Caroline Blythe

Dr. Schmalbeck

Honors Energy and Sustainability

07 February 2017

Defining Sustainability

1. The Brundtland Commission was convened by the United Nations in 1987 to address issues

of declining environmental systems and impacts of human development. The commonly used

and highly regarded definition of sustainability was developed at this meeting. Its convening

forced leaders to think about how society functions and if the practices most commonly used

are sustainable into the future.

2. Several fields of study are essential to achieving sustainability: renewable energy

development, so that society can turn its main energy sources away from wasteful and

harmful fossil fuels; civil and environmental engineering, which are essential to the

construction of more green and environmentally friendly infrastructure; biology and climate

science, so that the trends and current conditions of the Earths life forms and climate can be

studied against the human stressors introduced to their factors; and journalism, without which

the public would fail to be adequately informed about the actions they must take in order to

be more sustainable, their impacts on the Earth, and what advances are being made in the

greater study of sustainability.

3. Growing human populations and increased use of natural resources are serious environmental

stressors that result in tangible detriments nearly three decades after the Brundtland

Commission Report. Overfishing as a result of humanitys ever-increasing demand for

 seafood is resulting in the collapsing of fisheries and is destroying the livelihoods of

fisherpeople all over the world. Reduced quantities of usable freshwater increase the

prevalence of disease while threatening national security and increasing tensions between

nations who want nothing more than to provide clean water to their citizens. Perhaps the

largest consequence of humanitys unsustainable lifestyle is the exacerbation of

anthropogenic climate change, which affects myriad aspects of environmental health and

human lifestyles: sea levels will rise, thereby flooding ecosystems, towns, homes, and

displacing millions of humans; global temperatures will rise, resulting in shifted ranges for

wildlife, prolonged droughts and heat waves, a reduction in arable land, and altered weather

patterns; the polar ice caps will melt, which severely reduces the Earths ability to cool itself

back down, among numerous other issues. All of these are the direct result of humanitys

unsustainable overuse of fossil fuels.

4. The funnel metaphor is a good analogy for the situation humanity currently finds itself in. I

find it is easy to understand because the logic behind it is solid -- as humanity demands more

from the environment, we will face greater and greater environmental, economic, and social

pressures to change. It doesnt help me understand the problem better, necessarily, but it does

simplify the issue enough that it is easier to comprehend on a larger scale. I would use this

metaphor when describing sustainability to my peers for this very reason -- it is more likely

that they would have an easier time understanding the issues surrounding sustainability if

they were to be taught the funnel metaphor because it simplifies a huge issue into a single

idea that can be chewed on.

5. Systems are the interconnected interactions between people, economies, the planet, and its

natural resources. Understanding these systems allows for the construction of a more

sustainable world through the enabling of humans to investigate the issues that affect

multiple aspects of each system, the causes of each of these issues, and the potential solutions

that could address them. By following this logic, if the issues that impede sustainability were

to be identified, solved, and addressed, a more sustainable world could be constructed.

6. The nine human needs that Max-Neef discusses are subsistence, leisure, creation, protection,

participation, affection, understanding, identity, and freedom. I would argue that he is

missing one important human need that I know applies to my own family -- technology.

From the beginning of human history, people have been developing new technologies that

either accomplish tasks more efficiently or serve an entirely novel purpose. I believe that

humans seek to be technologically advanced no matter what their socioeconomic status may

be, whether that means being at the forefront of cutting-edge technology or getting more

advanced tools to farm with. However, I do feel that the nine Max-Neef describes are

appropriately essential to human life because I cannot think of a single person who I know

who does not desire each and every one of these, myself included.

7. The triple bottom line is the idea that natural capital and resources encompass and all of

human society -- essentially, human societies could not form without the environment.

Conversely, all economies lie within human societies, and are thus dependent not only on

human societies to exist, but also natural resources, without which humans would not exist.

In order to create a sustainable world, humans must figure out how to fit all of society within

the greater realm of natural resources -- at the current rates of consumption, humans are using
 over five Earths worth of materials. If this could fall below one, a (temporary) sustainable

society will have been reached.

8. A great concentration of wealth in the hands of just a few people means that billions of

individuals around the world do not have the means to pay for the survival of their families.

If they do not have enough to provide adequate food for survive, what logic dictates that they

would have money to support a sustainable lifestyle? An example of this in action is the

construction of palm oil farms and plantations. These are incredibly destructive to native

habitats -- where rainforests once flourished with a variety of species, rows upon rows of

palms sit in a monoculture of non-native plants. Many poor people find work on these

plantations and farms, and this offers them money to provide for their families at the expense

of the environment. There is often no other choice in some of these palm oil areas of the

world, so people must either work for the destruction of the environment and eat or be

sustainable and starve.

9. Backcasting is the process of envisioning a desired outcome or goal for the future and

working backwards to determine what steps must be taken to reach this result. I utilized this

when studying for the 2016 Envirothon State competition -- my end goal was for my team to

place first in the state so that we could attend nationals in Canada. To achieve this, my team

and I planned out a study schedule to follow and practiced giving oral presentations on the

topics featured in the 2015-2016 current environmental issues articles that we had been

assigned to read. It was helpful because it gave me a clear incentive and reason to put in so

much work over a long period of time.