Introduction to Sustainable

Development
 Questions to Consider
• What is sustainability?
• Why should we bother with
it?
What is sustainable development?

Development which meets:

• … the needs of the present without

compromising the ability of future
generations to meet their own needs.

taken from the influential Brundtland report ‘Our Common Future’ (World Commission
on Environment and Development, 1987,
http://www.un-documents.net/ocf-ov.htm#I.3)
However......
• … sustainability and development are
contradictory concepts and ‘sustainable
development’ is just economic growth
dressed up in the language of deliberate
obfuscation, used knowingly or not by
those who care nothing for the Earth in
order to fool us into thinking that they are
taking her concerns seriously.
(Harding, 2006: 232)
• Harding suggests that in order for
development to be sustainable then it is
necessary to ensure that the amount of
raw materials used should either reduce or
at least be at a ‘steady-state’.
• “Everything we thought was good turns out to
be bad. It is an act of kindness to travel to your
cousin’s wedding. Now it is also an act of
cruelty. It is a good thing to light the streets at
night. Climate change tells us it kills more people
than it saves. … Climate change demands a
reversal of our moral compass,
• for which we are plainly unprepared.” (Monbiot,
2005: 23)
• Global heating is beginning to turn the
world on its business-as-usual head,
exposing the fragility of the normal and
the vulnerability of the taken-for-granted.
(Selby)
In pursuit of happiness …
AsI Professor
• If were caughtDaniel Kahneman
in the trappings of theand
of wealth University of be
power, I would
unable to live
Princeton a truly comfortable,
suggests, creative,
our “standard ofand compassionate
living life.
has increased
Much of my time would be absorbed in taking care of houses, cars,
dramatically and furnishings,
household gadgets, happinesspaintings,
has increased notand
silverware at china,
all and
in some cases
computers, yachtshas
anddiminished
umpteen otherslightly"
things. (Kahneman,
I would need to work
2007,
hard to http://news.bbc.co.uk).
earn enough not to meet my needs but to service these
possessions. (Kumar, 2006: 302)
 Climate Change

Image: free.images.co.uk

Image: free.images.co.uk
The Future isn’t What it Used to Be

global warming peak oil insecurities

unsustainability
stresses
uncertainty dense
interdependence
population
globalisation complexity pressures

ecosystem inequity
degradation overconsumption
 Aspects of Well-being
Basic Needs Food, shelter, secure livelihood

Good Health Physical and mental health and a

robust natural environment
Healthy Social
A supportive social network
Relations

Security Personal safety and security of one’s

possessions

Freedom The capacity to achieve one’s

development potential
World Watch Institute
 Five guiding principles of SD

1. Living within
environmental limits
2. Ensuring a strong, healthy
Our generation is the first to knowingly
and just society
degrade the environment at the
3. Achieving a sustainable
expense of children now and in the
economy
future – a fact that challenges much of
4. Promoting good
our rhetoric about the importance of
governance
children in society. The evidence …
5. Using sound science
suggests that it may not be possible to
responsibly
deliver ECM at all unless the
environment becomes one of its leading
considerations. Sustainable
Development is not an optional extra
…; it is a necessary part of building a
society that cares for its children.
(Sustainable Development Commission,
2009, p7)
The Earth Charter:
Four basic principles
1. Respect Earth and life in all its diversity.

2. Care for the community of life with understanding, compassion,

and love.

3. Build democratic societies that are just, participatory, sustainable,

and peaceful.

4. Secure Earth’s bounty and beauty for present and future

generations.
 A Sustainable Society
• … is one that can
persist over
generations, one that
is far-seeing enough,
flexible enough, and
wise enough not to
undermine either its
physical or social
systems of support.
Meadows et al, 2005
Decision-making at the Eden Project
(talk given at Hestercombe, July 2009)

The triple bottom line

A
A Environmentally sound
B Socially acceptable
C Economically viable

B C
Economic Approach to SD
• Robert Repetto
“The core idea of sustainability is that
current decisions should not impair the
prospects for maintaining or improving
future living standards. This implies that
our economic system should be managed
so we can live off the dividends of our
resources”.
• Resources – all resources
Ecological approach to SD
• SD is about maintenance of essential
ecological processes and life support
systems, the preservation of genetic
diversity and the sustainable utilization of
species and ecosystems
Social Approach to SD

Ed Barbier
• SD is directly concerned with increasing
the standard of living of the poor, which
can be measured in terms of increased
food, real income, education, health care,
water supply, sanitation and only indirectly
concerned with economic growth at the
aggregate.
The principle
• Protect the environment and at the same
time fulfill economic and social objectives
• Operational criteria:
– Economic objectives should not be maximized without
satisfying environmental and social constraints
– Environmental benefits should not be maximized
without satisfying economic and social constraints
– Social benefits should not be maximized without
satisfying economic and environmental constraints
The principle – meant to deliver

1. Economic growth and equity; not leaving

any region behind
2. Conserving natural resources and the
environment; for us and future generations
3. Social development; Ensure rich fabric of
social and cultural diversity, ensure rights of
workers, empowerment and at the same
time ensure jobs, education, food, health
care, energy etc.
 David Orr’s Nine Challenges
• Power civilisation by sunlight
• Grow food and fibre sustainably
• Dis-invent the concept of waste
• Preserve biodiversity
• Restore ruined ecologies
• Reduce materials, water and land use per head
• Rethink the political basis of modern societies
• Develop economies that can be sustained within nature’s
limits
• Distribute wealth fairly within and between generations

‘Daunting agenda…exciting possibilities’

Is education a solution … or
Part of the Problem?
Sustainability is about the terms and conditions
of human survival, and yet we still educate at all
levels as if no such crisis existed.

The destruction of the planet is not the work of ignorant

people. Rather it is largely the result of work by people
with BAs, BScs, MAs, MScs and PhDs.

David Orr 
Is Education a Good Thing?
• … the volume of education has increased
and continues to increase, yet so do
pollution, exhaustion of resources, and the
dangers of ecological catastrophe. If still
more education is to save us, it would
have to be education of a different kind:
an education that takes us into the depth
of things. (Schumacher, 1997)
Goal of UN Decade of Education for
Sustainable Development 2005-14
… to integrate the values inherent in
sustainable development into all aspects of
learning in order to encourage changes in
behaviour that allow for a more sustainable and
just society for all. This involves learning the
values, behaviour and lifestyles required for a
sustainable future and for positive societal
transformation.

http://portal.unesco.org/en/ev.php-URL_ID=29008&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html