section 1-2010 - pre-history and origin of concept

8/9/2019 Section 1-2010 - Pre-History and Origin of Concept

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CONCEPT OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

AND PRINCIPLES OF ENVIRONMENTAL

MANAGEMENT

by Sergey Spitskiy


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Principal aims:To study origins of the concept and history of its

development

To understand the principal ideology of

environmental management

Tooutline the role ofengineers in modernisation

of industry, economy and society towards moresustainable patterns


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Section IPre-history and origin of the concept


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What are the core ideas?

a) The Earth is not infinite (physically)

(understood well enough since rather early times)b) Whatever people have, they could get it from

the Earths resources only(also quite a straightforward idea)

c) People like to reproduce and tend tomultiply(a tendency which could be seen in every society)


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Question:

How many people can live on

Earth to enjoy having all their

needs satisfied?


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Some figures: Earth population

0

0,5

1

1,5

2

-2000 -1500 -1000 -500 0 500 1000 1500 2000

Year

opulation,mi

ll.

Population figurespresent are

estimates, showingonly the generaltrend

(2000 BC 1900 AD)

What we can seehere is an

exponentialgrowth curve


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Reasons for growth:Philosophy of the Enlightenment:

Development and expansion ofscience

New understanding ofhuman rights

Rethinking ofeconomy

caused development ofmany things, e.g.: New technologies

Newopportunities

New needs

New society


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And the result:

1) Agricultural

2) Industrial

3) Political4) Cultural

REVOLUTIONS


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Positive results of growth

6

8

6 6

Ye r

Global GDP(here: calculated in billions of

international dollars, rescaled interms ofpurchasing power

parity)

Growing economiescan deliver more

products and services

to same people orthe same amounts tomore people.


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BUT:There is no such thing

as a free lunch(B. Commoner)

There are always some

adverse effects comingalongside with thepositive results

Overuse of the land

Desertification

Migration

Urbanisati

on

Pollution

Health problems

Poverty

Epidemies

Social disparity

Adoption ofagricultural technologies was The worst mistake in the historyof the human race (J. Diamond, Discover-May 1987, pp. 64-66)


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Rethinking of the progress

Thomas Robert Malthus(17661834)

An Essay on the

Principle ofPopulation

Six editions published between 1798 and 1826.


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Malthus Iron Law of Population

1) Population growth2) Increasing labour power supply

3) Decreasing wages

4) Increasing powerty

(economical theory ofpopulation growth consequences)


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Environmental perspective: Population is growing in geometrical

(exponential) progression;

Natural subsistence (produced by peoplethrough interactions with nature) is growing

in arithmetical (linear) progression;

There should be a limit to the populationgrowth, when the two progressions cross.


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Criticism

...the crudest, most barbarous theory that everexisted, a system of despair (F. Engels)

The theory and forecasts were not approved by thereal life

Had not accounted for progress (in science,technics, economy, etc.)

Had overvalued some factors (e.g. as famine) onthe human populations

etc.

Immorality of the concept itself:


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BUT

Was Malthus reallywrong?


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We shall see later

End of Section I


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Reading list: Malthus, T. (1798) An Essay on the Principle of Population

Neo-Malthusians:

Ehrlich, P.R. (1968) The Population Bomb

Meadows, D. (2004) Limits to Growth: The 30-year Update

Opponents:

Simon, J. (1996) The Ultimate Resource 2 Lomborg, B. (2001) The Skeptical Environmentalist:

Measuring the Real State of the World

section 1-2010 - pre-history and origin of concept

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