The document discusses the history and key concepts of sustainability. It began with the Brundtland Commission in 1987 that defined sustainability around three spheres (economy, society, environment). John Elkington later coined the phrase "triple bottom line" referring to the same three spheres. The document then outlines several core concepts and challenges around sustainability, including the four conditions of a sustainable society according to The Natural Step, the two paths of mitigation and adaptation, five consensus themes, challenges around reducing ecological footprints, and exponential trends and tipping points related to climate change.

1. KAUA`I COUNTY Management Training Applied Sustainability on Kaua`i
SUSTAINABILITY WAS BORN
IN 1987
• BRUNDTLAND COMMISSION
(3 spheres)
• TRIPLE BOTTOM LINE
(John Elkington)
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2. KAUA`I COUNTY Management Training Applied Sustainability on Kaua`i
WHAT A DIFFERENCE TWO DECADES MAKES!
1989
2011
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3. KAUA`I COUNTY Management Training Applied Sustainability on Kaua`i
SUSTAINABILITY...BY THE NUMBERS
One vision
emergent property
Two paths
mitigate & adapt
Three spheres
economy/community/ecology
Four conditions
natural steps
Five themes
consensus mission
Six challenges
footprint reduction
Seven generations
self - reinforcing systems
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4. KAUA`I COUNTY Management Training Applied Sustainability on Kaua`i
ONE VISION
Preferred Definition
“Sustainability is the possibility
that human and other life
will flourish on the planet forever.”
“It is an emergent property
which only appears when the whole system
is functioning properly.”
“ U n - s u s t a i n a b i l i t y is an unintended consequence
of our ‘ s y s t e m b l i n d n e s s ’ .
• We fail to understand the systems at play in the world.
• We rely on technological quick fixes that ignore underlying
causes.”
John R. Ehrenfeld
author of “sustainability by design”
interviewed in MIT Sloan review, july 14, 2009
Executive Director of the International Society for Industrial Ecology;
former Director of the MIT Program on Technology, Business, and Environment.
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5. KAUA`I COUNTY Management Training Applied Sustainability on Kaua`i
FOUR CONDITIONS
From The Natural StepTM
In a sustainable society,
nature is not subject to systematically increasing:
1: Concentrations of substances extracted from the earth's crust.
2: Concentrations of substances produced by society.
3: Degradation by physical means.
AND...
people are not subject to conditions that systematically:
4: Undermine their capacity to meet their needs.
These four basic principles for sustainability
are deeply rooted in science
and in systems thinking.
And it also follows that these four basic principles
are something that everyone can agree about.
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6. KAUA`I COUNTY Management Training Applied Sustainability on Kaua`i
TWO PATHS
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7. KAUA`I COUNTY Management Training Applied Sustainability on Kaua`i
FIVE THEMES
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8. KAUA`I COUNTY Management Training Applied Sustainability on Kaua`i
SEVEN GENERATIONS
Self-Reinforcing Systems
Cycles turning within cycles…the secret of sustainability
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9. KAUA`I COUNTY Management Training Applied Sustainability on Kaua`i
THREE SPHERES
SUSTAINABILITY THINKING
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10. KAUA`I COUNTY Management Training Applied Sustainability on Kaua`i
SIX CHALLENGES
America’s Ecological Footprint
Share of total U.S. Ecological Footprint by category, derived from Cool Climate Calculator.
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11. KAUA`I COUNTY Management Training Applied Sustainability on Kaua`i
OTHER
CONSIDERATIONS...
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12. KAUA`I COUNTY Management Training Applied Sustainability on Kaua`i
FOUR POSSIBILITIES
EARLY ACTION ON GLOBAL WARMING?
(Illustrating the Precautionary Principle)
ACT NOW?
VERDICT?
The precautionary principle, crudely summarized, states that where the potential impact is significant and we have
insufficient confidence to choose between two future scenarios, prudence demands that we plan for the more pessimistic.
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Source: Greg Craven, "What's the Worst That Could Happen? A Rational Response to the Climate Change Debate", gregcraven.com

13. KAUA`I COUNTY Management Training Applied Sustainability on Kaua`i
FOUR DIMENSIONS
INTEGRAL FRAMEWORK FOR SUSTAINABILITY
Adapted from The Four Worlds of Sustainability, by Barrett Brown
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14. KAUA`I COUNTY Management Training Applied Sustainability on Kaua`i
SO...
HOW UNSUSTAINABLE
ARE WE?
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15. KAUA`I COUNTY Management Training Applied Sustainability on Kaua`i
THE “HOCKEY STICKS”
ON EXPONENTIALITY & TIPPING POINTS
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16. KAUA`I COUNTY Management Training Applied Sustainability on Kaua`i
WHAT HAPPENED TO EROI?
Energy-Return-On-Investment
Source: Crash Course, www.chrismartenson.com
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17. KAUA`I COUNTY Management Training Applied Sustainability on Kaua`i
PEAK OIL?
70%
DECLINE
US oil supply is likely to begin its terminal decline sometime between 2011 and 2020, from a peak of
7.5 to 7.7 billion barrels annually, at an average annual rate of between 2% and 3%. By 2030. Our
available supply of oil will probably range between 4.2 and 6.3 billion barrels.
Source: The Oil Drum, “On American Sustainability - Anatomy of Societal Collapse
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18. KAUA`I COUNTY Management Training Applied Sustainability on Kaua`i
US EMISSIONS REDUCTIONS?
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19. KAUA`I COUNTY Management Training Applied Sustainability on Kaua`i
Emissions REDUCTIONS Quickly?
Scenarios from the climate interactive model
climateinteractive.org
Business-As-Usual Modest Decrease 95% Reduction
2 degree threshhold * *
* Only 10-year delay Must do in 10 years
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20. KAUA`I COUNTY Management Training Applied Sustainability on Kaua`i
Source: Post-Carbon Institute, Daniel Lerch presentation, 8 May 2009 • Gaining Ground Summit, Calgary
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21. KAUA`I COUNTY Management Training Applied Sustainability on Kaua`i
CLASS WARFARE?
"The money derived from productivity improvements over the last decades was shunted to capital markets under
the ideological assumption (seen in Greenspan's thinking) that these markets would make better investments in
future prosperity than individuals. That assumption has been proven false. The money was gambled away.”
John Robb in Global Guerillas blog on "Parasitic Predation" Mar 09
Chart Source: Damon Silvers, "How a Low Wage Economy with Weak Labor Laws Brought Us the Mortgage
Credit Crisis", Feller Memorial Labor Law Lecture, April 2, 2008, UC Berkeley
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22. KAUA`I COUNTY Management Training Applied Sustainability on Kaua`i
IMPENDING CRISES?
Brent
Crude
Oil
Spot
$/barrel
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23. KAUA`I COUNTY Management Training Applied Sustainability on Kaua`i
CASCADING CATASTROPHES?
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24. KAUA`I COUNTY Management Training Applied Sustainability on Kaua`i
FINAL THOUGHTS...
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25. KAUA`I COUNTY Management Training Applied Sustainability on Kaua`i
TOWARD SUSTAINABILITY
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26. KAUA`I COUNTY Management Training Applied Sustainability on Kaua`i
Dominant model Sustainable model
infinite competitive growth life cycle of the organism
MAXIMUM ENTROPY ZERO ENTROPY
bigger fish swallowing the smaller self-similar fractal structure
laying waste to everything in its path cycles turning within cycles
like a hurricane the secret of sustainability
no closed cycle to hold resources within dynamically closed cycle
or to build up stable organized structures enables stable organized structures
to build up and in a balanced way
from “Dream Farm” by physicist Mae-Wan Ho
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27. KAUA`I COUNTY Management Training Applied Sustainability on Kaua`i
THE SUSTAINABILITY IMPERATIVE
“In designing pathways for the future, we need to make them:
• AT SCALE
Interesting new tech may be hard to bring to scale
• IN TIME
Things that are very far out, will be helpful far out, but right now we need some good things
• FOR ALL
Between the rich and poor, an equilibrium, particularly in terms of the environment
David Hunter Marks
David Hunter Marks
MIT Professor
Coordinator of the Alliance for Global Sustainability (AGS)
At the Annual AGS Conference, Feb ‘08
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28. KAUA`I COUNTY Management Training Applied Sustainability on Kaua`i
SUSTAINABILITY IS NOT WHAT WE THINK,
IT’S HOW
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29. KAUA`I COUNTY Management Training Applied Sustainability on Kaua`i
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