What is Sustainability Flashcards
Give three definitions of Sustainable Development.
a. Basic necessities for the poorest and higher standards of living for the wealthiest.
b. Development that meets the needs of the current generation without compromising the ability of the future generation to meet their own.
c. Improving the quality of human life whilst living within the carrying capacity of the human ecosystem.
Define both Ecocentric and Anthropocentric.
Ecocentric: Ecosystem-first.
Anthropocentric: Humanity-first.
Define corporate sustainability.
Corporate sustainability is aligning an organisations products and services with stakeholder expectations, thereby adding social, economic and environmental value.
What can be the only ‘closed-system’? How is sustainability related to this?
Earth’s biosphere is the only near-closed system. Thus sustainable must be viewed shorthand for operating in such a way as to not reduce the sustainability of the biosphere.
Name four contributors to destruction and loss of the environment.
- Overfishing
- Deep-sea and forest destruction
- Soil erosion/ salination/ loss of fertility
- Loss of biodiversity
Name three planetary limits and impacts.
- Fresh water shortages.
- Non-renewable resources are increasingly energy expensive.
- Low availability of rare-earth materials.
Name four harmful consequences of human economic development.
- Generation of toxins.
- Alien species.
- Ozone-depleting chemicals.
- Greenhouse gases.
What are ‘alien species’ and how are they harmful? Give an example.
Alien species are non-native species introduced to a new ecosystem by human activity, deliberately or otherwise. Native species have no evolutionary awareness of these new species and cause ecosystem destabilisation and the death of native species.
Example: Accidental Lamprey introduction to the great lakes, killing large fish populations.
Define Dryzek’s model.
- Problem-Solving: Reformist & Prosaic
- Survivalism: Radical & Prosaic
- Sustainable: Reformist & Imaginative
- Green Radical: Radical & Imaginative
What is ‘Administrative Rationalism’? Where does it lie in Dryzek’s model? Give a top-level example. What is a drawback?
- Experts decide level of environmental impact from public perspective.
- Administrates place measures to enact progress.
- e.g. emissions licenses for companies to pollute.
- Challenged by complex problems which defy centralisation.
- Problem-Solving.
What is BATNEEC and where does it fall under Dryzek’s model?
Best Available Technology Not Exceeding Excessive Cost; Administrative Rationalism.
What is ‘Democratic Pragmatism’? Where does it lie in Dryzek’s model? Give a top-level example. What is a drawback?
- Lack of trust in experts by the people. Civic society must be involved.
- Public consultation and enquiries.
- Can be co-opted by the powerful.
- Problem-Solving.
What is ‘Economic Rationalism’? Where does it lie in Dryzek’s model? Give a top-level example. What is a drawback?
- Environmental problems are the result of market failure due to externalities. Most effective method is to provide property rights over these externalities to create a trading market.
- Views humanity as rational, self-interested actors. However, appears to ignore people and nature.
- Problem-Solving.
What is ‘Survivalism’ as defined in Dryzek’s model?
- There are limits to growth of humanity, imposed by the carrying capacity of the biosphere.
- Humanity must move to a steady-state economy with international action coordinated by political elites.
- Humanity is heirarchical and conflicted.
What is ‘Sustainability’ as defined in Dryzek’s model?
- Legitimate development aspirations of the world’s peoples cannot be met using the current growth path.
- Growth should not just be promoted, but guided to be environmentally benign and socially just.
