1. Sustainable Development Storyboard 3 basic types of indicators needed why indicators, why sustainability? what is my role as an engineer? what personal development do I need? thermodynamic realities upstream design principles redefine problem; look for human element LCA & other tools Sufficiency of human well-being for all Sustainability of environmental integrity Awareness of facts: Meadows/Daly framework for sustainable development indicators Main point Sustainable development is a way of thinking that involves a) living within the thermodynamic limits of the natural system; b) Increasing the sufficiency of real human wealth for all. Awareness of personal role: Mindset needed to engage in design for sustainable development Awareness of strategies: Design strategies for sustainable development Efficiency of creating well-being This work was made possible by the National Science Foundation’s DUE#0717428 | Jane Qiong Zhang and Linda Vanasupa

2. Sustainable Development 2 The engineer’s role

3. Sustainable Development Activity What happens when expenses exceed income? Give examples of income, principle, and expenditures for economic, social and natural resources. principle (economic, social and natural resources) income expenses ≤ income comfort, happiness, health Using regenerated income, not principle Increasing sufficiency of real human “well-being” for all Sustainable Development expenses 3

4. ends means happiness, community, enlightenment technology, wealth, natural capital H. Daly, D. Meadows

5. ends means happiness, community, enlightenment technology, wealth, natural capital I dedicate my professional knowledge and skill to the advancement and betterment of human [health, happiness and fortune]. NSPE Engineer’s Creed, 1957 H. Daly, D. Meadows

6. Sustainable Development Engineer’s Creed I dedicate my professional knowledge to the advancement and betterment of human welfare*. *welfare-health, happiness and fortune Activity Describe how preserving the environment is consistent with the “enhancement and betterment of human welfare” stated in the Engineer’s Creed. Alternative Activity Draw a causal loop diagram that illustrates how preserving the environment is consistent with the “enhancement and betterment of human welfare” stated in the Engineer’s Creed. 6 Engineer’s Creed (National Society of Professional Engineers, 1957)

7. Sustainable Development SustainabilityHealthSafetyThe joy of living Activity How do each of the four areas fit within the role of the engineer as expressed in the Engineer’s Creed? Alternative Activity Draw a causal loop diagram showing how the four areas fit within the role of the engineer as expressed in the Engineer’s Creed? Grand Challenges of Engineering 7

8. Sustainable Development Classroom Activity (2 minutes) Discuss the above definition. What are needs of the present? What are needs of future generations? How those needs are met? “Sustainable development meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” (The World Commission on Environment and Development, United Nations,1987) 8

9. Sustainable Development Facts: The signs for needed change 9

10. Sustainable Development Our Earth: A Closed Thermodynamic System Activity (2 minutes) Identify the sources and sinks for materials used in our economy, which sits wholly within a closed, thermodynamic system? Do the same for energy. 10

11. Sustainable Development Accelerated glacial melting 12 May 2001 7 July 2003 11 Edge of Helheim Glacier, Greenland NASA images created by Jesse Allen, Earth Observatory, using data provided courtesy of NASA/GSFC/METI/ERSDAC/JAROS, and the U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team Iceberg margin moving inland Terrain exposed Icebergs crumble to ocean

12. Sustainable Development Area of land needed to generate resources and absorb wastes from human economic activity Ecological Footprint 12 Ecological Footprint (giga hectares) =

13. Sustainable Development Ecological Footprint 13 Area within the Great Lakes watershed ~0.58 M km 2

14. Sustainable Development Ecological Footprint 14 Current human activity Michigan requires an equivalent of 8 x the actual area, or 4.6 M km 2. Is this sustainable? Area within the Great Lakes watershed ~0.58 M km 2

15. Sustainable Development Reproduced from WWF Living-Planet Report 2006, WWF-World Wide Fund For Nature (formerly World Wildlife Fund), Gland, Switzerland © 2006 WWF (panda.org). Some rights reserved. Global expenses have been ~140% of its ecological footprint income since ~1985. World average available ~2 gha/person; US use ~13 gha/person Ecological Footprint 15

16. Sustainable Development 7 Activity 16 Find five resources that are likely to run out first. How long are these resources expected to last? Do we need the products they support? Materials Flows in the Economy with permission of David Cohen/ New Scientist

17. Sustainable Development Interaction among Human and Environment Evidence of past 30 years: the shrinking ice in the Arctic; melting glaciers; growth of cities like Las Vegasl forest loss in the Amazon; the decline of the Aral Sea and Lake Chad 17 http://na.unep.net/OnePlanetManyPeople/powerpoints.html 2 earths needed by 2050

18. Sustainable Development Meadows Framework for Sustainable Development Indicators source: D. Meadows, “Indicators and Information Systems for Sustainable Development,” A Report to the Balaton Group, The Sustainability Institute, Hartland, VT (1998) 18

19. Sustainable Development Indicators like “design specifications”, they help you know when you have achieved your goal Well-being Natural capital Social, human, and built capital to convert resources to well-being From the Daly Triangle 19 Harmony, community, Enlightenment, self-respect Knowledge, wealth, mobility Labor, tools, infrastructure Raw materials, solar energy, biosphere, biochemical cycles

20. Sustainable Development Sustainable Development Indicators real human well-being environmental integrity sufficiency for all sustainability measures ratio,or efficiency of converting resources to real human well-being 2 1 3 Meadows suggests three indicator types: 20 Activity (2 minutes) Pick any two of these three types of indicators. What would be the danger of only measuring these two? Indicators = “design specifications”

21. Sustainable Development Sustainability of Natural Resources use rate < regeneration rate Renewable resources: Non-Renewable resources: Pollutants: Metric tons year  consumed regenerated consumed Substitution by renewables emitted Detoxified and absorbed by natural systems Daly Rules for Sustainability of Natural Resources 21 Metric tons year Metric tons year Metric tons year Metric tons year Metric tons year  

22. Sustainable Development Mindset Required for Designing for Sustainability 22

23. Sustainable Development “We can’t solve problems at the same level of thinking used to create them.” 23 U.S. Library of Congress, photo of painting by Winifred Rieber. Levels of Thinking The structure of action. Adapted from Torbert, W. R. (2004). Action Inquiry: The Secret of Timely and Transforming Leadership. San Francisco, California: Berrett-Koehler Publishers. Used with permission.

24. Sustainable Development Biases 24 Pre-industrial (before 1700) Industrial (1700-2000) Post-Industrial (2000-) Labor-intensive (human and animal power) Energy-intensive (fossil fuel power) Creativity-intensive (innovation power) Required Inputs to Economy: Past and Present

25. Sustainable Development Events Mental models beliefs, assumptions Systemic structures policies, technology Patterns trends symptoms Peter Senge, Bob Doppelt

26. Sustainable Development Events Mental models beliefs, assumptions Systemic structures policies, technology Patterns trends symptoms Peter Senge, Bob Doppelt

27. Sustainable Development Mental Models at Work Activity What are the mental models at work? 5 minutes: Identify the mental models that are at work within each of these stages 27

28. Sustainable Development Material objects subject-object Efficient Final transpersonal Formal subject-subject Aristotle, Roger Burton natural capital processes design intent

29. Sustainable Development natural capital intent design Roger Burton, Donella Meadows Redefining goals Envisioning new purpose Empowering self-organization Changing System Rules Altering numbers, stocks and flows processes

30. Sustainable Development The need for interdisciplinarity 30 Activity What are the mental models at work? 5 minutes: Identify the mental models that are at work within each of these stages

31. Design Strategies for Sustainable Development 31

32. Sustainable Development Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) o Inventories inputs and outputs of product or process life cycle; o Converts inventory to impact in categories (e.g. global warming, acidification, aquatic toxicity, human health); o Applies value-based weighting of categories to compute a single impact number. Activity (5 minutes) What is more valuable, to reduce atmospheric carbon dioxide emissions, to prevent aquatic toxicity, or to protect human health? 32 For more, see Chapter 7: Mihelcic and Zimmerman

33. Sustainable Development Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) Strengths Considers whole cycle, Allows consideration of multiple criteria Facilitates comparison and deeper reflection 33 Limits Costly Imprecision of data Hidden embedded values

34. Sustainable Development Four I’s 1. Inherency of non-toxicity

35. Sustainable Development Four I’s 2. Integration

36. Sustainable Development Four I’s 3. Interdisciplinarity domain expand design

37. Sustainable Development Four I’s 3. Interdisciplinarity domain expand design

38. Sustainable Development Four I’s 4. International (reprinted with permission of Jess Bachman, WallStats.com