Sustainable Development Challenges and Political Views

Question 1

Give The Brundtland Report definition of sustainable development.

Answer 1

“SD is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the needs of future generations to meet their own.”

Question 2

Give the UNICEF/UNEP/WWF definition of sustainable development.

Answer 2

“Sustainable Development means improving the quality of human life whilst living within the carrying capacity of the ecosystems.”

Question 3

Whats is the Triple Bottom Line with respect to sustainable development.

Answer 3

“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 4

When people talk about sustainable development, what is it that needs to be sustained?

Answer 4

Nature - Earth, Biodiversity, Ecosystems

Life Support - Ecosystem services, Resources, Environment

Community - Cultures, Groups, Places

Question 5

When people talk about sustainable development, what is it that needs to be developed?

Answer 5

Economy - Wealth, Productivity, Consumption

People - Life Expectancy, Education, Social Equity/Opportunity

Society - Security and wellbeing of nations/institutions, Social Capital

Question 6

What is corporate sustainability?

Answer 6

A business approach that creates long-term shareholder value by embracing opportunities and managing risks deriving from economic, environmental and social developments.

Question 7

Give the three categories of environmental challenges defined by Jared Diamond.

Answer 7

Destruction and Loss

Limits on what the Earth can provide

Generation and moving of harmful things

Question 8

Give the sub-categories within ‘Destruction and Loss’ as defined by Jared Diamond.

Answer 8

Destruction and Loss:

Habitats
Wild foods
Biodiversity
Soil (erosion, salination, acidification)

Question 9

Give the sub-categories within ‘Limitations’ as defined by Jared Diamond.

Answer 9

Limitations:

Energy
Fresh water
Photosynthetic ceiling
Raw materials

Question 10

Give the sub-categories within ‘Harmful Things’ as defined by Jared Diamond.

Answer 10

Harmful Things:

Generation of toxins
Alien species (rabbits/lamprey)
Ozone depleting chemicals
Greenhouse gases

Question 11

List the social challenges humans face.

Answer 11

Poverty
Disease/famine
Extremes of inequality
Cultural homogenisation
Loss of traditional ways of life
Exploitation
Conflict
Health

Question 12

What is Dryzek’s Model?

Answer 12

Reformist Radical
Prosaic Problem Solving Survivalism
Imaginative Sustainability Green Radicalism

Reformist/Radical - attitude to current political system
Prosaic/Imaginative - attitude to environmental problems (problem or opportunity)

Question 13

What is a ‘Promethean’ response?

Answer 13

There’s no real problem…
Climate change doesn’t exist…
Market forces will sort all problems…

Question 14

What is Administrative Rationalism discourse?

Answer 14

Prosaic + Reformist

• Experts decide what level of impact is appropriate from a public interest perspective
• Administrators put measures in place to enact this
• Benign state assesses the relative interests of environment and economy to make a unilateral decision
• Rhetoric of concern and reassurance

Question 15

What is Democratic Pragmatism discourse?

Answer 15

Prosaic + Reformist

• Civic society must have involvement in any decision making
• Lack of faith in expert judgements
• Ideally produces consensus on good solution but can be co-opted by those with power

Question 16

What is Economic Rationalism discourse?

Answer 16

Prosaic + Reformist

• Environmental problems result from market failure
• Most effective approach is to define property rights over externalities and to create markets that allow these rights to be traded
• View humanity as rational self-interested economic actors
• Viewed suspiciously due to the lack of discourse surrounding people and nature

Question 17

What is Survivalist discourse?

Answer 17

Prosaic + Radical

• Inevitable limits to growth due to the carrying capacity of the biosphere
• Must move to a steady-state economy - resource use, population and economic development must all be limited
• International coordinated action is necessary, authoritarian approaches are deemed acceptable
• Images of environmental doom
• Can antagonise/alienate many thus working against the desired goal

Question 18

What is Sustainable Development discourse?

Answer 18

Reformist + Imaginative

• Growth is needed but the required development cannot be met on the current growth path
• Growth should be promoted but guided so that it is benign and socially just
• Poverty forces environmental degradation onto people
• Economic growth, environmental protection and long-term sustainability can be mutually reinforcing
• Cooperation at local and global levels

Question 19

What is Ecological Modernisation discourse?

Answer 19

Reformist + Imaginative

• Restructuring of capitalist economy
• Conscious and coordinated intervention is needed, market forces cant achieve this alone
• Creates business opportunity
• State plays a large role but requires buy-in
• Language of reassurance and opportunity.

Question 20

What is Green Consciousness discourse?

Answer 20

Radical + Imaginative

• Nature has an intrinsic value in its own right
• Our natural state is to be in harmony with nature
• Could be likened to a spiritual transformation
• Hierarchy is a modernist imposition

Question 21

What is Green Politics discourse?

Answer 21

Radical + Imaginative

• Modernist industrial system is the cause of problems, it needs radical change
• Radical political change will be required - politics and living should be decentralised
• All humanity is equal, competition has a place but should be checked by egalitarian political structures
• Rational argument and rhetoric is key