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PPD 107 sustainability presentation
The document summarizes a guest lecture on sustainability given by Montgomery Norton to an urban and regional planning class. It discusses the evolution of definitions of sustainability from reports in the 1980s and 90s. It also outlines key international agreements on environment and development from the 1970s to 2000s. Finally, it provides examples of sustainability plans, policies and programs implemented by various levels of government and organizations.
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PPD 107 sustainability presentation
- 1. Guest Lecture -Montgomery Norton Urban & Regional Planning - PPD 107 Professor Dallaire University of California, Irvine Winter 2009 Sustainability: Plans, policies & programs
- 2. Definition: • Gro HarlemBrundtland (1987, WCED) - “Our Common Future” • President Clinton’s Council on Sustainable Development (1993) Council’s report - “Sustainable America” • The Earth Charter (1995-2000, International Commission of diverse constituents)
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- 4. International Developments • UnitedNations Conference on the Human Environment (1972 - Stockholm, Sweden) • World Commission on Environment and Development (1987 - Geneva, Switzerland) • United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (1988 - New York) • Earthcare Interfaith Network (1989 - Baltimore, MD) • United Nations Conference on Environment and Development - “The Earth Summit’ (1992 - Rio De Janeiro, Brazil) • World Summit on Sustainable Development (2002 - Johannesburg, South Africa) • United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (2005 - New York)
- 5. “The Decade providesan opportunity to join an international movement, and to organize around a common set of principles and priorities (pp,2)” -The Declaration. Vol.7, Number2
- 6. Fu-chen Lo andYue-man Yeung (1998) • Globalization (pp. 9) • Food supply. (pp.11) • Sustainable Development can be achieved. (pp. 12)
- 7. Cycles of Civilizations “TheCollapse of Complex Civilizations” - Joseph Tainter “Collapse: How societies choose to fail or succeed” - Jared Diamond
- 8. Using satellite imagesof city lights at night, NASA scientists are mapping the spread of urban areas around the globe and monitoring their impact on our planet's ecosystem. Ecological Footprints Largest per capita ecological deficits: UAE (-213), Kuwait (-146), U.S. (-89), Belgium/Luxem. (-62), Netherlands (-56) Largest per capita surplus: Mongolia (163), Namibia (97), Gabon (96), Mauritania (68), Papua New Guinea (65)
- 9. Possible Futures National IntelligenceCouncil (Special Advisory Board to the CIA) • Davos World • Pax Americana • A New Caliphate • Cycle of Fear The 2020 Global Landscape Report (2004)
- 10. Millenium Ecosystem Assessment “Ecosystemsand Human Well-Being” (2005) “Considers the intrinsic value of species and ecosystems.” Plausible Scenarios: Global Orchestration Order from Strength Adapting Mosaic Techno Garden
- 11. Possible Futures Powerdown, RichardHeinberg (2005) “No factor has played a greater role in the explosive development of global civilization since the 19th Century than abundant cheap fossil energy” The alternative is “Powerdown”: 1. a strategy to reduce per-capita resource usage in wealthy countries 2. develop alternative energy sources 3. distribute resources more equitably 4. and reduce the human population humanely but systematically over time.
- 12. What kind ofworld do we want to live in?
- 13. Fill ‘Er Upwith Dictators: Petropolitics (Ch. 4) • Negative correlation between Freedom and the price of Oil • Petrodollars from the West has funded radical and more fundamentalist Islam • Leads to more violent jihadism, suppresion of women, entrepreneurialism, and general social freedom, including media & art Friedman, T.L. (2008). Hot, Flat & Crowded.
- 14. Peak Oil, PostCarbon Cities, Powerdown • “Peak oil production and the arc of depletion that follows” • The loss of Fossil Fuels and what that means… (Colin Campbell – the Association for the Study of Peak Oil and Gas)
- 15. Remarks by BillMoyers UCI – November 14, 2005 Sponsored by the School of Social Ecology
- 16. “The city isfirst a holy place.” – Kevin Lynch & Lewis Mumford
- 17. Sustainability Declarations The EarthCharter - was called forth by the Brundtland Report (Our Common Future) International Civil Society 1995-2000 The Hannover Principles - sustainability and the built environment William McDonough and Michael Braungart 1992 The Talloires Declaration - define and promote sustainability in higher education University Leaders for a Sustainable Future - 22 University Presidents and Chancellors convened by Tufts University President, Jean Mayer in Talloires, France 1990
- 18. The Consciousness ofSociety Invisible order Law and regulations are symbols and key points of that order. - Lindell Marsh, Lecturer, PP&D
- 19. Soft Law vs.Hard Law • Usually applied to International Law • Soft Law: commitments between parties that are not legally binding • Hard law: binding laws that is prescriptive and has authority through legally enforcing commitments for countries (states) and other international subjects.
- 20. National Environmental Policy Actof 1969(NEPA) The purposes of this Act are:The purposes of this Act are: To declare a national policy which will encourageTo declare a national policy which will encourage productive and enjoyableproductive and enjoyable harmonyharmony between man andbetween man and his environment; to promote efforts which will preventhis environment; to promote efforts which will prevent or eliminate damage to the environment andor eliminate damage to the environment and biosphere and stimulate the health and welfare ofbiosphere and stimulate the health and welfare of man; to enrich the understanding of the ecologicalman; to enrich the understanding of the ecological systems and natural resources important to thesystems and natural resources important to the Nation; and to establish a Council on EnvironmentalNation; and to establish a Council on Environmental Quality.Quality.
- 21. Case Study: Finland •#1 out of 142-nation study by World Economic Forum (U.S. #51, EAU last)(2002) • Finnish National Commission on SD (1993) – National Strategy for SD - “Towards Sustainable Choices: A nationally and globally sustainable Finland” • Helsinki – Subcommittee on regionally and locally SD
- 22. “…what matters is thatwe all take responsibility for the direction and impact of our society. - Nattrass, B. & Altomare, M. (1999). The Natural Step for Business: Wealth, ecology and the evolutionary corporation. British Columbia, Canada: New Society Publishers.
- 23. U.S. Conference ofMayors • Climate Protection Agreement • 911 Mayors, all 50 states, DC & Puerto Rico = 81,846,188 citizens • 3 actions of commitment – Meet or beat Kyoto Protocol targets – Urge state & federal gov to do the same – Urge Congress to pass emission trading system Effect?
- 24. Policy Guides • APA- “Policy Guide on Planning for Sustainability” • ICLEI - “Local Strategies for Accelerating Sustainability” • WHO - “Twenty steps for developing a Healthy Cities project” • RMLU - “Sustainable Community Development Code” • PHLP (CA DHS) - “General Plans and Zoning: A toolkit for building healthy, vibrant communities”
- 25. Land Use Regulation:Cases and materials “Almost all court decisions hold that an adopted plan that is not required and made the ‘governing law’ by state statute or local ordinance is ‘advisory’ only, and not legally binding or controlling with respect to a city’s zoning actions” (pp. 209).
- 26. • Climate Protection –GHG Inventory & Climate Action Plan • Energy – Energy Plan, CFL Distribution (60,000), Community Energy Partnerships, Energy Conservation, Renewable Energy Programs • Recycling and Waste Management – Waste Diversion, Zero Waste Resolution, Recycling • Sustainability – OCGP Green Team, Irvine Build Green & LEED, Green Purchasing Policies, City Facilities, Green Ribbon Environment Committee, CSA • Transportation – Alt. Fuel Vehicles, Zero Emission Vehicles, IBC Shuttle, Irvine Trans. Center, Bikeways • Water – Conservation (Sustainable Landscaping Guidelines), HOA Pilot Prog., Orange County Great Park • Events
- 27. UC Policy onSustainable Practices (March 22, 2007) • Green Building Design • Clean Energy Standard • Climate Protection Practices • Sustainable Transportation Practices • Sustainable Operations • Recycling & Waste Management • Environmentally Preferable Purchasing Practices (10 Campuses - 214,000 Students)(10 Campuses - 214,000 Students)
- 28. Irvine Unified SchoolDistrict Energy Update: Feb. 2009 A Vision for Energy Self-Sufficiency Facilities Grounds/Landscaping District Vehicles Curriculum Corporate/Community Partnerships Cafeteria Programs Site Green Teams
- 29. Blowers, A. (1993).Planning for a sustainable environment: A report by the Town and Country Planning Association. London: Earthscan Publications Ltd. - The deliberate diversion of money- The deliberate diversion of money from activities or processes, which arefrom activities or processes, which are environmentally damaging to ones, whichenvironmentally damaging to ones, which are environmentally or ecologicallyare environmentally or ecologically essential for our long-term security.essential for our long-term security. The Diversionary Principle
- 30. Localized Energy Production •Wind Energy • Solar Power • Micro-Turbine Generators (Methane/Natural Gas) • Fuel Cells (Methane/Natural Gas)
- 31. The Food System •Relocalization (Community Organic Gardens - “Victory Gardens”) • Vertical Farms • Free-Range • Organic • Biodiversity • Natural, less processed foods
- 32. Opportunities • The endof the Cold War. • The Iraq Wars/the “War on Terror” • America’s infrastructure. • The U.S. and Global Economic Crisis
- 33. Sustainability... will dependon replacing maladaptive assumptions... Changing Basic Assumptions Clark, M.E. (1995). Changes in Euro-American Values Needed for Sustainability. Journal of Social Issues, 51, 4, 63-82. New York - Plenum Press.
- 34. The Limits toPositivism All Knowledge is scientific knowledge All scientific knowledge is empirically verifiable One must use the same methods to study the physical world as one uses to study the social and educational worlds If knowledge exists, it exists in some definite, measurable quantity Nature is uniform and whatever is studied remains consistent in its existence and behavior. (Authentic knowledge is based on sense experience)
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- 37. In-Class Questions What wasyour favorite aspect of sustainability from this presentation? From your project paper? And why? What aspects of the sustainability equation are missing? And why?
- 38. Recommended Environment Classes •International Environmental Management • Elements of Environmental Design • First-Year integrated Program in Environmental Studies • Environmental Quality & Health • Brownfields: Law & Politics • Global Environment Issues • Sustainability
- 39. How to getinvolved...? Students for Sustainability OC Society for Conservation Biology Anteaters for Recycling & Conservation UC Irivne Sustainability Coalition Sustainable Energy/Technology Environmental Law Society Engineers without Borders Real Food Challenge Green Campus
Editor's Notes
- #3 World Commission on Environment and Development in Geneva, Switzerland, Gro Harlem Brundtland chaired the report, “Our Common Future” (United Nations, 1987). This report set the internationally agreed upon definition of sustainability: “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” &quot;Our vision is of a life sustaining Earth. We are committed to achievement of a dignified, peaceful, and equitable existence. A sustainable United States will have a growing economy that provides equitable opportunities for satisfying livelihoods and a safe, healthy, high quality of life for current and future generations. Our nation will protect its environment, its natural resource base, and the functions and viability of natural systems on which all life depends&quot; (Sustainable America, p. iv). The Earth Charter is a declaration of fundamental ethical principles for building a just, sustainable and peaceful global society in the 21st century. It seeks to inspire in all people a new sense of global interdependence and shared responsibility for the well-being of the whole human family, the greater community of life, and future generations. It is a vision of hope and a call to action.
- #4 Imagine that a corporation is driven by its Board of Directors, whose Fiduciary Responsibility is to deliver the highest margin of short-term profits to its Shareholders. UC RIC - A new Fiduciary Responsibility, which incorporates a longer-range vision and the understanding that economic decisions effect the environment and society and vice versa. Growing awareness of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has taken root prior to the sustainability trends we see now in planning and local government.
- #5 http://www.un-documents.net/index.htm
- #6 “The challenge of this decade is to mainstream SD approaches and promote systems thinking in the quickest way possible by imbedding these concepts in education through engaging educators in developing a new pedagogy as well as transforming and creating new values, attitudes, and spaces for learning.” – UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
- #7 There is no doubt that globalization has sharpened the basic conflicts between the old and the new, secularism and religion, the West and the East, the haves and the have-nots. (pp. 9) One potentially critical problem already being faced by some mega-cities is food supply. (pp.11) Overall, the world population must be able to stabilize at a certain level such that sustainable development can be achieved. (pp. 12)
- #9 Venetoulis, J. & Talberth, J (2005). Ecological Footprint of Nations: 2005 update. Oakland, CA: Redifining Progress. Retrieved on February 23, 2009 from http://www.rprogress.org/publications/2006/Footprint%20of%20Nations%202005.pdf
- #10 Davos World: China & India reshaping globalization through robust economic growth. Pax Americana: U.S. predominance survives the radical changes to the global political landscape. A New Caliphate: radical religious identity politics constituting a challenge to Western norms & values. Cycle of Fear: large-scale intrusive security measures are taken to prevent outbreaks of deadly attacks
- #11 The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment assessed the consequences of ecosystem change for human well-being. From 2001 to 2005, the MA involved the work of more than 1,360 experts worldwide. Their findings provide a state-of-the-art scientific appraisal of the condition and trends in the world’s ecosystems and the services they provide, as well as the scientific basis for action to conserve and use them sustainably.
- #12 Avoiding cynicism and despair, “Powerdown” by Richard Heinberg, begins with an overview of the likely impacts of oil and natural gas depletion and then outlines four options for industrial societies during the next decades: Last One Standing: the path of competition for remaining resources Powerdown: the path of cooperation, conservation, and sharing Waiting for a Magic Elixir: wishful thinking, false hopes, and denial Building Lifeboats: the path of community solidarity and preservation
- #14 The influx of western petrodollars into Saudi Arabia over the past 4 decades has developed a trend from less tolerant Islam to a more repressive Salafi (desert) Islam. “The rise of this more fundamentalist strain of Islam in the past two decades is by no means entirely attributable to Saudi money. A broader backlash against globalization and Westernization is also at work in the Muslim world, as well as a rejection of all the previous failed ideologies - Arab nationalism, Arab socialism, and Communism - by a new generation of Muslim youth. But Saudi money has certainly helped to fuel and consolidate this upsurge in rigidly orthodox Islam, which comes at a time when, as the Financial Times reported (June 4, 2008), nearly two-thirds of the Middle East’s population is under the age of twenty-five and more than one in four are unemployed (pp. 83).”
- #16 The essence of civilization remains the same: a web of cooperation joining family, neighbors, community, and country, creating in each of us a sense of reliance on the whole, a recognition of the self rooted in companionship with others, through powerful loyalties to the common good. At the core, civilization is an ethical compact. American society is moving towards a society of elites insulated from the consequences of their own actions. The social compact is deteriorating, as access to environmental resources becomes the privilege of the few at the expense of the masses This is the oldest story in America-the struggle to determine whether “We the People” is a spiritual ecology embedded in a political reality – one nation, indivisible – or merely a charade masquerading as piety and manipulated by the powerful and privileged to sustain their own way of life at the expense of others.
- #17 Has Capitalism and competition for material resources and wealth become our religion? What about the quality of life indicators, including: value, peace, nature, faith, compassion, service, beauty, art, culture, purpose, inspiration, and altruism… To what are we devoted?
- #18 We stand at a critical moment in Earth&apos;s history, a time when humanity must choose its future. As the world becomes increasingly interdependent and fragile, the future at once holds great peril and great promise. To move forward we must recognize that in the midst of a magnificent diversity of cultures and life forms we are one human family and one Earth community with a common destiny. We must join together to bring forth a sustainable global society founded on respect for nature, universal human rights, economic justice, and a culture of peace. Towards this end, it is imperative that we, the peoples of Earth, declare our responsibility to one another, to the greater community of life, and to future generations. www.earthcharter.org Recognize interdependence, eliminate the concept of waste, understand the limitations of design. http://www.mcdonough.com/principles.pdf &quot;Universities educate most of the people who develop and manage society&apos;s institutions. For this reason, universities bear profound responsibilities to increase the awareness, knowledge, technologies, and tools to create an environmentally sustainable future”. http://www.ulsf.org/programs_talloires_history.html
- #19 There is an invisible order in our human culture (how we get along together) – a system of shared thought, a sub-part of which is the governance that relates to law and the environment. However the meaning of the words used -- in the law, tends to be relatively subjective and depends for interpretation and implementation on mores, ethics, customs, historic principals, beliefs, etc., motivations, and our sub-conscious – and collective unconscious.
- #20 Soft Law often evolves into Hard Law through its influence on the commitments. Joseph DiMento (2007). International Environmental Management. UC Irvine
- #23 In this generation, in our era, humans have become integral agents of evolution. More than that, we are evolution becoming conscious of itself. Will we treat these insights as just more interesting data to be filed? Or will we, in the spirit of Archimedes, use them as a lever with which to move the world? The choice is ours.”
- #25 American Planning Association International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives - Founded 1990 World Health Organization Rocky Mountain Land Use Institute Public Health Law & Policy Institute (CA Department of Health Services)
- #26 CA Government Code section 65300 - General Plans Involves the effect on Implementation Programs Selmi, D.P., Kushner, J.A., & Ziegler, E.H. (2008). Land Use Regulation: Cases and materials. Third Edition. New York: Aspen Publishers
- #27 Zero Waste: residents, businesses through education & outreach, restaurant pilot program City Facilities: playgrounds use recycled products, Incredible Edible Park, Integrated Pest Man. CSA: CA Sust. Alliance Pilot Program - sust. Consultant to identify opportunities (OCGP)
- #28 The UC will procure 20% renewable energy by 2010 & provide 10MW by 2014 All 10 campuses will become Climate Neutral asap, with Climate Neutral Actions Plans The UC will become Zero Waste by 2020 Still challenged to address Social Responsibility
- #32 “The reform of the entire food system (must be) one of the highest priorities of your administration: unless you do, you will not be able to make significant progress on the health care crisis, energy independence or climate change. Unlike food, these are issues you did campaign on ﾑ but as you try to address them you will quickly discover that the way we currently grow, process and eat food in America goes to the heart of all three problems and will have to change if we hope to solve them. - Michael Pollan, An Open Letter to the Farmer in Chief. Retrieved February 23, 2009 from http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/11282008/profile.html.
- #34 Sustainability, which requires both ecological awareness and sensitivity to human social needs, will depend on replacing maladaptive assumptions: namely, that humans are not naturally selfish, but are prosocial; that scarcity for humans is not primarily a condition of Nature, but is culturally cased; and that progress means not growing bigger or more complex, but adapting to change.
- #35 Rather than attachment to linear progress of scientific and technological advancement based on historically outdated assumptions about human nature, an evolutionary wise method of adaptation would recognize inappropriate belief systems and values that threaten to destroy the environment and thus the cradle of civilization (Clark, 1995).
- #36 The question facing this generation is whether the human community will take charge of its own cultural evolution and implement a rational shift to sustainable economies, or will instead stand by watching nature impose change as environmental systems break down.” (State of the World 2001, pp. 190). “The challenge for our generation is to reverse these trends before environmental deterioration leads to long-term economic decline, as it did for so many earlier civilizations.” (Eco-Economy, pp. 4). Traditional economic models do not account for ecological externalities. India & China are experiencing unprecedented environmental degradation and deterioration as their economies grow at levels approaching 10%. “Today, in an integrated global economy, a collapse in one country or region will affect all of us.” (Eco-Economy, pp. 16) “Today we need a (paradigm) shift in our worldview, in how we think about the relationship between the earth and the economy.” (Eco-Economy, pp. 3). Thus ‘metanoia,’ or a fundamental transformation of world view, must pave the way for concrete action.” (Ophuls, W. & Boyan, S.A.,Jr. (1992). Ecology and the Politics of Scarcity Revisited: The unraveling of the American dream. p. 282). The International Society of Ecological Economics’ goal is to integrate the thinking of ecologists and economists into a transdiscipline aimed at building a sustainable world. (Eco-Economy, pp. 7), “The issue is not whether we know what needs to be done or whether we have the technologies to do it. The issue is whether our social institutions are capable of bringing about the change in the time available.” (Eco-Economy, pp. 21). Are we able to mobilize ourselves and the rest of the world to make the changes necessary?