1. The 3 Pillars and WICKED problems
Mikaylah Fogarty ANU Student – Fenner School of Environment and Society

2. What is Sustainability?
Sustainability is looking at the future, and at our current practices to see if we can (or cannot) sustain the way we live for future generations.
Our current consumption patterns and the ways we live our daily lives will not leave the future generations to come a world in which they can live with the same life quality as we do today.
Sustainability aims to tackle this ‘lifespan’ of the world with three main concepts known as the three pillars.

3. Pillar 1: Environment
Source: Tedeschi, Fox, Muir, Riley (2015)
When we hear the term “Sustainability” the environment is generally what comes into mind for most people. But in reality, it is only one facet of the concept. The Pillar for environment means to tackle issues that have a direct negative effect on the current state of the environment (i.e. Climate Change).

4. Pillar 2: Society
Source: Tedeschi, Fox, Muir, Riley (2015)
Although the pillar for the environment is a very central theme, you cannot instigate change if the people in the system will not accept the change, or the system itself rejects the change. This is why taking into consideration the societal factors when looking at sustainability is crucial in order to have positive change.

5. Pillar 3: Economy
Source: Tedeschi, Fox, Muir, Riley (2015)
Although many of us would like to semi-disregard the economic factors when looking at sustainability, in order to prioritize the environmental benefit, the truth is in order to create sustainable change we need to make our ventures economically viable. The truth is, many endeavors will actually be profitable in the long term, however we need to ‘justify’ to an extent the initial financial payout.

6. The relevance of the three pillars
Although these concepts are used in every aspect in society, they can be really really useful when analyzing school projects and greater community projects.
We need to look at all these aspects in unison in order to implement change towards sustainability.

7. WICKED problems
WICKED problems are problems that have so many faces, issues, dimensions, and potential starting points that they just look like a large tangle of issues.
WICKED problems are everywhere in society, and sometimes, they go against the three pillar theory.
The premise of WICKED problems, is to identify what you would like to see come out of a project, and how little ‘damage’ you can inflict while trying to get there.
WICKED problems also raise the issues that there is always a ’flow on’ effect from the changes we make.

8. Where do we start?
In WICKED problems, it often seems impossible to know where to actually start in order to begin creating change.
The easiest way to ’fix’ this problem is to draw mind maps and systems diagrams that show how the aspects of the issue you are trying to solve interlink.

9. Unknown Unknowns?
When looking at sustainable issues, there are always 3 types of information:
1. Known – Knowns The things we know, for certain, and how they relate to our problem. This also is how they influence the whole system.
2. Known – Unknowns These are the things that we think will happen from taking action. These are essentially the foreseen consequences of making change.
3. Unknown – Unknowns These are the aspects that we have no possible way of knowing, and a lot of sustainability work is dealing with this concept.

10. How to Start?
REMEMBER TO BE ADAPTABLE, even the best thought through projects can fall through.
To put it simply, you just start. A few steps to get there:
1. Identify the problem you want to fix
2. Identify the drivers that exacerbate the problem
3. Identify solutions to the driving issues
4. Identify outcomes of your changes (are these positive or negative)
5. Try to limit negative feedbacks/outcomes
6. Implement your best system

11. References
Introduction to Human Ecology, Stephen Boyden, 2011
The Anthropocene, Will Stefan, 2014
Multiple course content in the Fenner School (incl. but not limited to):
ENVS1001, ENVS1008, ENVS2001, ENVS2013, ENVS2014, ENVS3040, ENVS ENVS3020