Sustainability

Principles

An overview of the

literature

Andy Lau

Spring 2006Updated Spring 2013

Business Principles

Precautionary Principle

Where an activity raises threats of harm to human

health or the environment, precautionary

measures should be taken even if some cause and

effect relationships are not fully established

scientifically. In this context, the proponent of an

activity, rather than the public, should bear the

burden of proof.

Origin in German environmental policy from 1970s, quote from Andres

Edwards, The sustainability revolution, p. 56.

The Natural Step’s 4 system

conditions for sustainability

1. Nature’s functions and diversity are not systematically subject to increasing concentrations of substances extracted from the earth’s crust.

2. Nature’s functions and diversity are not systematically subject to increasing concentrations of substances produced by society.

3. Nature’s functions and diversity are not systematically impoverished by physical displacement, over-harvesting or other forms of ecosystem manipulation.

4. Resources are used fairly and efficiently in order to meet basic human needs globally.

Founded by Swedish oncologist Karl-Henrik Robert, 1989.

CERES Principles

• Protection of the biosphere

• Sustainable use of natural resources

• Reduction and disposal of waste

• Energy conservation

• Risk reduction

• Safe products and services

• Environmental restoration

• Informing the public

• Management commitment

• Audits and reports

Originally known as the Valdez Principles, from the Coalition for Environmental Responsible Economies, 2004

Ecological Design Principles

Laws of Ecology

1. Everything is connected to everything

else.

2. Everything must go somewhere.

3. Nature knows best.

4. There is no such thing as a free lunch.

From The Closing Circle by Barry Commoner, 1971

Principles of Green Engineering• Engineer processes and products holistically, use systems analysis, and

integrate environmental impact assessment tools.

• Conserve and improve natural ecosystems while protecting human health and well-being.

• Use life-cycle thinking in all engineering activities.

• Ensure that all material and energy inputs and outputs are as inherently safe and benign as possible.

• Minimize depletion of natural resources.

• Strive to prevent waste.

• Develop and apply engineering solutions, while being cognizant of local geography, aspirations, and cultures.

• Create engineering solutions beyond current or dominant technologies; improve, innovate, and invent (technologies) to achieve sustainability.

• Actively engage communities and stakeholders in development of engineering solutions.

From Green Engineering: Defining the Principles Conference, 2003

Sustainability Principles

• Principle 1: Maintaining the viability of

the planet

• Principle 2: Providing for equity within

and between generations

• Principle 3: Solving problems holistically

IPENZ (Insitution of Professional Engineers New Zealand)

Eco-effectiveness Principles

1. Waste = food

2. Use current solar income

3. Respect diversity

From McDonough & Braungart, Cradle to cradle:

Remaking the way we make things, 2002.

Hannover Principles

1. Insist on rights of humanity and nature to co-exist …

2. Recognize interdependence.

3. Respect relationships between spirit and matter.

4. Accept responsibility for the consequences of design.

5. Create safe objects of long-term value.

6. Eliminate the concept of waste.

7. Rely on natural energy flows.

8. Understand the limitations of design.

9. Seek constant improvement by the sharing of knowledge.

Developed by William McDonough Architects for the 2000 World Fair in Hannover, Germany

Five Principles of Ecological Design

1. Solutions grow from place.

2. Ecological accounting informs design.

3. Design with nature.

4. Everyone is a designer.

5. Make nature visible.

From Sim van der Ryn and Stuart Cowan in Ecological Design, 1995.

Principles of Ecological Design

1. The living world is the matrix for all design.

2. Design should follow, not oppose, the laws of life.

3. Biological equity must determine design.

4. Design must reflect bioregionality.

5. Projects should be based on renewable energy sources.

6. Design should be sustainable through the integration of living systems.

7. Design should be coevolutionary with the planet.

8. Building and design should help heal the planet.

9. Design should follow a sacred ecology.

Nancy and Jack Todd in From Eco-cities to Living Machines, 1994.

Five Axioms of Sustainability1. (Tainter’s Axiom): Any society that continues to use critical resources

unsustainably will collapse.

Exception: A society can avoid collapse by finding replacement resources.

Limit to the exception: In a finite world, the number of possible

replacements is also finite.

2. (Bartlett’s Axiom): Population growth and/or growth in the rates of

consumption of resources cannot be sustained.

3. To be sustainable, the use of renewable resources must proceed at a

rate that is less than or equal to the rate of natural replenishment.

4. To be sustainable, the use of non-renewable resources must proceed at

a rate that is declining, and the rate of decline must be greater than or

equal to the rate of depletion.

5. Sustainability requires that substances introduced into the environment

from human activities be minimized and rendered harmless to biosphere

functions.

Five Axioms of Sustainability, MuseLetter #178 / February 2007, by Richard Heinberg

Ethical Principles

The Sustainable PersonPast

Now

Future

...to understandoneself as a fundamentally relational, temporallycontingent anddependent being, and develop the broader self‐identity of asustainable person.

Sustainability Ethics, Christian Becker,

Penn State, 2010.

Relational is the being of sustainability

Relational self-identityTemporal, interdependent, culturally and naturally contingent

Relational competenciesAttentiveness

Receptiveness

Relational virtuesRespect

Care

Responsibility

This altogether is based on an encompassing understanding

of the human being as an emotional, rational, communicative

and creative being, and particularly a broader concept of

rationality, including practical wisdom and reason.

A Common Set of

Sustainability Principles

Seven Common Themes

1. Stewardship

2. Respect for limits

3. Interdependence

4. Economic restructuring

5. Fair distribution

6. Intergenerational perspective

7. Nature as a model and teacher.

From Andres Edwards, The Sustainability Revolution, 2005.