Introduction to
Sustainability

http://www.brocku.ca/tren/
courses/tren3p18
These notes available via the
online course outline at:

TREN 1F90
Introduction to Sustainability
 Definitions
– environment
– policy
– scale
– jurisdiction
 Defining Sustainable Development
 About Interdisciplinarity

Definitions, tools
and frameworks

en·vi·ron·ment
in-'vI-r&(n)-m&nt, -'vI(-&)r(n)-
[n] 1 : the circumstances, objects, or
conditions by which one is surrounded
2 a : the complex of physical, chemical,
and biotic factors (as climate, soil, and
living things) that act upon an organism or
an ecological community and ultimately
determine its form and survival b : the
aggregate of social and cultural
conditions that influence the life of an
individual or community.
- Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, 2004

environment
[n] the totality of
surrounding conditions.

environmental
effects
…are felt, and modified, in 3 main
ways - through the flows of:
MATERIALS
ENERGY
INFORMATION
-> fundamental ‘spheres of
influence’ for sustainability

policy
…a course or general plan of
action to be adopted by a
government, party, person, etc.
- Concise Oxford Dictionary

policy
…a selected, planned line of
conduct in the light of which
individual decisions are made
and coordination achieved
- Webster’s Encyclopedic Dictionary

conceptual tools for
understanding sustainability

scale
- an ordered series of
graduated quantities, values,
degrees, etc.
- relative magnitude
- Webster’s Encyclopedic Dictionary

scale
may be:
- physical / geographical
– ranking based upon size, dimension,
geographical subunit, etc.
- ecological
– individual, deme, community, population
- jurisdictional
– local, municipal, regional, federal, global

scale
earth
continent
country
province
region
municipality
neighbourhood
household
individual
United Nations
.
.
governments
.
.
ngos / community groups
.
individuals
GLOBAL / MACRO
LOCAL / MICRO
spatial jurisdictional /
decision making

jurisdiction
- the legal power to administer and
enforce the law
- the exercising of this power
- the region within which this
power is valid or in which a
person has authority
- authority
- Webster’s Encyclopedic Dictionary

Defining
Sustainable
Development

Sustainable development:
meeting the needs of the
present without compromising
the ability of future generations
to meet their own needs.
– World Commission on Environment and
Development (1987): Our Common Future

Elements of sustainability
Environment
Economy Society
- World Commission on Environment and Development, 1987

the sustainable
development triangle

Elements of sustainability
Environment
Economy Society
- World Commission on Environment and Development, 1987

Elements of sustainability
Environment
- World Commission on Environment and Development, 1987
•biodiversity
•materials
•energy
•biophysical interactions

Elements of sustainability
Economy
- World Commission on Environment and Development, 1987
•money and capital
•employment
•technological growth
•investment
•market forces

Elements of sustainability
Society
- World Commission on Environment and Development, 1987
•human diversity (cultural, linguistic, ethnic)
•equity (dependence / independence)
•quality of life
•institutional structures and organization
•political structures

The ‘3 Es’ Model
Ecology
Economy Equity

The Healthy Community Model
SOCIETY
ENVIRONMENT
ECONOMY
HEALTH

Sustainability: PROBLEMS
 Depletion of finite resources
– fuels, soil, minerals, species
 Over-use of renewable resources
– forests, fish & wildlife, fertility, public funds
 Pollution
– air, water, soil
 Inequity
– economic, political, social, gender
 Species loss
– endangered species and spaces
- WCED, 1987

Sustainability: SOLUTIONS
 Cyclical material use
– emulate natural cycles; 3 R’s
 Safe reliable energy
– conservation, renewable energy,
substitution, interim measures
 Life-based interests
– health, creativity, communication,
coordination, appreciation, learning,
intellectual and spiritual development

Two key sustainable development concepts:
EQUITY
LIMITS TO GROWTH
-WCED 1987

Two key sustainable development concepts:
the concept of needs, particularly the essential
needs of the world’s poor
EQUITY
-WCED 1987

Two key sustainable development concepts:
EQUITY
• the quality of being fair or impartial;
fairness; impartiality
• something that is fair and just.
-dictionary.com

Contrast with:
EQUALITY
• the state or quality of being equal;
correspondence in quantity, degree,
value, rank, or ability.
• uniform character, as of motion or
surface.
-dictionary.com

Two key sustainable development concepts:
the idea of limitations (ecological, technological,
and social) which affect the environment’s
ability to meet present and future needs
LIMITS TO GROWTH
-WCED 1987

Two key sustainable development concepts:
LIMITS TO GROWTH
- quantitative and qualitative limits
- living within the regenerative and
assimilative capacities of the planet
-WCED 1987

Sustainable development...
 implies limits
Not predefined absolute limits, but
limitations imposed by:
– the ability of the biosphere to absorb the
effects of human activities
– adaptability of human social and political
organization
– technology

Sustainable development
and economic growth
Economic growth must be made:
– less material intensive (‘dematerialization of
the economy’)
– less energy intensive
– more equitable in its impacts
 Economic growth may be reduced or
curtailed to meet limitations imposed by
environment, technology, or society

Institutional gaps impeding
sustainable development
2 major gaps:
 fragmented decision making
– narrow mandates, jurisdictional rigidity,
lack of communication and coordination
 lack of accountabiity
– failure to make the bodies whose policy
actions degrade the environment
responsible for their actions

materials and
energy

Obsolescent “frontier” civilization:
ENERGY
CONVENTIONAL
URBAN SYSTEM
MATERIALS
HEAT
WASTE &
TOXINS
One-way flow of materials and energy
CONSUMER
SOCIETY
NON-RENEWABLE
and RENEWABLE
HIGH
THROUGHPUT

CONSERVER
SOCIETY
Sustainable civilization:
•Cyclical flows of materials
•Appropriate energy usage
Energy Efficiency
RENEWABLE
Waste Minimization
Toxics control
LOW
THROUGHPUT
ENERGY
MATERIALS
Low-quality
Heat Energy
Low-volume
Nontoxic
Waste
Materials

information
and decision
making

Sustainable development...
 considers future and present
needs when making decisions
about:
–resource and energy use
–technological development
–direction of investments
–social, political & institutional
change...etc. etc. etc.

ECONOMY
ENV’T
SOCIETY
TRADITIONAL
DECISION MAKING

ECONOMY
ENV’T
SOCIETY
TRADITIONAL
DECISION MAKING
• NON-PARTICIPATORY
•FRAGMENTED

SOCIETY
ENVIRONMENT
ECONOMY
ECONOMY
ENV’T
SOCIETY
TRADITIONAL
DECISION MAKING
ECOSYSTEM-BASED
DECISION MAKING
‘ECO-
SYSTEM
HEALTH’

SOCIETY
ENVIRONMENT
ECONOMY
ECOSYSTEM-BASED
DECISION MAKING
• PARTICIPATORY
• INTEGRATED
‘ECO-
SYSTEM
HEALTH’

Fragmented decision-making
ISSUE
federal /
national
municipal
public
private
provincial /
state
regional
other
interests
community
groups
- after Barrett and Kidd, 1991

Integrated decision-making
regional
provincial/
provincial/
state
state
municipal
municipal
private
private
community
community
groups
groups
public
public
other
other
interests
interests
federal/
federal/
national
national
ISSUE
ISSUE
- after Barrett and Kidd, 1991

decision making
• reactive

decision making
• reactive
(‘end of pipe’)

decision making
• anticipatory
• reactive

decision making
• anticipatory
(planning for
change)
• reactive

decision making
• radical
• anticipatory
• reactive

decision making
• radical
(fundamental;
root causes)
• anticipatory
• reactive

decision making
• radical
• anticipatory
• reactive

• radical
• anticipatory
• reactive
Industry
• change in demand
- less consumption
- alternative consumption
• change in process
- clean technology
- elimination of toxics
• sewage treatment plant
- ‘end of pipe’ solution
• environment
and
economy
and
society
• environment
and
economy
• environment
or
economy

Northern
Telecom
 based in Canada
 42 plants in various countries
 manufacturer of electronic components
(telecommunications)
 1988: 1000+ tonnes of CFCs per year
 1992: 0 tonnes of CFCs used per year
Historical
example:

Original Process
1) raw components and grease
2) manufacturing and assembly process
3) clean off grease with CFCs
4) finished product

Revised process
1) raw components, no grease
2) manufacturing and assembly process
3) no need to clean off grease with CFCs
4) finished product

Environment AND Economy
 $1 million to develop new process
 $4 million savings in first year (no
CFCs)
 $50 million savings to year 2000
 international environmental prize ->
great publicity
 contract with Mexico for industrial
innovation (very lucrative)

• radical
• anticipatory
• reactive

• radical
• anticipatory
• reactive
Industry

• radical
• anticipatory
• reactive
Industry
• change in
demand for
product
• change in
industrial
process
• sewage
treatment
plant for
wastes

• radical
• anticipatory
• reactive
Industry
• change in
• demand for
product
• change in
• industrial
process
• sewage
• treatment
• plant for
wastes
Biodiversity
• apply
landscape
ecology
principles
to human
activity
• establish
national
parks (12%)
to protect
habitats
• zoo / seed
bank for
endangered
species
Transportation

• radical
• anticipatory
• reactive
Industry
• change in
demand for
product
• change in
industrial
process
• sewage
treatment
plant for
wastes
Biodiversity
• apply
landscape
ecology
principles
to human
activity
• establish
national
parks (12%)
to protect
habitats
• zoo / seed
bank for
endangered
species
Transportation
• complete
redesign of
our cities
• alternative
fuels for cars
• catalytic
converters

values ideology strategies
values, ideologies
and strategies

interactions amongst
values / ideologies / strategies
values
individual, cultural, social, spiritual, moral

interactions amongst
values / ideologies / strategies
values
ideologies
Definable sets of values constitute
individual, cultural, social, spiritual, moral
Short form summary of basic values that
eliminates the need to engage in deep
philosophical investigations every time action is
required

interactions amongst
values / ideologies / strategies
values
ideologies
Definable sets of values constitute
(e.g. Industrial Capitalism, Marxism, Christianity,
Liberalism, Socialism, Conservatism, Judaism)
individual, cultural, social, spiritual, moral

interactions amongst
values / ideologies / strategies
values
ideologies
strategies
Definable sets of values constitute
(e.g. Industrial Capitalism, Marxism, Christianity,
Liberalism, Socialism, Conservatism, Judaism)
…which give rise to
practical applications of ideologically consistent
ideas, actions, policies and programs
individual, cultural, social, spiritual, moral

interactions amongst
values / ideologies / strategies
values ideology strategies

environmental values
values ideology strategies
• holistic perspective
• everything is connected to everything else
• parts can only be understood in the context
of the whole
• nature as a living organism or system
(after Macdonald, D. 1991. The Politics of Pollution.
McClelland and Stewart, Toronto: p.33)

environmental values
values ideology strategies
• humans living within nature
-> inherent value of other organisms and
inanimate objects
• limits to growth
(after Macdonald, D. 1991. The Politics of Pollution.
McClelland and Stewart, Toronto: p.33)

environmental values
values ideology strategies
• appropriate technology
• matching the scope and scale of technology
to the task at hand
• principles of durability and efficiency
• recognition that new technology brings both
benefits and problems

environmental values
values ideology strategies
•appropriate scale
• appropriate sizes for institutions, social
organizations, communities
•accessible and accountable decision-making
in public and private sectors

interactions amongst
values / ideologies / strategies
values ideology strategies

environmental ideologies
values ideology strategies
• technological optimism
• sustainable development (Brundtland Commission)
• social ecology (Murray Bookchin)
• deep ecology (Arne Naess)
• ecofeminism (Françoise D’Eaubonne)
• various ‘green’ political parties
many variants: e.g., alliances with socialism,
feminism, peace movement, etc.
examples of

interactions amongst
values / ideologies / strategies
values ideology strategies

• reform environmentalism (traditional
bureacracies and political action)
• direct action and intervention (e.g. Earth First!)
• single-issue lobbying / intervention groups
(e.g., Save the Rouge Valley System)
• permanent organizations (e.g., Greenpeace)
• alliances and coalitions
(e.g., Canadian Coalition on Acid Rain)
• round tables, forums (e.g., National Round Table on
the Environment and the Economy)
environmental strategies
and strategists

interactions amongst
values / ideologies / strategies
values ideology strategies

interactions amongst
values / ideologies / strategies
values ideology strategies
• feedback loop allows for reflection,
re-evaluation, adaptive management

ideology
interactions amongst
values / ideologies / strategies
values strategies
• if no feedback loop: inflexible, unresponsive

ideology
interactions amongst
values / ideologies / strategies
values strategies
dogma

interactions amongst
values / ideologies / strategies
values ideology strategies

Sustainability:
How do we move from
rhetoric to reality?

principles

principles
policy

principles
policy
practice

To be useful, principles of
sustainability must:
 be easily understood
 be applicable in many contexts
 be transferrable across scales
 translate well from fundamental values
into applied policy and practical action
 identify possibilities for radical
transformative change AND
positive incremental change

Some
Principles of Sustainability
in the literature:
 Our Common Future (WCED 1987)
 Principles defining sustainable development (OSEM 1989)
 Defining a sustainable society (Robinson et al . 1990,1996)
 Agenda 21 (1992)
 Six principles of sustainable development (ORTEE 1992)
 Guideposts for a sustainable future (Nickerson 1993)
 Framework for Sustainable Development (CIDA 1994)
 The Natural Step (Robert et al . 1994)
 Sustainability Principles (ORTEE 1994), etc.

Recent compilation of
Principles of Sustainability
http://iisd1.iisd.ca/sd/principle.asp
-IISD (Winnipeg)

Guideposts for Sustainability
(after Nickerson, 1993)
Activities are sustainable when they:
1. Use materials in continuous cycles.
2. Use continuously reliable sources of
energy.
3. Encourage desirable human traits
(equity; creativity; communication;
coordination; appreciation; intellectual
and spiritual development).
One example:

Guideposts for Sustainability
Activities are not sustainable when they:
4. Require continual inputs of non-renewable
resources.
5. Use renewable resources faster than their
rate of renewal.
6. Cause cumulative degradation of the
environment.
7. Require resources in quantities that could
never be available for people everywhere.
8. Lead to the extinction of other life forms.

About
Interdisciplinarity

What do you answer if someone asks you,
– What is your major?
– What are your career goals?
– What is your ethnic origin?

career
goals
academic
major
ethnocultural
identity
Normative
categories

Normative
categories

Normative
categories
“disciplines”

disciplinary
Multidisciplinary
Interdisciplinary
Transdisciplinary
- what are the differences?
Reference: Stefanovic, Ingrid. 1996. Interdisciplinarity
and Wholeness: Lessons from Eco-Research.
Environments 23(3): 74-94.

Disciplinary:
 of or pertaining to a discrete branch
of learning
 knowledge within generally accepted
boundaries

Disciplinary:
 often associated with discipline-specific
vocabularies, methods, and assumptions
 Examples of disciplines:
sociology, philosophy, biology,
political science, chemistry, economics,
geography, mathematics...

Multidisciplinary:
 standard disciplinary approaches are
applied to a common research question,
problem or issue
 insights achieved through an approach
which is essentially additive rather than
integrative

Multidisciplinary:
 a spontaneous coalescence of these
disparate approaches is anticipated
 arguably the approach which produces the
most substantive research results

ISSUE

ISSUE
discipline
discipline
discipline
discipline

Interdisciplinary:
 the issue, problem, or concern defines the
disciplinary expertise which is brought to
bear
…arguably the most effective policy-
oriented problem-solving approach

Interdisciplinary:
 a level of integration which involves more
than an additive analysis of the
disciplinary perspectives
 insights are achieved through an
approach which is explicitly integrative ->
an a priori attempt is made at synthesis
across disciplinary boundaries

ISSUE

ISSUE

discipline
discipline ISSUE
discipline
discipline
discipline
discipline
discipline
discipline

sector
sector ISSUE
sector
sector
sector
sector
sector
sector

Transdisciplinary:
 recognizes the interconnectedness of all
aspects of reality and knowledge
 Goal: distinctions amongst disciplines are
eliminated completely

Transdisciplinary:
 “an attempt to transcend the dynamics of
a dialectical synthesis to grasp the total
dynamics of reality as a whole”
 Examples of transdisciplinary endeavour:
– general systems theory
– phenomenology

discipline
discipline ISSUE
discipline
discipline
discipline
discipline
discipline
discipline
discipline
ISSUE
discipline
discipline
discipline
discipline
discipline
discipline
discipline
discipline ISSUE
discipline
discipline
discipline
discipline
discipline
discipline