Sustainability - session 1

What are the 3 pillars of ERS?

Economic, Social, and Environmental.

• Economic: financial/profit concerns

• Social: society/people

• Environmental: ecological/planet concerns

What does sustainability mean in this course?

Sustainability concerns social, environmental and economic challenges, including sustainable resource use, sustainable consumption, and developing a sustainable society and economy.

What is responsibility in the ERS context?

Responsibility means being willing to incorporate broader social and environmental considerations into decision-making and being accountable for the impacts of decisions and activities on society and the environment.

What are the 3 ERS pillars sometimes called?

Economic = profit/financial, Social = people/society, Environmental = planet/ecological. The course uses the terms within each pillar interchangeably.

What did Malthus publish in 1798?

An Essay on the Principle of Population in 1798. He focused on the relationship between population growth and the availability of resources. His work raised an early concern that population could grow faster than the resources available to support it. This became an important early idea in thinking about limits to economic and population growth.

What did Jevons publish in 1865?

The Coal Question in 1865. The work focused on coal as an important but finite resource and raised concerns about the consequences of increasing dependence on a limited natural resource. It contributed to the early recognition that economic activity depends on natural resources that can become scarce.

What was Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring (1962) about?

Rachel Carson published Silent Spring in 1962. It drew attention to the harm that human activities and chemicals can cause to ecosystems and the natural environment. It helped make environmental damage a major public concern and contributed to the development of modern environmental thinking.

What was Boulding’s 1968 “Spaceship Earth” idea?

Kenneth E. Boulding published The Economics of the Coming Spaceship Earth in 1968. He described Earth as a finite system, similar to a spaceship: humans cannot assume that resources are unlimited or that waste can simply be discarded indefinitely. The idea challenged the traditional assumption of an economy with unlimited resources and unlimited capacity to absorb waste.

What happened at the 1972 Stockholm Conference?

In 1972, the United Nations held the Conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm. It was an important international milestone because environmental issues were being addressed at the international level. It helped establish environmental protection as an important topic in international policy and thinking about development.

What was The Limits to Growth (1972)?

The Limits to Growth was a study by Meadows et al., commissioned by the Club of Rome. It used computer simulations to examine interactions between human and natural systems, including population, economic activity, pollution and resource availability. It investigated what could happen if population and economic activity continued to grow exponentially in a world with finite resources.

What was the main warning of The Limits to Growth?

Its central warning was that exponential population and economic growth cannot continue indefinitely in a world with finite resources. If growth continues while resources are depleted and environmental pressures increase, the system can eventually reach serious limits. The important idea is that economic activity is connected to—and constrained by—the natural world.

What variables and interactions did The Limits to Growth examine?

: It examined interactions between population growth, industrialization, pollution, resource depletion and the natural environment. The key point was that these factors are interconnected: changes in one part of the system can affect the others.

What did the Brundtland Report (1987) contribute to sustainable development?

The Brundtland Report, published by the World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED) in 1987, gave the famous definition of sustainable development: development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. It also emphasized that sustainability is not only about protecting nature—it involves human needs, poverty, equity and development.

Memorize timeline

1798 — Malthus → population and resource limits
1865 — Jevons → finite resources / coal and economic dependence
1962 — Carson → human damage to ecosystems
1968 — Boulding → Earth is a finite “spaceship”
1972 — Stockholm → international environmental cooperation
1972 — Limits to Growth → growth cannot continue indefinitely on a finite planet
1987 — Brundtland → formal definition of sustainable development

What are the two key concepts in the Brundtland definition?

• Needs — particularly the essential needs of the world's poor, which should receive overriding priority.

• Limitations — limitations imposed by technology and social organization on the environment's ability to meet present and future needs.

Why is the Brundtland definition also about equity/fairness?

Because sustainable development requires fairness both within the current generation and between generations. Development is not sustainable if these principles are violated.

What is intragenerational equity?

Fairness within the current generation, particularly between richer and poorer people.

What is intergenerational equity?

Fairness between generations — ensuring that meeting today's needs does not compromise the ability of future generations to meet their needs.

Why is sustainable development more than ecological sustainability?

Sustainable development also concerns distribution and poverty, as well as fairness between richer and poorer people and between current and future generations.

What does the Brundtland definition mean by "needs"? 5

Needs should be understood broadly. They are not limited to food, shelter, money or income. They include physiological, safety, social, esteem and self-actualization needs.

What are the four types of capital relevant to sustainable development?

• Physical capital — infrastructure, transport networks, data networks, etc.

• Human capital — people, skills and knowledge.

• Institutional capital — governance, democracy, rule of law, etc.

• Natural capital — natural resources, biodiversity, atmosphere, etc.

What is a major criticism of the Brundtland definition?

Almost everyone can agree with it, but people disagree when trying to operationalize and measure it. Concepts such as "needs," "ability" and "without compromising" can have many interpretations.

What is the Triple Bottom Line / 3Ps approach?

It is an attempt to make sustainable development more operational by considering multiple dimensions rather than focusing only on traditional financial performance.

What are the 5 Ps of sustainable development?

People, Planet, (not Profit) Prosperity, Partnership and Peace.

What are the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)?

A framework adopted by the United Nations in 2015, consisting of 17 major goals, with specific sub-targets and indicators.

How many SDGs, sub-targets and indicators are there?

17 major goals, 169 sub-targets and 242 indicators.

Why are the SDGs important for businesses?

They provide a popular framework for addressing sustainability challenges and are widely used in corporate sustainability reporting.

What does the idea of "embeddedness" mean?

Economies and societies are embedded in the biosphere/natural world. Economic activity therefore ultimately depends on natural systems.

What is the significance of the SDG "wedding cake" model?

It illustrates the idea that the economy and society are embedded within the biosphere, rather than existing independently of nature.

What is Kate Raworth's Doughnut Economy?

It presents a framework for achieving a safe and just space for humanity by meeting people's social needs while staying within ecological limits

What are planetary boundaries?

They are ecological limits within which humanity can operate safely without destabilizing critical Earth-system processes.

What are the four ERS competency areas?

• ERS worldview

• Complexity in ERS

• Future Orientation for ERS

• Acting for ERS

What is the ERS worldview?

A comprehensive, balanced and scientifically based assessment of how the planet, its inhabitants, the economy and organizations interact. It also examines societal challenges and the assumptions and values underlying different worldviews.

What is meant by "Complexity in ERS"?

Grand challenges are treated as wicked problems because they involve interconnected natural, social, technological, political and economic systems. It involves recognizing interconnections, feedbacks, tipping points and systemic tensions such as short-term versus long-term interests.

What is Future Orientation for ERS?

: It focuses on futures literacy: imagining alternative future scenarios and exploring different possibilities for future worldmaking. It encourages creative and transdisciplinary thinking to support societal transformation.

What is Acting for ERS?

It concerns how individuals and organizations can take action to address grand challenges and shape sustainable futures, including through new forms of governance, leadership and collaboration.