1. What Is Sustainability?

1. What Is Sustainability?

Research Problems

Write one or two paragraphs describing the word “environment.” Include the etymology or origin of the word, its definitions, and your observations about how the word appears in common usage.
Write a brief report on the Long Now Foundation, a nonprofit organization whose goal is to foster long-term thinking.
Find as many different definitions as you can (within reason) of “sustainability” and “sustainable development.” List the definitions and their sources. Explain which you think is best, and why.
Find a copy of A Sand County Almanac by Aldo Leopold and read his essay, “The Land Ethic.” Write several paragraphs in response. What were Leopold’s central ideas? What does he say about ethics? What does he say about community?
Write a paper, or create a presentation to share with your class, about the Earth Charter Initiative. Briefly describe its history and summarize the 16 sustainability principles. A few writers have criticized the Charter as being too vague; why do you think its creators did not choose to be more specific?
What are the goals of the 2012 UN Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD), also known as the “Rio 2012 Conference”?
Information visualization is an interdisciplinary area of study concerned with displaying connections and relationships among large collections of abstract data. Its graphic representations can be used to yield new insights in fields as diverse as cell chemistry, computer architecture, and social networks, as well as many other kinds of academic scholarship. Research this field, then write a brief paper which explains the basic concepts for a lay audience. What applications can you envision for the interdisciplinary study of sustainability?

Projects and Group Activities

When you are interviewed for a job, you will need to be able to answer questions thoughtfully and concisely. You might find it helpful to gather a notebook of “elevator speeches” you can study as you prepare for interviews. As you read this textbook, compile a list of core sustainability concepts. Write your own succinct elevator speech for each one, and collect these in a notebook.
Write a description of your ideal sustainability career. For example, would it be in the private or public sector? In a big corporation, a small nonprofit organization,or education? Would you like to lead or work behind the scenes? Would you like to interact with just a few people or with lots of people? What kind of subspecialty would you like to focus on? Would you enjoy putting your ideas and energy to work through science, or artistic expression, or perhaps a combination?
In a group, think about what a sustainable world might include. Record your ideas on a flipchart, whiteboard, or computer screen. How would humans, animals, and plants share the planet? How large might the human population be? How might humans provision themselves with food, water, and shelter? What raw material and energy sources would we use? How might humans find beauty, meaning, and intellectual growth?
Write several paragraphs describing in your own words what a sustainable world might include.
Imagine that you are historians living 100 or perhaps 200 years from now. The prospectswere grim in the early twenty-first century, but Earth and humanity have lived through mass extinctions, changing climates, and other upheavals, and have come out the other side into a sustainable world which is unlike the one we inhabit today. Early adaptations went unnoticed by most people, but eventually these changes came together, resulting in a sea change in the human presence on the planet. Human societies have become decent and nourishing, and the health of the biosphere is slowly recovering. You are now consultants on a project which will document how the shift occurred. Imagine what this world will look like, and discuss as a group what humans did successfully to make the changes.

This “thought experiment” asks you to expand your time horizon. Write two paragraphs imagining what the world might be like in the next 1000 years. In the first and shorter paragraph, summarize some changes you might predict if humanity were unable to adopt a sustainable path. In the second paragraph, describe a hopeful vision of what the world might be like in the next 1000 years.
Throughout the coming term or semester, collect and share with each other examples of inaccurate perspectives from public media. You may be able to find examples that deal with time, magnitude, cultural preferences, or other attributes. For example, packaging on one product states that the company’s founding in 1966 “forever changed the way Americans do business,” although the elapsed time was only a few decades. A documentary may refer to “a species which has always lived in these mountains,” although habitats, climates, and mountains do not stay the same over long time periods. A writer may believe that a particular worldview is common to all people, when the view is only held within that writer’s cultural group. Write individual reflections on what you found. What types of statements did you find? What do you think caused them?
As a class, compile a resource index for topics in sustainability. Each person will focus on one topic. Work together as a group to determine what topics should be included, who will take which topic, how the index will be compiled, what format you will use, and any other details. For your assigned topic, prepare a list of recognized sources to which your colleagues can turn to get information. As applicable, list publications (journals, important reference books, and whether they are available in your library); people (local or national experts in your topic); organizations (national standards organizations, governmental agencies, and trade associations); significant laws or regulations; standards and codes; and any other important sources (for example, a university with a research institute which specializes in your topic). When complete, distribute a copy of the index to each member of the class.

Collect and share magazines, advertisements, and other printed items that are destined to be recycled. Create a collage, one per person, to illustrate the idea of interconnection or other concepts of sustainability of your choice. To make a collage, cut out illustrations, shapes, colors, or text and glue them to recycled cardboard. Don’t worry if your collage is not an artistic creation; your goal is to communicate ideas. Schedule a class pin-up day, and let each person briefly explain the concept they were expressing and why they chose the images they did.