SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT EXAM PREPARATION

TASK 1 – Anthropocene

Eon  Era  Period  Epoch  Age

Epoch

- Period in time that starts with a geological even  Big changes

- Changes in biodiversity, fossils, climate, etc  changes last a long time

Holocene

 the 12,000 years of stable climate since the last ice age during which all human civilisation developed
 It’s the transition from the last glacial phase into an interval of warming accompanied by sea level rise
 More carbon dioxide and oxygen in the atmosphere
 end: Earth is so profoundly changed
 The Holocene represents the most recent interglacial interval of the Quaternary Period
 The Holocene epoch is divided into three component sub-epochs, using climatic changes to guide the position of their bases:
o The lower base
o The base middle Holocene
o The base of the upper Holocene

Anthropocene  Newly proposed geological epoch

- The beginning of the Anthropocene is not clearly defined

- The Anthropocene could be said to have started in the late eighteenth century, when analyses of air trapped in polar ice showed the
beginning of growing global concentrations of carbon dioxide and methane.
- OR: new epoch should begin about 1950
- Anthropogenic deposits of new minerals and rock types that become techno fossils residues of Hydrocarbons, pesticides, gasoline,
and a high level of GHG.
- human activity affects a geological processchanging our physical and biological environment
- Biodiversity may also be locally increasing in areas related to the rapid colonization of some invasive species, a process intimately
coupled to human activities
- “defined by the radioactive elements dispersed across the planet by nuclear bomb tests, although an array of other signals, including
plastic pollution, soot from power stations, concrete, and even the bones left by the global proliferation of the domestic chicken were
now under consideration”

 The Anthropocene marks a new period in which our collective activities dominate the planetary machinery.

For and against Anthropocene

- humans are now responsible for the transport of more materials in the terrestrial environment from place to place than any non-
human process
o Change in the deep ocean sediment: Because of deep-sea mining for rare and more use of metals or for fossil fuels.
- sixth largest extinction event
o loss of habitat or to overhunting related to human activities
o Pushed extinction rates of animals and plants far above the long-term average. The Earth is on course to see 75% of species
become extinct in the next few centuries if current trends continue.
- a lot of change is happening (many examples)  many of the changes are irreversible
o For the Anthropocene, the best candidate for such a golden spike are radioactive elements from nuclear bomb tests, which
were blown into the stratosphere before settling down to Earth
o Other candidates include plastic pollution, aluminium and concrete particles, and high levels of nitrogen and phosphate in soils,
derived from artificial fertilisers.
o Put so much plastic in our waterways and oceans that microplastic particles are now virtually ubiquitous, and plastics will likely
leave identifiable fossil records for future generations to discover.
o We created different compositions like the POP’s (Permanent Organic Pollutants) = man-made derivatives of petroleum, or
industry related.
- Increased levels of climate-warming CO2 in the atmosphere at the fastest rate for 66m years, with fossil-fuel burning pushing levels
from 280 parts per million before the industrial revolution to 400ppm and rising today.
- Doubled the nitrogen and phosphorous in our soils in the past century with fertiliser use. This is likely to be the largest impact on the
nitrogen cycle in 2.5bn years.
- Left a permanent layer of airborne particulates in sediment and glacial ice such as black carbon from fossil fuel burning.
 - Geological divisions are not defined by dates but by a specific boundary between layers of rock or, in the case of the Holocene, a
boundary between two ice layers in a core taken from Greenland and now stored in Denmark.
- Anthropocene rock: A mixer of various types of building foundations, underground infrastructure, solid water sites, man-made
islands, airports, and so on.
1. It’s part of the Holocene. The Anthropocene is too short to be an epoch on its own.
2. It’s an epoch on itself. Humans changed the earth so much that the Anthropocene is an era on it’s own. The environmental change it
caused is so big. So much plastic it will leave microplastics that future geologists can discover. There are new minerals and elements in
this period.
3. The Anthropocene goes beyond geological and needs a moral and public discourse.

 rapid growth of human population, increased consumption of resources and accelerate technological development

 result in increased use of metals and minerals, fossil fuels, and agricultural fertilizers and increase transformation of land nearshore
marine ecosystems for human use

 This has made a loss on natural biomes to agriculture, cities, roads and other human constructs and the replacement of wild animals
and plants by domesticated for food.

Link to sustainable development

- In which Anthropocene to we want to leave in: a habitable Anthropocene

- Depends on which choices we make
- A scientific concept with moral content: raises awareness
o captured the imagination of the media and of a wide spectrum of academic disciplines
o human beings act within the domain of morality
o decisive role played by human activities

The Great Acceleration

Term ‘Great Acceleration’ first used in 2005 – attempt to capture the holistic, comprehensive and interlinked nature of the post-1950 changes
simultaneously sweeping across the socio-economic and biophysical spheres of the Earth System, encompassing far more than climate change.

- The dominant trend is that the economic activity of the human enterprise continues to grow at a rapid rate
- The use of a variation of graphs in order to distinguish the wealthy countries from the less wealthy countries
- The 12 indicators check changes in major features of the system’s structure and functioning
- None of the trends appears to be slowing down
o Too much fishing, so there is a decrease in the stock of fish, thus also a decrease in the amount of fish caught
- There is clear evidence that humans are indeed changing and affecting this earth, however, what is not clear and what can be debated
is whether we have indeed left the epoch of the Holocene and entered a new one
o Certain things have exceeded the max. of what has been previously seen in the Holocene – gasses in the atmosphere
TASK 2 – Sustainable development models

Sustainable development challenges the conventional form of economic development

Development: Just economic development and modernisation among Western criteria. Third world countries need to catch up. Humans are
superior to nature

Environmentalism challenges the basic assumptions of the Western model of development on the use of nature, the meaning of progress, and
how society is governed

- Seven key arguments

1. Progress  nature as an instrumental value
 Progress as the human domination of nature which involves reduction of nature to a resource which can be freely used
2. Economic growth
 The western model prioritizes economic growth and assumes that environmental deterioration is an inevitable
consequence of development
 It is based on the acceptance of a ‘trade off’ = an unequal exchange between economic development and the environment
3. Standard of living
 Assumes that consumption is the most important contributor to human welfare  measured by standard of living (amount
of disposable income an individual has)
 Environmentalism focuses on the quality of life instead of the standard of living →collective level
4. Ignoring that social stability requires the maintenance of natural resources
 The deterioration of the environment causes social disruptions, insecurity and damage to human health
5. Exploitation
 Ignores the fact that Western development is based upon the exploitation not only of their own natural resources but that
also of many third world societies
6. Consumption rate
 The model is blind to the fact that it is impossible to achieve a global replication of the resource intensive, affluent lifestyle
of the high consumption economies of the North
 The planet’s ecosystem cannot absorb the resultant pollution
 There are not enough natural resources
7. Limits to economic growth
 Failure to acknowledge the limits to economic growth  Limits imposed by the carrying capacity of the planet
 Development needs to be structured around the planet’s ecological means
 The Western, consumerist model of development, coupled with population growth = unsustainable

Brundtland approach: sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of
future generations to meet their own needs.
 report ‘Our Common Future’ 1987
- There is a limit to growth.
- The Brundtland report contains a lot of traditional viewpoints, because they wanted it to be doable for businesses as well.
- 3 pillars approach: economy = environment = society
The Brundtland report made four key links between the economy, society and the environment:
1. Environmental stresses are linked to one another
2. Environmental stresses and patterns of economic development are linked to one another
 E.g. agricultural policy encourages overuse of chemical fertilizers →leading to soil degradation and water pollution
3. Environmental and economic problems are linked to social and political factors
4. These influences operate not only within, but also between nations
 E.g. the highly subsidized agriculture of the North can erode viability of agriculture in the developing countries
 The ‘needs’ of the world’s poor should be prioritized
 The idea of limitations imposed by the state of technology and social organization on the environment’s ability to meet present and
future needs

Limit to growth = the need to adopt lifestyles within the planet’s ecological means

- The Brundtland conception of sustainable development does not assume that growth is both possible and desirable in all
circumstances –the danger in this approach is that it could sustain the instrumental value of nature to human beings
- Environmental space –limits to the amount of pressure that the earth’s ecosystem can handle with irreversible damage
- Threshold level – the level beyond which damage occurs and to use this to set operational boundaries
 Planetary boundaries were set to stay within these to avoid catastrophic environmental change
1. Stratospheric ozone layer
2. Biodiversity
3. Chemical dispersion
 4. Climate change
5. Ocean acidification
6. Freshwater consumption and the global hydrological cycle
7. Land system change
8. Nitrogen and phosphorus inputs to the biosphere and oceans
9. Atmospheric aerosol loading
 Ecological footprint: the impact of a community on natural resources and ecosystems –it measures the extent to which the Earth’s
productive ecosystems have sufficient regenerative capacity to keep up with society’s metabolic demands

The Brundtland development paradigm

1. Reviving growth –making it less material and energy intensive while meeting essential needs for jobs, food, water, etc. and merging
environmental and economic considerations in decision making
2. Population and human resources –reducing population growth to sustainable levels, stabilizing population size relative to available
resources, dealing with demographic problems in regard to poverty elimination and education
3. Food security –addressing intensive agriculture, reduce agricultural subsidies and protection in the North, shifting trade in favour of
small farmers, introducing land reform, addressing food inequalities
4. Loss of species and genetic resources –maintaining biodiversity, halting the destruction of tropical rainforests, etc.
5. Energy –establishing safe and sustainable energy pathways, developing alternative energy systems, ensuring economic growth is less
energy intensive, etc
6. Industry –promoting the ecological modernization of industry, accepting environmental responsibility, tighter control on hazardous
materials/wastes
7. Human settlement and land use –confronting the challenge of urban growth, the shift from rural to urban, guide urbanization

Later:

- Nested approach: Economy serves our society AND environment. Because we function because of the environment. So it doesn’t
keep the pillars as equally important.
 Development that meets the needs of the present while safeguarding Earth's life-support system, on which the welfare of current
and future generations depends

The ladder of sustainable development

Ideal model

- More profound vision aimed at structural change in society and economic and political systems
- Different viewpoints with different levels of extreme measures: from posing severe restraints on production and consumption to
reducing human population
- Involves radical change in attitude towards nature

Weak sustainability: aim: to integrate capitalistic growth within environmental concerns.

- Economy does not have free reign over natural resources

- Shift from quantitative growth to qualitative growth
- Strict limits for how much human capital can compensate for loss of natural capital
- Sustainable development seen as precondition for economic development
- Brundtland report and nested approach can be examples

Strong sustainability: environmental protection is a main condition for economic development

- “cost-benefit” analysis of consuming a natural resource; if gains outweigh loss then natural capital should be used
 environment is considered measurable
- Assumes almost total sustainability by technology
- Economic development seen as precondition for sustainable development
- 3 pillar approach and MDGs can be examples

Pollution control

- Environmental protection should not put any limits on economic growth because human technology is anyway capable of solving any
environmental problem
- Supported by Kuznet curve representing pollution at different stages of industrial development

 at both ends of the spectrum (ideal model and pollution control) concept of sustainable development becomes unnecessary
Task 3 – Biogeochemical cycles

- Amount of matter is fixed and thus needs to be constantly recycled

- Four global reservoirs: water (ocean), air (atmosphere), land, rocks (earth’s crust)

Carbon cycle

- Driven by photosynthesis  carbon fixation – and respiration  carbon release

- Carbon pools are oceans, the atmosphere, plants and sediments (also glaciers); marine carbon releases into atmosphere

Human impact

- Net influx of carbon to the atmosphere has increased due to fossil fuel production, deforestation and urbanisation, glacier and
permafrost melting, methane release associated with livestock
 contributes to global warming and ocean acidification
 ocean acidification disrupts ecosystems and makes the ocean a weaker carbon sink

Nitrogen cycle

- nitrogen fixation and denitrification are bacteria-mediated processes (exception is fixation through lightening)
- atmosphere is the biggest nitrogen pool – N2 gas (needs to be fixed to be used: N2  NH3)

Human impact

- quantity of nitrogen fixation has doubled dur to fertilizer production, planting of nitrogen-fixating crops
- N2O release – extremely powerful greenhouse gas
- Ammonia release into soil can leach into water and contribute to nutrient saturation; released into atmosphere can participate into
aerosol forming reactions and cause acidic rain  damaging to oceans and infrastructure

Phosphorous cycle

- Pools of phosphorous are soils, sediments and the ocean (not atmosphere)
- Cycle is slow and tightly contained within vegetation and the soil

Human impact

- Great need for phosphorous in fertilizer production has quickly been depleting this finite resource
- Use in fertilizer leads to leaching into soils and water
 Causes nutrient-saturation and ocean dead zones (hypoxia)
Task 4 – Climate change

Climate change

- The temperature of the earth is determined by the balance between energy from the Sun and loss of this energy back into space =
radiative balance.
- Ozone layer helps filter out high-energy UV rays which can be harmful to cells and DNA.
- About 1/3 of the sun’s energy is reflected directly back into space = albedo effect;
- Rest (2/3) gets absorbed by the Earth (land and oceans) and then emitted as heat (long-wave infrared radiation).
- Greenhouse effect = Greenhouse gases (GHGs) present in the atmosphere can absorb and trap some of this heat.
o Without this, the Earth would be at least 35ºC colder (e.g. -10ºC in the tropics).
o Main GHGs (climate change/radiative “forcers”): carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide; concentrations of all
of these have increased in the atmosphere since the industrial revolution.

Climate changes in the past have been driven by changes in the Earth’s orbit in request to the sun  GHGs seen to co-vary with temperatures

Different now?

- Cannot be explained by changes in energy from the Sun

Main factor is human driven GHG changes, especially after the industrial revolution

- Atmospheric CO2 has increased from a pre-industrial concentration of about 280 ppmv to over 400 ppmv at present, representing
an increase of over 40%.
o To put this into context: In the last 800,000 years, the natural change in atmospheric CO2 has been between 180 and 300
ppmv; the variation between warm and cold periods is about 80 ppmv – less than the CO2 pollution we have put in the
atmosphere in the last 100 years; this demonstrates that the level of pollution we have already caused in one century is
comparable to the natural variations which take thousands of years.
o Data was collected since 1958 through measurements made in Mauna Loa Mountain in Hawaii, at an altitude of 4,000 m,
to avoid sources of pollution.
- Two major sources of CO2 pollution (not produced evenly by all countries): Burning of fossil fuels related to energy production,
industrial processes, and transport; Land-use changes i.e. cutting down forests for the purposes of agriculture, urbanization, and
roads; this results in less productive grassland with less capacity for CO 2 storage.
o Energy production and urbanization are closely associated with economic development .
- 50% of our emission has been absorbed by the Earth (25% by the oceans, 25% by land) ; however, this removal of pollution is
unlikely to continue fully in the future because, as global temperature rises, oceans will warm and be able to hold less CO 2, and
continued deforestation will also reduce CO2 uptake.
- Since 1880, the global average surface temperature has increased by 0.85ºC, which has been accompanied by a significant warming
of the ocean, a rise in sea level of 20 cm, a 40% decline in Arctic sea ice, and an increase in number of extreme weather events.

Predictions for climate – IPCC (2013)

- Relative radiative forcing of different human emitted GHGs since 1750

- Equilibrium climate sensitivity – how much we would expect the world to warm if CO 2 in atmosphere doubles and we wait a few
hundred years for climate to reach equilibrium  1.5C to 4.5C
- Transient climate response – time scale is decades; temperature before climate has had time to equilibrate – 1C to 2.5C
- Representative concentration pathways (RCP) – how much warming to expect for different theoretical pathways of cutting down
emissions; most go over the set goal of 2C limit

Consequences for the climate

- Warmer temperatures  more extreme climate events

- Warmer conditions will probably lead to more evaporation and precipitation overall (some regions may become wetter, others
drier).
- warm the oceans, causing it to expand, as well as partially melt glaciers and other ice, increasing sea level
- impacts for biodiversity

Main actions to reduce carbon footprint

- Avoiding air travel

- Having a plant-based diet
- Living car-free
- Having smaller families
Task 5 – Planetary boundaries

Planetary boundaries

- Planetary boundaries are meant to define the safe operating space for humanity with respect to the Earth system
- Planetary boundaries identify Earth system processes and associated thresholds which if crossed could generate unacceptable
environmental change.
- Boundaries are tightly coupled. We cannot concentrate our efforts on any one of them in isolation from the others. If one boundary
is transgressed, then other boundaries are also under serious risk.

Three transgressed boundaries

1. Climate change
- measured by looking at atmospheric CO2 concentration and changes in radiative forcing.
- Growing convergence towards a ‘2 °C guardrail’ approach, problematic as severity of long-term climate change seems to be
underestimated as feedback processes are not considered
- models do not include long-term reinforcing feedback processes that further warm the climate, such as decreases in the surface area
of ice cover or changes in the distribution of vegetation.
2. Rate of biodiversity loss
- Extinction rate assessed by looking at number of species per million per year;
- Species becoming extinct at a rate that suggest 6th mass extinction  mostly due to land use changes
- Loss of biodiversity can increase the vulnerability of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems to changes in climate and ocean acidity, thus
reducing the safe boundary levels of these processes
- From an Earth-system perspective, setting a boundary for biodiversity is difficult. Although it is now accepted that a rich mix of
species underpins the resilience of ecosystems, little is known quantitatively about how much and what kinds of biodiversity can be
lost before this resilience is eroded.
3. Nitrogen cycle
- Measured in terms of N and P extraction – fertilizer use
- Much of this new reactive nitrogen ends up in the environment, polluting waterways and the coastal zone, accumulating in land
systems and adding a number of gases to the atmosphere. It slowly erodes the resilience of important Earth subsystems.  nutrient
pollution

Criticism

- Difficult to calculate
- Impacts on each other not considered
- Can be considered too mild
- Process not linear
- Can become more sensitive

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Task 6 – Tragedy of the common

Garret Hardin

- Analogy of common pasture land

- “unmanaged commons do not work if population is above certain size”
- Solutions: socialism  appointing someone to decide how much cattle everyone is allowed to put on the pasture OR privatization 
each person gets a piece of land
- Common resources are threatened by selfish individuals and nations taking what they want even though they know resource will be
wiped out if everyone does the same
 Greatest tragedy of the common is climate change

Elinor Ostrom

- collective action for sustainable development

- resources can be managed without state intervention
 in fact, interventions usually worsen situation as it fails in taking into account current organizations
- enhancing collective action should be prioritized and enhanced

8 rules for managing commons

1. Commons need to have clearly defined boundaries. In particular, who is entitled to access to what? Unless there’s a specified
community of benefit, it becomes a free for all, and that’s not how commons work.
2. Rules should fit local circumstances. There is no one-size-fits-all approach to common resource management. Rules should be
dictated by local people and local ecological needs.
3. Participatory decision-making is vital. There are all kinds of ways to make it happen, but people will be more likely to follow the
rules if they had a hand in writing them. Involve as many people as possible in decision-making.
4. Commons must be monitored. Once rules have been set, communities need a way of checking that people are keeping them.
Commons don’t run on good will, but on accountability.
5. Sanctions for those who abuse the commons should be graduated. Ostrom observed that the commons that worked best didn’t just
ban people who broke the rules. That tended to create resentment. Instead, they had systems of warnings and fines, as well as
informal reputational consequences in the community.
6. Conflict resolution should be easily accessible. When issues come up, resolving them should be informal, cheap and straightforward.
That means that anyone can take their problems for mediation, and nobody is shut out. Problems are solved rather than ignoring
them because nobody wants to pay legal fees.
7. Commons need the right to organise. Your commons rules won’t count for anything if a higher local authority doesn’t recognise
them as legitimate.
8. Commons work best when nested within larger networks. Some things can be managed locally, but some might need wider
regional cooperation – for example an irrigation network might depend on a river that others also draw on upstream.
o Optimum group size is 8 – 9 members to reduce tendency of free-riding

Relation to climate change

- States and nations do not have the kinship and shared interests that usually encourage collective action
- Switching from prisoner’s dilemma game to coordinator game
 Once enough nations are on board, it will be challenging not to comply because most trading partners will be lost
 “countries are good at coordinating and bad at cooperating voluntarily”
 Problem is that climate issues are too broad; should be broken down into smaller matters to be addressed by smaller policies

4 regimes for managing commons – Feeny

- 4 different ways of managing commons: open/ private/ communal/ state

- 2 ways to stop the tragedy – exclusion and regulation

Open Private Communal State

Exclusion Absent Yes Yes Yes
Regulation Absent/ weak Yes Yes Yes
Task 7 – economic growth issues and doughnut economics

GDP (Gross domestic product)

- GDP represents the money value of all goods and services bought and sold
- Become the most popular indicator of economic growth because it is the only thing that can easily be measured
- GDP does not distinguish the costs and benefits of transactions in terms of personal well-being or environmental impacts and ignores
everything happening outside the realm of monetary exchange
 Events such as crime, divorce, natural disasters increase GDP
 GDP doesn’t consider income distribution and household and community non-market economics (e.g. child care)

Green GDP

- Takes environmental degradation and resource depletion into account

GNP (Gross national product)

- Measures output and input within the country; relevant for LEDCs (Less Economically Developed Country) who may have growing
GDP because all output is being exported out of the country

GPI (Genuine progress indicator)

 Includes non-monetary aspects of economy (includes household work; volunteering; crime; pollution;…) and considers costs versus
benefits
 Suggests many countries current trajectory is towards uneconomic growth; GDP may be increasing but not GPI

Uneconomic growth

- Happens when social and environmental costs of growth outweigh benefits; occurs because growth does not occur in a void but is a
subsystem of a finite biosphere; the impact of this is global climate change

Solutions

- Call for a steady-state economy

- Doughnut economics – Kate Raworth
 Using the planet’s resources in such a way that human rights are met – going over social foundations inner ring – without overshoot
the outer ring – ecological ceiling – determined by the planetary boundaries
 At the moment, large amounts of the population are both in deprivation and overshoot
 Implications for progress in the Anthropocene
 More like a balance, less linear
 We depend on planetary health
 Deep social inequalities exist
 Deep renewal of economic and political ideals is required
 Effective map of steps is required
Task 9 – Sustainable business models

Cooperate social responsibly (CSR) pyramid – Caroll

- Responsibilities based on expectations society has of businesses

 Economic – be profitable  required
 Legal – obey the law  required
 Ethical – be ethical  expected
 Philanthropic – be a good corporate citizen  desired
- Problems regarding inequalities along the value chain
- Consumer power reflected on pyramid as society’s expectation

Controversies

- Isn’t making profit inherently unsustainable

 Taking a resource costs nothing; making money out of it indicates that someone is being stolen from

Business-case of CSR

- Costs and risk reduction

- Gaining competitive advantage
- Developing reputation and legitimacy
- Synergistic value creation – fulfilling needs of stakeholders (environmental/ social) while also pursuing profit goals

Business model:

- a conceptual tool to help understand how a firm does business and can be used for analysis, comparison and performance
assessment, management, communication, and innovation > how a business operates.
- The three main elements:
 Value proposition: what product or service do you offer that creates value and makes profit > how do you differentiate what you
offer.
 Value creation & delivery: how do you offer this.
 Value capture: how to obtain the actual profit.

Sustainable business model:

- creates competitive advantage through superior customer value and contributes to a sustainable development of the company and
society.
- The four criteria for creating a SBM are:
 Time: incorporate a long-term perspective > consequences of your actions in the past, present, and future.
 Life-cycle: take into account where the resources of your product come from and where they go.
 Cost-benefit: long-term assessment of cost and benefits leads to sustainable decisions.
 Change: business should adapt to development of the environment.
 Holistic approach: environmental and societal needs in parallel with economics ones  sustainable value creation (SVC)
 Triple button approach: is the approach that SBM takes and it takes into account stakeholders, environment, society
 SBM archetype: create value from waste (e.g. Cradle to Cradle)
- Archetypes of sustainable innovation in business models
- Technological
 Maximise material and energy efficiency
 Create value from waste
 Substitute with renewables and natural process
- Social
 Deliver functionality rather than ownership
 Adopt a stewardship role
 Encourage sufficiency
- Organisational
- Repurpose for society/environment
- Develop scale up solutions