Part 1 - Why we need to be sustainable Flashcards
Fundamentals of sustainability
What are the 3 pillars of sustainability?
Economy, Environment, Spciety (people)
aka people, planet, profit
Define
Environmental sustainability
responsibly interacting with the planet to preserve natural resources and avoid harming nature, wildlife, habitats, and avoiding changing natural systems like the climate, ecosystems and oceans.
Define
sustainable development
Meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.
Define (2)
sustainable development
Being able to meet our needs today, while ensuring
that what we leave behind for future generations
is sustainable, for people and the planet
Define
Environmental Sustainability
Interacting responsibly with the planet to preserve natural resources and avoiding harm to env & all its parts
What did the Brundtland Report ‘Our Common Future’ tell us about human impact on planet?
that human activity was having severe and negative impacts on the planet, and that patterns of growth and development would be unsustainable if they continued unchecked
How many UN Sustainable Development Goals are there?
17 goals
eg no poverty, no hunger, good health & wellbeing, quality education
What is the purpose of UN’s SDGs?
end poverty, fight inequality and injustice, and tackle climate change by 2030.
What does the website on UN’s SDG show thats helpful?
UN gives targets and indicators for each goal to how they can actually be achieved. They have given success criteria to follow.
What is the top global risk from WEF?
Short term
Misinformation/Disinformation
Extreme weather events
what is the top global risk from WEF?
Long term
- Extreme weather events
- biodiversity loss & ecosystem collapse
- critical change to earths sytems
What are some barriers to sustainability?
Access to grants, chairties, resources,
Payback time - Benefits far in future
What are other barriers to sustainability?
Around people and environment
People - Senior managers, consumers, investors, changing their mindset
Natural capital - Can’t put a price on these part of our lives. (eg bees, trees, rivers )
What is a mega trend?
relate to a wide variety of large-scale
environmental, social and economic changes, varying
across the globe. some trends are directly
related to the status of economic development such as big data
List
4 Key mega trends
1.Increasing prosperity
2. Urbanisation
3. Technology
4. increasing impact & risk from climate + biodiversity loss
What are some reasons for population growth?
- humans are living longer
- limited access family planning, edu, contraception
- children as sources of income in some countries
- high infant mortality
How has globalisation affected the middle class?
Lead to growth of middle glass, resulted in improved quality of life. From access to more resources and better medical care.
What can be problems of the global middle classes?
Increase in wealth has resulted in increase demans and desire for goods. which need finite resources like fossil fuels and rare earth elements
How can recycling and recovery help with the scarcity of materials?
electrical items have many valuable and finite metals like tin, copper and rare earth metals.
What happens to most E-waste?
export to locations where controls are not in place and recycling processes
cause contamination of soil and water with heavy metals such as lead, arsenic and mercury, and subject local populations to a wide range of toxic pollutants.
Why are rare earth elements/metals a concern?
because of their sparse
distribution and efforts required for extraction and processing. These include 17 chemical elements, the 15 lanthanides as well as scandium and yttrium.
Ln atomic number 57 -71
Where are rare earth metals used?
wide range of
electrical and electronic devices, from mobile phones and computers to solar panels, hybrid cars, and in military and medical applications.
Where are most rare earth elements produced?
An estimated 95% of
these elements are produced by China, despite having 20% to 30% of rare earth element global reserves.
How are other important
elements such as gold, platinum and silver obtained?
in electrical and electronic equipment manufacturing. As well as being scarce, their extraction frequently causes environmental harm including pollution of air and water and destruction of habitat
Why is Lithium an important element?
key component of batteries used in electric vehicles and storage systems for renewable energy. global demand increased due to electric vehicle production
Where can lithium be obtained?
is it a problem?
only available in
economically extractable quantities in a small number of locations globally – including parts of Chile, Bolivia, Argentina, Australia and China
What are environmental impacts of Lithium extraction?
- Harms soil
- Air contamination
- Chemical leaks
- High water consumption
How can Lithium extraction have impact on people?
- Local farmers access to water
- toxic chemical leaks to water supply
- HCl and other chem used in processing
Define
Planetary Boundary
- The concept of an environmental limit
- Safe operating space for humanity/planet
- pre- condition for sustainable development
What does it mean to live within a planetary boundary?
- Living within these limits is a pre-condition of environmental sustainability.
- Not adversely affecting Earth’s system of processes
What are the 9 planetary boundaries?
- climate change
- ocean acidification
- novel entities
- stratospheric ozone depletion
- biogeochemical flows (nitrogen and phosphorus
cycles) - atmospheric aerosol loading
- freshwater use
- land system change
- biosphere integrity
Planetary Bondaries
What is the control variable for climate change?
control variable: how the boundary is measured/define
Atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations (ppm)
should be <350 ppm
Planetary boundary
How is Change in biosphere integrity measured?
Biodiversity loss and extinction rate (no. of species per million per year)
Planetary Boundary
How do we measure the boundary for Stratospheric ozone depletion?
Stratospheric ozone concentration
Define
GHG effect
heating of the surface of the Earth due to the presence of an atmosphere containing greenhouse gases (GHG)
