Sustainability

Balance. Like all species on Earth, human beings are involved in strategies for feeding and housing the present generation, breeding and caring for the next generation, and improving their lives to the best of their ability. Throughout most of he 200,000 years that humans have inhabited the Earth, our species lived in relative balance with all life.

Imbalance. In the last 60 years, however, our population has grown at exponential rates and   the Industrial and Technological Ages has spread over much of the Earth.  This rapid expansion has been accomplished without regard to maintaining planetary health. Few people believed that human activities could have significant impact on something as large as the Earth.

Concern. Noticeable public concern began in earnest in 1961 and increased with the publication of Rachel Carson’s popular book, Silent Spring in 1962. Although Carson’s work focused on the environmental degradation of a small piece of land, her message was clear:  The use of toxic pesticides (in this case DDT) is harmful to wildlife and to human health.  Debate about the truth of her thesis ensued and it wasn’t until 1972 that DDT was banned for agricultural use in the USA.  DDT could be used, however, throughout much of Earth especially for public health issues such as malaria.

Silent Springis considered by many to be the seed from which the environmental movement arose. Earlier efforts had not captured the public attention or an ever-expanding supportive group of scientists, policy makers, biologists, educators, and other professionals.

First Worldwide Conference. In 1972 the environment had become such a concern that the United Nations held the first conference on the global environment in Stockholm, Sweden.  Unfortunately, the environmental movement, as it was known then, did not have the impact that participants felt was so essential in order to assure the health of the Earth and the Earth community.  Environmentalists’ efforts to halt or reverse degradation were to no avail.

Three Factors and Definition. By the late 1980s and early 1990s, people interested in protecting the environment realized that challenges to environmental health were not isolated, but embedded in economic and social factors.  In 1987, the United nations released the Brundtland Report that established two important markers:

1. The recognition that the environment could only be ‘saved’ by sustainable development that was comprised of 3 interacting human behaviors:  environment, economic, and social factors.
2. A widely accepted and recognized definition of sustainable development.

Sustainability. As exploration of sustainable development continued, people began to refer to the human capacity to achieve sustainability asking, “Can human beings work together to create a sustainable world?”  Some scientists reject this question and the idea that human behavior is endangering the Earth’s health. Regardless, the United Nations and other organizations around the world continue to convene meetings to address what many believe to be a potential planetary disaster for many species including humans.

What can I do? Although most people will not be attending the 2012 Earth Summit, they can investigate the pro and con arguments about sustainability and come to their own conclusion.  If people wish to contribute to a more sustainable world, they can explore Natural Step, a realistic framework for creating a more sustainable world.

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Program for Sustainability: The Natural Step

Could Cells Provide a Blueprint for Sustainability? The Inspirational Story
of a Physician’s Curiosity

In the late 1980’s, when Dr. Karl-Henrik Robèrt, was treating many children suffering from cancer, he noted that the people who loved the children gathered their family, care providers, and organizations together to create a coordinated response to the challenge.

Dr. Robert asked himself why people could respond quickly and adequately to these challenges, but were at a loss when faced with the emerging challenge to planetary health. What could be done?

A simple, but direct answer came to him while he was examining a patient’s cancerous cells under a microscope.  Could our basic understanding of how healthy cells operate provide a platform for knowing how even systems as large as the Earth could do and not do to maintain health? Could this tiny element out of which all life is built unite people across countries, cultures, politics, and ideas? Could the Earth Community maintain health using the guiding principles of cell health?

Curious about what others would think of this idea, Dr. Robert sent a draft of his ideas to a broad cross-section of scientist and asked for their input.   As the Natural Step website states, Twenty-one drafts later, there was at last consensus about what is in principle needed to sustain the human civilization on earth. With the support of His Majesty the King of Sweden, Karl XVI Gustaf, this ‘consensus document’ and accompanying audio tape was sent to every household and school in Sweden.

Looking at how cells behave and guard their health, Dr. Karl-Henrik Robert developed the following 4 basic principles to create sustainability.

The Four Basic Principles:

1. Limit what we take from the Earth.
2. Eliminate putting toxins into the system and clean up those already present.
3. Respect the Earth and eliminate degradation of her systems.
4. Remove barriers to people meeting fundamental needs.

The Natural Step website contains stories of how corporations such as WalMart, Nike, Interface, and others have applied the Natural Step principles to build a more sustainable work environment and contribute to global sustainability. http://www.naturalstep.org/

For more about the Natural Step program and insight into sustainability, visit Alliance for Sustainability’s
Terry Gips’ Power Point presentation at the Ways of Knowing Conversations.

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Strategies for Sustainability: Boundaries

Swedish environment scientist, Johan Rockstrom, suggests that we let the Earth guide our actions on behalf of the environment. Looking at our recent history, Rockstrom suggests that change in nature is often not incremental and linear, but rather large and abrupt. For example, the deterioration of the Great Barrier Reef seemed to be moving slowly toward destruction, but then suddenly its health collapsed.

Rockstrom's point is that there is a natural boundary beyond which nature can't maintain, stabilize, or recover from degradation. Our strategy, he suggests, should be to focus on NOT crossing the identified boundaries and, where we have crossed the boundaries, doing everything in our power to return to sustainable levels. According to his insight, the three gigantic systems that we can impact are (1) the climate, (2) the ozone, (3) the oceans. In order to for the Earth to continue as we know it, three huge systems must be understood and stabilized: the Climate, the Ozone, and the Oceans. Of these three, Rockstrom believes that Climate Change is the 3rd least important challenge we face.

Beneath these 3 overarching systems that maintain the Earth's health, there are 7 other systems that feed the health of the 3 large systems. Two of those, Rockstrom believes, face catastrophic loss if human beings don't address them immediately. Those two are the dumping of excess nitrogen into Earth choking the natural balance and the elimination of biodiversity reducing the Earth's capacity to imaginatively co-create healthy responses. While the other 5 systems are in danger, that are not past their restoration points.

Rockstrom proposes that, if we focus on these boundaries as a planetary community, we can restore resilience to the system.

To learn about the other 5 systems and more about what he is advocating, visit his TED talk:   
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/johan_rockstrom_let_the_environment_guide_our_development.html

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History of Sustainability

A Growing Movement. Sustainable Development began to have traction within governments and without. In addition to governments and organizations, other individuals continued Rachael Carson's model and provided outstanding leadership to the movement. For an excellent history of Sustainable Development, see the United Nations Sustainable Development Timeline.

The next large-scale meeting of government and non-government organizations in Rio de Janerio, Brazil will focus on Institutional Frameworks for Sustainable Development and a Green Economy. 2012 Earth Summit, Rio + 20.

Home: An Aerial View

Filmmaker Yann Arthus-Bertrand and his team, using their aerial photography skills, offer a breath-taking journey of the Earth’s history and development up to present dangers and some hopeful actions human beings are taken today to help re-stabilize planetary life.
The film provides a view from above while advocating change from below. It is an invitation to individual and collective responsibility for the fragile beauty we share.

One is left with the question, “What can I do to ensure a sustainable planet?”