Sustainability by Design

Creating a Common Understanding of Sustainability

Jay Moynihan Community Development Education Shawano County jay.moynihan@ces.uwex.edu

Most common definition of sustainability:

"meets the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet

their own needs.”

Actually, of “sustainable development”, From “Our Common Future”, by the Brundtland Commission, aka UN World Commission on the Environment and

Development (1987)

Chair Gro Harlem Brundtland

"meets the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”

Hmmmmmmmmm…

What does that mean?

…And how?

What do we know?

Sustainability:

• Describes a future state

• Science provides a description of the key features of that state

• That state is dynamic and adaptable

• “Sustainable development” is the process….

……of moving towards that state

“Pleistocene of South America” by D. Bogdanov

We also know:

In nature there are no winners or losers.

Only survivors.

Economy

Natural Capital & Services

Culture

Our economic and cultural behaviors are totally dependent on the non-human world.

We also know:

Natural Capital

& Services

Culture

What we spend nearly all of our time thinking about.

We also know:

The EconomyJobs!

We also know

Culture The Economy

Natural Capital

& Services

We also know:

Yesterday’s solutions are often today’s problems.

We are now facing the challenges of our species’ success

We also know:

We are facingThe Perfect Storm

Rapid Climate Change

“Peak Oil”/Energy Costs(once again, when the economy

improves)

Fresh Water Scarcity

In the early 1990’s Paul Hawken was working on his book The Ecology of Commerce, and had hundreds of 3x5 cards pasted all over the walls and ceiling.

…The cards were about our problems.

Paul got really depressed.

A story

All of a sudden he said to himself,

Geez, it is a design problem!

Luckily, we are good at design!

Luckily, science provides us with the broad, general “specs” for sustainability,

The parameters within which we are free to design solutions.

Scientific Laws & Principles Meaning

1

Matter and energy

cannot be created or destroyed.

1st law of thermodynamics and

the principle of conservation of matter.

It is impossible to

“throw something away”.

It just changes form.

2

Matter and energy

tend to disperse.

(2nd law of thermodynamics)

Entropy

Matter and energy never go away, they change form. Matter tends to simplify

absent an energy input.

3

Material quality is characterized

by concentration and structure

of matter.

We never consume energy or matter--only its quality , (the degree of order within energy and matter), purity and

structure.

4

Net increase in material quality on earth can only be produced by

sun-driven processes.

All the energy for everything we do was and is produced by the sun.

Add together the 4 laws & principles, and you get:

The cyclic principle

Waste must not systematically accumulate in nature, and reconstruction of material quality must be at least as large as its dissipation.

The Cyclic Principle is not just some cool idea.

• It is the most basic rule of long term survival here

• It provides the core of our design space

• It is at the center of the new economic path and long term job growth in the 21st century

Waste must not systematically accumulate in nature, and reconstruction of material quality must be at least as

large as its dissipation.

Mother Nature

What we Know

The Cyclic Principle

→

A Design

Framework

System Conditions

System Conditions Describe a Sustainable Society

They are not negotiable.

But

The way you satisfy them and

the rate you at which you satisfy them, is.

(But remember, nature always bats last.)

System ConditionsIn a sustainable society, nature is not subject to systematically increasing...

...concentrations of substances extracted from the Earth’s crust,

...concentrations of substances produced by society,

...degradation of nature by physical means,

…and, in that society, people are not subject to conditions that sytematically undermine...

...their capacity to meet their needs.

System ConditionsIn a sustainable society, nature is not subject to systematically increasing...

1. concentrations of substances extracted from the earth’s crust e.g. heavy metals, mercury, lead, cadmium; fossil fuels

2. concentrations of substances produced by society e.g. 70,000+ chemicals; dioxins, PCBs, flame retardants

3. degradation by physical means e.g. forests, fisheries, farm lands

… and in that society …

4. people’s needs are met worldwide e.g. air, water, food, shelter, quality of life

Change is really the only constant in our universe.

Rapid Change = Risk + Opportunity

Opportunities…

Apollo AllianceCoalition of business, labor, environmental, and community

leaders representing over 17M AmericansCreated in 2004.

Inspired by Apollo space program

Working to catalyze a clean energy revolution in the U.S. to reduce dependence on foreign oil, cut the carbon emissions that are destabilizing the climate, and expand opportunities for U.S.

businesses and workers.

Promotes policies and initiatives to speed investment in clean energy technology and energy efficiency, put millions of

Americans to work in well-paid, green collar jobs, and make the U.S. a global leader in clean energy products and services.

http://apolloalliance.org/

Clean Tech: Magnet for Venture Capital

“Green Gold Rush" Global investment in renewable energy surged 60% to

$148B in 2007,(UNEP report, July 08)

2007-2017 Global Projections for Clean Tech(Clean Edge forecast, March 08)

from $77B to $254.5B (4X)

• Biofuels (ethanol & biodiesel): from $25.4B to $81.1B• Wind power: from $30.1B to $83.4B• Solar photovoltaics: from a $20.3B to $74B • Fuel cell / distributed hydrogen: from $1.4B to $15.6B

“Every $1B capital investment in energy and efficiency would create approximately 9,500 building-retrofit jobs. Such an investment

would also create 1,200 jobs from building and installing solar photovoltaic panels and about 900 wind-energy jobs”

"In the jobs-creation sweepstakes, retrofitting buildings runs away with it. That's about 10-to-1

over any other investment."

~ Lester Brown, Earth Policy Institute founder (Nov 08) ~

http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2008/09/green_recovery.html

Green Retrofits Job Creation

Potential Green Jobs in U.S. Study by Global Insight for US Conference of Mayors (Oct 08)

2008: 750,000 green jobs419,000 in Engineering, Legal, Research and Consulting 127,000 Renewable power generation 57,500 in Agriculture and Forestry

2038: 4.2M jobs - 5 times today; fastest growing job segment 1.23M in renewable electricity production 1.50M in alternative transportation fuels1.40M in engineering, legal, research, and consulting 0.81M in commercial and residential Retrofits

2038 Assumptions40% alternative electricity; retrofits reduce electricity demand by

35% in existing buildings; 30% alternate fuels.

http://www.globalinsight.com/Highlight/HighlightDetail14474.htm

Crisis is Resetting the Economy

“If you think this is only a cycle, you’re just wrong. This is a permanent reset. There are going to be elements

of the economy that will never be the same, ever.”

“The NA companies best positioned to tap that growth will be the ones that double-down on investments in

innovation and technology during the downturn. If you keep investing in technology and innovation in the worst of times, your competitive advantage grows."

(Jeff Immelt, CEO, General Electric, Feb 09)

Tyler Hamilton, The Toronto Star, Feb. 11, 2009

And that is just the beginning….

“Green Jobs”

The jobs that it will take to essentially

redesign the industrial and

consumer economy

Rapid climate changeDeclining fresh water resourceDecline of fossil fuelsIncreasing economic disparity

Allhands

ondeck!

Are you up to the job?

ToolsfortheJob

Systems ThinkingSystems Dynamics Triple Bottom LineIndustrial EcologyCradle to Cradle

Rapid Climate Change & Energy Strategy Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy

Green Building Bio-based Production Full Cost Accounting

Life Cycle Assessment Ecological Design

Biomimetics/Biomimicry

www.capacitycenter.org

Innovation

Political Will

Courage

Communication

Cooperation

A sense of urgency

A desire for a better life for our children

“It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the

one most responsive to change.”

Charles Darwin

“In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.”

Albert Einstein

www.capacitycenter.org