Course review
Review each learning objective in this topic, then open its concept explanation or question set.
Learning objective
• Measure of extent practices allow long-term system viability • Responsible maintenance of socio-ecological systems • No diminishment of conditions for future generations • Enhancing system resilience increases sustainability
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Learning objective
• Environmental, social, and economic pillars • Strong sustainability: economy in society, both in natural environment • Weak sustainability: overlapping three pillars
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Learning objective
• Use/management allowing resource replacement • Recovery and regeneration of ecosystems • Focuses on resource depletion, pollution, biodiversity conservation
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Learning objective
• Creating structures/systems supporting human well-being • Health, education, equity, community • Survival of societies and cultures
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Learning objective
• Economic structures supporting production/consumption • Support human needs into future • No economic sustainability without environmental sustainability
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Learning objective
• Meets present needs without compromising future generations • Maintains economic stability, social equity, ecological integrity • Brundtland report (1987) introduced social/economic aspects
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Learning objective
• Result of unsustainable natural resource use • Example: Newfoundland cod fisheries overfishing
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Learning objective
• Gross Domestic Product neglects natural system value • May lead to unsustainable development • Green GDP subtracts environmental costs from GDP
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Learning objective
• Environmental justice refers to the right of all people to live in a pollution-free environment, and to have equitable access to natural resources • Consider: one local and one global example of environmental injustice • Examples could include: Deepwater Horizon oil spill, Gulf of Mexico (2010); landfills located in low-income areas; Union Carbide gas release in Bhopal, India (1984)
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Learning objective
• Inequalities in income, race, gender and cultural identity within and between different societies lead to disparities in access to water, food and energy • Examples of inequality include the inability to afford an electricity supply, or the privatization of water sources
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Learning objective
• Sustainability and environmental justice can be applied at the individual to the global operating scale • Sustainability and environmental justice issues exist at different operating scales • Operating scales include individual, business, community, city, national and global levels
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Learning objective
• Sustainability indicators include quantitative measures of biodiversity, pollution, human population, climate change, material and carbon footprints, and others • These indicators can be applied on a range of scales, from local to global • Consider: the use of one named environmental indicator to assess sustainability
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Learning objective
• The concept of ecological footprints can be used to measure sustainability • If these footprints are greater than the area or resources available to the population, this indicates unsustainability • An ecological footprint is the area of land and water required to sustainably provide all resources at the rate of consumption
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Learning objective
• The carbon footprint measures the amount of greenhouse gases (GHGs) produced, measured in carbon dioxide equivalents (in tonnes) • The water footprint measures water use (in cubic metres per year) • There are different ways of using footprints to measure sustainability • Students do not need to know details of how these are calculated
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Learning objective
• Capacity to generate renewable resources and absorb wastes • Unsustainability: ecological footprint exceeds biocapacity
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Learning objective
• Monitors Earth systems and sustainable resource use • Information relevant to local problems and global issues
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Learning objective
• Range of models support understanding • Each has uses and limitations • All are simplified versions of reality
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Learning objective
• Social and environmental goals/targets • Guide action on sustainability and environmental justice • Uses: common policymaking ground, addresses inequality • Limitations: may not go far enough, top-down approach, lacks local context
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Learning objective
• Nine processes/systems regulating Earth system stability • Identifies limits of human disturbance • Crossing limits → risk of abrupt/irreversible changes • Uses: science-based limits, alerts public/policymakers • Limitations: focuses on ecology not human dimension, work in progress
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Learning objective
• Framework for regenerative and distributive economy • Social foundation (inner): based on social SDGs • Ecological ceiling (outer): based on planetary boundaries • Safe and just space for humanity between boundaries • Uses: includes ecological and social elements, supports environmental justice • Limitations: work in progress, broad principles without specific policies
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Learning objective
• Decouples economic activity from finite resource consumption • Three principles: eliminate waste/pollution, circulate materials, regenerate nature • Contrasts with linear model (take-make-waste) • Uses: regenerates systems, reduces emissions, extends product lifecycle • Limitations: lack of awareness, regulations, technical limitations
Start with the concept explanation, then practise to create mastery evidence.