Chapter 2

Environmental Sustainability
Topic 1 – Environmental Sustainability

■ A – The Concept of Sustainability

■ B – Towards a Sustainable World?

Reference: Prof. Jean-Paul Rodrigue, JE Maintiendray

A The Concept of Sustainability

■ 1. Sustainable Development
■ 2. Sustainable Society
■ 3. General Indicators
1 Sustainable Development

■ The issue
• Brought forward in view of challenges at a scale never seen
before.
• Demographic challenge:
• Strong population growth, notably in the developing world.
• Resource challenge:
• An increasing usage of resources, renewable and non renewable alike.
– Raw materials.
– Energy.
– Food.
• Environmental challenge:
• Higher levels of environmental impacts of human activities.
• The capacity of this world to sustain its population is
compromised.
1 Sustainable Development

The 340 generations of humanity ■ “Sustainable”

• The process or the activity can be
maintained without exhaustion or
collapse.
• Intra and Inter-generational issue.
• Capacity of a system to accommodate
changes:
• Rates of use of renewable resources
should not exceed their rates or
regeneration.
• Rates of use of non-renewable
resources should not exceed at which
Your generation
renewable substitutes are developed.
• Rates of pollution emissions should not
Generations to exceed the assimilative capacity of the
come
environment.
1 Sustainable Development

■ “Development”
• Development is about people, not necessarily the economy.
• Development is a process.
• Improvement of the welfare of the population:
• Create an enabling environment for people.
• Often forgotten in the immediate concern with the accumulation of
commodities and wealth.
• Finding ways to satisfy and improve human needs.
1 Sustainable Development
Outcomes
■ Conditions:
Human Capital Physical capital • Appropriate social, political, legal
and economic conditions.
■ Outcomes
• Improvement of the physical and
Development human capital.
• Human capital:
• Improved health or knowledge.
• Improved opportunities for people
-Health -Rights
-Education -Equity to use their acquired capabilities.
-Quality of life -Rule of law • Improved work or leisure
conditions.
• Physical capital:
-Employment • Improved private infrastructures.
-Surplus • Improved collective
infrastructures.
Conditions
2 Sustainable Society

Sustainable Development

Economic Environmental
Social Equity
Efficiency Responsibility

•Living conditions •Economic growth •Consumption of

•Equal opportunity
•Social cohesion
•International solidarity
•Maintenance of
human capital.
•Efficiency and resources
competitiveness •Materials and wastes
•Flexibility and stability •Risks
•Production / •Rate of change
consumption •Natural and cultural
•Employment landscape
•International trade
2 Sustainable Society

■ Three “E”s
• Economics.
• Ecology / Environment.
• Equity (social).
■ Population
• Lessen population growth and stabilize it (preferably).
• Stop subsidizing reproduction.
• Access to contraception and family planning (freedom of choice).
• Basic material needs satisfied (social obligation?).
• Political and gender equity.
• Access to information and education.
2 Sustainable Society

■ Ecology
• Restore the biological base (soils, forests, atmosphere and
hydrosphere).
• Agriculture supporting ecosystems (diversity and organic
recycling).
■ Energy
• Minimize and abolish fossil fuels (market forces are likely to do
so).
• Shift to natural gas as an interim measure.
• Move to renewable energy sources (hydrogen, solar, wind,
geothermal, biomass and hydroelectric).
2 Sustainable Society

■ Economy
• Promotion of efficiency and recycling.
• Source materials mainly recycled materials.
• Reduce wastes in production, packaging and distribution.
• Economy like an ecosystem.
• Dematerialization of the economy.
■ Spatial forms
• Rational use of space (market forces).
• Dense and compact cities.
• Multifamily dwellings.
• Alternative transportation modes:
• Leaning on mass transit, cycling and walking.
2 Energy and Density

80 Houston
Energy consumption per capita (1,000 millions of joules)

Phoenix
Detroit United States
Denver
60 Los Angeles
Chicago
New York

40 Melbourne
Adelaide Australia and Canada

Sydney Paris Europe

Toronto Asia
20 Berlin
Tokyo
Singapore
London Vienna
Hong Kong
20 40 60 80 100 300

Population density (people per hectare)

2 Sustainable Society

■ Social forms
• Material sufficiency and frugality:
• Replacing consumerism and materialism (unlikely).
• Living according to one’s means.
• Self-worth and social status:
• Not measured primarily by possession (unlikely).
• Balance between individual rights and obligations:
• End of social welfare and the irresponsibility it creates?
■ Governance
• Less government and more individual initiative.
• Global governance (common policies for common causes).
• Regional autonomy (regional issues and cultural / political
differences).
• Avoid socialism and fascism (especially “world improvers”).
2 Global Sustainability
•Sustain economic growth
•Maximize profit
•Expand markets
•Externalize costs

Economic Development

Socialism Conservationism

•Respect carrying capacity

•Satisfy needs
•Conserve and recycle
•Increase self-reliance
Ecologism resources
•Reduce waste
2 Global Sustainability

Resource / Energy
consumption
Unsustainable

One level

Billion
Consumes 80% Carrying capacity

Five
Billion
Consumes 20%
Sustainable
level

Quality of Life
3 General Indicators

Water, materials and waste Energy and air quality

Global Sustainability

Land, green spaces

Transportation
and biodiversity

Livability
3 General Indicators: What the Market Can Do

Energy and air New sources of energy. Less energy intensity. Lower
quality emission levels.

Water, materials and Less water intensity. Lower material intensity (packaging)
waste Recycling system. Efficient waste disposal.

Land, green spaces Increased agricultural productivity. Manage

and biodiversity

Livability Improved health. Higher education. Global access to

information and entertainment (Internet).

Transportation Provide collective (transit) and private mobility.

B Towards a Sustainable World?

■ 1. Conventional Worlds
■ 2. Barbarization
■ 3. Great Transitions
1 The Futures of Humanity

Gross World Product

(trillion $US)
Conventional Worlds
250

200 Transformed Worlds Balanced growth

Reference

150 New Sustainability Paradigm

Eco-communalism
100
Fortress World

50
Barbarization
2000
Breakdown

4 6 8 10 12
World population (in billions)
1 Conventional Worlds

■ Conventional Development
scenario
• Situation left as it is.
• Solution led to market mechanisms.
• Little or no collective efforts.
• Limited success of birth control
policies.
• Generation of wealth, but unfair
distribution.
■ Consequences
• Growth of inequalities and
environmental degradation.
• Potential instability and environmental
collapse.
1 Conventional Worlds

■ Balanced Growth
• Legislation and policy intervention:
• Strengthen management systems.
• Ensure widespread use of better
technology.
• Provide greater social equity and
environment protection.
• Same patterns of production and
consumption.
• Notions of global governance.
■ Consequences
• Less demographic growth and
environmental damage.
• May not be enough to curb major global
environmental issues.
• Socialism.
2 Barbarization

■ Breakdown
• Neo-Malthusian perspective.
• Case of destructive anarchy.
• Governmental and social failures.
• “Mad Max” scenario.
■ Consequences
• Environmental and social deterioration:
• Scarcity, violence, and massive
migration.
• Unchecked population growth.
• Economic collapse:
• Drastic fall in global population levels.
• Loss of institutions, productive
capacity, and technology.
2 2030 Breakdown Scenario

1900 2000 2030 2100

Life expectancy Breakdown

Natural resources

Oil production

Population Industrial output

Food

Pollution
2 Barbarization

■ Fortress World
• Authoritarian “solution”.
• Conflicts between the rich and the poor:
• A minority of the elite in privileged
enclaves.
• Protect their way of life by forcibly
imposing limits and social controls on the
impoverished majority.
• Seizing control of critical natural resources
for exclusive use.
• Restricting access to information and
technology.
■ Consequences
• Unchecked demographic growth.
• Social stratification.
• Instability of a “Fortress” system may push
the world into a “Breakdown” situation.
3 Great Transitions

■ Eco-communalism
• Deep green utopian vision.
• Strong collective efforts towards
small-scale.
• Emphasis:
• Bio-regionalism.
• Localism and face-to-face
democracy.
• Small technology and economic
autarky.
■ Consequences
• Population and economic scales
diminish.
• Environmental conditions improve
dramatically.
• Socialism/communism?
3 Great Transitions

■ New Sustainability Paradigm

• Change the industrial civilization.
• Achieving sustainability at the global
level:
• Every activity most demonstrate
sustainability.
• More equitable global civilization rather
than to retreat into localism.
■ Consequences
• Dramatic decrease of per capita
material flows:
• Through behavioral changes and
technology improvements.
• High-quality environment.
• Well-distributed welfare with economic
activities oriented towards services.
 Conclusion

■ Which Future?
• In light of the current situation around the world, which scenario
is the most likely?
• What are the alternatives?
■ Population, resources and the environment
• The absolute bottom line.
• Will shape the fate of humanity in the 21st century.
• Period of strong demographic growth (demographic transition).
• Population policy and family planning.
• Migration and urbanization.
• Consumption of resources (commodities and energy).
• The environmental challenge.