Introduction to Sustainability Principles

In preparation for the EALP Leadership Class Trip to

Greensburg, KansasPresented by Sustainability Team Members

Laura Brown, Jason Kauffield, Mary Kluz, Catherine Neiswender June 2, 2010

Overview

• Why are we here today? o Greensburg’s experiment in sustainability

• What do we mean by sustainability? o Sustainability basics o Time – Relationships - Resilience

• How are sustainability questions being approached and responded to at the community level? o The Natural Step and Transition Townso Community Engagement

Only a crisis—actual or perceived—produces real change. When that crisis occurs, the actions that are taken depend on the ideas that are lying around. That, I believe, is our basic function: to develop alternatives to existing policies, to keep them alive and available until the politically impossible becomes politically inevitable.

Milton Friedman

Why are we talking about sustainability?

Sustainability Basics

• Time (and change)• Relationships• Resilience

World Population, 10,000 BC to Present

Societal Pressure on Earth Systems

Source: International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme, 2004

Societal Pressure on Earth Systems

Source: International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme, 2004

Sustainability Basics

• Time (and change)• Relationships• Resilience

Supporting•Nutrient cycling•Soil formation•Primary production

Provisioning• Food• Freshwater• Wood and fibre• Fuel

Regulating•Climate regulation•Flood regulation•Disease regulation•Water purification

Cultural•Aesthetics•Spiritual•Educational•Recreational

Categories of Ecosystem Services

Source: Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. 2005. Washington, DC: Island Press.

How much is 2 trillion barrels of oil anyway?

How many trillion barrels of water are there in the Great Lakes system?

Source: Midwest Permacultureand the Energy Information Centerhttp://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/international/reserves.html

15

We will replace oil with other forms of energy…!!!

Source:The Oil Drum .com

Indu

stria

l As

cent

(Mod

erni

sm)

Indu

stria

l As

cent

(Mod

erni

sm)

Energy & Resource UseEnergy & Resource Use Population Pollution Pollution

ClimaxClimax

Techno-Fantasy

Green-Tech StabilityGreen-Tech Stability

Earth stewardship

Mad Max

Great Grand Great Grand ChildrenChildren

AgricultureAgriculture10.000yrs BP10.000yrs BP

Industrial Industrial RevolutionRevolution

Baby BoomBaby Boom

Pre-industrial sustainable culture

Pre-industrial sustainable culture

Historical Time Future Time

Creative Descent

Creative Descent

Creative Descent

Creative Descent

Where are we going?

Sustainability Basics

• Time (and change)• Relationships• Resilience

“Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of

future generations to meet their own needs.”

Intergenerational equitySource: World Commission on Environment and Development. Our Common Future. The Brundtland

Report. Oxford University Press, 1987, p. 43.

Defining Sustainable Development

“It contains two key concepts: the concept of “needs,” in particular the essential needs of the world’s poor,

to which overriding priority should be

given; and the idea of limitations imposed by the state of technology

and social organization on the environment’s ability to meet

present and future needs.”

Intragenerational equityEnvironmental limits

Defining Sustainable Development

Source: World Commission on Environment and Development. Our Common Future. The Brundtland Report. Oxford University Press, 1987, p. 43.

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

Transcendence

Self Actualization

Aesthetic Needs

Need to Know and Understand

Esteem Needs

Belonging and Love Needs

Safety Needs

Physiological Needs

Community Development

• a group of people in a locality• initiating a social action process (i.e.,

planned intervention)• to change their economic, social,

cultural, and/or environmental situation

Community Emphasis

• Grassroots energy and action• Place-based• Where our individual/household and

business/institutional lives meet• “All politics is local” • Quality of life and quality of place• Comprehensive and holistic• The list goes on

Sustainable Community DevelopmentSustainability Revolution and Paradigm

ChangeEarly 1970s and still evolving

Old Paradigm 1970’s- 90’s• Limits to population

growth, carrying capacity• Physical infrastructure,

technology development• Business and industry • Training and social

resources• Sustainable living

New Paradigm 2000 +• Holistic focus: human, social,

and natural capital• Economic, social, and

ecological relationships• Life Cycle Assessment

Evolving Views of the Community

Unconnected or silos view Interconnected or linkages view

Interdependent, nested, or systems view

EnvironmentEconomy

Society

EnvironmentEconomy

Society

Environment

Society

Economy

How are sustainability questions being approached and

responded to at the community level?

Wisconsin Eco-municipalities

Town of La PointeCity of WashburnCity of AshlandCity of MadisonCity of BayfieldTown of BayfieldDouglas CountyVillage of Johnson CreekCity of MarshfieldCity of ManitowocCity of NeenahCity of MenashaTown of MenashaCity of Eau ClaireTown of Cottage GroveCity of La CrosseLa Crosse CountyCity of Stevens PointCity of WausauCity of BeloitCity of BarabooCity of SheboyganDunn CountyVillage of Spring GreenVillage of ColfaxTown of GreenvilleVillage of Shorewood

Transition Model

“ . . . a positive, solutions-focused way of gathering those around you together to start exploring community-scale responses to peak oil and climate change.”

Rob Hopkins. The Transition Handbook, 2008.

Transition Town Initiatives

• Life with lower energy consumption is inevitable, and it’s better to plan for it than to be taken by surprise.

• Our communities presently lack the resilience to enable them to weather the coming changes.

• We have to act collectively, we have to act locally, and we have to act now.

• By unleashing the skills and ideas of the community we can creatively design our energy transition and build ways of living that are connected, enriching and sustainable.

The Natural Step Framework

1. A shared science- and systems-based definition for sustainability

2. A decision-making framework and process to help organizations and communities plan for sustainability

3. A compass to help us know if we’re moving in the right direction

Source material from TNS Canada

Resource Funnel

Resource Availability and Ecosystem Ability to Provide Vital Services

Raw materials, ecosystem services, declining integrity and capacity of natural systems

SustainabilityMargin for

Action

Societal Demand for ResourcesGrowth in population, resource requirements as affluence increases, increased demands as technology spreads

Source: Nattrass, Brian, and Altomare, Mary. The Natural Step for Business. New Society Publishers, 1999.

Four Sustainability Principles

...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...

Three Rules for Decision-Making

• Sustainable scale• Just distribution• Efficient allocation

Source: Daly, Herman. Ecological Economics. Island Press, 2004.

Other Approaches and Access Points

• Eco-teams- Household Choices• Consumer Choices• Energy and Efficiency (LEED etc)• Climate Change• Economic Development- Triple Bottom Line• Agriculture and Natural Resources• Community and Land Use Planning

Sarah James and Torbjorn Lahti. The Natural Step New Society Publishers 2004

A Growing Movement

Community stories

Thank you!

For more sustainability resources check out the Sustainability Team website

www.capacitycenter.org

Other resources referenced:• http://www.millenniumassessment.org/en/index.aspx• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Our_Common_Future• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abraham_Maslow• http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Brundtland_Report/From_One_Earth_to_One_World• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transition_Towns. • Hopkins, Rob and Richard Heinberg (2008) The Transition Handbook: From Oil

Dependency to Local Resilience. Chelsea Green. • Lahti, Torbjorn and Sarah James. (2004) The Natural Step for Communities: How Cities

and Towns can Change to Sustainable Practices. New Society Publishers• Mcmichael, Philip. (2004) Development and Social Change. Sage Publications.