Robert Melnick - Public Lecture 3.19.13 - Principles of Sustainable Development

Global Institute of Sustainability/School of Sustainability/Arizona State University

Principles of Sustainable Development

Illia State University March 21, 2013 Tbilisi, Georgia Dr. Rob Melnick, Executive Dean and Presidential Professor

Global Institute of Sustainability/School of Sustainability

Arizona State University, U.S.A.


“The power of

population is

indefinitely

greater than the

power in the

earth to produce

subsistence for

man.”


Positive checks:

hunger, disease, war

Preventive checks:

abortion, birth

control, prostitution,

celibacy


“…overshoot and

collapse of the

global system by

the mid to latter

part of the 21st

century.”


“Technology will

dissipate the threat

of an energy crisis,

reduce pollution,

feed the world, and

vastly improve the

quality of life.”


“Our current model

of economic

success is flawed.

For the advanced

economies

prosperity without

growth… is a

financial and

ecological

necessity.”


The period in the Earth’s history when

human activity is having a significant impact

on global ecological, economic and social

systems.

The “Anthropocene Era”

Source: Global Carbon Project, 2012

Fossil Fuel CO2 Emissions:

Top Emitters


1941 2004


It took the United States 300 years to reach

300 billion square feet of real estate.

China will add 300 billion square feet of real

estate in the next 20 years.

Source: Pegasus Capital Advisors


Population growth

United Nations 2010


United Nations 2010


2 Earths?


Current model of (world) development

Unsustainable! The planet cannot sustain

present consumption patterns (especially of

western, industrialized countries).


“Premier Wen Jiabao has been widely quoted as saying the Chinese economy is unbalanced, uncoordinated and unsustainable.

Growth will be necessary to create jobs, opportunities, and wealth. What must happen is a redefinition of growth–as Wen has pointed out–’ensuring and improving people’s well-being as the starting point and goal’” Can China Get Beyond Growth? Pamela Mar, Fung Global Institute, March, 2013


Assumption of infinite, linear

economic growth must evolve to new

models of joint, interactive, non-linear

social-economic-ecological systems.

Aggarwal 2012


Can a Country Commit to

Sustainable Development?

Tier 1 Minimal, if any

Su

sta

ina

bil

ity A

mb

itio

n

Tier 2 Eco-efficiency

Tier 3 Sustainability integrated into growth

strategies

Tier 4 Core national value: change society


• Consequences of climate change

• Extreme poverty

• Food security

• Water supply

• Energy supply

• Public health

• Security

• Civil society

What’s at stake?


How do we bring about positive

social and economic transformations

while respecting critical planetary

boundaries?


Development: A process of evolution, from a lower to a higher state.

Underdeveloped: Not yet fully actualized. Not on the same path of modernization as Western countries.

Sustainable development: Trajectory where allocation of resources (natural, financial, human) indefinitely improves the quality of life without doing damage.

Characteristics of

sustainable development

• Spans boundaries

• Anticipates the future

• Engages stakeholders

• Values-driven

• Analyzes tradeoffs

• Problem-driven

• Focuses on solutions

• Considers scale

• Acknowledges complexity

• Long-term perspective


• No simple solutions

• Solutions typically impact all sectors

• Competing goals

• Challenges are urgent

• Hard to develop policies for

• Hard to measure

• Spans boundaries

Sustainable Development

Isn’t Easy


How do we…

• design healthy cities?

• secure affordable energy

for a growing population?

• make the best use of

natural resources?

• ensure access to clean

water?

• adapt to climate change?

• create sustainable global

development?

• understand social

transformation?

• balance prosperity with

social and environmental

justice?

• determine which tradeoffs

to make?

Big picture questions for

sustainable development


Myths about sustainable development, #1

Sustainable development is

only about protecting the

environment



Sustainable development is

just a preference for the

natural over the artificial



Sustainability is a creation of

liberals



Sustainable development will

decrease quality of life


“Economic dynamism can be

combined with environmental and

social responsibility. High financial

returns can go hand in hand with respect

for human rights, and the preservation

of the planet’s natural resources.”

David Miliband, former UK Foreign Minister

(*Logo from the IESE Doing Good and Doing Well Conference)


“There are no passengers

on spaceship earth. We are

all crew.”

Marshall McLuhan, Canadian Educator


Sustainability Science

“a field defined by the problems

it addresses rather than by the

disciplines it employs, it advances

both knowledge and action by creating

a dynamic bridge between the two.” Adapted from Clark, Harvard University, 2007


Things may turn out okay Expend lots of money and political capital for no reason

Worldwide economic, environmental, social disasters

Things turn out okay and save lots of money and political capital

Dire Predictions Correct Dire Predictions Incorrect

Risk matrix for unsustainable

global development W

e D

on

’t A

ct W

e A

ct


“Meeting the needs of present

generations, while not compromising

the needs of future generations to

meet their own needs.”

United Nations Brundtland Commission

“Treating the Earth as though we

intend to stay.”

Sir Crispin Tickell, Former British Ambassador


Need to redefine what we mean

by development. It is no longer

relevant only for poor countries.


“Haves and have-nots”:

countries, regions, communities,

families, individuals


“Living together well.”

Peter Senge, MIT

My favorite definition of sustainability…


“Indicators of development”:

poverty/income, equality, liberty,

condition of the environment,

literacy, consumption, others.


Concept of the “future we want”

…society, economy, environment.


Interface’s

“Seven Faces of Mt. Sustainability”

• Eliminate Waste

• Benign Emissions

• Renewable Energy

• Closed Loop

• Resource-Efficient

Transportation

• Sensitizing Stakeholders

• Redesign Commerce


Culture/History

Political System

Geography Demographics

Values/Norms

Sustainable development “factors”


“We are seeing the birth of a new

perspective of the world, where ecology

and economics are two sides of the

same coin.”

Leif Johansson, Swedish CEO


Sustainability

Science

Use-inspired research that

contributes to solutions to

practical problems

Focuses on human-

technology-environment

interactions

Focuses on utilization of

knowledge

Placed-based scale and

global scale

Core aim that cuts across all

challenges: sustainability is

the outcome

Sustainable

Development?


• Culture can be a the source of unsustainable practices.

“An unrestrained culture of consumption”

• Culture can lead to sustainable development.

“A new culture of conservation”

• Applying sustainabilty principles confronts issues of culture and values.

(Adapted from Cardenas, Golub, Hirt, McGregor 2012)


Sustain what?

Why?

For who’s benefit?

Robert Melnick - Public Lecture 3.19.13 - Principles of Sustainable Development

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