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Engaging Students and the Research Community in Sustainability Challenges

This article explores the meaning of sustainability and the importance of meeting the needs of people today while sustaining the planet's life support systems. It discusses the current state of degradation of life support systems and the critical goals for the 21st century. The article also highlights the requirements for a transition to sustainability and the focus areas of research, education, and business.

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Engaging Students and the Research Community in Sustainability Challenges

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  1. Engaging Students and the Research Community in Sustainability Challenges One academic’s view: Pamela Matson Stanford University School of Earth Sciences & The Woods Institute for the Environment

  2. What does “sustainability” mean?

  3. Sustainability can be a confused and contested term… What Is To Be Sustained? People Child Survival Life Expectancy Education Equity Equal Opportunity Economy Wealth Productive Sectors Consumption Society Institutions Social Capital States Regions Nature Earth Biodiversity Ecosystems Life Support Ecosystem Services Resources Environment Community Cultures Groups Places For How Long? 25 years “Now and in the future” Forever Linked By Only Mostly But And Or Figure 1.1 Sustainable development: common concerns, differing emphases.

  4. The Business World is comfortable with: The three legged stool 3E’s Triple Bottom Line http://computingforsustainability.wordpress.com/2009/03/15/visualising-sustainability/

  5. Many different definitions, but most have in common an attention to both people and their environment, and the well-being of future generations as well as the well-being of people today

  6. The most critical goal of the 21st Century: Meeting the needs of people today and in the future Sustaining the life support systems of the planet NRC. 1999. Our Common Journey

  7. Social needs are not being met 1 – 2 billion persons are… • illiterate adults • without adequate shelter • without access to safe water or sanitation • without access to electricity • undernourished 7,000,000,000

  8. Life support systems are degraded • Air Pollution • Climate change • Acidification of the oceans - ~50% land surface has been converted • Biodiversity loss 100+ times faster • 60% of ecosystem services in decline • Water and soil resources limitations • Nitrogen over-enrichment • Mineral resource limitations 7,000,000,000

  9. Meeting the needs of people today Sustaining atmosphere, water, climate and ecosystems

  10. Meeting the needs of people today Sustaining atmosphere, water, climate and ecosystems

  11. Focus at the intersection of human needs and life support systems

  12. Meeting the needs of people today Sustaining atmosphere, water, climate and ecosystems

  13. What will it take for a • transition to sustainability? • new knowledge, tools and approaches • knowledge linked to action • educated leaders and the public

  14. What will it take for a • transition to sustainability? • new knowledge, tools and approaches • knowledge linked to action • educated leaders and the public • - hope, inspiration, and motivation • - the will to change and to ‘walk the walk’ • leadership by corporations, citizens, governments, non-profits, universities • ( and a stable human population….)

  15. What will it take for a • transition to sustainability? • new knowledge, tools and approaches

  16. WCED, 1987Our Common Future NAS-BSD, 1999 Our Common Journey Kofi Annan, 2002 WSSD:An Achievable agenda Population Human Population Health Food Security Agriculture Agriculture Species & Ecosystems Living Resources Biodiversity Energy Energy Energy Industry Industry - Urban Challenge Cities - - - Water Areas for Action

  17. WCED, 1987Our Common Future NAS-BSD, 1999 Our Common Journey Kofi Annan, 2002 WSSD:An Achievable agenda Population Human Population Health Food Security Agriculture Agriculture Species & Ecosystems Living Resources Biodiversity Energy Energy Energy Industry Industry - Urban Challenge Cities - - - Water Areas for Action

  18. Environmentally… • energy supply is the source of most • indoor and outdoor air pollution • hydrocarbon and trace-metal pollution of soil and ground water • oil added by humans to the seas • carbon dioxide emissions, leading to climate change

  19. In research, education, and business, a focus on Energy Alternatives Solar Wind Water Ocean sources Nuclear Geothermal Biofuels Fuel switching (to natural gas) Carbon capture and storage

  20. Focus at the intersection of human needs and life support systems An energy focus, but not a sustainability focus?

  21. Focus at the intersection of human needs and life support systems

  22. Focus at the intersection of human needs and life support systems

  23. Focus at the intersection of human needs and life support systems The nexus of energy, food, water, climate, etc

  24. Energy alternatives in the context of human needs and life support systems GHG and Climate Change Food production and security Biodiversity Ecosystem services Water resources Other pollutants Trade and security Equity and justice Governance and institutions Solar Wind Water Ocean sources Nuclear Geothermal Biofuels …..

  25. WCED, 1987Our Common Future NAS-BSD, 1999 Our Common Journey Kofi Annan, 2002 WSSD:An Achievable agenda Population Human Population Health Food Security Agriculture Agriculture Species & Ecosystems Living Resources Biodiversity Energy Energy Energy Industry Industry - Urban Challenge Cities - - - Water Areas for Action

  26. Focus at the intersection of human needs and life support systems A conservation focus, but not a sustainability focus Biodiversity Species loss

  27. Focus at the intersection of human needs and life support systems

  28. Focus at the intersection of human needs and life support systems

  29. Spiritual Values Educational Values Inspiration Aesthetic Values Social Relations Sense of Place Recreation Tourism An ecosystem services perspective Carbon storage Provision of Water Fire Prevention Flood Control Sedimentation Control Pest Control Pollination Seafood Food Crops & Livestock Forest Products Energy Crops Options: e.g., Biodiversity

  30. WCED, 1987Our Common Future NAS-BSD, 1999 Our Common Journey Kofi Annan, 2002 WSSD:An Achievable agenda Population Human Population Health Food Security Agriculture Agriculture Species & Ecosystems Living Resources Biodiversity Energy Energy Energy Industry Industry - Urban Challenge Cities - - - Water Areas for Action Meeting Needs and Protecting Life Support Systems

  31. Focus at the intersection of human needs and life support systems Version 1 Program focused on the Nexus: Integrating multi-disciplinary knowledge and perspectives to understand and develop viable solutions for people and the environment

  32. Earth Systems Program Stanford’s interdisciplinary major in environment and sustainabilitycreated in 1992 to provide a new type of education in problem solving for environment and resource challenges • 2012: 175 majors and 56 co-terminal masters • Tracks: - Biosphere- Oceans- Agriculture/land systems- Energy - Anthrosphere- Climate Engages: 54 Faculty / 17 Departments / 6 Schools, School of Earth Sciences is “home”

  33. What will it take for a • transition to sustainability? • new knowledge, tools and approaches

  34. Version 2Key sustainability issues (cross-cutting, relevant no matter what nexus) • Understanding production-consumption relationships • Analyzing and managing synergies and tradeoffs between human well-being and the environment • Maximizing resilience and reducing vulnerability of coupled human-environment systems • Identifying tipping points and thresholds • Understanding and improving governance systems • Improving models of human-environment systems • Designing effective decision support systems • Monitoring progress toward sustainability • Encouraging innovation Clark and Levin 2010, Kates et al 2001

  35. Version 3 Sustainability Impact = P x C/P x I/C Population Consumption per capita Impact per consumption Robert Kates, after Holdren and Ehrlich

  36. Sustainability Impact = P x C/P x I/C Population Consumption per capita Impact per consumption

  37. “Guess how many people this jar can hold before something really bad happens. Hint: don’t guess wrong.”

  38. World Population Growth Is Almost Entirely Concentrated in the World's Poorer Countries…and it is slowing. World Population (in Billions): 1950-2050 Source: United Nations Population Division, World Population Prospects, The 2008 Revision.

  39. Total Fertility Rate (~kids per family) 1950: 5.0 2011: 2.5 (ranges from 0.9-7.0)

  40. Population • Growth is slowing and a stable • population is within sight! But: - fertility rates could drop further and “momentum” could be slowed Health care, reduced infant mortality rates, family planning, education and employment opportunities for women make a difference….

  41. Sustainability Impact = P x C/P x I/C • Consumption per person • levels of consumption needs to increase in the less • developed world, but how much is enough? • - can it decrease in the developed world?

  42. What does it take to satisfy and satiate? Understanding consumer decision-making requires the combination of ethics, economics, history, psychology, sociology, anthropology…

  43. Sustainability Impact = P x C/P x I/C Impact per consumption Lots of progress and lots of opportunity “ the new industrial revolution”

  44. Version 3 Maybe useful for a course, probably not a program!! Sustainability Impact = P x C/P x I/C Population Consumption per capita Impact per consumption Kates, after Holdren and Ehrlich

  45. What other versions??

  46. A Transition to Sustainability? What will it take?

  47. What will it take for a • transition to sustainability? • new knowledge, tools and approaches

  48. Sustainability Science • Focus on interactions in the human-environment system • (or human-technology-environment interactions) • Focus is on development and use of fundamental knowledge not just for understanding but for problem solving • Usually interdisciplinary or multidisciplinary • Often place-based; attention to scale and cross-scale interactions

  49. Quest for Fundamental understanding?

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