The Intersection ofStuff with Sustainability

Professor Wayne HayesV. 1.2, Build #4 | 10/4/2012

The goal of this presentation is

. . . to identify important information and concepts

that connect production and consumption

with sustainability and fairness.

How does SoS fit with EEE?The mission of ENST209:How can the economy be harnessed to serve world sustainability? What makes this question so ironic is that the growth in the physical scale of the economy under the prevailing regime of economic globalization has depleted resources, destroyed ecosystems, overwhelmed natural waste disposal sinks, waged war on subsistence cultures, and produced shocking maldistribution of wealth and income. How, then, can the economy be turned around to reinforce sustainable development rather than to destroy ecosystems, resource endowments, and indigenous cultures? This alchemy must be resolved to promote sustainability.

Remember our context:

The Anthropocene:Are Humans Now Overwhelming

the Great Forces of Nature?

Ambio , Vol. 36, No. 8, December 2007©Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences 2007http://www.ambio.kva.se

Which framed a challenge:

• Human-induced change raises disturbing questions about the future of Earth and the environmental services that support human civilization.

• They ask: Has the Earth left the benign interglacial state of the Holocene to enter a new era of Earth history, the Anthropocene?

• They assert: “The Earth is rapidly moving into a less biologically diverse, less forested, much warmer, and probably wetter and stormier state.”

• This “represents a profound shift in the relationship between humans and the rest of nature.”

We are in the Anthropocene!

How did we get therefrom here?

From One Earth to One World:

This phrase, the subtitle of the Brundtland Commission Report, Our Common Future, implies that:•The two images of Earth, one rooted in nature and the other in global economic society, must be reconciled.•This broadly defines the challenge of World Sustainability and puts EEE in context.

Remember the origins of Anthropocene I:

The Industrial Era (ca. 1800-1945)

1. The Industrial Revolution2. The widespread use of coal (fossil fuels)3. The expansion of economic society4. Human populations expands from about 750 million

to about 2.5 billion.

Note the emphasis on economics and not demography: Population growth follows economic growth.

Remember the Anthropocene II:The Age of Acceleration

(1945-ca. 2015)

“This first stage of the Anthropocene ended abruptly around 1945, when the most rapid and pervasive shift in the human-environment relationship began.”This is also the advent of the USA as a world military, economic, and cultural power.

Examine indicators of the Anthropocene:

See the original report for indicators.

See especially table 1 and figure 2, page 617 of the original article on the Anthropocene.

Or see The Story of Stuff page xv.

Anthropocene III:Stewards of the Earth (ca. 2015-?)?

“Humankind will remain a major geological force for many millennia, maybe millions of years, to come. … Can humanity meet this challenge?”

Humanity is becoming awareby these means:

1. Research, particularly on “interdisciplinary work on human-environment systems”

2. The Internet as “a global self-organizing information system”

3. The spread of free and open societies4. Democratic political systems and the

emergence of civil society.

Three paths are open.

1. Business as usual2. Mitigation3. Geo-Engineering

We need to examine them and perhaps go even further, regarding the challenge as an opportunity.

Might there be another path?How do we get there?

Hypotheses:

1.There is another path: a just and sustainable world society that opens up human potential in a verdant natural world.2.Humanity has the capacity to envision and create such a world. 3.You can fit in and can have a role that opens up a path for your own fulfillment.

But you should ask yourself how you fit in

. . . to make the transition from

. . . this . . .

. . . to this . . .

Paul Hawken puts it this way:

“You are Brilliant and

the Earth is hiring.”(Graduation Address, University of Portland, 2009)

Poet Wendell Berry puts this another way:

“The real work of planet-saving will be small, humble, and humbling, and (insofar as it involves love) pleasing and rewarding. Its jobs will be too many to count, too many to report, too many to be publicly noticed or rewarded, too small to make anyone rich and famous.”(Hayes, Economic Aspects of Sustainability. )

How does The Story of Stuff help?

The Story of Stuff assemblespieces of information and concepts

within the context of the Materials Cycle.

The goal of this presentation is

. . . to identify important information and concepts

that connect production and consumption

with sustainability and fairness.

I provide supplementary notes.

The notes are meant to explain important points and enhance the book. The notes are linked from my web site.

The Story of Stuff assemblesinformation around the materials cycleThe framework of SoS is dynamic and coherent:1.Extraction2.Production3.Distribution4.Consumption5.Disposal

Annie introduces the economy.

Notice how she embeds the economy, page xvii, within the context of

the materials economy and

interdependence.

Where does The Story of Stuff start?

The icon of SoS is Fresh Kills Landfill.

Which is arguablyone of the most

toxic places on Earth.

What is Annie’s mission?

Annie is waging a campaignagainst waste and

superfluous consumption.

The triple bottom line ofnested systems is explicit.

See my wiki page for a discussion.

Exponential growth isnearing limits.

See the charts from William Steffen page xv and The Story of Stuff pages xiv-xvii.

Note how the evidence supports Anthropocene I and Anthropocene II.

Look at economic growth:some big (controversial) ideas.

Let’s pull out the book and look at the section on economic growth, pages xix-xxii. Some key points:1.GDP2.Limits to growth (Herman Daly)3.Externalities4.Growth and happiness5.Capitalism

Annie talks about paradigms.

• Philosophy of science: “a very general conception of scientific endeavor within which a given enquiry is undertaken” (Dictionary.com).

• The concept originates with Thomas Kuhn’s 1972 classic, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. See Stanford Encyclopedia of Science.

Do we need a paradigm shift?

• A paradigm is a conceptual system by which we understand the world. The paradigm provides form and meaning. We can use the metaphor of operating system as a helpful heuristic.

• When information does not fit the prevailing paradigm, such anomalies can shift to new paradigms, not always smoothly.

• The dominant paradigm vigorously resists paradigm shifts.

So, unpack your paradigm!

• Is nature a “reservoir of supplies” for human consumption (utilitarianism) or is nature “a sacred, complex system” (page xxiv)?

• Is pollution a right? Are markets always right? Read what Annie says, page xxiv.

• Take the Red Pill? Remember The Matrix?• Remember that the dominant social paradigm

will resist paradigm shifts.

Read a classic on paradigm shift.

Donella Meadows, Leverage Points: Places to Intervene in a System (August, 2005). Notice the context: classics in complex systems thinking.

This short article is highly recommended.

Some heuristics to frame sustainability.

A heuristic provides an conceptual method for understanding a problem.SoS uses the well known heuristic (p. xviii):

I = P * A * TI will explain another:

SY = ( VA / ( E + M) )If you like diagrams, go to Computing for Sustainability.

Annie states her goal.

Which is to “unpack the Story of Stuff-the flow of materials through the economy -

as clearly as possible.My aim is never to make you feel guilty.“

She considers you a citizenand a conscious consumer

(page xxvi).

Annie offers a short glossary.

1. Consumer/consumption (commodification)2. Corporations (keep in mind People, Profits,

and Planet and CSR)3. Development4. Externalized costs5. Organic6. Stuff7. Sustainability

Conclusion to this presentation.

This PowerPoint sets up The Story of Stuff for use in Ecology, Economics, and Ethics.

Next up is Extraction,on another PowerPoint.