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Sustainability > Sustainability > Flashcards

Sustainability Flashcards

1
Q

What are the 3 pillars of sustainability?

A

Environmental, social, and economic

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2
Q

What is the definition of sustainability?

A

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

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3
Q

What is the environmental sustainability pillar about?

A

Focused around the health of the earth and environmental preservation.

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4
Q

What is an ecosystem?

A

A community in which there is a network of biotic factors interacting with abiotic factors.

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5
Q

What are abiotic factors in an environment? Give examples.

A

Anything non living that affects an environment. Temperature, winds, rain, ect…

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6
Q

What are biotic factors of an environment, give some examples.

A

Living things that affect an environment, other animals, predators, plants, insects, ect…

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7
Q

Why is is important to maintain the carrying capacity of an environment?

A
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8
Q

What is biogeochemical cycling? What are some of the most important cycles?

A

The process of elements getting cycled through en ecosystem. Some of the most important include water, carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus.

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9
Q

What are some negative ways that humans have impacted on earth’s systems?

A

Climate change. We have made the earth less resistant to problems like climate change. Deforestation, pollution, air quality, water quality, greenhouse gases, ect…

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10
Q

What are non renewable energy sources? Give examples

A

Energy sources we get from the earth that will eventually run out. Coal, gas, oil.

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11
Q

Why is the overuse of non renewable energy sources bad?

A

Because the non renewable energy sources leak more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere which affects the rate of climate change.

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12
Q

What is renewable energy? Give examples.

A

Energy sources that come from the earth but are constant and will not end (unless the world ends lol) wind and solar.

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13
Q

What is the main focus of the social sustainability pillar?

A

Making life fair to all and highlighting social justice. It focuses on how humans interact together.

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14
Q

What is the first aspect of the social sustainability pillar?

A

Equity in quality of life: Providing welfare goods, equal opportunities, community protection, access to education/clean water/healthcare, discrimination protection.

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15
Q

What is a second aspect of the social sustainablity pillar?

A

Participation in governance: stakeholders forming solutions that affect citizen lives, needs a diverse range of people, citizen input when creating policies, power imbalances must be noted.

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16
Q

How does governance help an institution?

A

It implements strategies, maintains goals, and improves relationships between stakeholders.

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17
Q

What is a third aspect of the social sustainabliity pillar?

A

Social cohesion: citizens forming social ties, social integration allows for the creation of cohesion in a community, trust is needed to overcome basic problems. Social cohesion is hard to measure but strengthens pride and allows citizens to feel safer.

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18
Q

What is the fourth aspect of the social sustainablity pillar?

A

Education/awareness: education is the first step of awareness, formal education in school, informal is meetings and pamphlets, focused on formatting scientific info in a way so non science peeps can understand. Access to available info.

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19
Q

What is the focus of the economic sustainabliity pillar?

A

Balance long term economic growth with the social and environmental pillars.

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20
Q

What are the two threads of the economic pillar? Explain them.

A

Global south and global north. North = better off nations focused on environmental protection. South = not as developed and focused on economic development.

Second thread: shift from linear economies to circular economies.

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21
Q

What are circular economies? Why can this be difficult to achieve?

A

Economies that emphasize reusing products. Requires a major shift in product design and production.

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22
Q

How is economic growth measured? What is it?

A

GDP: gross domestic product. Total value of goods produced and services provided in a country during one year.

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23
Q

What is GDP not a good measurement for?

A

Economic well being.

24
Q

Why does GDP fall short sometimes?

A

It falls short in identifying externalities and does not represent progess or well being.

25
Q

What is HDI?

A

Human development index: GDP but takes into account the healthy and longevity.

26
Q

Besides GDP and HDI, what’s another measure for economic growth?

A

GPI: genuine progress indicator: factors all consumption , income inequality, underemployment, pollution, habitat loss, value of household services, costs of crimes, and costs of accidents.

27
Q

What is economic growth?

A

Increase in quantity of economic activites (spending, producing)

28
Q

How can we try to balance economic growth and sustainable developement?

A

Promoting sustainable business practices, buy prodcuts that support the environemnt, encourage law makers to pass policies that protect natural environemnt.

29
Q

What was the environmental movement?

A

Started in the 19th century when writers of america (henry thourough, ralph emerson) promoted the idea that humans have better lives when surrounded by nature.

30
Q

When did environmentalists split into 2 groups, what two grousp were there?

A

In the 20th century, into conservationists and preservatinoist.

31
Q

What are conservationists beliefes?

A

Nature is used for human benefit as long as serious degredation is prevented.

32
Q

What are preservationists beliefs?

A

Nature needs to be preserved due to it’s own inherent value.

33
Q

In the 1960’s what book increased concerns about pesticides? What did it lead to?

A

Silent springs: protests and debates about the negative impact of technology. It also led to the creation of the us environmental protection agency and the ban on DDT.

34
Q

What other major environmental laws were passed in the 1960’s?

A

Clean air act, clean water act, endangered species act.

35
Q

What was the economic movement around the 1950’s?

A

When colonialsm left many countries stripped of natrual resources.

36
Q

What were the two trains of thought that popped up because of the economic movement? What was wrong with these two trains?

A

Modernization: developing countries imitate developed countries by opening up global markets, Dependency theory: solution to poverty is for countries to become independent by closing markets and transfering market control to the govt.
They only were thought of using only GDP

37
Q

What was the social movement?

A

1960-70’s. Full of citizen movements promoting better social lifes for people.

38
Q

What are some key movements that happened in the 1960-70’s within the social movement?

A

Civil rights movement, united farm workers movement, environmental justice movement.

39
Q

What is the global sustainability movement?

A

Increasing concern in all three pillars that led to global action. Happened in the 1970’s.

40
Q

What were significant events that happened because of the global sustainablitiy movement?

A

First international sustainablity meeting in stockholm, WWF founded (wold wildlife fund), WCED (world comission on envrionment and development)

41
Q

What are sustainability grand challenges? Whats another word for them?

A

Wicked problmes is another word. They are issues that are difficult to solve due to incomplete, contradictory, and morphing conditions that often can be complicated to recognzie.
They can not be solved with one single solution.

42
Q

How is a grand challenge defined?

A

No definitive formula or template, hard to measure, always more than one solution, require systems thinking to discover solution.

43
Q

What are some examples of grand challenges?

A

Climate change, poverty, environmental justice.

44
Q

What are the UN sustainability development goals?

A

17 different goals the UN made in 2015 as a global plan to build a better world.

45
Q

What are a few of the UN SDG’s?

A

No poverty, zero hunger, sustainable cities and communites, climate action, quality education, gender equality, clean water, life on land, life below water, affordable and clean energy.

46
Q

What is ethics in sustainability?

A

When ethics are used to make sure that no view in the world of sustainability is overlooked.

47
Q

What are ethics?

A

An individuals moreals and their sense of right or wrong.

48
Q

What would happen if we didn’t have ethics in sustainability?

A

Certain groups would feel margionalized or misrepresented, it wouldn’t take the needs and rights of all life into consideration.

49
Q

What is the goal of ethics in sustainability?

A

To think about how humans ought to live while considering how they interact with other humans, the natural world, and future generations.

50
Q

Why is it important to have ethics in sustainablity in regards to nature?

A

Becuase some people don’t realize how interconnected nature and humans are. Nature directly impacts human quality of life and vice versa.

51
Q

How is ethics in sust. Applied to the social pillar?

A

It focuses on actions, attitudes, belifes, cultural traditions, and decisiosn that an individual makes.

52
Q

How is ethics in sust. Applied to the economic pillar?

A

Based off of social consequences or costs associated with that economic activity or decision. To ensure that goods are produced in a way that can follow the goals of sustainability.

53
Q

How is ethics in sust. Applied to the environmental goal?

A

Focus on value of non living human nautre, or living and non living qualities of nature.

54
Q

What is environmental justice?

A

Consideres how environemental problems and benefits are divided up amongst groups. Like placement of landfills and toxic waste.

55
Q

What are some of the challenges of ehtics in sust?

A

We can’t see the future and see what future generations will need, we can’t communicate with nature.

56
Q

What did the industrial revolution do for the world?

A

It pushed us into radically changing the world faster than any other time in history.

Sustainability (1 decks)

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