Nice list but as far as your favorite definition I would Dear Warren, Nice list but as far as your favorite definition I would personally delete the renewable word and keep only the first part. I would prefer that at least ecologist would refrain from inserting the cost concept in the definition. The reason is that I think cost is impossible to estimate, it is an anthropocentric measure and it is a variable that doesn't reflect the health of a system ( e.g. the economic component on your balance could easily outweigh the environmental and social components as it is happening now). But maybe I am skeptical about your definition because it is not clear to me what falls under the non-renewable category. Most resources are currently depleted at a rate that makes them non-renewable. I can't think of a "classic" non-renewable resource that could be depleted without breaking the first assertion anyway. Regards
Francesca ________________________________ From: Warren W. Aney <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Wednesday, July 27, 2011 3:44 AM Subject: Re: [ECOLOG-L] Case studies: food & energy sustainability Wayne, there are hundreds of definitions being used for "sustainability" -- some even more ambiguous than the one Francesca suggests. Here are some more examples, some of which assume or imply that future technology will bail us out: "Meeting present needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs." 1987 Brundtland Report, Our Common Future. "When a process is sustainable, it can be carried out over and over without negative environmental effects or impossibly high costs to anyone involved." "Maintaining your consumption without eroding your capital." Johannesburg Summit Secretary-General Nitin Desai. "Stabilizing resource exploitation while allowing the less privileged an equitable share of our earth's bounty without compromising its livability." "Providing the best outcomes for the human and natural environments both now and into the indefinite future." "Bearing in mind the effects of our actions on our descendants for seven generations." Iroquois Confederacy Hargroves & Smith 2005: . Deal cautiously with risk, uncertainty and irreversibility. . Ensure appropriate valuation, appreciation and restoration of nature. . Integrate environmental, social and economic goals in policies and activities. . Provide equal opportunity and community participation/Sustainable community. . Conserve biodiversity and ecological integrity. . Ensure inter-generational equity. . Recognize the global dimension. . Commit to best practice. . Allow no net loss of human capital or natural capital. . Abide by the principle of continuous improvement. . Meet the need for good governance. "In a sustainable society, nature is not subject to systematically increasing: 1. concentrations of substances extracted from the Earth's crust; 2. concentrations of substances produced by society; 3. degradation by physical means and, in that society. . . 4. the ability for humans to meet their needs is not systematically undermined." The Natural Step Framework "Sustainability means using, developing and protecting resources at a rate and in a manner that enables people to meet their current needs and also provides that future generations can meet their own needs. Sustainability requires simultaneously meeting environmental, economic and community needs." State of Oregon's Sustainability Act "To maintain forever the current productivity of renewable resource systems including soils, waters, forests, wildlands and the atmosphere; and to deplete nonrenewable resources only at the rate that cost-equivalent substitutes can be developed, with costs measured on economic, social and ecological scales." Sustainability: "An activity that is performed in such a way that the object of the activity will renew itself or be renewable in a time-frame that does not diminish the source." Kelly Stettner, Black River Action Team, Springfield, VT "A thing is sustainable when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability and beauty of the biotic community. It is not sustainable when it tends otherwise." Paraphrasing Aldo Leopold *********** Here's the definition I like best (so far): "To maintain forever the current integrity, stability and productivity of renewable resource systems including soils, waters, forests, wildlands and the atmosphere; and to deplete nonrenewable resources only at the rate that cost-equivalent substitutes can be developed, with costs measured on economic, social and ecological scales." Warren W. Aney Senior Wildlife Ecologist Tigard, Oregon -----Original Message----- From: Ecological Society of America: grants, jobs, news [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of [email protected] Sent: Tuesday, 26 July, 2011 14:49 To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [ECOLOG-L] Case studies: food & energy sustainability Dear Wayne, I am sure it can be defined in various ways and it is possible to give it a more or less ecological, social or ethical twist. What I came up with thinking of a "dry" scientific definition is: "Sustainability is what guarantees that life supporting systems keep functioning over time" Looking forward to comments and other definitions. Francesca ________________________________ From: Wayne Tyson <[email protected]> To: [email protected]; [email protected] Sent: Tuesday, July 26, 2011 11:17 PM Subject: Re: [ECOLOG-L] Case studies: food & energy sustainability Honorable Forum and Francesca: Please define, in scientific terms, sustainability. Thanks, WT ----- Original Message ----- From: <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Tuesday, July 26, 2011 2:15 AM Subject: Re: [ECOLOG-L] Case studies: food & energy sustainability The Story of Stuff Project has put together and made avai Dear Shelly, The Story of Stuff Project has put together and made available for download some teaching material on sustainability that might give you some nice ideas (I think it's for high school but likely it can be adapted to higher education): http://www.facingthefuture.org/Curriculum/BuyUseToss/tabid/469/Default.aspx The movies series: http://storyofstuff..org/about.php Also the "No impact" project as put togheter some downoadable material for educators including lessons on food and energy: http://noimpactproject.org/educators-middle-high-school-environment-curricul um-html/ For success stories aroud the world (including the desert) I strongly suggest to look through the list of permaculture initiatives: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_permaculture_projects Or the tranistion town initiatives: http://www.transitionnetwork.org/ Surely when talking of energy students should get a good grasp on the peak oil concept and its consequences and for this the Post Carbon Institute should be resourceful: http://www.postcarbon.org/issue/13910-education As it would be any lesson available on youtube from Richard Heinberg, the Post Carbon Reader book might provide some good material: http://www.postcarbon.org/book/161233-the-post-carbon-reader Other resources specifically on diet and food: Big organizations reports on impact of diet: FAO 2006: http://www.fao.org/ag/magazine/0612sp1.htm UNEP 2010: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jun/02/un-report-meat-free-diet Food energy consumption statistics: http://www.news.cornell.edu/releases/Aug97/livestock.hrs.htmlDocumentaries: Meat the thruth; Food Inc; Fast Food Nation; The world according to Monsanto; The future of food interview and others with Vandana Shiva; Books: The food revolution (John Robbins), Eating animals (Jonathan Safran Foer); For fisheries: The "End of the line documentary"; The Good Catch manual: http://www.seafoodchoices.com/whatwedo/TheGoodCatchManual.pdf.pdf; And when talking about sustainability and the big picture it would be essential to consider looking at material on new types of economy: http://steadystate.org/discover/video-audio-and-presentations/ http://steadystate.org/foreword-enough-is-enough/ http://www.neweconomics.org/about For bad case studies, after going through the above material, my guess is that there is no need for field trips, just ask the students to look around in their classroom or home, look in their fridge, switch on their tv, walk outside the door or go to a shopping mall! Kind regards Francesca
