that. trying to view that you cannot separate the economy from the society and environment. The economy is dependent on society and vice versa.
* All the things weak sustainability is for, strong sustainability is against.
* Systems thinking → aligned with this perspective.

Question 26

Externality

Answer 26

Externalities are a form a market failure.  By definition an externality occurs “when an activity or transaction by some parties causes an unintended loss or gain in welfare to another party, and no compensation for the change in welfare occurs. If the externality results in a loss of welfare, it is a negative externality, and if it results in a gain, it is positive externality.

Question 27

Environmental Economics

Answer 27

Sub-field of economics  Study of costs and benefits of environmental policies  Valuing ‘unvalued’ things (e.g., ‘externalities’)  Put a price on nature 12 This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND.

Question 28

Ecological economics

Answer 28

Treats economy as a subsystem of the ecosystem  Emphasis upon preserving natural capital.  Concepts  Resilience  Natural cycles  Zero emission.

Question 29

Full world

Answer 29

earth is a closed system → causes plants to grow → humans eat.
It needs to be deliberated thinking about the source of resources, food, and energy.
How do we convert and dispose of the resources - how do they return to the ecosystems, and what is the impact?
Perspective matters.

Question 30

Conventional Business View

Answer 30

all about externalizing the cost → profit-maximizing entity.
Increase revenues and decrease the cost = profit.

Question 31

Compliance

Answer 31

Common and control = regulations. Obeying the law, and labour, environmental, health, and safety regulations  Environmental and social actions are treated as costs

Question 32

Beyond compliance

Answer 32

Obeying the law, and labour, environmental, health, and safety regulations  Environmental and social actions are treated as costs.

Question 33

Eco-efficency

Answer 33

Doing more with less.
3M = poster child what is eco-efficiency and what the purpose.
Were the business case come into sustainability.
More efficient and fewer units of waste → win-win for the company and for the environment.

Question 34

Corporate social responsability (CSR)

Answer 34

How corporations should behave.
Values, morals and ethics.
Interesting divergent in terms of motivation why buisness behave in a specific way.

Question 35

Shared value

Answer 35

Trying to balance the cost and opportunities within stakeholders and the organization.
Providing an opportunity to grow and using the tools of business that provide this in poverty → to improve the shared value.
Shared value came in a time when the base of the pyramid was in focus.

Question 36

Tripple bottom line

Answer 36

It’s not about balancing act - trade-offs. Sustainability = environmental accountability, economic efficiency and social equity.

Question 37

Shareholder

Answer 37

the owner of the company. Shareholder is also a stakeholder.

Question 38

Stakeholder

Answer 38

Anyone that affects or is effected by the organization. More stakeholders = more complexity. Complexity from competing interests

Question 39

Stakeholder engagement

Answer 39

Can be passive or proactive;  Is a process;  Empowers communities;  Is not limited by time;  Favours multi-sectoral collaboration.

Question 40

License to operate

Answer 40

Grant of permission to undertake a trade or carry out a business activity, subject to regulation or supervision by the licensing authority.

Question 41

Social license to operate

Answer 41

Defined as the ongoing acceptance and approval from local communities and other stakeholders.

Question 42

Decoupling

Answer 42

separating of the economy from society from the environment. Provides a technological optimist’s view.

Question 43

High substation

Answer 43

okay to degree a natural environment. We can take natural capital and replace it with human and manufactured capital.

Question 44

Transactional stakeholder engagement

Answer 44

Giving back” through community investment

Question 45

Transitional stakeholder engagement

Answer 45

“Building bridges” through two-way communication

Question 46

Transformational stakeholder engagement

Answer 46

Changing society” through deep interaction with strategic community partners.