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Archive for April, 2011

Thomas Princen on “Sustainability and its Discontents”

Posted in History of Sustainability, What is Sustainability? on April 26, 2011| Leave a Comment »

I attended the 2011 American Society for Environmental History conference in Phoenix a few days ago. One of the sessions I attended was an interdisciplinary round table discussion, titled “Sustainability and its Discontents.” Political science professor Thomas Princen brought up a number of thought-provoking points that are relevant to our work here with the SHP.

Princen works in the arena of formulating and applying social science frameworks that are future-oriented and normative, so as to devise solutions that will help society avoid catastrophe. He sees “sustainability” as an important, if contentious, concept, on the same level as “peace,” “freedom,” “progress,” and “democracy.” Critics may claim that “sustainability” is meaningless because it can be so vague, but Princen argues that the concept, nevertheless, is essential because it helps frame a constellation of topics and issues that are essential to present and future generations. The concept of sustainability has three key elements, in Princen’s view:

    1) Provides a long-term outlook

    2) Encourages consideration of systems approach that reflects more accurately the complex interactions between nature and society

    3) Is a scalable concept that can be applied from the household level to the global level, and at all points in-between

Princen provided a clear and concise rule-of-thumb that he applies when people bring up “sustainability.” He asks: “sustaining what, for how long, and for whom?”

Princen’s final point involved asking a “dream team” of historians to provide examples to shed light on five areas he finds critical to implementing sustainability measures in the present and future. These are:
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Sustainability initiatives moderated by civil society

Posted in Equity, SHP Spring 2011, Student work, What is Sustainability? on April 21, 2011| Leave a Comment »

[This post was written by Megan Foster, Grant Russ, and Tina Xiong, and complements previous students’ analysis of the question What is Sustainability?]

An elevated level of equity would be ideal through the aspect of civil society as the center piece placed in between the economy, the state, and environment. From this perspective, each neighboring sphere to civil society is still necessary to keep sustainability in balance. Appropriately, though, the state, operated by the means of democratic governance, would garner the most attention since it in turn largely manages equity to civil society. As civil society becomes more of the focal point by the democratic institution it would allow such equity of access and discourse on a large body of thought and literature for the civil body to express its interest and mediation on the path towards sustainability.

Democratic institutions also allow advantages for a larger portion of civil society to take part in political freedoms and participation, which is also needed during this long enduring trek towards sustainability. Sustainability itself nearly focuses on the following three similar dimensions as of civil society: the social, the environment and the economy. Equity would naturally gravitate to this central core of dimensions and thus produce a more dynamic, growing and accessible opportunities for civil society, and sustainability.

As Gary L. Larsen puts it (more…)

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Finding value in critiques of sustainability

Posted in Critiques of Sustainability, SHP Spring 2011, Student work, What is Sustainability? on April 21, 2011| Leave a Comment »

[This post was written by Sara Scott, Sarah Griswold, and Jamie Price, and complements previous students’ analysis of the question What is Sustainability?]

Environmentalism and sustainability is a very polarizing topic. There is no shortage of literature and media supporting sustainability. That being said, one has to dig a little deeper to discover literature, or other forms of media, that argue against it. In this day and age, it seems very ‘politically incorrect,’ and even risqué, to voice opinions arguing against sustainability. Today, we will discuss two articles that critique our societal concepts of sustainability and environmentalism. The articles that we will discuss are, “Roots of Sustainability” by Glenn M. Ricketts and “Is Sustainability Sustainable?” by Daniel Bonevac.[1]

Ricketts’ article is an historical perspective of how environmentalism and sustainability grew in American culture. Daniel Bonevac’s article is a philosophical attempt to define sustainability based on our society’s various definitions. Both articles critique the concept of sustainability from two very different approaches.

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But I don’t want to!!

Posted in Critiques of Sustainability, SHP Spring 2011, Student work, What is Sustainability? on April 21, 2011| 1 Comment »

[This post was written by Megan Rice and Angelina Peters and complements previous students’ analysis of the question What is Sustainability?]

This title of this post is not in reference to a toddler being told to go to bed for the hundredth time. Rather, we assert that the title should be the cry among many university and college students. When did our higher learning institutions become the 1984 versions of Big Brother? With the criticism and failure of No Child Left Behind or President Obama’s Race to the Top, why are our universities and colleges abandoning academics for activism?

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Enigma of Sustainability: The Lamentable Birth and Grotesque Death of Electronic Gadgets

Posted in Enigmas of Sustainability on April 20, 2011| 1 Comment »

One of the many kinds of sustainability enigmas involve balancing the hidden social and environmental costs to produce and dispose of information technologies with the astounding array of diverse positive benefits of these technologies.

Computers, cell phones, and other electronic tools and toys continue to become increasingly important to more people, and in more ways. Though the lives of millions of us center on computers and electronic equipment, most of us tend not to think too deeply about how these devices are created, or how they are disposed of. Here in the Portland area, there seem to be some solutions to the disposal of superseded gadgets. The Metro Regional Government provides e-waste recycling, and Free Geek refurbishes old equipment and provides them at low- or no-cost to people and organizations in need.

How do we compare and balance the obvious importance of these technologies with the very real social, economic, and environmental issues posed by the creation and disposal of this stuff?

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Enigmas of Sustainability

Posted in About the SHP, Enigmas of Sustainability on April 20, 2011| 1 Comment »

Consider the following situations:

    ** A committed social justice organization increases its productivity, grows its network, and expands its positive impacts in the local area through the use of computers and other information technologies—the same kinds of technologies produced in areas lacking fundamental labor regulations and disposed of in ways that release potent toxins into the environment and that are absorbed into the bodies of children disassembling these devices.

    ** An academic concerned with global climate changes caused by the release of carbon from the burning of fossil fuels travels across the country by way of a commercial airliner to attend a sustainability-themed environmental history conference.

    ** Over the span of a few years, artists and “bohemians”—predominately white—move into a neighborhood where rents and mortgages are inexpensive relative to the rest of the city. These new residents open new businesses, gradually increasing property values, which then entices (predominately white) real estate speculators. The previous residents of the area—predominately peoples of color—find themselves hard-pressed to afford the increased property taxes and begin to move away. Within a few more years, the former neighborhood sustains a revitalized business district, new construction & remodeling projects abound, and the city is receiving a much-increased level of business and property taxes. However, the historic character of the area no longer exists, and the area’s ethnic, cultural, and economic diversity has been thoroughly transformed (and much more homogenized).

These real-world cases illustrate a pattern that is worthy of our attention. Quite often, when we probe beyond surface-level observations of our lives in the early twenty-first century, we face confounding complexities that complicate what we had been taking for granted; what we may have thought to be a clear-cut narrative of environmental, economic, or social progress can turn out to be, in fact, a sloppier story toned not in black-&-white but in varied shades of grey.

As we assert in our working definition of “sustainability,” benefits and costs introduce complexities into any analysis of sustainable practices. We can learn things of value if we consciously and squarely confront these complexities. Intellectually working-through the resultant enigmas can help us uncover important roots and threads of pressing issues, and identifying such things can help us become more informed citizens and more empathetic community members.

This will be the inaugural post in an ongoing series about the enigmas, riddles, and conundrums of sustainability. Other posts in these series can be found under the Enigmas of Sustainability category in the sidebar of the Sustainability History Project website.

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“Sustainability” is more than an environmental issue

Posted in SHP Spring 2011, Student work, What is Sustainability? on April 12, 2011| Leave a Comment »

[This post was written by Sara Scott, Sarah Griswold, and Jamie Price, and complements previous students’ analysis of the question What is Sustainability?]

In covering the first three readings, our group decided to combine all three articles and brainstorm on what the general themes they share that pertain to sustainability.[1]

Many people think of sustainability as strictly an environmental issue. After reading the three articles, we came to the conclusion that sustainability is multi-faceted on a global level. Sustainability is not only limited to issues of the environment, but of society and economics as well. Our current working definition of sustainability is to leave resources for future generations with a minimal impact on the environment. According to Kates, et al., the Board on Sustainable Development’s goal of sustainability is to “provide energy, materials and information to feed, nurture, house, educate and employ the people in 2050 … and to reduce hunger, poverty … and preserve the basic life support systems of the planet.”[2]

All the authors in our readings discussed the common theme of “trade-offs.” When mentioning “trade-offs” in terms of sustainability, (more…)

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What is Sustainability? Measurabilty, Intergenerational Equity, & Greenwashing

Posted in SHP Spring 2011, Student work, What is Sustainability? on April 12, 2011| 1 Comment »

[This post was written by Megan Rice, Angelina Peters, and Dennis Dunn, and complements previous students’ analysis of the question What is Sustainability?]

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle! A common mantra most people have heard before, but what does that mean and is that what sustainability is? The meaning of sustainability ranges from the formulated academic definition based on the Brundtland Commission report to an individual’s personal definition. The focus of this entry is not to dissect the many facets of what sustainability is but to discuss what it is not. The “three pillars” of sustainability are: environment (i.e, natural resources), economy (i.e., monetary value), and equity (i.e., social considerations). At a glance, some of the pillars are self-explanatory, once again, either using a personal or academic definition.

When focusing on what sustainability is not we will discuss measurability, openness to dialog, intergenerational needs, and “greenwashing.”

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Environment and development cannot subsist without each other

Posted in SHP Spring 2011, Student work, What is Sustainability? on April 12, 2011| Leave a Comment »

[This post was written by Megan Foster, Grant Russ, and Tina Xiong, and complements previous students’ analysis of the question What is Sustainability?]

Among the various subjects embedded in the Brundtland Commission report concerning sustainable development, one of exceptional importance is the subject of what precisely should be developed. Those subjects with potential for development were discussed by both developed and developing countries and so can be stated as universally important. The development of essential human needs such as economic growth, equity of resources, equal opportunities, and education stands beside the sustainability of nature, resources, and communities. Social development, and more specifically social justice, can ensure development and sustainability of equity and equality for all persons. The goals which should correlate with these concepts include the elimination of poverty and an equal quality of life.

The challenge becomes one of not only properly implementing social justice but meeting social needs in general while still upholding values of environmental sustainability. (more…)

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