ENV1 Chapter 2 Sustainability and Human Values

Environmental Sustainability and
Human Values
Chapter 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.
The Global Commons
Human Use of the Earth
• Learning Objectives:
1. Define sustainable development
2. Outline some of the
3. Complexities associated with the concept of
sustainable consumption
4. Define voluntary simplicity
• Sustainability
– 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.
• 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
• 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
Global Climate Change
1. What is sustainable development?

2. What is sustainable consumption? How is it
linked to a reduction in world poverty?
3. How is voluntary simplicity an example of
sustainable consumption?
Human Values and
Environmental Problems
1. Define environmental ethics.
2. Discuss the distinguishing features of the
Western and deep ecology worldviews.
Human Values and
• 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
Human Values and
Human Values and
• 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
Human Values and
• Environmental Worldview:
– How the environment works
– Our place in the environment
– Right and wrong environmental behaviors
• Two extremes;
– Western Worldview
– Deep Ecology Worldview
Human Values and
• 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
Human Values and
Human Values and
• 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
Human Values and
Human Values and
1. What is environmental ethics?

2. What assumptions are made in the deep ecology
worldview?
Environmental Justice
1. What is environmental justice and which
communities are exposed to a disproportionate
share of environmental hazards?
• 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
1. What is environmental science? What are some

of the disciplines involved in environmental
science?
2. What are the five steps of the scientific method?
Why is each important?
An Overall Plan for
Sustainable Living
1. Relate poverty and population growth to carrying
capacity and global sustainability.
2. Discuss problems related to loss of forests and
declining biological diversity.
3. Describe the extent of food diversity.
4. Define enhanced greenhouse effect and explain how
stabilizing climate is related to energy use.
5. Describe at least two problems in cities in the
developing world.
An Overall Plan for
Sustainable Living
• Lester R. Brown, 2006. Plan B 2.0
5 recommendations:
1. Eliminate poverty and stabilize human population
2. Protect and restore Earth’s resources
3. Provide adequate food for all people
4. Mitigate climate change
5. Design sustainable cities
Environmental InSight
Environmental InSight
An Overall Plan for Sustainable Living
1) 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
• 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
“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

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
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
• 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
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
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
1. What is the global extent of poverty?

2. What are two ecosystem services provided by
natural resources such as forests and biological
diversity?
3. What is food insecurity?
4. How is stabilizing climate related to energy use?
5. What are two serious problems in urban
environments?
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
– 1994 - Loess Plateau Watershed Rehabilitation
• Reforestation
• Education about cases of degradation
• Recovery of land and silting of Yellow River
Case Study

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Environmental Sustainability and

1. What is sustainable development?

1. What is environmental ethics?

1. What is environmental science? What are some

Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 1937

1. What is the global extent of poverty?

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