1. Environmental Sustainability and Human Values
Chapter 2

2. The Global Commons The Tragedy of the Commons (1968 essay)
Garrett Hardin
Our inability to solve environmental problems stems from the conflict between short-term individual welfare and long-term environmental sustainability
Used Medieval shared pastureland (the commons) as example.

3. The Global Commons

4. Human Use of the Earth Learning Objectives:
Define sustainable development
Outline some of the
Complexities associated with the concept of sustainable consumption
Define voluntary simplicity

5. Human Use of the Earth Sustainability Sustainable Development
The ability to meet humanity’s current needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs
Sustainable Development
Economic growth that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs
Must meet the needs of the poor
Can only occur within the limits of the environment
Cannot sustain everyone at the levels of consumption of the US, Europe, and Japan.

6. Human Use of the Earth

7. Human Use of the Earth Consumption overpopulation:
People use more than their share of resources
Affluent lifestyle
Leads to pollution and degradation
Sustainable Consumption:
People use their share of resources to meets their needs
Must improve the quality of life for the poor
Minimizes the use of resources
Voluntary Simplicity

8. Human Use of the Earth

9. Human Use of the Earth Voluntary Simplicity
Requires behavioral change: purchasing less
Accumulation of goods does not equal happiness
Values and character define a person, not what they own
E.g., car-sharing, using public transportation, etc.
Not popular with politicians and consumers

10. Human Use of the Earth

11. Global Climate Change What is sustainable development?
What is sustainable consumption? How is it linked to a reduction in world poverty?
How is voluntary simplicity an example of sustainable consumption?

12. Human Values and Environmental Problems
Learning Objectives:
Define environmental ethics.
Discuss the distinguishing features of the Western and deep ecology worldviews.

13. Human Values and Environmental Problems
Ethics: branch of philosophy that deals with human values
Environmental Ethics: considers the moral basis of environmental responsibility
Considers the rights of people living today AND of future generations
Critical because our actions today affect the environment in the future

14. Human Values and Environmental Problems

15. Human Values and Environmental Problems
Worldviews:
personal perspectives, based on values
Help us make sense of the world
What is right and wrong
Lead to behaviors and lifestyles
May or may not be compatible with environmental sustainability

16. Human Values and Environmental Problems
Environmental Worldview:
How the environment works
Our place in the environment
Right and wrong environmental behaviors
Two extremes;
Western Worldview
Deep Ecology Worldview

17. Human Values and Environmental Problems
Western Worldview:
Expansionist, human-centered
Frontier attitude; conquer and exploit nature
Human superiority over nature
Unrestricted use of natural resources
Unrestricted economic growth
Anthropocentric perspective

18. Human Values and Environmental Problems

19. Human Values and Environmental Problems
Deep Ecology:
1970s: Arne Naess, Bill Devall, George Sessions
Based on harmony with nature
Spiritual respect for life
Humans and other species have equal worth
Requires radical shift in modern thinking
Appreciating quality of life, rather than a high standard of living
Biocentric perspective

20. Human Values and Environmental Problems

21. Human Values and Environmental Problems

22. Global Climate Change What is environmental ethics?
What assumptions are made in the deep ecology worldview?

23. Environmental Justice
Learning Objectives:
What is environmental justice and which communities are exposed to a disproportionate share of environmental hazards?

24. Environmental Justice
Every citizen has the right to adequate protection from environmental hazards
Low-income communities/minorities are more likely to be in polluted areas, and near landfills, toxic waste facilities, etc.
Tend to have lower access to health care
Rights of the poor and disenfranchised vs. the rights of rich and powerful

25. Environmental Justice

26. Global Climate Change
What is environmental science? What are some of the disciplines involved in environmental science?
What are the five steps of the scientific method? Why is each important?

27. An Overall Plan for Sustainable Living
Learning Objectives:
Relate poverty and population growth to carrying capacity and global sustainability.
Discuss problems related to loss of forests and declining biological diversity.
Describe the extent of food diversity.
Define enhanced greenhouse effect and explain how stabilizing climate is related to energy use.
Describe at least two problems in cities in the developing world.

28. An Overall Plan for Sustainable Living
Lester R. Brown, Plan B 2.0
5 recommendations:
Eliminate poverty and stabilize human population
Protect and restore Earth’s resources
Provide adequate food for all people
Mitigate climate change
Design sustainable cities

29. Environmental InSight

30. Environmental InSight30

31. An Overall Plan for Sustainable Living
Eliminate Poverty and Stabilize Human Population
Global distribution of resources is uneven
US 5% of world’s pop controls 25% of resources
29,000 infants and children die each day
Lack of food and basic medicine
Raising the standard of living of the world’s poor
Universal education of children
Elimination of illiteracy
Improving the status of women

32. An Overall Plan for Sustainable Living

33. An Overall Plan for Sustainable Living
Carrying Capacity
The maximum population that can be sustained by a given environment/world
Population Growth rates are highest where poverty is highest
Family planning
Education
Women’s status

34. An Overall Plan for Sustainable Living
“The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little.”
Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 1937

35. An Overall Plan for Sustainable Living
2) Protect and Restore Earth’s Resources
Forests
Unsustainable logging and burning, are making them a non-renewable resource
Biodiversity
Number and variety of organisms
Economic Services: food, medicine, energy, building, clothing materials
Ecosystem Services: protection of watersheds, agricultural lands, climate, habitats

36. An Overall Plan for Sustainable Living
3)Provide Adequate Food for All People
Food insecurity
People lack access to food needed to live healthy, productive lives
People live in chronic hunger and malnutrition
800 million people worldwide, many children
Mostly rural areas, developing countries
Improve Agriculture
Highest priority for global sustainability

37. An Overall Plan for Sustainable Living

38. An Overall Plan for Sustainable Living
Improved Agriculture
Last 50 yrs. Production kept up with population growth
High environmental cost
Need to increase productivity in same amount of land
Multi-cropping - use land in all seasons
Conservation tillage - keep topsoil in place

39. An Overall Plan for Sustainable Living

40. An Overall Plan for Sustainable Living
4) Mitigate Climate Change
Enhanced Greenhouse Effect: additional warming produced by increased levels of gases that absorb infrared radiation
Stabilizing climate requires:
Comprehensive energy plan
phasing out fossil fuels
Increasing energy conservation
Improving energy efficiency

41. An Overall Plan for Sustainable Living

42. An Overall Plan for Sustainable Living
5) Design Sustainable Cities
50% of world’s people live in cities (3% in 1800) In US, 80% live in cities
Urban transportation
Build city around people, not cars
Less congestion, pollution, space for parking
Water Resources
Recycle waste-water for other uses (watering)
Water purification of sewage before release

43. An Overall Plan for Sustainable Living

44. Global Climate Change What is the global extent of poverty?
What are two ecosystem services provided by natural resources such as forests and biological diversity?
What is food insecurity?
How is stabilizing climate related to energy use?
What are two serious problems in urban environments?

45. Case Study Loess Plateau in China Important resource for China
Fertile agricultural soil
Easily eroded by wind and water when no vegetation holds it in place
Turned to desert by deforestation and overgrazing
Loess Plateau Watershed Rehabilitation
Reforestation
Education about cases of degradation
Recovery of land and silting of Yellow River

46. Case Study