Sustainability definitions and viewpoints

Question 1

What is sustainable development?

Answer 1

Meeting the needs of today without compromising the future of the next generation.

Question 2

What is sustainable development? (In terms of triple bottom line)

Answer 2

sustainable development involves the simultaneous pursuit of economic prosperity, environmental quality and social equity. Companies aiming for sustainability need to perform not against a single, financial bottom line but against the triple bottom line

Question 3

What are the two pespective on the current political situation?

Answer 3

rspective on the current political situation: Reformist & Radical
Reformist – current political system isn’t broken just needs to be tweaked to solve our environmental problems
Radical – current political system is broken and needs big change to sort it out

Question 4

What are the two ways in which you can see environmental challenges?

Answer 4

Prosaic - Problem to get through

Imaginative - Opportunity to do things differently

Question 5

What are the four main viewpoint?

Answer 5

1) Prosaic and reformist: (problem solving discourse)
2) Prosiac and Radical: (Survivalism)
3) Reformist and imaginative (sustainability)
4) Radical and imaginative (green radicalism)

Question 6

Sustainability definition (ecological)

Answer 6

avoidance of the depletion of natural resources in order to maintain an ecological balance.

Question 7

What is to be sustained? (3)

Answer 7

Nature: earth, bio diversity, eco system

Life: ecosystems services, resources, environment

Community: cultures, groups, places

Question 8

What needs to be developed? (3)

Answer 8

Economy: wealth, productivity, consumption

People: life expextancy, education, social equity

Society: social capital, security

Question 9

What is corporate greenwash? give examples

Answer 9

greenwashing when a company or organization spends more time and money claiming to be “green” through advertising and marketing than actually implementing business practices that minimize environmental impact. Green is big business!

1. Chevon advert in the 1980s
2. Lays natural potato chips - no different!
3. Ben & Jerry’s 20 year mission - not using organic milk

Question 10

What is the promethean response?

Answer 10

• No real environmental problem – often don’t believe in climate change
• Or if they do believe – not as bad as scientists are making it out to be or -it’s not humanities fault, natural planet cycle
• Market forces will naturally sort out our problems - depletion of resources will result in higher prices reducing demand and push for a search for alternatives. Therefore, no government intervention is need. Keep regulation away
• Innovation and business will solve our problems without any stimulus – it’s not that bad

Question 11

Describe the prosaic response and include the 3 types

Answer 11

• They believe some intervention is needed (pragmatic and focused)
• Focus on solving well-bounded environmental problems
• They do it with the socioeconomic system that we currently have

1) Administrative rationalism
2) Democratic pragmatism
2) Economic rationalism

Question 12

Describe administrative rationalism and it’s challenges (5)

Answer 12

• Experts work out what should be done
• Politicians put in place what needs to be done to make it happen – state has the best interest of people and business
• Certain standards must be met – been very good for air pollution and water pollution
• Tools used are environmental impact assessment and possibly cost benefit analysis

Challenges: complex problem across borders and making sure companies follow the rules

Question 13

Describe democratic pragmatism (3), give an example (1) and provide challenge (2)

Answer 13

• Interactive problem solving within the basic institutional structure of liberal capitalist democracy – consensus of balancing needs
• People don’t trust the experts - Public consultations, policy dialog, public inquiry
• Civic society should be involved in the problem solving process to have democratic legitimacy
• Example – incinerators. Placed in poor areas because of low prices. Local people felt used – kicked off – needed to be involved
• Problems - Can be co-opted by the powerful - co-opted by those who are most passionate and have time

Question 14

Define economic rationalism, give an example, solution, and challenge

Answer 14

• Primarily view environmental problems as mechanisms economic problems – externalities
• E.G. Tragedy of the commons – over use free resources such as assuming trees will take our co2 no problem. It’s free to pump out CO2 therefore people will continue to do this – Tax?
• Solution: Define property rights over externalities such a the right to emit CO2, to catch fill or use landfill. Place cap. Create market to allow for these things to be traded.
• Problem Takes the view society is made up of rational self-interested people -Governments roles is to make markets

Question 15

Describe survivalism

Answer 15

• Inevitable limits to growth of humanity by the carrying capacity of the biosphere - Stocks of resources are limited
• Need to move to a steady state economy: stop population growth, economic development
• International coordination by governments is needed
• Negative view of humanity

Question 16

Describe Reformist + Imaginative view (sustainability). what are the two groups?

Answer 16

• It believes the limits need to respected by stretched if the right policies are chosen – so growth can continue and don’t have to move to a steady state economy
• Growth needs to be redefined
• With the right technology and policy we can achieve what we want

1) Sustainability development & ecological modernisation

Question 17

Describe the Sustainability view point (reformist + imaginative), what are the two types

Answer 17

• Concepts and growth and development redefined so as to render obsolete – growth redefined
• It believes the limits need to respected by stretched if the right policies are chosen – so growth can continue and don’t have to move to a steady state economy
• With the right technology and policy we can achieve what we want

sustainability development & ecological modernisation

Question 18

Describe sustainability development? (reformist + imaginative) (3)

Answer 18

• Legitimate development aspirations of developing countries - Growth is needed to overcome poverty
• Poverty forces environmental degradation on poor people
• Therefore, growth should be promoted but in a sustainable way

Question 19

Ecological modernisation - describe it (4)

Answer 19

• Conscious and coordinate intervention needed to bring this around – market forces alone not enough
• Takes systems approach to try and solve the problem
• State plays a strong role but buy in required – restructure economy along environmental lines
• Language reassurance and opportunity

for example through
the large scale move to renewable energy, creation of public transport services and the large scale improvement of insulation levels in both new and existing buildings

Question 20

Describe the green radical discourse. Touch on green conscious and green politics

Answer 20

• Criticises the other discourses as anthropmetric – seeing nature simply as a provider to humans
• Modernist society is the key problem – needs to be rethought
• Green conscious – change the way we see the world
i. Nature has value in its own right
ii. Hierarchy is a modernist position – not in nature?
• Green politics – change the way we govern the world
i. The modernist industrial system is blame for our environmental problems
ii. Radical political change is needed to change this- Politics and living should be more decentralised
iii. Cooperative rather than being competitive

Question 21

What causes destruction of fertile soil? (3)

Answer 21

Soil erosion is the displacement of the upper layer of soil, one form of soil degradation.

Soil salinity is the salt content in the soil; the process of increasing the salt content is known as salinization. - irregation

Soil acidification is the buildup of hydrogen cations, also called protons, reducing the soil pH. Chemically, this happens when a proton donor gets added to the soil. The donor can be an acid, such as nitric acid and sulfuric acid (these acids are common components of acid rain)