Fundamentals of Sustainability

1. Fundamentals of Sustainability EVSS 695 Class 4: Ecology of Commerce P. Brian Fisher

2. Hawken, Ecology of Commerce

3. Review • A Step Back…moments of transition in our lives • End of Nature; Collapse – Civilizations from enviro reasons • State of Earth • Historical Drivers of Env Degradation: Pop growth, econ growth, technology • IPAT, Projections of our future (Sachs) • American’s Perceptions – Paradox • Environmental Movement – Death?! • Ecological Analysis – Testing your connections • “The Lorax Problem”: Individualization • Fulfillment and Happiness = Sustainability • Education = Sustainability (deep learning) • NOW: Systemic problems of businesses and capitalism and the myths of “progress” that support them

4. Hawken, Ecology of Commerce (1993) • Thesis: Biosphere is being destroyed by our industrial society and economic system, but same elements that destroy the biosphere—markets and gov’ts, are the solution (if can replace “greed”) • “I have come to believe that we in America and in the rest of the industrialized West do not know what business really is, or, therefore, what it can become.” (p1) • "The promise of business is to increase the general well-being of humankind through service, a creative invention and ethical philosophy. Making money is, on its own terms, totally meaningless, an insufficient pursuit for the complex and decaying world we live in. We have reached an unsettling and portentous turning pt in industrial civilization.” (p1) • The current economic system is not "the inherent nature of business, nor the inevitable outcome of a free-market system. It is merely the result of the present commercial system's design and use."

5. Ecology vs Commerce • “there is no polite way to say that business is destroying the world.” (p3) • An oxymoron that speaks to the gap between how earth lives and how we now conduct our commercial lives. • “We don’t think of ecology and commerce as compatible subjects. While much of our current environmental policy seek a ‘balance’ between the needs of business and the needs of environment, common sense says there is only one critical balance and one set of needs: the dynamic, ever-changing interplay of the forces of life” (p3) • ** Ecology of commerce is the unity of them into “one sustainable act of production and distribution that mimics and enhances natural processes” (p3)

6. A Teasing Irony • Gap between environment and business, ecology and economics • Industry suppresses our immune system • Free market capitalism? • Restorative economy • Waste, income and capital, diversity

7. The Death of Birth • Transforming ecology is unavoidable. American culture to invasive weeds • What are we taking? • Usurpation of planetary production • Carrying capacity • Species loss • Self interest and the myth of overabundance

8. Death of Birth • Biodiversity loss is massive and widespread  “Every natural system in the world today is in decline.” (p22) • Human systems exceeding carrying capacity (p24-6) • Econ System = “immature” system • “immature system” = aggressive & invasive weeds take over space…wasting energy, undermining diversity, with plants of lower quality and usefulness (p19) • Mature system = evolution from “growth” to high efficiency and resource-conserving  “climax systems comprise an assoc of organisms that reach a state of equilibrium which leaves the habitat largely unchanged…they are more diverse, stable and complex communities, and are thus more resilient.” • David Wann: “the present American culture is still the bare field full of colonizing weeds, struggling toward something more sophisticated, interwoven and permanent. Until now, we’ve consistently chose the resource-hungry path of least resistance. (p20-1). • “Because richer northern countries do not see or experience the impact they have on their poorer southern nations, we do not realize what a powerful and destructive impact our demand on carrying capacity is having.” (p26)

9. The Creation of Waste • End-of-pipe cleanup • Creation of waste is the root, Disposal is a symptom • Molecular waste. Bioaccumulation. Biomagnification. • Economic growth as a prerequisite for environmental health? • Redesign, Robèrt’s “Natural Step”, succession • Natural Step: evolution of “sustainable” cellular biology—self sustaining cycles where waste is cycled back  see naturalstep.org

10. What we Need to Do • “having expropriated resources from the natural world in order to fuel a rather transient period of materialistic freedom, we must now restore no small measure of those resources and accept the limits and discipline inherent in that relationship. Until business does that, it will continue to be maladaptive and predatory.” (p6) • Today, the liner process of industrialization creates massive amts of waste and its grossly inefficient, resulting a decayed earth. • “the economics of restoration is the opposite of industrialization. Industrial economics separated production processes from the land, the land from people, and, ultimately, economic values from personal values…in a restorative economy, viability is determined by the ability to integrate with or replicate cyclical systems, in its means of production and distribution (p11).

11. Hawken’s 8 Elements to Solve Enviro Crisis • Reduce energy/resource consumption by 80% in next half century • Secure, productive employment for all • "Be self-organizing as opposed to regulated or morally mandated.” • Honor market principles • Be more rewarding (than our present way of life) • Exceed sustainability by restoring degraded habitats and ecosystems to their fullest biological capacity.” • Rely on current income • “Be fun and engaging, and strive for an aesthetic outcome."

12. Story of Stuff • Annie Leonard, Story

13. Chapter by Chapter Ecology of Commerce Paul Hawken

14. A Teasing Irony • Gap between environment and business, ecology and economics • Industry suppresses our immune system • Free market capitalism? • Restorative economy • Waste, income and capital, diversity

15. The Death of Birth • Transforming ecology is unavoidable. American culture to invasive weeds • What are we taking? • Usurpation of planetary production • Carrying capacity • Species loss • Self interest and the myth of overabundance

16. The Creation of Waste • End-of-pipe cleanup • Creation of waste is the root, Disposal is a symptom • Molecular waste. Bioaccumulation. Biomagnification. • Economic growth as a prerequisite for environmental health? • Redesign, Robèrt’s “Natural Step”, succession • Natural Step: evolution of “sustainable” cellular biology—self sustaining cycles where waste is cycled back  see naturalstep.org

17. Parking Lots and Potato Heads • Restoration, rejuvenation, innovation • Interface modular carpeting • Industrial Ecology • Degradable products, reclaimable products of service, parking lots of unsalables • Responsibility

18. Pigou’s Solution • Prices, costs, market economy? • The primary freedom is growth • Industrialization • Pigouvian taxes • Higher costs to consumers? • Cheapness threatens our integrity

19. The Size Thing • Multinational corporations, politics, money, power • Globalization • GATT, WTO, environmental regs • Enormity • Corporations are the opposite of nature.

20. When an Ethic is not an Ethic • Growth addiction, indebtedness, stress • Propaganda • What is for sale in America is our welfare. • Time • Values, creating meaningful employment

21. Restoring the Guardian • A systemic problem • Governance and commerce • Reward those that internalize costs most • Set standards for planning/developing new business • Green taxes. A shift from goods to bads • Creativity

22. Pink Salmon and Green Fees • Efficiency • Green fees: energy, farming, traffic, war • Public utilities: publicly regulated, privately managed, market-based • Salmon utility? • Low or no tariffs to most sustainable nations

23. The Inestimable Gift of a Future • Resilience • Carrying capacity, exemptionalist thinking, Malthusianism • The 29th day, exponential growth • Q of life, increasing stratification • Waste, shift to income not capital, diversity • Favelas • Democracy