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Arctic sea ice drops to its lowest level since modern recording began
Scientists call event “tipping point" in global warming.
-National Sea Ice and Data Center (09/16/12)
The Greatest Challenge
Our Greatest ChallengeIs Also Our Greatest Opportunity!!!
PressTV 2010
Sustainability Studies:Beyond Gloom and Doom 101
What is Sustainability?
Meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs-United Nations World Commission on Development and Environment (1987)
Triple Bottom Line Systems
Sustainability brings three systems into harmony:
The Academic Mission
Teaching and Learning
Research and Creative Activity
Service and Civic Engagement
Our Challenge and Opportunity
Teaching and Learning
Research and Creative Activity
Service and Civic Engagement
Sustainability Academic Mission
We need a Framework
• Complexity• Uncertainty
Framework for Strategic Sustainable Development (FSSD)
Initially developed by The Natural Step (NGO) and an international group of natural and social scientists as a result of the desire to help identify a set of scientifically based principles that could guide human action toward a more sustainable path regardless of the starting point.
Provides a comprehensive definition of an environmentally sustainable society that is easily understood and grounded in natural science, social science, and systems theory.
Offers a flexible framework for individuals, families, businesses, and communities to create and implement their own plans which will enable them to become more sustainable one step at a time.
Scientific Foundations
Basic Laws of Physics
1st and 2nd Laws of Thermodynamics
Law of Conservation of Matter
Scientific Foundations
Evolution
Evolutionary Biology
4.5 billion years – Swirling stew
3.5 billion years – First plant cell
1.5 billion years – First green plants
0.7- 1 billion – First animal cells
2 million years – Human ancestors
Scientific Foundations
Planetary Cycles
Water
Carbon (CO2)
Nitrogen
National Center for Atmospheric Research
What all scientists agree upon
Slow geological cycles (volcano eruptions and
weathering)
Slow geological cycles (sedimentation and
mineralization)
Closed system with respect to matter
1) Nothing disappears2) Everything disperses
Open system with respect to energy
« Photosynthesis pays the bill »
Sustainability is about the ability of
our own human society to continue indefinitely within
these natural cycles
How we influence the system
Relatively large flows of materials from the
Earth’s crust
Introduce persistent compounds foreign to
nature
Physically inhibit nature’s ability to
run cycles
Barriers to people
meeting their basic needs worldwide
4 System Conditions of a Sustainable Society
...concentrations of substances extracted from the Earth’s crust,
...concentrations of substances produced by society,
...degradation by physical means,
...people are not subject to conditions that systematically undermine their capacity to meet their needs.
In a sustainable society, nature is not subject to systematically increasing...
and, in that society...
Operating Manual for the Planet
Reduce and eventually eliminate our contributions to the systematic accumulation of materials taken from the earth’s crust.
Reduce and eventually eliminate our contribution to the systematic accumulation of substances produced by society.
Reduce and eventually eliminate our contributions to the ongoing physical degradation of nature.
Reduce and eventually eliminate our contributions to conditions that systematically undermine people’s abilities to meet their own needs.
In a sustainable society, we strive to...
Strategies for Putting Theory into Practice
Systems Thinking
Learning Organization
Backcasting
1. Begin with the end in mind
2. Move backwards from the vision to the present
3. Move step by step towards the vision
Present
Future
Visioning
Hot Lips Pizza
Portland company – 6 stores
Started with low hanging fruit: cut electric bill by 50%
Changed buying model: local, seasonal, partnerships with local
farmers and producers
Results: Thriving company, good brand
Benefits: financial, employees, customers
Marketing: Articles in Wall Street Journal, Fortune Magazine
FSSD Potential for the Academy
• Peer-reviewed platform for mission activities• Collaboration across boundaries/Silo buster
– teaching/research/service– disciplines– grants/development– academic/non-academic– campus/community– education/business/gov’t/not-for-profit/civil
• Gets the system in the room
FSSD offers a scientific systems based platform
Teaching and Learning
Research and Creative Activity
Service and Civic Engagement
Sustainability Academic Mission
FSSD offers a scientific systems based platform
Teaching and Learning
Research and Creative Activity
Service and Civic Engagement
Sustainability Academic Mission
Center for a Sustainable Future
sustainthefuture.iusb.edu
facebook.com/sustainthefuture
youtube.com/SustainTheFuture
