<<<Sustainability 1.
Sustainability means using global resources at a rate that allows natural regeneration and minimizes
damage to the environment. Eg. Harvesting renewable resources.
It can be encouraged through careful application of:
• Ecological land use to maintain habitat quality and connectivity for all species.
• Sustainable material cycles to prevent the contamination of living systems
• Social systems that contribute to a culture of sufficiency that eases the consumption
pressures on natural capital.
Sustainable development
In balance with economy:
• Economics of sufficiency not greed
• Energy-efficient buildings
• Green community
• Reduced pollution
• Reduce, reuse, recycle
In balance with the environment:
• Renewable energy resources
• Waste management and water treatment
• Reduce, reuse recycle policies
• Protected areas and wildlife corridors.
In balance with society:
• Cultural diversity and social stability.
• Lifestyle and recreational amenities.
• Protected common land.
• Education and awareness.
• Political actions for sustainability
• Sustainable built environment.
Weak sustainability models place the economy centrally, with the environment and society external to
it. There is a little or no overlap between the three domains.
Strong sustainability models recognize that the economy is embedded with societies, not separate from
them. Both society and the economy are embedded with the environment. Without natures
ecosystems, society and the economy would not exist.
Environmental sustainability is the use and management of natural resources that allows for
replacement of the resources, and recovery and regeneration of ecosystems.
Unsustainable use of resources Consequences leading to ecosystem collapse
Deforestation for agriculture and cattle ranching Loss of biodiversity
Mining and resource extraction Alteration of climate patterns
Soil degradation
Feedback loops and potential tipping points.
Social sustainability involves creating the structures and systems that support human well-being,
including health, education, equity, community, and other social factors. It focuses on the survival of
societies and their culture, including the continued use of language, beliefs, or spiritual practices in
society.
World water day
• Cartoon says that we need to pay for water, when in reality it’s a social human right to
access water.
• Main difference between less developed places like Africa compared to Madrid, is that
Africa has less money so can't afford water.
• Equality: everyone gets the same. Equity: giving people what they need
Social systems: Interactions go in, interactions go out, they are complex and adaptive (always changing).
They have more resilience, we can help it go back to how it was before, before its tipping point.
Everything in social systems has to do with trust.
Social interactions- flirting with someone, flirting...
Ecological systems (ecosystems)- a community of living and non-living things that work together
Economic sustainability: Refers to the ability of the present generation to meet its needs without
compromising the ability of future generations to make their needs. He refers to limiting the damage to
the environment caused by economic activity of the current generation such as resource repletion
interaction that will negatively affect future generations.
Free market economy
An economic system in which the prices of goods and services are determined by supply and demand
expressed by sellers and buyers.
It's based on competition rather than government control. Supply and demand regulate production and
labor.
Companies sell goods and services at the highest prices customers are willing to pay while workers earn
the highest wages companies are willing to pay for their services.
Countries with the most economic freedom tend to be those that encourage entrepreneurism and
protect private property.
GDP (Gross Domestic Product): measure of national output, it determines the economic growth of a
country.
Problem of GDP: -It's not accurate enough, it's not distributed evenly: just because your country has the
highest GDP doesn't mean it’s the one which earns the most money.
-Doesn't take into consideration the environment, it destroys it.
Environmental justice means the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people
with respect to the development, implementation and enforcement of environmental laws,
regulations and policies.
• It is the right of all people to live in an unpolluted environment and have equal access to natural
resources;
• It should result in the development, implantation and enforcement of environmental policies
and laws to ensure that no group or community is made to bear a disproportionate share of the
harmful effects of pollution or environmental hazards from a lack of economic or political
influence;
• Any model of sustainable development failing to incorporate equity is not a sustainable model.
• Any promotion of environmental justice that does not take account of the principles of
sustainability will not be able to achieve its objectives on a large scale.
Examples of environmental justice:
Local:
Hinkley Groundwater contaminations (US): From 1952-1966, an energy company (PG&E) contaminated
water. Residents were exposed to high levels of hexavalent chromium, leading to health issues such as
cancer, gastrointestinal disorders, and respiratory problems.
Global:
Bhopal Gas tragedy (India): In 1984, a gas leak from pesticide plant owned by Union Carbide in Bhopal
led to thousands of deaths and long-term health effects for the local population.
The disaster became a symbol of environmental justice, leading to global campaigns for corporate
accountability and better safety regulations.
Sustainability indicators
Biodiversity indicators-
Diversity indices: Quantitative measures of biodiversity can be used to establish the effect of human
activity on natural communities.
- Simpson's index- Provides a quantitative measure of species diversity, allowing different
ecosystems to be compared, and change in a specific ecosystem over time to be monitored.
- Lincon’s index- Provides a way to quantitative measure of population sizes of individual animal
species.
- Shannon- wiener index- provides an estimate of species diversity. Considers the number of
species living in a habitat (richness) and their relative abundance (evenness)
Bio indicators: some species are sensitive to pollutants or are adapted to polluted waters, so can be
used as indicator species.
A biotic index, like the Trent Biotic Index, can provide an indirect measure of water quality based in the
tolerance to pollution, is derived from a mix in the presence or absence of certain indicator species and
the number or diversity of taxa (or groups) or organisms present.
• Amphibians- water, invaders, pathogens, environment
• Bats- air quality, light pollution, heavy metals, urbanization, climate change
• Bees- environment
• Corals- water temperature (better indicator than amphibians as corals only focuses on one
indicator)
• Crustaceans- water quality
• Lichen- air quality
• Microalgae- water quality
• Pikas- global warming
• River otters- Bioaccumulation
• Salmon- environment
• Spotted owls- old forest decay
• White ash tree- invader species
Human population indicators:
• GDP
• Green GDP
• Life expectancy
• Birth rate
• Death rate
Footprints indicators: Can be used to assess whether individuals or societies are acting in a sustainable
way
• Ecological footprints- the amount of environmental resources necessary to produce the goods
and services that support an individual’s lifestyle, a nation’s prosperity, or the economic activity
of humanity as a whole.
• Carbon footprints- the total amount of greenhouse gases (including CO2 and methane) that are
generated by our actions.
• Water footprints- the total volume of fresh water used to produce the goods and services
consumed by the individual or community or produced by the business.
• Biocapacity- the capacity of a given biologically productive area to generate an on-going
The ecological footprint per person is a nation’s total Ecological Footprint divided by the total
population of the nation. To live within the means of our plant’s resources, the world’s Ecological
Footprint would have to equal the available biocapacity per person on our planet, which is currently 1.6
global hectares. So, if a nation’s ecological Footprint per person is 6.4 global hectares, its residents are
damaging four times the resources and wastes that our planet can regenerate and absorb in the
atmosphere.
Carbon footprint= A carbon footprint measures the greenhouse gases like carbon emitted from our
economic activities and is measured in tones.
The global average is 4 tons annually per person. Typically, higher GDP correlates with larger carbon
footprints.
Water footprint= The water footprint measures the total water used (in cubic meters per year) for the
goods and services we consume. This includes the embedded water it produces; a cotton t-shirt can
require thousands of liters of water from cultivation to manufacturing.
The food we buy can also have a huge water footprint- roughly 16000 liters of water is needed to grow a
kilogram of almonds.
Biocapacity- The capacity of a given biologically productive area to generate an ongoing supply of
renewable resources and to absorb its resulting wastes. Both are measured in gigahectares (gha). One
Gha is roughly the size of a soccer field.
National ecological deficit means that the country is net-importing biocapacity through trade,
liquidating national ecological assets or emitting more carbon dioxide waste into the atmosphere than
its own ecosystem absorbs.
Investigating a country
-Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) score 80.70
-They are on track to achieve their 17. 9 are moderately improving, one is
maintaining SDG achievement and 7 are stagnating.y well and not one is doing
poorly.
-Gender equality is doing particulary good and not one is doing poorly
-yes it does
-The spillover score can evaluate the impact of a country’s ecological footprint
on global ecosystems.
-My countries spillover score is 69.40
The planetary boundaries model (Ilustrates environmental sustainability)
describes the boundaries that have regulated the stability and resilience of the Earth system in the
Holocene epoch. The model also identifies the limits of human disturbance to those systems and
proposes that crossing those limits increases the risk of abrunt and irreversible changes to Earth
systems.
The doughnut
economics model
It's a framework for
creating a regenerative
and distributive
economy in order to
meet the needs of all
people within the
means of the planet.
• Addresses the
challenge of meeting
environmental and
social sustainability.
• The outer circle
represents the planetary boundaries, or the “ecological ceiling”
• The inner ring represents the social foundation for the safe and just space for humanity.
• <TE!>>he hole in the middle is where people are falling short of life’s essentials.
• Between the social and planetary boundaries lies an environmentally safe and socially just space
for us to thrive
➢ The twelve aspects of the social foundation are derived from internationally agreed minimum
social standards, identified by the world’s governments in the SDGs in 2015.
➢ The aim is to move into the `doughnut´ and crate an economy that enables humanity to thrive in
balance with the rest of the living world.
➢ The model incorporates the concept of regenerative and distributive design.
-A regenerative economy works with and within the cycles and limits of the living world.
-A distributive economy shares value and opportunity far more equitably among all stakeholders
º1º
The circular economy model
It promotes decoupling economic activity from the consumption of finite resources. It has three
principles: eliminating waste and pollution, circulating products and materials, and regenerating nature.
• An economic system that provides an alternative to the linear “take-make-use-waste" model.
• Pushes for the use of renewable energy resources and material.
