Sustainability & You

1. Sustainability & You Lecture 21b

2. So, sustainability is about environmental protection, sustained economic growth and social equity.

3. Footprint Calculator • If everyone in the world lived like the average U.S. citizen -- that is, had similar eating, transportation, living, and consumption habits -- we'd need • 5 1/3 planets to support ourselves • the planet has about 4.5 biologically productive acres for each person in the world, and the average ecological footprint in the US is 24 acres.

4. Is sustainability working?

5. Substantial improvements in well-being achieved in last half century: • Life expectancy at birth up: 50  64 y • Infant mortality down: 13%  6% • Access to safe drinking water: <35%  65% • Literacy rate up: <50%  70% • GDP/cap (developing only): $900  $2900 • > 3 billion people improve living standards.

6. But success remains uneven, incomplete, reversible: • Persistent hunger of >800 million • Resurgence of disease epidemics (eg. HIV) • Growing urban homelessness > 600 million • Growing disparities between rich, poor • Growing number of poor  1.3 billion • Losing ground in Africa, elsewhere.

7. Development has dramatically altered basic biosphere processes... • Outgoing longwave radiation down >1% • Fixation of nitrogen up > 2x • Invasion by exotic organisms up > 3x • Sediment loads in rivers up > 5x • Release of lead up > 20x • Extinction of species up > 100-1000x

8. Transforming the face of the earth… • Increasing atmospheric CO2 by ~ 30 % • Intercepting > 40% of terrestrial production • Using > 50% freshwater runoff • Fully/overexploiting > 60% marine fisheries • Increasing atmospheric CH4 by >140 % • Introducing >70,000 synthetic chemicals

9. PlanMaryland • Over the next 20 years: • 1 million more people • 400,000 more homes • 600,000 new jobs

10. PlanMaryland • Transportation – car • Average of 40% more driving in 2006 than in 1990 • 75% of all commutes are by private car • A result of a lack of mixed-use land planning • Places of work, living, and play are not adjacent

11. Can the transition to a stable human population also be a transition to sustainability, in which the people living on earth over the next half-century meet their needs while nurturing and restoring the planet's life support systems? • The toll of human development over the last half-century on the environment suggests that the answer may well be "no." • Inertia too much to overcome?

13. Choices

14. YOU

15. Product Consumption • Supporting companies that support sustainability • Needs vs. Wants • Diet • Household greenhouse gas emissions from food account for almost twice those produced by driving. Most of this comes from the food production process itself, rather than food-miles, as is often believed • Take-out - packing • Meat vs. Vegetarian • switching from the average American diet to a vegetarian one could cut annual emissions by almost 1.5 MT of CO2 eq. per person…~7.5% • Plastic bags from the market

16. Transportation • Automobiles – Plug-in Hybrid, Fuel Cell • Bike, walk, carpool, bus, etc. • Energy • Paying more for renewable sources • Political

17. CONSERVE ENERGY AND WATER • Drive less--- walk, bike, or use transit more • Turn off lights • Replace light bulbs with compact fluorescents • Shut down computers • Adjust thermostats up in summer/down in winter • Turn off water when brushing your teeth • Take shorter showers • Wash clothes in full loads in cold water and clean the lint filter of your dryer every time • PURCHASE WISELY • Buy products made of recycled material • Buy locally grown or manufactured • BE CAREFUL OUTDOORS • Do not litter the earth with trash • Do not dump waste oil or other chemicals

18. Reduce – Reuse - Recycle • Ways to reduce? • Needs vs. Wants • Ways to reuse? • Reusable bags, mugs, napkins? • Ways to recycle? • Freecycle.com • What plastics can you recycle at UMD? • Electronics? • Styrofoam? • Paper?