Check the comments and on the right side and make changes and give

Check the comments and on the right side and make changes
and give me the revised file.
Thesis statement target feedback:
Your thesis looks great! You lay out your topic very well!
Developing ideas target feedback:
Your research looks great! There are a few places where I asked
you to expand or be a little more specific, but your train of
thought was well research and well presented!
My suggestion to you here to make this paper even stronger is
to really lean into the persuasive side of your assignment more
throughout your paper.
Your call to action (what you want people to be persuaded
about) is that measures need to be taken to stop the bush
fires/prepare people to manage them better, yes? You address
this in your conclusion, but it should be present throughout your
paper.
As you present research on why it’s hard for lower income
people to get enough insurance, also restate that, to help these
people, things need to change and how they should change, for
example. Make sure every section of your paper reinforces your
call to action
Essay structure target feedback:
I loved how consistently you crafted your topic sentences to intr
oduce the topic of the paragraph!
Grammar/Mechanics target feedback:

Aside from strengthening your call to action, I would
recommend spending the bulk of your editing time on this
portion of your paper.
Your research is fantastic, and your argument is interesting, so
you don't want small typos or confusing wording to hinder your
readers from seeing your argument.
First of all, I would read through this paper, aloud, slowly,
taking the time to catch places where you are missing a period,
have capitalized the wrong words, or are missing a word or two.
(I have marked a few of these spots for you with highlighting.
Then, take a look at my notes about making the subject and verb
of each sentence match in number (if the subject of your
sentence is plural, then the verb should be too!) and read
through your paper aloud again and note where you pause
naturally as your read, that (and consulting the handouts I am
attaching here for you) will show you where commas belong!
Lastly, keep an eye out for run on sentences or sentence
fragments. Run on sentences happen when you string together
too much information with too little punctuatio n to divide up
your words and help guide your reader through your paper. To
fix them, consider adding some commas or, where possible,
splitting the sentences up. Sentence fragments, on the other
hand, are where your sentence is missing either a subject or a
verb.
Check your paper carefully for both, since you have a few of
each hiding in there. For all of these grammar sections, please
feel free to refer to these handouts for more examples of how to
find and fix them!
I would suggest looking at my suggestions for making the
"persuasive" part of your essay more apparent throughout the

whole paper, not just the conclusion, and then see my notes
about catching small details in your grammar and mechanics
that will strengthen your writing overall.
2
Introduction
Recently, Australia has had grips of fire emergencies. In
addition to the loss of lives, vast areas of the nation have been
burnt down thus leading to immense destruction of property in
the country’s largest cities, Melbourne and Sydney (Clune
&Zehnder, 2020). In the year 2019, Sydney had to experience
close to 81 days of poor quality air, all of which came about as
a result of bush fires (Morris, 2020).As such, there is need to
examine the fires’ implication to housing in Australia in
addition to having a brief analysis of the various tenants’
situations and the government responses in relation to the
extreme climate event.
Recent reports indicate that climate changes is what majorly
contribute to the hot and dry conditions that usually contribute
to the raging fires in the country(Morris,2020). The
unprecedented conditions of the country came about as a result
of climate changes that is low humidity, decreased amount of
rainfall, unprecedented dryness, increased wind velocities,
higher temperatures and ferocity and fire spreads all of which
are established trends stimulated by the drying and warming
climate(Clune &Zehnder, 2020). All these call for the need to
investigate the environmental sustainability solutions for
countries, not only Australia but also other countries which are
prominent in bush fires. Comment by Sarah Bliss: Keep an eye
out for subject-verb agreement! The noun and verb in your
sentence should always match in number, meaning that, if a
noun is plural, then the verb should also be plural, and vice
versa. What is the subject of this sentence? Does it match the
verb?

Comment by Sarah Bliss: Nice job introducing your thesis
and topic!
The Unprecedented Climatic Conditions, Drought and Heat
Climate changes has had profound effects in Australia (Yu et
al., 2020). In the year 2013, the Australian climate council
released a detailed article informing the citizens of a bushfire
threat. The climate scientists also highlighted that Australia was
more likely to experience bush fires in the coming days (Morris,
2020) .recent statistics also depicts that in march 2019,
BUSH FIRES IN AUSTRALIA
3
climatologists in the country also reported that the summer
national mean temperature was close to 2.14 degrees Celsius,
slightly above the mean that as experienced between 1960 and
1990(Morris, 2020).The immense heat was accompanied by
drought, an idea that impacted the way of lives of persons in
Australia. The heat together with drought meant that by the end
of the summer period, vast areas of the country would be
combustible. The unprecedented conditions of the country came
about as a result of climate changes that is low humidity,
decreased amount of rainfall, unprecedented dryness, increased
wind velocities, higher temperatures and ferocity and fire
spreads all of which are established trends stimulated by the
drying and warming climate. As such, it is relevant to
investigate the environmental sustainability solutions for
countries, not only Australia but also other countries which are
prominent in bush fires. Comment by Sarah Bliss: This phrase
is a little wordy. Is there a more straightforward, streamlined
way to say the same thing? Comment by Sarah Bliss: This
sentence is a bit of a run-on, because it is so long that readers

may lose your point before reaching the end. To fix it, I would
recommend splitting this sentence into to (not necessarily right
in the middle, but somewhere before or after your list of climate
change effects).
The Fires and Rebuilding Housing
Rebuilding of houses destroyed by bush fires needs the immense
consideration of whether the households are permitted to
construct houses in the affected areas ,the insurance
implications of the rebuilding process and whether he various
rebuilding standards of the country have been revised(Handmer
& Tibbits,2005). Extreme climatic changes have led to most
areas being vulnerable thus leading to most scientists reaching
conclusion that the places are not suitable for building and
construction. The places might be at higher risks of building
due to the difficulty in mitigating either the current risks or the
future risks under both the new and existing climatic scenarios.
Some of the places immensely affected by bushfires, the
geographical location of the place is such that fires will reach
the ridgeline then interfere with the valley thus making it
tedious for buildings to be constructed in such places. If
persons are permitted to construct in such places, research
shows that they should abide by the bunkers building condition.
Some of the most beautiful picturesque areas where individuals
can live is amongst Comment by Sarah Bliss: Great job
focusing your topic sentence on what you plan to address in
your paragraph! I would just give the grammar and wording in
this sentence a little attention. You switch between present
tense “are permitted” and past “have been,” which makes the
sentence feel disjointed. Can you make these verbs match in
tense? Comment by Sarah Bliss: Can you be more specific
about what places you are referring to?

4
trees and on ridgelines though inherenting with the kind of
lifestyle is abit tricky for some individuals. As such, the
government prioritizes purchasing back housing in most areas
affected by bushfires.
A primary factor in analyzing whether households who have lost
their houses have to reconstruct them is their levels of insurance
cover. Research analysis shows that most of the previous
disasters house owners were not insured thus making it difficult
for them to obtain insurance cover for rebuilding.as such,
insurance level is a vital determinant of whether a particular
community or society will recover. A society’s recovery after
the occurrence of a disaster is influenced by their adequacy of
insurance cover.in 2013,close to 200 homes were destroyed
under which 65% of them were underinsured. Research by the
Victorian government also depicts that 46% of the homes were
insured. All these call for the need of having insurance cover so
that individual’s property can be recovered in the case of the
occurrence of a disaster. Comment by Sarah Bliss: Check your
capitalization in this paragraph. (:
Realizing the building standards of persons is also crucial in an
individual’s plan to rebuilding a home. In addition to a
household’s geographical location, having many low income
earners who may not afford insurance cover is among the
reasons as to why most of the households affected by bush fires
are underinsured due to the increased costs of rebuilding.
Building in most of the fire prone areas is more expensive as
compared to constructing in a conventional home since most of
the home owners tend to abide by the various tough building
rules and regulations. They are usually forced to pay premiums
vital for the installation of toughed windows and door screens
and other various non-combustible materials.as such, it is

crucial to have homes constructed next to bush lands to undergo
bush fire attacks level of assessment, an idea that is essential in
measuring the buildings probability of exposure to both radiant
heat and ember attack Climate changes imply that the bush fires
are much more intense Comment by Sarah Bliss: What you
have happening here is a sentence fragment, or when a sentence
is missing either a subject (noun) or a verb (action/existing). To
fix a fragment, you can either identify what is missing from the
sentence and add it in (Does your sentence have a subject? Do
you say what that subject is doing?), or you can combine it with
a sentence around it via a comma. What approach would work
better here, do you think?
5
and that there is concern that despite the intense of the building
standards, most homes might be unable to withstand the ferocity
of bushfires. Stringent building standards would be favorable in
the light of fire intensities since they aid take away the
confidence that as an architect, assisting individuals is a far
much better way of preventing losses that would have been
caused by the bush fires.
The Effects of Bush Fires in Australian housing market
Bush fires interfere with various businesses in the affected areas
particularly the agricultural and tourism sector, all of which
have immensely been interfered with persons’ lives thus
resulting to lay off of some of their staff members (Naaeder,
2018). As a result, most of the farmers, small business owners
and their relevant staff members are struggling to withstand
mortgage repayment procedures. A recent report on some of the

effects of the fires on housing markets ,rating agencies expect
that the mortgage arrears increase I the coming months and that
the property prices in the affected locations decrease. As such,
the prices of most commodities will be affected by decreased
demand. Due to the presence of a national peril event, the
housing prices are expected to decrease and their ability to sell
property could most likely be impacted should the geographical
location be deemed as being either having a higher risk to
buyers or less desirable. All these would result of individual
shying away from bush stone property due to the fear of losing
their properties in bush fire. Comment by Sarah Bliss:
Throughout your paper, look for places where commas could
help guide your reader through your longer sentences—or where
you have two essentially complete sentences (independent
clauses) that can be divided by a semi-colon.
Read through your paper aloud, and note where you pauses
naturally. That is your brain’s way of telling you need a
comma! Also, see the comma rules in the handout I attached for
you. They will really help you as you edit!
Despite the area affected by bush fires being extensive and that
the price of houses are certain to drop in the burnt areas, the
number of individuals affected is small as compared to the
general Australian population. Research depicts that close to 2%
of Australian population have at once been affected by the bush
fires (Morris, 2020).In Melbourne and Sydney, the fires had no
6
effects on the property prices of individuals thus leading to
significant gain in the prices of houses particularly in the last
quarter of 2019 and early 2020(Morris,2020).

Tenants being forced to evacuate their premises is also another
effect of Bush fires in Australia despite it being unclear of the
number of tenants who have been affected by the fires. If the
property that they have been living in is destroyed, the landlord
is usually obligated to help the tenant get alternative
accommodation or compensate them for the items that they have
lost. However, the tenant is not advised to terminate their
tenancy immediately as the landlords. In cases where the
property is habitable, but slightly damaged, the renter has full
rights and responsibilities to plead for any repairs ad also seek
for rent reduction. If in any case the urgent repairs are not
carried out and the tenants incurs the necessary costs, they also
have the rights to seek compensation from their landlords.
Bush fire crisis affects both the borrowers and lenders .banks
will be expected to face increased number of claims for
financial hardships as most individuals would be struggling to
make ends meet in the wake of destruction (Worthington, 2008).
Those persons that rely on income from either agriculture or
tourism could be more affected thus they need more leniency.
On the other hand, the local employment opportunities would
also be impacted. If individuals lose their jobs, they may strive
in servicing their debts thus most banks can likely expect
elevated mortgage arrears for some time period until consumes
get back on their feet ("How will Australia’s bushfire crisis
affect property and lending?," 2020). As such, most banks
would have set aside a provision since most fire affected
consumers include the small business owners are likely to
encounter cash flow problems. Banks will need to give their
customers more time in repaying their loan and also accepting
some of the losses that are related to this loans.
Conclusions and Recommendations
7

To sum it all, bush fires are disadvantageous because they result
to the loss of lives, vast areas of the nation have been burnt
down thus leading to immense destruction of property in the
country’s largest cities, Melbourne and Sydney. The fire effects
call for the need to examine the fires’ implication to housing in
Australia in addition to having a brief analysis of the various
tenants’ situations and the government responses in relation to
the extreme climate event. Bush fires interfere with various
businesses in the affected areas particularly the agricultural and
tourism sector, all of which have immensely been interfered
with persons’ lives thus resulting to lay off of some of their
staff members. As a result, most of the farmers, small business
owners and their relevant staff members are struggling to
withstand mortgage repayment procedures. Tenants being forced
to evacuate their premises is also another effect of Bush fires in
Australia despite it being unclear of the number of tenants who
have been affected by the fires (Scates & Oppenheimer, 2016).
Comment by Sarah Bliss: Places where you transition
between ideas in a sentence are great places for commas!
Comment by Sarah Bliss: Make sure every verb has a
subject. Who is doing the laying off here?
As such, I would recommend the utilization of the three pillar
sustainable framework, all of which are relevant in the creation
of a new political and economic institution that constitute the
major stakeholders, key inputs and various incentive structures
that are suitable for sustainability planning and project to be
both successful and feasible in ensuring that complex issues are
solved (Mensah, 2019). Additionally, investigating the
environmental sustainability solutions for countries, not only
Australia but also other countries which are prominent in bush
fires. Is also relevant in aiding control such unpredictable
circumstances. The three pillar framework include, have
effective technological methods, laws and governance, financial

incentives and economics (Clune &Zehnder, 2020). The three
frameworks aid translate sustainable issues into relevant ides
and an applied focus that can be better comprehended and
effectively acted upon by both the economic and community
stakeholders. The combination of Comment by Sarah Bliss:
This section is the heart of your persuasive essay. You are
persuading people to do something, so maybe this section
should be longer, or introduced earlier in the paper?
Comment by Sarah Bliss: Great concluding sentence!
8
all these frameworks with adequate transparency leads to the
creation of a vital and sufficient foundation for successful,
scalable and more rapid deployable and culturally acceptable
solutions.
9
References
Clune, W. H., & Zehnder, A. J.B. (2020, 05). The evolution of
sustainability models, from
descriptive, to strategic, to the three pillars framework for
applied solutions.
Sustainability Science, 15(3), 1001-1006.

Dowdy, A. J. (2020). Seamless climate change projections and
seasonal predictions for bushfires in Australia. Journal of
Southern Hemisphere Earth Systems Science, 70(1), 120-138.
Gunay, S., Bakry, W., & Al-Mohamad, S. (2020). The
Unprecedented Australian Stock Market Reaction to the Black
Summer Bushfires and the COVID-19 Pandemic Outbreak: A
Sectoral Analysis. Available at SSRN 3720360.
Handmer, J., & Tibbits, A. (2005). Is staying at home the safest
option during bushfires? Historical evidence for an Australian
approach. Global Environmental Change Part B: Environmental
Hazards, 6(2), 81-91.
How will Australia’s bushfire crisis affect property and
lending? (2020, March 26). Personal Mortgage Brokers for
Home Loans in Australia -
Smartline.https://www.smartline.com.au/mortgage-news/market-
insights/how-will-australias-bushfire-crisis-affect-property-and-
lending/
Herremans, I. M., & Reid, R. E. (2002). Developing awareness
of the sustainability concept.
The Journal of Environmental Education, 34(1), 16-20.
Mensah, J. (2019). Sustainable development: Meaning, history,
principles, pillars, and
implications for human action: Literature review. Cogent Social
Sciences, 5(1), 1653531.
10

Morris, A. (2020). The bushfires in Australia and housing.
Housing Finance International, 45-48.
Naaeder, R. K. T. (2018). SOCIO-CULTURAL PRACTICES
PROMOTING THE INCIDENCE OF BUSHFIRES: A STUDY
OF THE SISSALA EAST DISTRICT IN THE UPPER WEST
REGION (Doctoral dissertation).
Scates, B., & Oppenheimer, M. (2016). The last battle: soldier
settlement in Australia 1916– 1939. Cambridge University
Press.
Worthington, A. C. (2008). The impact of natural events and
disasters on the Australian stock market: A GARCH-M analysis
of storms, floods, cyclones, earthquakes and bushfires. Global
Business and Economics Review, 10(1), 1-10.
Yu, P., Xu, R., Abramson, M. J., Li, S., & Guo, Y. (2020).
Bushfires in Australia: a se
VIDEO LINKS:
https://www.un.org/en/universal-declaration-human-rights/
AND
https://web.microsoftstream.com/video/3c8738c5-6c72-419c-
bd4e-97defb7931fc
WORKSHEET 2: Planning my Integration Paper
PART 1
(thesis key word)
In the movie, there are many human rights issues. What are the
significant ones that you have noticed? Try to summarize these
issues briefly in one word or one expression.

Note:
· Your answer should notbe “human rights” or “human rights
issue”.
· Instead, be more specific.
For example, color discrimination against African
Americans; social exclusion of African Americans; etc.
My answer:
PART 2 (A):
(paragraph key words & evidence)
What are the three characters who are relevant to these
issues?
Note:
· For each character, your answer should include not only
the name of the character but also the event/ human right issue
that they experienced in the movie. Try to write your answer in
one expression for each character.
· For example: Odessa being forced to leave the park;
Norman (verb)ing ….
Example:
Character 1:
One expression: Odessa being forced to leave the park
Quote from the movie:
In the movie, when the policeman notices Odessa in the park, he
orders her to leave immediately and shouts, “ this park
is whites only, and that meansniggers like you best answer with
‘yes, sir’ when spoken to. … … Get your stuff together and get
on out of here” (Pearce, 1990).
Relevant UDHR article:
Article #: 3
Article description:
“Everyone has the right to life, liberty, & security of person”

(United Nations, n.d.).
My answers:
Character 1:
One expression:
Article #:
Character 2:
One expression:
Article #:
Character 3:
One expression:

Article #:
WORKSHEET 3-Body Paragraphs
Choose organizing by Theory OR by Case (not both).
I choose organize by ( )
Organize by Theory
Thesis Statement
Follow this formula:
The UDHR is an effective tool for analyzing the (thesis key
word) revealed in the movie “name of the movie” through the
following: articles: article #, article#, and article #.
For example:
The UDHR is a valuable tool for explaining the (injustice
against immigrants) revealed in the movie “Visitor” through the
following articles: article 9, article 18, article 20
Write your thesis statement here:
Body Paragraph 1
Body Paragraph 2
Body Paragraph 3
Assertion:
This should be only one simple sentence.
State what the paragraph will discuss/prove

Include accurate thesis, paragraph key word (from theory), and
topic key word (from case).
For example:
Article 9 provides insights into injustice against immigrants
revealed at the vulnerability of Tarek in the movie.
Write your assertion here:
Assertion:
Assertion:
Explanation:
Explain the assertion in more detail, focusing on the
relationship between paragraph key word and the thesis key
word. Don’t forget to begin the sentence with a transition
word/phrase as suggested in the course pack. This should be
only one sentence.
For Example:
Specifically, UDHR claims that individuals shouldn’t be forced
to tolerate limit movement regardless of nationality. Without a
legitimate reason, no one should hold another in custody.
Write your explanation sentence here:
Explanation:

Explanation:
Evidence #1
from the theory (an article from UDHR)
For example:
As UDHR states in Article 9, “No one shall be subjected to
arbitrary arrest, detention or exile” (United Nations, 1948).
Write your evidence #1 here
Evidence #1
Evidence #1
Discussion #1
With this theory/ clearly (explain how the evidence #1 connects
with the thesis briefly)
For example:
With this theory, it is clear that human beings have the
opportunity to choose where they live and stay. In other words,
it is legitimate for foreigners to stay in another country and they
have rights to move freely with no limitation. Unless one
presents official permission and motive, no one is entitled to
send others to prison.

Write your discussion #1 here:
Discussion #1
Discussion #1
Evidence #2
Begin with a transition (one sentence): This concept sheds light
on/ This notion explains why/This theory justifies ……
+
Introduce the evidence:
In the movie, (clear and meaningful context), “quote from
movie” (citation).
For example:
This concept sheds light on why it’s unfair to arrest Tarek. In
the film, the cops doubted Tarek paid the underground fare, and
then they
checked his ID, even though Tarek explained, “I did not jump
it! I paid. I paid!” The
police officers still did not believe him and asked more
questions of Tarek. After
realizing Tarek was from Syria, they started to handcuff him
and did not give any
opportunities to let Walter explain more (Skalski et al., 2007).
Write your Evidence #2 here:

Evidence #2
Evidence #2
Discussion #2 (integrated discussion)
Explain how the theory explain the problem or issue in the
case.
Give details and draw out the key words from both theory and
case.
Each sentence should clearly combine language from the theory
or case.
(the order does not matter, some sentences can begin explaining
the theory and move to case, some can begin with case and then
explain theory)
For example
Considering this, UDHR drafters would claim that the police
officers infringed Tarek’s
right of liberty. Because article 9 applies to everyone regardless
of nationality,
handcuffing Tarek without reason is a breach of this article.
Tarek, as a foreigner, is
entitled to the right of free movement as all individuals do, so
the officers shouldn't
arrest him at their whim. Moreover, when Tarek is confused and
anxious about the
arrest, the officers are indifferent to his concern and
explanation. UDHR drafters would
assert that such an ignorance demonstrates officers’ disrespect
and carelessness to

Tarek's freedom of movement. Without clear mutual
understanding, the arrest could be
a mistake that causes Tarek to undergo more unfair treatment
during custody, which
doesn't fit the purpose of article 9.
Write you discussion #2 here:
Discussion #2
Discussion #2
Connection
Summarize in one sentence how the paragraph proved the
assertion/thesis
Make sure to include accurate thesis and paragraph key words
(article) and topic key word (case).
For example:
Therefore, article 9 of UDHR explains the unjust treatment
towards Tarek because the
police officers arrested him arbitrarily without providing legal
reasons and showing
respect to his right of liberty.
Write your connection sentence here:

Connection
Connection
Example persuasive essay on the economics of the tobacco
industry
The tobacco industry has become increasingly controversial in
the 20
th
century because of health
issues and associated costs to the tax payers. This essay will
show that the economic effects of the
tobacco industry are beneficial to the global community. It will
show that at the primary, secondary
and tertiary levels of the industry the economic benefits of this
industry far outweigh the health
concerns.
Firstly, at a primary level there will be significant benefits to
farmers. Because tobacco is easy to
cultivate it provides instant cash to small farmers who make up
the majority of the producers for the

industry (United Nations Food and Drug Organisation 2008:22).
Further, having a cash crop will
ensure a stable employment for small farm operators and a
stable income. However, as the recent
report from UNFAO (2008) disclosed, there is concern that the
farming of tobacco will take priority
over the farming of food crops and thereby present problems
with malnutrition in the developing
countries. Nevertheless these fears and concerns are undue. The
positive aspects and main
advantages of the farming of tobacco in developing countries is
the considerable progress in
agricultural practice and being able to use this as a foundation
to employ locals (Gray & Walter
2006). This in turn provides agriculture expertise to locals so
they can establish and grow their own
foods.
Another positive economic aspect is the economic benefits to
the secondary level of industry.
Tobacco at this level creates employment and a stable small
business economy. As the Small
Retails Association Report (2002) discloses, ‘thousands of
small retailers would be severely limited

in their ability to continue their business and employ shop
assistants if not for the sale of tobacco’.
This indicates that the tobacco industry creates steady
employment for many people and ensures a
steady financial return to keep business operational.
Finally, this industry is a huge source of revenue for many
governments. For instance, Matthews
(2007:17) reports that, ‘in China, about 60% of the price of a
packet of cigarettes goes to the
government in the form of taxes’. These massive taxes on
cigarettes are consistent with
governments throughout the world. Yet, evidence reported by
Miller (2002), revealed that the health
costs of the US population was costing more than the revenue
collected from cigarette taxes.
However, the Prices Surveillance Authorities, Report No. 2005,
states quite clearly that in Australia,
the tobacco industry averaged higher profits than industry in
general due to proficiency in the
production of cigarettes and the high demand for a product that
is safe guarded from an economic
recession. This indicates that tobacco is a commodity that
guarantees huge revenue for governments
during a recession.

Summing up, it is quite apparent the tobacco industry is a huge
and very powerful industry, despite
its cost to the community's health. At a primary level, it
provides ready cash and improved
agricultural technology. As a secondary level, it employs
thousands of workers and many small
businesses rely on selling its products. Finally, for governments
it provides huge revenue. Without
this industry the economic community, on all levels worldwide,
would be crippled. Furthermore, if
this industry should collapse the cost of unemployment to
governments would escalate.
References
Gray, P.H., & Walter, I. (2006). The economic contribution of
the tobacco industry. In Tollison,
R.D. (Ed.), Smoking and society: Towards a more balanced
assessment, (p. 267),
Massachusetts: Lexington Books.
Matthews, P. (2007, October 12). Between puffs: Chinese are
told of cigarette perils, Washington

Post, p. 17.
Miller, R.H. (2002), The economic importance of the US
tobacco industry. Washington DC: US
Department of Agriculture.
Prices Surveillance Authority (2005). Inquiry in relation to the
supply of cigarettes. (Report No. 6).
Small Retails Association Report (2002). The impact of tobacco
sales on small retailers. (Report
No. 13)
United Nations Food and Drug Organisation, (2008). Yearbook.
Rome: UNFAO, 13, p. 38.
Student Name CUC100 Assessment 4
Page 1 of 7
Due to war, terrorism and environmental issues, the refugee
flow in Europe has during the last
few years resulted in significant increased populations in the
hosting countries. While many

countries have refused to accommodate refugees, Sweden on the
other hand, has welcomed
these people in need with open arms, and in 2015 alone, almost
163 000 refugees sought
asylum in this northern country (Swedish Migration Agency,
2016a). This essay will discuss
the issues with accommodating large numbers of refugees, and
how in order to ease the
pressure on all three pillars of sustainability due to high intake
of refugees in Sweden, remote
areas must offer attainable opportunities and attract refugees.
This is in order to create a more
equal distribution of resources and services. Firstly, a definition
of sustainability and a
description of the issue will be provided, followed by the
sustainability issues concerning the
environmental, social and economic pillar. Lastly, the possible
outcomes for the issues
mentioned earlier in the essay will be discussed.
The word sustainability can be defined as processes and systems
and their ability to continue
for a long time, and also, to be able to adapt to change and
development (Robertson, 2014).

The three pillars of sustainability, or the triple bottom line,
describes the underpinnings of
sustainability and how the environment, the economic and the
social factors all need
addressing in order to reach a sustainable future. The increased
populations that follow
refugee flows is a serious challenge for the hosting countries
regarding sustainability and the
capacity to provide enough resources may not be possible if
solutions are not found within the
near future (Robertson, 2014). In Sweden, where the
accommodation of refugees is extreme at
the moment, all pillars of sustainability are being affected.
However, if a comparison is made,
the economic pillar is probably the one in need of the most
attention given that economic
benefits and welfare payments are costing Sweden substantial
amounts of money and are
impacting on other factors (Swedish Government Office, 2015).
The high intake of refugees in Sweden has led to a significant
increase in population and
especially in the bigger cities where most refugees prefer to
settle in the wait for asylum
(UNHCR, 2013). The reason for this is reported by UNHCR

(2013) to be the desire to be
close to already migrated family members and friends who are
living in these cities, but also
the higher likehood of finding work and other services. As a
result, already large and urban
cities become even more overcrowded followed by increased
strains on resources (UNHCR,
2013).
Page 2 of 7
Research suggests that more people also means an increased
demand of transport, housing,
water, waste management and electricity (Price & Feldmeyer,
2012; 2011;), all major
contributions to negative impact on the environment. On the
other hand, the study by Price
and Feldmeyer (2012; 2011) proposes that immigration does not
necessarily mean higher
pollution of the air, in contrast, many immigrants have a smaller
ecological footprint and
therefore do not contribute as much to environmental harm as

native citizens of well-
developed countries such as America and Sweden.
Arguably, the most significant threat to the environmental pillar
due to refugee flows is the
fact that no decrease of these high flows is predicted in the near
future. Both the Swedish
Migration Agency (2016b), as well as the Migration Policy
Institute (2015), are forecasting an
increased stream of refugees to Sweden. According to UNHCR
(2016), the reasons why
people have to leave their homes are greater than ever and
Banulesco-Bogdan and Fratzke
(2015) report that little effort has been made in solving the
situation in Syria, where most
refugees flee from. Furthermore, the refugees arriving in
Sweden at this point often still have
families in the affected areas, waiting to join their family
members in the hosting countries
when asylum has been granted (Banulesco-Bogdan & Fratzke,
2015). For these reasons, a
continuing increase of refugees seems possible and will remain
to pressure the Swedish
systems.

From the point of view of the social pillar of sustainability, one
of the more important social
issues with accommodating refugees is the possible loss of
culture the host country might
experience due to a more multicultural society that develops
from the increased population
(Traub, 2016). Sweden has always, and still is, striving for a
multicultural society (Eastmond,
2011), however, studies have shown that many Swedish citizens
hold negative attitudes
towards refugees and immigrants (UNHCR, 2013). The
nationalist party Swedish Democrats
(SD) has gained more support than ever before during the crisis
and many refugees are met
with discrimination and xenophobia (Traub, 2016).
Additionally, Hjerm and Nagayoshi
(2011) discuss xenophobia in the aspect that the majority group
sharing the same territory
may feel threatened by larger minority groups. The large
amount of Muslim refugees now
living in Sweden often become the target for racist actions, such
as burning of mosques
(BBC, 2015) and according to the earlier mentioned hypothesis,
could possibly be caused by

fear of Islamic groups taking over the country.
Page 3 of 7
Another major social concern is, the often poor living
conditions refugees experience,
especially during the time spent in temporary and short-term
accommodation, which can
negatively affect both a person’s mental and physical health
(UNHCR, 2013). According to
the United Nation Refugee Agency (2013) many refugees share
houses with family and
friends because of Sweden’s shortage of housing, resulting in
overcrowded apartments which
in turn can lead to compromised health.
The economic pillar is the one that has been affected the most
by the increased population that
has occurred in Sweden. There is a reason why Sweden has
become such a popular country
for refugees looking to resettle. The Swedish Government
provide services and welfare
payments to people seeking asylum nearly equal to the Swedish

citizens (Swedish
Government Office, 2015). According to the Swedish
Government Office (2015) refugees
and asylum seekers are, besides a daily allowance, entitled to
parental benefits, income
support and free health care. Education is also free of charge for
everyone, from primary
school up to university level (UNHCR, 2013). Consequently, an
addition of almost 165 000
people entitled of all these benefits puts substantial strains on
the national economy and the
Swedish Migration Agency has estimated a need for 420 million
Swedish crowns – almost 65
million Australian dollars- to cover its service costs in 2016
(Swedish Migration Office,
2016b). Moreover, the government reports that as a result of the
high refugee influx the need
for more housing is both crucial and acute (Swedish
Government Office, 2015) and the
building of these will add further costs to an already tight
budget.
Lastly, there is a challenge in providing employment for the
new immigrants so they can start
building a new life in Sweden (UNHCR, 2013). Lundborg

(2013) points out how important
employment is for a successful integration in society, and how
it positively affects language
skills, eases the understanding of Swedish culture and in
establishing social networks, reduces
the economic challenges affecting the social pillar as well. An
additional economic challenge,
is the fact that many refugees experience a long time of
unemployment (Lundborg, 2013) and
therefore must rely on welfare payments and as a consequence
the sustainability of the
economic pillar suffers even more.
Page 4 of 7
If the population of refugees were more equally distributed over
Europe, the challenges with
accommodating such a big number of refugees would not be as
acute and serious in Sweden.
Political decisions will decide the future for Sweden and
continuing flow of refugees

(Swedish Migration Agency, 2016b) but until then the current
tasks need to be addressed. The
fact that many refugees choose to settle in the large urban cities
of Sweden has resulted in
negative effects on all three pillars.
A possible solution to this problem would be to encourage
refugees to settle in more remote
and rural areas of Sweden. As seen in the Ames and Deloitte
Access Economics report (2015)
about the Karen refugees settling in a rural town of Australia,
the success is a fact. The
increased population that was a result of the influx of refugees,
led to a boost for this small
town which had lately seen a decrease in both population and
businesses. The report discusses
the positive chance for employme nt in smaller communities
where jobs are available after
many young people have left for more urban cities, as well as
the possibility of new and
additional jobs due to the increased demand of services that
comes from the expanded
population. Moreover, accommodation is usually less expensive
in remote towns and villages

and refugees can therefore afford a better standard of living
than in big cities, and also,
because of the reclined population there is a larger availability
of housing (Ames & Deloitte
Access Economics Report, 2015). Likewise, UNHCR (2013)
also discuss the advantages of
encouraging resettlement in rural areas, such as the better
possibilities of affording housing.
Although they discuss the possible lack of work, as seen in the
report by Ames and Deloitte
(2015) earlier mentioned, a flow of refugees to a small town can
actually instead create more
employment opportunities.
In the same way that encouraging refugees to choose remote
cities over urban cities would
have positive opportunities for work and housing, other
advantages with living in a smaller
town can be found to positively affect all three pillars of
sustainability. From a social and
cultural point of view, living in a smaller community makes it
easier for refugees and
immigrants to interact with local community members since
everything is within a close
distance, and to create the important social networks that are

necessary for the feeling of
inclusion and relatedness (UNHCR, 2013). Similarly, the sense
of community is easier
developed in a smaller, remote community, where immigrants
and locals work together
towards unified goals, and along the way enrich each other’s
lives (Labrianidis & Sykas,
Page 5 of 7
2013). Furthermore, social groups as described in the report by
UNHCR (2013) and
conversation clubs represented in the article by Sorgen (2015),
are other ways of aiming to
interact local communities with refugees, and to reduce the
prejudice and discrimination, as
well as facilitating a sense of belonging for refugees. Although
initially there might be an
issue of small remote and normally mono-cultural communities
being less tolerant of
“outsiders” from other ethnicities, research has shown with
careful community governance

and liaison these problems can be avoided (Labrianidis &
Sykas, 2013).
The Swedish Government Office (2015) is also suggesting
several solutions to different
challenges caused by the refugee crisis. Firstly, the payments
and benefits must be reduced to
cut down on the massive costs for refugee welfare. Secondly,
the importance of the ability to
know the Swedish language is recognised, and suggestions to
start language tuition, with
possible vocational training, should be started as soon as
possible to help ease the search for
employment and integration with society (Swedish Government
Office, 2015). The
government also says the shortage of housing could be
addressed with temporary relaxations
on regulations concerning planning and building, however, this
is yet a time-consuming
solution and may not solve the housing issue in the bigger cities
where land shortage is a
problem.
In conclusion, Sweden faces many challenges in accommodating
the large amount of refugees
who are seeking support and help. All three pillars of

sustainability are clearly negatively
affected by the increased population, and effects can
particularly be seen in the urban Swedish
cities. In other words, if refugees were encouraged to move to
more remote places in Sweden,
many of the problems would not be as serious as they are today.
However, while much
research points out the benefits with resettlement in rural areas,
some also question the
possibilities for refugees to find work, but this could in turn be
disproved in showing that an
increased population will create a demand for more services,
leading to new jobs. While there
are clear positive and negative perceptions about the impact of
refugees, nevertheless,
refugees will keep entering Sweden and the need for sustainable
solutions is crucial to avoid a
national collapse. Encouraging refugees to settle in remote
communities may be the most
viable solution to many of the sustainability issues raised by
increased refugee flows.
2023 words

Page 6 of 7
References
Ames Deloitte Access Economics (2015). Small towns, big
returns: Economic and social
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conomics/deloitte-au-
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270415.pdf
Banulesco, N., & Fratzke, S (2015, September, 24). Europe’s
migration crisis in context: Why
now and what next? Migration Policy Institute. Retrieved from
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context-why-now-and-
what-next
BBC. (2015, January, 2) Sweden protest after three mosque fires
in one week. BBC.

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Eastmond, M. (2011) Egalitarian ambitions, constructions of
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The evolution of sustainability models, from descriptive, to
strategic, to the three pillars framework for applied
solutions
Author:
Clune, William H ; Zehnder, Alexander J. B
Journal Title:
Sustainability Science
ISSN:
18624065

Publication Date:
2020-05
Volume:
15
Issue:
3
Start page:
1001
End page:
1006
DOI:
10.1007/s11625-019-00776-8
Pages:
1001-1006

Vol.:(0123456789)1 3
Sustainability Science (2020) 15:1001–1006
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11625-019-00776-8
N OT E A N D CO M M E N T
The evolution of sustainability models, from descriptive,
to strategic,
to the three pillars framework for applied solutions
William H. Clune1 · Alexander J. B. Zehnder2
Received: 28 August 2019 / Accepted: 18 December 2019 /
Published online: 6 January 2020
© Springer Japan KK, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract
The three pillars of sustainability framework is an applied and
solutions oriented approach to sustainable development, which
at the broadest and most important scale supports the creation
of new economic and political institutions that embed (from
start to finish) the key inputs, stakeholders, and incentive
structures necessary for sustainability planning and projects to
be
feasible and successful. The three pillars framework is based
upon the key and connected roles of: (1) technology and inno-
vation; (2) laws and governance; and (3) economics and
financial incentives. Through the lens of a review of the
evolution
of sustainability models over the last several decades, it is
proposed that the three pillars framework can more effectively
help us translate complex sustainability issues into ideas and an
applied focus that can be better understood and acted upon
by community and economic stakeholders. This, combined with
full transparency, creates the necessary, and often suf-

ficient, foundation for successful, scalable, more rapidly
deployable, and culturally acceptable sustainability solutions.
As
demonstrated in practice and in numerous case studies,
sustainability solutions that engage all three pillars at once—
good
governance, technology implementation, and creating market
incentives—are most effective and durable.
Keywords Economic development · Sustainability framework ·
Planning tools · Policy tools
Introduction
Much of the best thinking about sustainability over the past
50 years was based on sustainability models that correctly
outlined and described important inputs, major stakehold-
ers, and strategic possibilities. A comprehensive look at the
evolution of these sustainability models shows an important
transition from frameworks trying to understand sustain-
ability’s main challenges and drivers to more refined and
applied modern templates for implementing sustainability
solutions at speed and scale. Some key points to consider
when reviewing the evolutionary path of sustainability mod-
els is how they support the success and implementation of
specific and applied sustainability projects, how they support
policy and strategy creation for developing new and feasible
classes of sustainability solutions, and how they intelligently
integrate at scope and scale sustainability thinking, planning,
and applied solutions throughout all our economic, political,
and social institutions.
A new approach—the three pillars of sustainability
framework—is proposed here that relates to, but signifi-
cantly extends, previous models. Specifically, the three pil -

lars framework is more applied and solutions oriented, and at
the broadest and most important scale supports the creation
of new economic and political institutions that embed (from
start to finish) the key inputs, stakeholders, and incentive
structures necessary for sustainability planning and projects
to be feasible, successful, and socially accepted. The three
pillars of sustainability framework is based upon the key and
connected roles of: (1) technology and innovation; (2) laws
and governance; and (3) economics and financial incentives
(Clune and Zehnder 2018). The three pillars are more than
just required disciplinary inputs, and as will be shown they
Handled by Vinod Tewari, The Energy and resources Institute
(TERI), India.
Electronic supplementary material The online version of this
article (https ://doi.org/10.1007/s1162 5-019-00776 -8) contains
supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
* William H. Clune
[email protected]
1 Asian School of the Environment, Nanyang Technological
University (NTU), Singapore, Singapore
2 School of Biological Science, Nanyang Technological
University (NTU), Singapore, Singapore
http://crossmark.crossref.org/dialog/?doi=10.1007/s11625-019-
00776-8&domain=pdf
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11625-019-00776-8
1002 Sustainability Science (2020) 15:1001–1006
1 3

describe and focus on the institutional and market spaces
where social stakeholders (consumers, citizens, and gov-
ernment) and other sectors (corporations and NGOs) must
intersect and engage with each other to create economically
and technologically feasible, as well as socially acceptable,
sustainability solutions.
The three pillars framework translates complex sustain-
ability issues into ideas and an applied focus that can be bet-
ter understood and acted upon by community and economic
stakeholders. As demonstrated in practice and in numerous
case studies, sustainability solutions that engage all three
pillars at once—good governance, technology implementa-
tion, and creating market incentives—are most effective and
durable. The paper begins with a section on the evolution
of sustainability models, followed by a section on the three
pillars framework that extends these discussions.
The Evolutionary Path of Sustainability
Models
The Club of Rome and The Limits to Growth in 1972 is a
good starting place in the evolution of sustainability mod-
els (Meadows et al. 1972). Although it received criticism at
the time, its central thesis that the Earth’s key resources are
exhaustible (and being exhausted) was always (potentially)
correct (Turner 2014). It is possible to irreversibly damage
or destroy ecosystems with rates of use, extraction, or pol -
lution burden that exceed replacement and renewal (Rock-
ström et al. 2009). What was missing was the full dynamic
potential of technology development and resource discovery
that was hard to imagine in the 1970s. Indeed, it is now well
understood that the transformative and disruptive potential
of technology is crucial to meeting our sustainability and
development goals (UN Commission on Science and Tech-
nology 2019).

The Stockholm Declaration (1972) was a powerful first
step toward the modern concept of sustainability in describ-
ing key environmental goals as connected to economic
development drivers, as well as in the integrated nature
of the solutions path it describes. This included roles for
governance, technology transfer, and sensitivity to cultural
and economic differences between nations and stakehold-
ers. Actually, from a holistic and broad perspective, this
groundbreaking document got most things right, including
some important recognition of sustainability’s dynamic and
systems-oriented nature. Yet, there was again a significant
underestimation of the effects of technology, as well as the
related effects of how changing culture, public policy, and
economic markets together drive beneficial technology
development.
To this point, parallel to advancements in policy think-
ing, basic environmental law and regulatory practices were
changing during the 1970s and 1980s in places such as the
USA and Europe, including an understanding of the poten-
tial of harnessing economic markets and incentives for tech-
nology forcing regulations and pollution trading schemes
(Sandor et al. 2015).
The framework of the Brundtland Report (WCED 1987)
included much of the Stockholm Declaration’s understand-
ing of the primary challenges of economic consumption,
production, and development to achieving sustainabil-
ity, and of the need to bridge gaps of cooperation, finan-
cial resources, and access to technology for a more global
implementation of sustainability solutions. It also described
in new terms risk scenarios, food and water security, the
importance of regional cooperation and governance (in addi -
tion to international efforts), and roles for environmental and

ecosystem services and valuation. It roughed out the steps,
or at least some key pieces, for a large-scale transition to a
low-carbon global economy, including how industry could
more efficiently and by deploying (and developing) new
technologies start “producing more with less.”
The triple bottom line framework was a natural extension
of the Brundtland Report. It is powerfully descriptive of
sustainability’s potential and primary objectives (Elkington
1998). Sustainability combines the creation of a feasible
and livable space for human society within environmental
protection and ecological objectives, while the economic
component correctly acknowledges that all of our environ-
mental challenges and necessary (for survival) productive
targets are connected to economic production and consump-
tion. Importantly, it highlighted some of the key relation-
ships between social, cultural, and economic institutions
in relation to environmental goals. We realized we needed
much more intelligent, analytical thinking about econom-
ics and markets, not less, if we wanted to achieve global
sustainability.
The bombshell that changed the focus and discussion was
climate change. While the scientific research and evidence
regarding anthropogenic climate change had been growing
since the 1960s (SCOPE-Rep. No. 13 1979), the first Inter-
governmental Panel on Climate Change (McG Tegart et al.
1990) impact assessment report marks the beginning of a
much broader and significant thinking about climate change
across many fields, sectors, and activities. An understanding
and acceptance of the inevitable scale, massive risk expo-
sures, and adaptation costs of climate change shifted the
urgency and priorities of sustainability. It highlighted exactly
how interdisciplinary and integrated our efforts would need
to become.

It was in the early to mid-1990s that Michael Porter and
Stephan Schmidheiny opened the lens to the possibility that
sustainable development was an opportunity for business,
not just a cost, and was therefore a necessity for modern
business strategy. Porter (1991) reconceived the "greening"
1003Sustainability Science (2020) 15:1001–1006
1 3
of business as a cost-reduction and profit-making proposi-
tion in several key respects, including more efficient mate-
rial use (pollution as wasted resources), innovation poten-
tial (corporations as powerful responders to constraints and
challenges with creativity and new solutions), and a variety
of public opinion and marketing advantages (less regula-
tory oversight, more public trust, growing green product
markets).
Stephan Schmidheiny (1992) spoke in broader (and per-
haps bolder) strategic terms in Changing Course, which was
certainly a precursor to Creating Shared Value (CSV) and
other, more modern strategic sustainability paradigms (Por -
ter and Kramer 2011). The notion that corporate practices
must align with sustainability objectives was ahead of its
time and speaks directly to a process of matching the scope
and scale of the challenges to an equivalent scope and scale
in our institutional arrangements and practices.
In fact, recognizing that sustainability was not only a
project in which different stakeholders played their parts,
but in which major stakeholders could actually transform
the paradigm and playing field through economic markets,
was a major milestone. It was no longer economy versus

environment, but how we need to align economic markets
and actors within and in support of the goals of sustain-
able development. The potential was grasped that business
and economic market development would no longer be a
liability to sustainability, but could become one of its most
powerful drivers and foundations. In fact, sustainability is
not achievable without business and the modern corporation
fully engaged given their global reach, impact, and economic
power (Dow Jones Sustainability Index, see cases below;
Schmidheiny and Zorraquin 1996).
With the creation of the World Business Council for
Sustainable Development (WBCSD) in the early 1990s, as
a positive reaction to the Brundtland Report and the 1992
United Nations Conference on Environment and Devel-
opment (UNCED), also known as the Rio Earth Summit,
the tide had certainly turned in favor of implementing
sustainability solutions that are fully integrated, involve
all stakeholders working cooperatively, engage economic
markets and incentive systems, and are global in scale. The
WBCSD’s very existence, with comprehensive corporate
representation and membership, is as significant as the
perspectives it develops and endorses. In terms of models,
WBCSD’s Circular Economy projects speak directly of
transforming economic production and consumption to align
with sustainable economic development, and is an evolution
from earlier versions of the Factor approaches at the Wup-
pertal Institute in Germany (von Weizsäcker et al. 1997;
Schmidt-Bleek 1997).
Without dismissing the relevance of Environmen-
tal Social and Governance (ESG) standards or Socially
Responsible Investing (SRI) criteria developed and applied
in earnest in the early 2000s, these somewhat general guide-
lines have substantially repackaged the triple bottom line

approach (UNCTAD 2015). On the other hand, the finan-
cial sector’s process, for example, for making investments
(or divestments), and for internal corporate governance, has
always been somewhat conservative, so ESG’s more gen-
eral ideas and flexible roadmaps may help trigger changes
in thinking and practices. The issue, however, is speed and
focus in making the needed transitions, and in driving more
applied, successful sustainability solutions.
The evolution of sustainability approaches and thinking
more recently was greatly influenced by urbanization, with the
key role for cities in addressing and supporting the concept
of resilience. Rapid global urbanization is a fact. It will have
major impacts on how most people live their lives, and with
big implications (and opportunities) for sustainable economic
development. Organizations like C40 and 100 Resilient Cities
were created and grew quickly in response to the city–sus-
tainability nexus, concentrating increasingly on resilience
given the integrated, multidiscipli nary, and complex reality
of achieving sustainability and other major social goals.1
In the twenty-first century, Creating Shared Value (CSV)
takes a fully modern and proactive approach with market
actors and corporations creating positive social impacts, sus-
tainability opportunities, and new green markets consistent
with long-term profitability and survival (compact with soci-
ety) strategies (Porter and Kramer 2011). Aligning business
opportunities with our most pressing human needs and wants
has, actually, always been a good business strategy. Now, the
pressing nature of sustainability is creating a pressure (through
changing culture and public opinion, its uptake by legal institu-
tions, and resulting new consumer demand for green products)
that is both a necessity and an opportunity.
The UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a
set of universal objectives developed within a process that

included civil society, academia, government, and the pri -
vate sector (https ://susta inabl edeve lopme nt.un.org). The
focus on issues like poverty and gender equality recog-
nized the large numbers of people who sustainability has
left behind and failed over the years. SDG 11 focuses spe-
cifically on Sustainable Cities and Communities, which has
supported and catalyzed organizations and efforts in the city
space. There is no question the SDGs are now the leading
organizational and planning template across many sectors
and projects, and one supported in a complementary manner
by the more solutions-oriented focus of the three pillars of
sustainability framework.
1 see C40 (https ://www.c40.org/) and 100 Resilient Cities
(https ://
www.100re silie ntcit ies.org/).
https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org
https://www.c40.org/
https://www.100resilientcities.org/
https://www.100resilientcities.org/
1 3
The three pillars of sustainability framework
for applied solutions
Looking at the current set of sustainability models, goals,
and templates, an action-oriented strategic model or
framework is still missing (Clune and Zehnder 2018). This
is important if we want to integrate at scope and scale sus-
tainability thinking, planning, and applied solutions across
all of our major economic, political, and social activities

and institutions. The three pillars framework fills this gap.
It is an effective and pragmatic approach for translating
sustainability science into action and application, and for
moving from theory to practice. Sustainability solutions
and effective implementations in cities and communities
are what is needed now as a rapid response to our most
serious global environmental impact challenges, and this
is precisely what is meant by a three pillars approach that
is action and application oriented.
Truly interdisciplinary, or even transdisciplinary, work
is hard to do (Hirsch Hadorn et al. 2006). To overcome
disciplinary boundaries, it helps to translate the issues at
stake to well-defined themes, topics, and solution require-
ments (Burkhardt-Holm and Zehnder 2018). There are
many examples of sustainability solutions with good
potential that fail because one of the pillars is missing.
The framework also applies more broadly to institutional
and market transformation by elaborating, for example,
the ways the SDGs operate and engage in ordinary and
institutional practices.
The relationship and connections between all three pil -
lars is crucial because of the way economic, legal, politi-
cal, and other semi-autonomous systems connect and inter-
act (Clune 2011). Having all three pillars of sustainability
present and engaged is prerequisite for the success of all
sustainability solutions, policy implementations, and plan-
ning exercises. For illustration, we test our framework with
nine cases (summarized below, and presented in detail in
the Supplementary Material).
Cases for technology and innovation
As long as a crucial technology or innovation is missing,
sustainability solutions will fail, even with strong public

support, sufficient economic incentives, and capable law
and regulatory backing.
• Chlorof luorohydrocarbons (CFC) contribute to the
ozone depletion of the upper atmosphere. 23 nations
signed a protocol to reduce CFC release. Their ban was
only possible after hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFC)
were invented.
• Since the 1960s, it was clear that phosphate was the
main trigger for eutrophication of surface waters. Many
nations, as well as states and localities, were ready to
ban phosphate from detergents. Low phosphate deter-
gents were also a potential economic advantage in
being lower in weight and smaller in volume. But only
after the invention of zeolites in the 1970s as an effec-
tive replacement for phosphates did rapid and large-
scale phosphate bans occur.
• The Clean Air Act and California’s vehicle emissions
reduction efforts in the 1970s show how connecting
regulatory baselines, economic interests, and incentives
of corporate stakeholders is pivotal for creating miss-
ing or stalled technologies and innovations necessary
for achieving environmental goals. In other words, the
production of essential technologies not only supports
new economic and regulatory options, but may often be
the result of supportive legal and economic baselines.
Cases for laws and governance
The pillar of laws and governance supports sustainability
solutions by enabling implementation of projects at mid-
dle and later stages (applied projects deployed in our com-
munities intersect with legal and regulatory requirements at
many levels), or at first stages through the many ways legal

institutions, regulatory baselines, and public policy create
the foundations for supporting new technology development,
creating new markets, and ensuring competitive, healthy
economies.
• Precious Woods is a global leader in the sustainable man-
agement of tropical forests. It faced many of the typical
challenges (including free rider and "race to the bottom")
in its early attempts to introduce sustainable and respon-
sible forestry. It was the creation of a governance struc-
ture in the form of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)
guidelines that supported the deployment of all relevant
technologies, and realized full economic potentials creat-
ing a virtuous cycle that incentivized other market actors
and stakeholders.
• Large parts of the world’s fisheries are unmanaged,
despite there being both clear economic benefits and no
technological impediments to more sustainable manage-
ment. A lack of effective governance has often resulted in
the tragedy of the commons. Individual and cooperative
governance efforts, even though piecemeal and occurring
over several decades, have been a good start and have
played a major role in slowing resource exploitation.
• There are significant, potential sustainability and envi-
ronmental advantages to using local and trustworthy
green suppliers and sources for government or corpo-
rate procurement. In the EU (and other places), the ten-
1005Sustainability Science (2020) 15:1001–1006
1 3

sion between federal economic goals and state procure-
ment and environmental objectives (for example, with
prohibitions against state aid) is resulting in innovative
approaches to law, governance, and jurisprudence to sup-
port green and competitive markets.
Cases for economics and financial incentives
The relationship and connections between all three pillars
is crucial because of the way economic markets, legal insti -
tutions, cultural trends, technology development drivers,
and other semi-autonomous systems connect and interact.
It often does not matter which direction the solution path
follows, because working within and through existing eco-
nomic markets and financial incentives helps us act quickly
and at scale.
• The European Court of Justice (CJEU) upheld a Ger-
man law requiring power suppliers to purchase electricity
from in‐ state producers of renewable energy at above‐
market prices. The CJEU argued that EU environmental
and sustainability objectives were now sufficient to sup-
port and balance this kind of state environmental pro-
gram against internal market protections, including free
economic movement interests.
• When the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI) was
established in 1999, it clearly showed a good segregation
of stock performance between sustainability leaders and
laggards. Building from there, the DJSI is an excellent
example of how a financial tool connected with real and
underlying economic rewards can significantly influence
many business sectors to be more sustainable.
• Sustainable and resilient stormwater management and
flood control systems were catalyzed in US cities by bet-

ter economic incentives and more progressive laws.
Improving rules and regulations often relates directly to
creating better economic incentives, growing consumer
markets, and attracting investment capital.
Conclusions
The three pillars framework can more effectively help us
with: (i) applying and successfully implementing at scale
and speed specific sustainability solutions going from theory
to practice, (ii) creating strategies and policies for concep-
tualizing, prioritizing, and funding new sustainability solu-
tions that are more likely to be successfully developed and
deployed, and (iii) creating integrated and clear sustainabil-
ity planning tools and templates to support the necessary and
deeper changes we need throughout our economic, political,
and social institutions. The three pillars framework trans-
lates complex sustainability issues into ideas with an applied
focus that necessarily engages, and can be better understood
and acted upon by, community and economic stakeholders.
For decision and policy makers, the three pillars frame-
work can be used as a template for identifying and catego-
rizing gaps, as well as for conceptualizing and introducing
broader and necessary changes at deeper, institutional, soci -
oeconomic levels. For instance, implementation and devel -
opment of all of the UN SDGs will require many applied,
innovative, and communi ty-based (often urban) solutions
(Cruz and Marques 2014). Specific implementations and
projects will be important here, but what is really required
is the creation of economic and political institutions that
embed sustainability planning, design, and effective collab-
oration as part of their normal operating procedures. The
three pillars approach also supports this transition, because it
describes and focuses on the institutional and market spaces

where social stakeholders (consumers, citizens, and gov-
ernment) and other sectors (corporations and NGOs) must
intersect and engage with each other to create economically
and technologically feasible, as well as socially acceptable,
sustainability solutions.
Further research directions include a more substantial
categorization of achievements and lessons learned from
collected cases and studies, and the development of indica-
tors or measures for tracking progress and allowing greater
differentiation between cases, contributions, and inputs.
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Publisher’s Note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to
jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional
affiliations.
Developing awareness of the sustainability concept
Author:
Herremans, Irene M ; Reid, Robin E
Journal Title:
The Journal of Environmental Education
ISSN:

19401892
Publication Date:
2002
Volume:
34
Issue:
1
Start page:
16
End page:
20
DOI:
10.1080/00958960209603477
Publisher:
Informa UK Limited
Pages:

16-20
Resource Notes:
10.1007/bf02394014
The Journal of Environmental Education, 2002, Vol. 34, No. 1,
16-20
Developing Awareness of
the Sustainability Concept
IRENE M. HERREMANS and ROBIN E. REID
ABSTRACT In this article, we discuss the use of the
sustainability triad as a frame-
work for teaching sustainability in the classroom. We use a
short case study of a
national park to show how the triad can be used to determine if
its three dimensions
(economic, social, and environmental) are congruent or in
conflict with each other. The
tool is helpful in understanding sustainability in a concrete
rather than abstract form.
Key words: applied learning, case analysis, sustainability triad,
teaching tool
I I educators have a responsibility to provide students A with
opportunities to become good environmental citi-

e n s , not only as consumers but also as providers of envi -
ronmentally responsible goods and services. In this article,
we discuss a method that can be used in the classroom to
help students more fully understand, recognize, and imple-
ment the concept of sustainability.
The groundwork for environmental education (EE) was
laid a s early as the 1970s, when the Tbilisi Conference
( UNESCO, 1977) set forth goals for providing students
with opportunities to develop new behavior patterns regard-
ing sustainable living. By the 1990s, academic communities
had put forth the Talloires Declaration (1990) and the Hali -
( a x Declaration (1991) to address the need for educational
programs that would produce environmentally literate and
responsible university graduates (The Talloires Declaration,
Irene M . Herremans is m i associate professor in the
Hrr sktivne School of Business and an adjunct professor in
t h c I ~ i i c u l t ~ ~ of Environmental Design at the
University of
Cdgurv, Alhertu, Canadu. Robin E. Reid is an instructor in
the S d i o o l of Touristn at the University College of the Cari -
hoo in Kumloops, British Columbiu, Canada.
1990). All academic institutions have been challenged ty
university and sustainability leaders to sign and implement
these declarations. Disappointed with the universities’
progress, the Swansea Declaration implored universities to
contribute to “major attitudinal and policy changes for ; I
sustainable future” (The Swansea Declaration, 1903).
These declarations-along with the Tbilisi Conference
goals-clearly state that academic institutions need to lakc
action. However, in a recent assessment of environnientnl
progress at North American universities, Herremans, atitl
Allwright (1 999) discovered that very few universities are

even aware of these declarations, let alone carrying o u t their
responsibilities regarding EE in the classroom.
If, as academics, we propose to educate students to niakc
decisions that will reflect an understanding of environmen-
tal stewardship and sustainability, then seats of learning
must be actively involved in creating models and processes
that can be used to bridge the gap between the real world
and the classroom. We discuss the sustainability triad
(Sadler 1988; 1990) as a classroom tool to assess the rcsulta
of stakeholder processes and management strategies that
affect land and resource use in Canadian national parks. To
show how the sustainability triad can be used for analysia,
we have included a minicase (Waterton Lakes National Park
and area) as a real-life example of how multistakeholdcr
16
Herremans & Reid 1 7
values can be pivotal in whether resources are managed sus-
tainably. The triad provides students with a coiicrete process
for identifying practices that are not sustainable and deter -
mining why they are not sustainable. The next step is to
move stakeholders from an unsustainable position to a more
hustainable one; this step is perhaps the most challenging i n
ihat it is based on human perceptions and values.
The Waterton Minicase
The niinicase presented in this article incorporates two of
the three approaches suggested by the Schools Council in its
Project Environment (1 974) (see Appendix). The council
suggested that EE should teach about, for, and from the envi -

ronment. Students should learn about various environmental
issues through investigation and discovery. They should also
develop attitudes and values that encourage an informed
concern that leads to a personal environmental ethic.
Although the council suggested that students should learn
investigation and communication skills by using the envi-
ronment as a source of activities and a medium for inquiry
and discovery, the teaching approach does not attempt to
include this last approach. However, projects and experien-
tial exercises designed to learn from the environment can
easily evolve from a foundation developed through a knowl-
edge base designed to teach about and for the environment.
What is new about this approach to EE in the classroom is
that-once students have the tools and understanding of the
wtainability triad-they can apply it to any situation. The
triad is flexible and can be applied to a local resort, hotel,
national park, new development project, or existing business.
FIGURE 1. The Sustainability Triad.
The sustainability domain is the area in which an organi-
zation can operate and still maintain a consistent and
suitable harmony among the three main diniensions.
Sources of information about activities can come from a vari -
ety of learning sources (i.e., students’ personal experiences,
news articles, development proposals, and guest speakers 1.
Using the sustainability triad as a framework for case analy-
sis offers several pedagogical advantages:
1. Students can more easily conceptualize the links
among the three dimensions of sustainability and begin to
understand the dimensions more thoroughly by defining
activities that fit into each of the areas of overlap (education
about the environment).

2. The framework is an aid to understanding that barriers
to achieving sustainability frequently stem from a diversity
of stakeholder value sets (education for the environment).
3. Use of the framework helps to develop higher learning
levels such as judgment, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation
(useful in both education about and for the environme nt ).
Even though declarations have been designed by univcr-
sity leaders to guide the direction and responsibilities of
academic communities, the process of implementation is
not as clear. It becomes difficult to move from a set of
broad-based general principles to course content covered i n
the classroom on a day-to-day basis. Evidence of this ditfi-
culty lies in the fact that the quality of EE has been criti -
cized as having poor definitions, unclear directions and pur -
poses, and inappropriate, inaccurate, or biased content
(McClaren, 1997). To improve the quality of EE, we must
take action in many directions. In this article, we focus our
discussion on how educators can improve environmental
curriculum in two ways. They can:
1. Develop content that springs from our knowledge of
what variables are most influential in motivating individu-
als to be responsible environmental citizens; and
2. Integrate environmental content in every school pro-
grain as either a separate course, as part of existing eoursc‘
content, or both.
The term susrainubilify is abstract; it means capable of
being maintained over the long term. Its derivative, sustain.
means “to keep in existence; keep going; to cany the weight
or burden of; to bear up against” (Wehster’s Unuhridgrtl.
1983, p. 1838). The concept of sustainability is often de-

picted in Western culture by three overlapping circles repre-
senting the social, economic, and environmental dimen-
sions (see Sadler, 1988, 1990). Both Hodge (1997) and Fien
and Trainer (1993) have elaborated on Sadler’s original
concept of sustainability. For example, an activity, process,
region, or project is deemed sustainable if it maintains, sup-
ports, or carries the weight or burden of all three dimensions
over the long term (see Figure 1).
The economic dimension represents a system of pro-
ducing, distributing, and consuming wealth, which is gen-
erally defined as the means of satisfying the material
needs of people through money, property, possessions of
monetary goods, or anything having economic value i w i -
surable in price.
I X The Journal of Environmental Education
The social dimension represents a system of living or
associating in groups or communities and considers the
importance of maintaining and improving human living
standards. It considers the continued satisfaction of basic
human needs as well as higher-level social and cultural
necessities (Brown et al., 1987, p. 716). The social dimen-
sion does not define wealth in terms of material possessions
that can be bought, sold, or stocked for the future, but it sug-
gests fair treatment regardless of gender and racial equality,
a basic level of health care, safety standards at work, food
standards, exposure to the arts and humanities, recreational
opportunities, happy personal life, lack of human exploita-
tion, and more. The social dimension shifts the emphasis
from individual rights and economic wealth to community
rights and social welfare of all human beings.

The environmental dimension represents a system of pro-
viding integrity and preservation of ecosystems (Sadler,
1988, 1990) and is concerned with the continued productiv-
ity and functioning of ecosystems (Brown et al., 1987, p.
7 16). A n environmental perspective represents a scientifi-
cally oriented outlook toward sustaining the biological and
ecological conditions that make development possible
(Shearman. 1900). However, the environmental dimension
also recognizes that flora and fauna might have value out-
side their abilities to satisfy the social and economic needs
of individuals and societies.
This environment.al dimension has two characteristics
that make it similar to the social dimension. First, it does
n o t define wealth in terms of possessions that are valued
only i n the marketplace; the difficulty of determining the
cost and benefits of initiatives designed to save the environ-
ment as efforts (costs) and accomplishments (benefits) can-
not be quantified. Second, the value of the benefits is based
on the value sets of a diverse group of stakeholders that
place different values on various elements of the environ-
ment. Therefore, the benefits derived from strong and
healthy ecosystems are defined in terms of each individual's
enhanced personal welfare.
'Through their meta-analysis of environmental behavioral
research, Hines et al. (1986/1987, p. 3) found that individu-
als who have knowledge about environmental issues or
knowledge about how to take action on those issues are
more likely to engage in environmentally responsible
behavior. The teaching tool builds on the knowledge of
what may influence responsible environmental behavior.
The minicase and analysis in the Appendix illustrate the use
ol' this tool.
Discussion of Analysis: Congruency or Conflict?

1 . Tho chunge in mandate for the park versus the tradi -
tionul UJC of rhe park (environmental-.racial conflict). The
park's main thrust is to maintain its ecological integrity;
however. the ranchers and other visitors often have a prior-
ity for social interests. Ranchers historically used the park
as a source for recreation: the dance hall and swimming
pool. These different stakeholder philosophies of the prima-
ry purpose for the park create a conflict between the envi-
ronmental and social dimensions of the triad.
2 . Wolf program (attempt at social-environmentril-rro-
nomic congruency). In an effort to bring the economic m d
environmental dimensions closer together, a compensation
program was introduced by Southwest Alberta Livestock
Compensation Program to address the economic interests of
the ranchers for their loss of livestock. Despite the efforts,
the wolf population continued to decrease. The conse-
quence suggests that the social perspective-supported by ;I
strong negative cultural attitude toward wolves-caused the
sustainability effort to fail.
3. Municipal districts versus Biosphere Reserve (econom-
ic-environmental conflict). Increased pressure has been
placed on the lands surrounding national parks because ot
increases in per capita income and the desire to escape from
urbanization, creating additional demand for vacation
homes. These different stakeholder philosophies represent a
conflict between the economic interests of the municipal
districts and the environmental interests of the park.
4. Ranchers versus municipal district (ec,onornic-soc-icil
conflict). Ranchers do not want agricultural lands to be sub-
divided for vacation homes and other tourist interests, but
municipal districts want to increase the tax base and encour -

age short-term employment. These stakeholder philnso-
phies represent a conflict between the municipal districts'
economic interests and the ranchers' social interests.
5. Aboriginal interpretation and tourist behavior (work-
ing toward environmental-social congruency). Involc ing
local aboriginal communities in the interpretation of the
landscape in the education of tourists in the park can assist
in working toward tourism that is ecologically sustainable.
Waterton is close to a large aboriginal population that tridi -
tionally used the area. In the social context of sustainabili -
ty, aboriginal interpreters may use spiritual discussions to
raise awareness of and appreciation for the ecological sig-
nificance of the landscape. Aboriginal interpreters are alsc~
in a position to raise visitor awareness about the native cul --
ture and the historical ties to the area.
6. The park's new mandate and jeeding ef animals ( o ( w
nomic-environmental-social conflict). Even though tht:
park's mandate is to preserve its ecological integrity, most 01'
management's efforts are spent on satisfying the social and
recreational needs of the visitors rather than informing theni
about proper behavior toward wildlife and other ecological
considerations. One mechanism to overlap the economic and
environmental aspects of the situation is to fine visitors for
disturbing wildlife; however, this effort has failed beciittse
there is no real means to enforce the penalty. Although all
three dimensions are represented in this situation, the iniple -
mentation procedure and the related behaviors of the partiex
involved cause the resulting unsustainability.
Identifying the congruencies and conflicts among the
three dimensions of social, environmental, and economic
sets the stage for the next step: discussing how the situation

Herremans & Reid I 0
can be improved. When discussing solutions, students’
opinions will often differ about what actions t h e park
should take in reaching t h e goal of sustainability. Some
people might not agree that the conflicts discussed are real -
l y conflicts. To understand why disagreement in opinions
exists, students must understand their own values by look-
ing at three continuums and thinking about where they
would place themselves and others o n these continuums.
Such diversity i n basic human values makes it even more
difficult to find a common ground for reaching a sustainable
target as a society. These three continuums a r e (Kluckhohn
and Strodtbeck, 1961): (a) self-interest-community interest,
(b) only humans have value-all life (flora a n d fauna) has
value, and (c) short-term vision-long-term vision.
The students will represent a range of values b y placing the
stakeholders somewhere along the continuum. Groups that
believe strongly in individual rights and interests may have
little regard for community rights or interests. Holding the
belief that only humans have value would lead to strong sup-
port of interchangeability of resources and their related value;
for example, the products produced from a tree have as much
o r more value than a tree standing in a forest. A short-term
vision would believe that o n e generation has n o responsibili-
ty to protect resources for future generations. Students can
quickly become aware of why it is difficult t o resolve envi -
ronmental conflicts. The increased awareness of why con-
flicts occur can aid in the process of coming to a solution.
Analyzing a situation from the point of view of the sus-
tninability triad helps to unveil the underlying causes of
tinsustainability and to seek solutions (education about the
environment). Furthermore, such a n analysis highlights the

nccessity for a change in values if true sustainability is t o be
achieved and helps to explain the underlying reasons for
consistency or conflict a m o n g the dimensions and what
underlying values drive the result. Expanding the use of the
sustainability triad in this manner provides education f o r the
environment and will allow students t o understand more
fully their own personal environmental ethic.
The concepts drawn out by the national park minicase can
easily be transferred to a business, institute, project, o r other
activity that has been in the local or national news as a point
of public controversy. Using an example with which students
are familiar can help them relate to and better understand the
nature of multidimensional decisions, not only as members of
the business community but as members of society.
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APPENDIX
Minicase for Analysis
Waterton Lakes National Park is a small park in Western
Canada
that has been designated as a biosphere reserve through
UNESCO’s
“Man and the Biosphere” program. This designation means that
thc
park is a protected core with the landscape surrounding the piirk
acting as a zone of cooperation in which human impacts are
mon-
tored. The unique combination of prairie and mountain
landscapes
generates a rich variety of flora and fauna. Therefore, wildlife
is
frequently seen in the town site within the park, where visitors
sometimes are found feeding the wildlife. Park management
linds
itself engaged in a variety of activities (i.e., giving directions to
campgrounds and picnic sites) with little time left to educate
visi-
tors about proper behavior with wildlife. Even though park
employees can impose fines, usually the cost of the court

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