1.3 Sustainability

Flashcards about Sustainability

What is Sustainability?

A measure of the extent to which practices allow for the long-term viability of a system, ensuring no diminishment of conditions for future generations.

What are the three pillars of sustainability?

Environmental, social, and economic pillars

What is a strong sustainability model?

A model showing the economy and society embedded in the natural environment.

What is Environmental Sustainability?

The use and management of natural resources that allows replacement of the resources, and recovery and regeneration of ecosystems.

What is Natural Capital?

The stock of renewable and non-renewable natural resources that provide benefits to people.

What is Natural Income?

The income provided from the use of natural capital.

What is Replenishable, Natural Capital?

Non-living natural resources that depend on the energy of the Sun for their replenishment, like groundwater and soil.

What does social sustainability focus on?

Creating the structures and systems, such as health, education, equity, and community, that support human well-being.

What is Economic Sustainability?

Creating economic structures and systems to support production and consumption of goods and services for future human needs.

What is Sustainable Development?

Meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

What is Environmental Justice?

The right of all people to live in a pollution-free environment and have equitable access to natural resources, regardless of race, gender, socio-economic status, or nationality.

What inequalities lead to disparities in resource access?

Inequalities in income, race, gender, and cultural identity that lead to disparities in access to water, food, and energy.

At what scales can sustainability and environmental justice be applied?

Exists at individual, business, community, city, country, and global levels.

What are sustainability indicators?

Quantitative measures of biodiversity, pollution, human population, climate change, material and carbon footprints, etc.

What does a Carbon Footprint measure?

The amount of greenhouse gases produced, measured in carbon dioxide equivalents.

What does a Water Footprint measure?

Water use, measured in cubic meters per year.

What is an Ecological Footprint?

The area of land and water required to sustainably provide all resources and absorb all generated waste for a specific population.

What is Biocapacity?

The capacity of a biologically productive area to generate an ongoing supply of renewable resources and to absorb its resulting wastes.

What is an Ecological Deficit?

When the Ecological Footprint of a population exceeds the biocapacity of the area available to that population.

What role does Citizen Science play?

A role in monitoring Earth systems and whether resources are being used sustainably.

Sustainability models are:

simplified versions of reality

What are the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)?

A set of social and environmental goals and targets to guide action on sustainability and environmental justice.

What does the Planetary Boundaries Model describe?

Describes the limits of human disturbance to systems and proposes that crossing those limits increases the risk of abrupt and irreversible changes to Earth systems.

What is the Doughnut Economics Model?

A framework for creating a regenerative and distributive economy to meet the needs of all people within the means of the planet.

What is the Circular Economy?

A model that promotes decoupling economic activity from the consumption of finite resources.