The Challenge of Sustainability

1. The Challenge of Sustainability • Trends are key, because sustainability is about the legacy we are leaving for future generations • Sometimes unsustainability is easier to recognize... a Community-University Research Alliance Promoting Community Sustainability: Linking Research and Action www.sustainabletoronto.ca

2. If today is the typical day on planet earth, humans will: • Add 15 million tons of carbon to the atmosphere • Destroy 115 square miles of tropical rain forest • Create 72 square miles of desert • Eliminate between 40 - 100 species • Erode 71 million tons of top soil • Add 2700 tons of CFCs to the stratosphere • Increase the population by 263,000. David Orr, Ecological Literacy, 1992 a Community-University Research Alliance Promoting Community Sustainability: Linking Research and Action www.sustainabletoronto.ca

3. Global population continues to rise a Community-University Research Alliance Promoting Community Sustainability: Linking Research and Action www.sustainabletoronto.ca

4. Urban Growth Spurt Continues a Community-University Research Alliance Promoting Community Sustainability: Linking Research and Action www.sustainabletoronto.ca

5. Sustainability involves more than the environment • we must have a prosperous economythat operates on sustainability principles (this is the sine qua non of the “new economy”) • the “social dimension” is also crucial a Community-University Research Alliance Promoting Community Sustainability: Linking Research and Action www.sustainabletoronto.ca

6. " According to UN estimates, the richest fifth of the world’s people consume some 66 times as much as the poorest fifth,including 58 percent of total energy. And they own 87 percent of the worlds vehicles, a major source of greenhouse gases. And the two hundred and twenty-five people who comprise the super-rich have a combined wealth of over one trillion US dollars, equivalent to the annual income of the poorest 47 percent of the worlds people. Surely history tells us such imbalances are not sustainable.” - Maurice Strong, Lecture at York University 09/28/01 a Community-University Research Alliance Promoting Community Sustainability: Linking Research and Action www.sustainabletoronto.ca

7. Sustainable Development: Where has it been? • IUCN (World Conservation Union) 1982 WCS • World Commission on Environment and Development (Brundtland Commission) “Our Common Future” • UNCED (“Earth Summit”) Rio, 1992: • Agenda 21 • Rio Declaration • Climate Change, Biodiversity, Desertification etc. • Wider societal involvement; civil society; CSO’s • Environment slips on public agenda post Rio • Governments stalled – “implementation gap” noted both domestically (CESD) and internationally (Rio Plus 5) • Business begins to assume leadership a Community-University Research Alliance Promoting Community Sustainability: Linking Research and Action www.sustainabletoronto.ca

8. What are the new drivers? • Increasing consumption of resources and production of wastes • Sophisticated use of the internet by NGO’s, general public • Information links that are now global • Concern for peace and security issues following 9-11 • Militancy of opposition to economic globalization • Emphasis on transparency of both businesses and governments • Growing awareness of environmental problems around resources (fisheries), water (Walkerton), forest products (certification) etc. -- and interconnected social and economic implications; • Problems of urban population growth, sprawl,waste,pollution, homelessness, GHG a Community-University Research Alliance Promoting Community Sustainability: Linking Research and Action www.sustainabletoronto.ca

9. Sustainable Development: Where is it going? • New paradigms in key disciplines (especially economics) • New tools such as ecological footprint • New concepts like natural capitalism, biomimickry • Greater focus on reporting and measuring progress • New opportunities for partnership across sectors (public, private, civil, education) • Greater recognition of the “ingenuity gap” and the need to understand complex systems a Community-University Research Alliance Promoting Community Sustainability: Linking Research and Action www.sustainabletoronto.ca

10. Implications of the New Paradigm Knowledge, ingenuity and innovation are key elements of new economy Replace resource consumption with knowledge, biomimicry etc Base the new economy on the principles of sustainability (going beyond “knowledge” to wisdom) “We must substitute our ingenuity, our knowledge, for the use of materials in all areas of the economy in which we interact with natural resources and the natural environment.” Jonathan Lash, President of WRI, in a lecture at York University Feb. 22, 2001 a Community-University Research Alliance Promoting Community Sustainability: Linking Research and Action www.sustainabletoronto.ca

11. Governance Implications of the New Paradigm • Governments can’t do it all • Problems are linked, and horizontal • Need systems thinking, “integrated” long-term planning and decisions • Go beyond “silos and solitudes” • Collaboration across sectors and jurisdictions • Transparent, participatory decision-making a Community-University Research Alliance Promoting Community Sustainability: Linking Research and Action www.sustainabletoronto.ca

12. Economic growth & development Material consumption & waste production Technological change S Redesigning manufacturing& the economy Sustainability Challenges Driving Forces ”Smart” Resource Stewardship Globalization Energy Sources and Consumption Civil Society NGO’S Business Challenges Changes Transportation Sustainable Cities Population growth and movement Loss of biodiversity & habitat Governance Public Policy Choice Makers Urban Infrastructure & land use Individuals Government Land & water management Food Supply Pollution Inequity Public Education Climate Change Education & new ideas / paradigms a Community-University Research Alliance Promoting Community Sustainability: Linking Research and Action www.sustainabletoronto.ca

13. The Role of Business • Providing sustainable products & service • that improve quality of life with benign or positive environmental impacts • Providing products & services sustainably • with maximum eco-efficiency/dematerialization using “smart” design (DfE), closed loop production, biomimicry, etc • Meeting the “triple bottom line” • Cross-sector partnerships and collaboration a Community-University Research Alliance Promoting Community Sustainability: Linking Research and Action www.sustainabletoronto.ca

14. The Role of Government • “Steering” society toward sustainability • Creating a favorable “habitat” for sustainability • Getting the prices right • “Smart” regulation (using a full suite of policy instruments) • “Walking the talk” by practicing sustainability • Promoting a “culture of sustainability” • New forms of partnership a Community-University Research Alliance Promoting Community Sustainability: Linking Research and Action www.sustainabletoronto.ca

15. The Role of Civil Society Organizations • To educate and inform • To advise and to warn • To articulate the public interest • To mobilize the public to action • To criticize and encourage • To collaborate for implementation a Community-University Research Alliance Promoting Community Sustainability: Linking Research and Action www.sustainabletoronto.ca

16. The Role of Individuals • To become informed • To change their own behavior • As consumers: • to support sustainability-oriented companies • As citizens: • to demand sustainability commitments from governments a Community-University Research Alliance Promoting Community Sustainability: Linking Research and Action www.sustainabletoronto.ca

17. An Emerging Culture of Sustainability • From overconsumption (“Whoever dies with the most toys wins.”) to sufficiency • “Voluntary simplicity” • Greater concern for nature, and the well-being of the ecosystem • Greater concern for other human beings living today • Greater concern for “temporal equity” • Support for decisions that take long term effects into consideration • Support for decision-makers with that perspective and for businesses that embody sustainability principles and practices a Community-University Research Alliance Promoting Community Sustainability: Linking Research and Action www.sustainabletoronto.ca

18. The Aboriginal Thanksgiving Address Finally, we acknowledge one another, female and male. We give greetings and thanks that we have this opportunity to spend some time together. We turn our minds to our ancestors and our Elders. You are the carriers of knowledge, of our history. We acknowledge the adults among us. You represent the bridge between the past and the future. We also acknowledge our youth and children. It is to you that we will pass on the responsibilities we now carry. Soon, you will take our place in facing the challenges of life. Soon, you will carry the burden of your people. Do not forget the ways of the past as you move toward the future. Remember that we are to walk softly on our sacred Mother, the Earth, for we walk on the faces of the unborn, those who have yet to rise and take up the challenges of existence. We must consider the effects our actions will have on their ability to live a good life. a Community-University Research Alliance Promoting Community Sustainability: Linking Research and Action www.sustainabletoronto.ca