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- 1. Sustainable Living A globaland personal perspective Think globally – act neighborly
- 2. Sustainability is…. … providingfor the NEEDS of ALL people alive today, without jeopardizing future generations. and we know that….
- 3. ….we know that… …thereis a difference between human wants and human needs. • Gandhi said that the world could surely provide for the needs of the many but not the greed of the few.
- 4. Okay, but I’ma sinner….. How do I know if something is sustainable?
- 5. The Sustainability Triangle Thequest for sustainability Economic Environmental Vitality Integrity Social Equity PerspectivePerspective
- 6. Sustainable Living….. So, whatis the problem?
- 7. World Population 16 15 14 13 12 11 Billionsofpeople ? ? ? 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 2-5 million years 80006000 4000 2000 2000 2100 Hunting and gathering Black Death–the Plague Time Industrial revolution Agricultural revolution B.C. A.D.
- 8. Two problems…. •Too manypeople •Impact per person
- 9. Ecological Footprint: A measureof the “load” imposed by a given population on nature, or the land necessary to sustain resource consumption and waste discharge. Our Ecological Footprint, by M. Wackernagel and W. Rees
- 10. Water Shortages Major globalproblem areas
- 11. And the bigone! • Humankind expends in one year an amount of fossil fuel that it took nature roughly a million years to produce.
- 12. What do wedo with all the stuff?
- 13. What do thescientists say? • 1972 – Limits to Growth is published by D. Meadows et al. MIT systems modelers take a look at the future resulting in lots of debate
- 14. World3 – MITComputer Model A computer model of the world including data on: • Population • Food production • Pollution • Natural resource use • Industrial growth
- 15. The “standard” run •What happens (according to World 3) if we “just “keep on keeping on”…. well, then….
- 16. World 3 the“standard” run
- 17. World 3 the“standard” run
- 18. But what if“resources double” We’ll find more oil!
- 19.
- 20. Other “what ifs”… •Increasingly effective pollution controls • Increasing agricultural production/acre • Effective soil erosion controls • More efficient resource use (technology) All these help, by either “delaying or softening the pain somewhat.”
- 21. Results of other“what ifs…..” • Possible scenarios ?
- 22. What works? Three majorchanges make huge differences: • Two children per family and, • Reasonable industrial output (stuff) or, “enough is enough!” • We invest in new sustainable technologies.
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- 25. What do thescientists say now? • 1972 – Limits of Growth – lots of debate! • 2004 – Limits to Growth – 30 Years later – The model is “mostly” correct, so far…. – And, we still have a choice!
- 26. So, what dowe need to do? 1. Two children per family 2. Enough is enough! 3. Appropriate and efficient new sustainable technologies Is this possible? What prevents us from making the shift?
- 27. … maybe selfishness …maybe greed … maybe ?????? Well…..
- 28. One of theproblems is the way we think about the world! Our “mental models”
- 29. “The problems thatwe have created cannot be solved at the level of thinking that created them.” -Albert Einstein
- 30. Why do wecontinue to make the same mistakes over and over? The “iceberg” model of systemic relationships is a simple tool to understand root causes. Lets look deeper….. Events
- 31. Events Patterns of Behavior Systemic Structure Mental Models Systemsthinking looks below events and patterns of behavior
- 32. Events Patterns of Behavior Systemic Structure Mental Models Weneed to look deeper than events…. Non-sustainable action Non-sustainable Pattern Non-sustainable structures ____ Non-sustainable Mental Models
- 33. Events Patterns of Behavior Systemic Structure Mental Models Weneed to look deeper than events…. Plastic water bottle that is used once Convenience, non-responsibility Systems that make plastic bottles “cheap” ____ The world is organized as a linear throughput
- 34. Here’s a mentalmodel... Natural Resources Goods and Services Pollution, Waste and Environmental Disturbances The world is organized as a linear “throughput” of material
- 35. Water bottles thatwe use once and will last for a thousand years Non- sustainable action
- 36.
- 37. Like lots ofwater bottles! Non-sustainable patterns
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- 40. Create NS MentalModels Non-sustainable Action Non-sustainable Pattern S Non-sustainable Structures S Non-sustainable Mental Models S
- 41. Which creates a ReinforcingFeedback Loop Non-sustainable Action Non-sustainable Pattern S Non-sustainable Structures S Non-sustainable Mental Models S S R
- 42. Feedback loops arepowerful • We know about “vicious” cycles – You hit me…. I hit you harder…. You hit me harder…. I hit you…… – Hate breeds hurt - hurt breeds hate…hate breeds hurt…. – I feel bad so I “take something” – I feel better for a while, but then….. I feel bad, so….
- 43. Reinforcing feedback loops arepowerful But, with these loops, eventually…
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- 45. Lets call it“something to learn” Non-sustainable Action Non-sustainable Pattern Non-sustainable Structures Non-sustainable Mental Models R Something to Learn
- 46. It is oftenpainful! Non-sustainable Action Non-sustainable Pattern Non-sustainable Structures Non-sustainable Mental Models R Something to Learn Pain and Confusion
- 47. We can getstuck here! Non-sustainable Action Non-sustainable Pattern Non-sustainable Structures Non-sustainable Mental Models R Something to Learn Pain and Confusion Defensive behavior
- 48. The way outis through acceptance followed by wonder and awe…. Non-sustainable Action Non-sustainable Pattern Non-sustainable Structures Non-sustainable Mental Models R Something to Learn Pain and Confusion Wonder and Awe
- 49. Wonder and aweallows us to try something new Non-sustainable Action Non-sustainable Pattern Non-sustainable Structures Non-sustainable Mental Models R Something to Learn Pain and Confusion Wonder and Awe Change
- 50. A new reinforcingfeedback loop Sustainable Action Sustainable Pattern Sustainable Structures Sustainable Mental Models R Wonder and Awe
- 51. We have achoice! We can find our way out of these loops through pain and confusion - and eventually we will! or…. We can choose to create sustainable reinforcing feedback loops through… 1. voluntary small actions … and 2. changes in mental models….
- 52. Non-sustainable Action Non-sustainable Pattern Non-sustainable Structures Non-sustainable Mental Models R We canbegin either with action or mental models Change this Or This
- 53. Because thoughts create actionscreate thoughts create….. actions thoughts
- 54. Here’s the goodnews! We can choose to create a new world through sustainable reinforcing feedback loops... But how?
- 55. Virtuous feedback loopscan be just as powerful as the vicious ones Through small actions, like… – Adding worms to your compost – Smiling – Holding the door open for someone –Changing a light bulb – Making salt (April 6, 1930)
- 56. Spirals of changebegin with small acts
- 57. Change a light,save the world! …SMALL acts can begin a journey toward….
- 58. …..big shifts inconsciousness..
- 59. Can small ideasor actions cause big effects? Well, how about a single word, like….
- 60.
- 61. Spirals of change Cyclesof hope
- 62. What’s this gotto do with me? • Well the truth is, you and I choose to live in a way that will eventually result in collapse.
- 63. We are theproblem…. • I belong to the 20 percent of the world’s population … that uses 67 % of the planet’s resources and generates 75 percent of its pollution and waste. Barbara Kingsolver Small Wonder
- 64. But what canI do?
- 65. Choose your ownaction
- 66. Lets start withfood…. - Eat local foods - Take kitchen wastes to a compost - Make a worm compost in your kitchen (or dorm room) - Recycle and reuse what you can - Join a CSA (a what?)
- 67. Community Supported Ag Somewherenear you, I’m sure is a farmer who desperately needs your support….. From… Small Wonder
- 68. It takes avillage…. Community Supported Agriculture (www.buylocalfood.com)
- 69. Food…. The average fooditem set before a U.S. consumer traveled 1300 miles to get there. Transporting 5 calories’ worth of strawberry from California to New York costs 435 calories of fossil fuel. So, what do I do?
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- 71. … using ecologicalprinciples PLNTSOIL 398 P – Permaculture Class - Summer
- 72. Chickens in mybackyard?
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- 77. The unheated hoophouse
- 78. Bees are verybusy
- 79. And while youare a student ? - Demand local foods in the dining halls - Don’t take more than you can eat - Avoid fast foods and…. - Join a student garden….
- 80. What else couldI do? • Change a light bulb • Turn off the water when you brush your teeth • Return the packaging to the store • Turn off the lights when you leave the room • Ride a bike or walk • Learn to listen • Join the Great Turning!
- 81. Okay, so whatelse? • Well, why not do one simple thing? – Like….
- 82.
- 83. Turn off thecomputer!
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- 88. Worms in thebasement
- 89. The worms loveit here
- 90. And even here…. ….thedorm room model
- 91. The new wormcondo
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- 93. Compost collection inmy office
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- 96. Use the sunto dry your clothes
- 97. Returning the milkbottles
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- 99. Spirals of changebegin with small acts
- 100. Sustainable Living Joanna Macyinvites us all to join in “the great turning”.
- 101. Do I reallycare?
- 102. The surveys saywe care! We say we care about family, people, nature, and good food – but… …we eat fast food and toss out the wrapper.
- 103. Lack of sanityis… Saying one thing and doing another… When our core values are inconsistent with our daily actions – we are no longer sane. - I know…..
- 104. Who will leadthe way? •Politicians? •Corporate leaders? •People!
- 105. Who thinks andacts in “sustainable time frames? Who will lead the way?Who will lead the way?
- 106. Time horizon for thinking and planning •Corporate Leaders = 3months •Politicians = 2 - 4 years •Child born in 1980 = 75 years
- 107. But, I’m onlyone person…. What can one person do?…
- 108. And …….. I amawesome……
- 109. Perhaps…. it is notnecessary to do great things….
- 110. …..just small things withgreat love. Mother Teresa
- 111. Barbara Kingsolver wrotein Small Wonder Our revolution will have dancing and excellent food!
- 112. To learn more….. joinus! HONORS 397I – Leadership for Social Change - Winter PLSOILIN 265 – Sustainable Ag – Fall PLSOILIN 285 – Sustainable Living – Spring PLSOILIN 298G – GardenShare – year round PLSOILIN 397S – Dialogue on Ag Issues PLSOILIN 389P – Permaculture - Summer PLSOILIN 597S – Ag Systems Thinking – Spring
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- 114. Please call meto chat…. jgerber@psis.umass.edu http://people.umass.edu/jgerber/
Editor's Notes
- #11 Water will probably become limiting before oil.
- #31 To begin to understand root causes, lets use a systems thinking tool…..
- #32 Mental Models result in structures that produce patterns that cause events….. What we see of course are the events!
- #33 Here is an example.
- #34 Here is an example.
- #36 We might be begin by asking, “why do individuals continue to act in ways that are clearly non-sustainable?”
- #37 Well, from a systems perspective, we know that non-sustainable practices done over enough time and space, produce patterns of behavior that make it easier to continue non-sustainable practices. This is the beginning of a causal loop diagram that describes this sort of behavior. Notice the little “s” on the line, indicating that these elements move in the same direction. That is… … when non-sustainable practices increase, non-sustainable patterns of behavior increase… and vice versa. Actions result in patterns…
- #38 Non-sustainable patterns of course, create the conditions in which we generate structures like organizations, laws, policies, physical infrastructures, which all support the conditions for patterns of behavior, which influence individual action, and round and round….
- #39 Society then develops organizations and structures which encourage non-sustainable patterns of behavior.
- #40 Structures make it easier for the behavior to occur.
- #41 Patterns and structures become the norm and reinforce mental models that “make sense” out of the practices. Mental models, or worldviews including beliefs, assumptions, and most important, the stories we tell are the foundation upon which structures are built.
- #42 This is a reinforcing feedback loop. Individual actions change patterns of behavior, which of course influence individual actions. Patterns result in the emergence of structures, which influence patterns of behavior. Structures and mental models co-evolve and reinforce each other in ways that may be unsustainable, or sustainable. This is a reinforcing feedback loop that makes any experiments in sustainable behavior more difficult. But, in living systems….. Like the universe, ecosystems, society and a human life….
- #43 These loops are powerful.
- #44 These loops are powerful. But…..
- #45 Something always happens…..
- #46 We might call this “something to learn” - and it is often…
- #47 It is often painful. We can stay here as long as we choose, or we can choose the way out…..
- #48 It is often painful. We can stay here as long as we choose, or we can choose the way out…..
- #49 Through “wonder and awe”….
- #50 Through “wonder and awe”…. We can begin to reverse the spiral…
- #51 Through “wonder and awe”…. Sustainable feedback loops are just as powerful….
- #52 We have a choice….
- #53 Many of us have tried to change the systemic model at the level of patterns of behavior (we protest and educate) or structures (we try to become involved or we burn it down). The leverage points however elsewhere….
- #54 This is a powerful feedback loop in which actions create thoughts and thoughts result in actions…. They may be either sustainable or not, but this is a powerful source of change.
- #55 We have a choice….
- #56 We may choose small acts of courage.
- #57 Which begins spirals of change.
- #58 Small acts are important…. Because they can start us on the path to….
- #59 …big shifts in consciousness. Changes happen both because a critical mass of people have an awakening to new mental models (shifts in consciousness, like the renaissance, enlightenment, the agricultural, scientific and industrial revolutions, human rights, the awakening of the mythos, theos, logos, holos, AND because individual people take small personal actions. Systemic change from both ends.
- #62 This is the social basis for spirals of change.
- #102 Here is a view of the same area today. All of the foreground is tropical dry forest. In the background are several volcanic peaks covered with tropical rainforest (with some cloud forest on the summits). The scene you saw earlier was from the summit of Cacao (right of centre), looking across Volcan Orosi to the two volcanoes in Lago Nicaragua across the border. Janzen has formed a Dry Forest Conservation Fund, and has been very successful at soliciting donations to protect lands on the flanks of these volcanoes as they become available. Local farmers are able to get a better price for their land as an addition to the GCA than by selling to a logging company for the uncut rainforest timber.