Climate Solutions: Chapter 15

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Published: June 16, 2010, 6:36 pm
Updated: May 7, 2012, 11:50 am
Author: Leo Wiegman
Author: David Blockstein
Topic Editor: Peter Saundry
Topics:

Sustainable Definitions

God forbid that India should ever take to industrialism after the manner of the West ... keeping the world in chains. If our nation took to similar economic exploitation, it would strip the world bare like locusts. —Mahatma Gandhi For the first time in history it is now possible to take care of everybody at a higher standard of living than any have ever known. Only ten years ago the “more with less” technology reached the point where this could be done. All humanity now has the option to become enduringly successful. —R. Buckminster Fuller, 1980 Human beings are social, but approaches to development often emphasize the ways in which people function as individuals rather than in their social context. Human development depends on individual access to assets and opportunities; but, it also depends on the quality of social relationships, which are embedded in cultures. [19] —Amartya Sen The end of extreme poverty is at hand, within our generation, but only if we grasp the historic opportunity in front of us. [17] —Jeffrey Sachs, 2008 What we thought of as isolated pathologies, scarcities of work or hope or security or satisfaction, are not isolated at all, in fact they're intimately related, they're all caused by the same thing, namely the interlocking waste of resources, of money, and of people. —Amory Lovins In recent years, new nations have entered enthusiastically into industrial production, thereby increasing their energy needs. This has led to an unprecedented race for available resources. Meanwhile, some parts of the planet remain backward and development is effectively blocked, partly because of the rise in energy prices. What will happen to those peoples? —Pope Benedict XVI, 2007

Achieving the Millennium Development Goals would serve to stabilize population while also enhancing livelihoods, expanding human rights, and protecting the environment. While the world’s leaders debate how to define sustainable development for all the world’s people, those of us at the grassroots can adopt our own definitions. Diverse definitions of sustainability each attempt to incorporate the thinking of three approaches to measuring progress: economics, social, and environmental. An economic approach focuses on optimal ways to maximize growth of the financial capital and capacity. Environmental and social approaches focus on the durability and health of the living systems of the planet and its inhabitants. These are summarized in Table 15.5.

Table 15.5 The Three Key Approaches to Sustainable Development
Economic: Maximum flow of income that could be sustained indefinitely, without reducing stocks of productive assets. Economic efficiency ensures both efficient resource allocation in production and efficient consumption that maximizes utility.
Ecological: Preserving the viability and normal functioning of natural systems, including system health and ability to adapt to shocks across a range of spatial and temporal scales. Defined by a comprehensive, multiscale, hierarchical, dynamic measure describing system resilience, vigor, and organization.
Social: Maintaining the resilience of social systems and limiting their vulnerability to sudden shocks. Involves building social capital to strengthen cohesion, protecting cultural diversity and values, and improving inclusion and participation—especially of disadvantaged groups.
Table Source: Adapted from [14]


A number of different concepts have been suggested to help visualize the relationship between these three domains: pillars, concentric circles, and triangles. Most important, each nation will have to grapple with how the connections between the economy, society, and environment play out in its own culture and its place within the global community.

There is a profound paradox here. On the one hand, the twenty-first century is widely heralded as the era of sustainability, with a rainbow alliance of government, civil society and business devising novel strategies for increasing human welfare within planetary limits. On the other hand, the evidence is that the global human enterprise is rapidly becoming less sustainable and not more. Much has been achieved—but is it enough? Are global trends towards sustainability or away from it? Have the concepts of sustainability and sustainable development offered a coherent basis for change? [1] —W. M. Adams, for the IUCN, 2006

Online figures

Figure 15.1 Growth in more- versus less-developed countriesPopulation growth is unevenly spread across of the globe. (a) Growth is most rapid in the developing countries, especially in sub-Saharan Africa.[16]
Figure 15.1 Growth in more- versus less-developed countriesPopulation growth is unevenly spread across of the globe. (b) The UN projects that this growth will mean the addition of about 3 billion more people in the coming decades. Source: [16]
Figure 15.4 Number of weather-related disasters, and number of victims: 1975–2007Globally, the number of reported weather-related natural disasters is mounting rapidly. Reports of natural catastrophes have more than tripled since the 1960s. In 2007, 14 out of 15 “flash appeals” for emergency humanitarian assistance were for floods, droughts, and storms—five times higher than in any previous year. Source: [22] from [18]
Figure 15.5 Who lives on Figure 15.5 Who lives on $1 a day?Worldwide, the number of people in developing countries who live on less than $1 a day fell to 980 million in 2004—down from 1.25 billion in 1990. Source: Statistical Annex a day?Worldwide, the number of people in developing countries who live on less than Figure 15.5 Who lives on $1 a day?Worldwide, the number of people in developing countries who live on less than $1 a day fell to 980 million in 2004—down from 1.25 billion in 1990. Source: Statistical Annex a day fell to 980 million in 2004—down from 1.25 billion in 1990. Source: Statistical Annex
Figure 15.6 The cycle of the climate policy decision-making processThe climate policy process can be described as a decision cycle, where the square nodes represent decisions, the circles represent the reduction of uncertainty, and the arrows indicate the range of decisions and outcomes. Some nodes summarize today’s options—how much should be invested in mitigation, in adaptation, in expanding mitigative and adaptive capacity, or in research to reduce uncertainty? Other nodes represent opportunities to learn and make midcourse corrections. This picture is a caricature of real decision processes, which are continuous, overlapping, and iterative. Source: [8]
Figure 15.7 Developed versus developing emissions by region, population, and economic productOn the left, the chart shows the relative volume of carbon dioxide equivalent per capita emitted by various groups of similar nations. On the right, the second chart shows the relative gross domestic product each group of similar nations produces relative to the carbon dioxide equivalent volume per dollar of GDP produced. Source: [2]
Figure 15.8 Three perspectives on sustainable development Each of these three perspectives yields valuable insight. Each domain also relates to the others in ways that must alleviate poverty and raise equality to promote sustainable practices and mitigate climate change. Source: Adapted from [14]
Figure 15.9 The asset triangle available for climate protectionThe work to protect us all from climate disruption will focus on either mitigation of future worsening of climate change or adaptation to the unavoidable disruption. The capital with which such work will be “funded” comes in equal doses from the economy, nature, and our own human ingenuity and cultural institutions. Source: Adapted from [14]
Figure 15.10 The demographic transition to sustainabilityWhere on this curve would you place Germany in 1950? India in 1950? Where would you place each of these two nations on the curve today? Where you place the United States today?

Bibliography

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  7. FAO (2006) Livestock’s Long Shadow. http://www.fao.org/docrep/010/a0701e/a0701e00.htm
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  16. PRB (2008) Presentation Graphics. Population Reference Bureau http://prb.org/Publications/GraphicsBank.aspx
  17. Sachs JD (2008) Common Wealth: Economics for a Crowded Planet. (The Penguin Press, New York).http://www.sachs.earth.columbia.edu/commonwealth/
  18. Scheuren J-M, le Polain de Waroux O, Below R, Guha-Sapir D, Ponserre S (2008) Annual Disaster Statistical Review. EM-DAT Emergency Events Database. http://www.emdat.be
  19. Sen A (2004) How Does Culture Matter? in Culture and Public Action, (eds) Rao R, Walton M. (Stanford University Press, Palo Alto, CA). http://www.sup.org
  20. UN MDG (2008) The Millennium Development Goals Report 2008. http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals
  21. UNFPA (2007) State of the World Population. http://www.unfpa.org/swp/swpmain.htm
  22. WHO (2008) World Health Day: Protecting Health from Climate Change. (April 2008). World Health Organization. http://www.who.int/globalchange/en/

Online resources

Action items

  • Action 14: Engaging China on a Pathway to Carbon Neutrality
  • Action 17: Climate Change Adaptation for the Developing World—Expanding Africa’s Climate Change Resilience
  • Action 33: Diverse Perspectives on Climate Change Education?— Integrating Across Boundaries
  • Action 34: Building People’s Capacities for Implementing Mitigation and Adaptation Actions
  • Action 35: Climate Change and Human Health?— Engaging the Public Health Community

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This is a chapter from Climate Solutions Consensus.
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Citation

Wiegman, L., & Blockstein, D. (2012). Climate Solutions: Chapter 15. Retrieved from http://editors.eol.org/eoearth/wiki/Climate_Solutions:_Chapter_15
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