Reading Materials: 

7.1 Sustainable Societies

Many writers, from Plato (The Republic) and Sir Thomas More (Utopia) onwards have offered sophisticated and detailed visions of future utopian, and sometimes ecotopian, societies.According to Bookchin, Utopias are, or must be, essentially libertarian,bioregional and ecological to warrant the name: We must “phase out”our formless urban agglomerations into eco-communities that are scaled to human dimensions, sensitively tailored in size, population, needs and architecture to the specific ecosystems in which they are to be located. 

We must use modern tectonics to replace our factories, agribusiness enterprises and mines with new, human-scaled ecotechnologies that deploy sun, wind, streams, recycled wastes and vegetation to create a comprehensible people’s technology.We must replace the state institutions based on professional violence with social institutions based on mutual aid and human solidarity.

Political scientist Ruth Levitas argues that utopian thinking is therefore inherently practical and political because a “utopia may be understood as the expression of the desire for a better way of being or of living”.

Robert Gilman, one of the main founders of the Global Ecovillage Network, suggests an ecovillage community must encompass the following:

• Human-scale: the upper population limit is about 500 persons, although many contemporary communities have 100 persons or less.

• Full-featured settlement: all major functions of normal living—residence, food provision, manufacture, leisure, social life and commerce—are present in a balanced proportion, making the ecovillage a microcosm of a future society.

• Human activities harmlessly integrated into the natural world: humans do not dominate nature but live within it alongside other creatures.

Ecovillages adopt a cyclic use of material resources---for example, renewable energy, the composting of organic wastes and other strategies to minimize their ecological footprint.

• A way that is supportive of healthy human development: a balanced and integrated development of the physical, emotional, mental and spiritual elements of individual life and community living.

• Able to be successfully continued into the indefinite future: through the application of the sustainability principle and incorporating a commitment to fairness and non-exploitation of human and non-human persons and the natural world.

Gilman argues that we have the understanding, awareness, technological capacity and knowledge to live sustainably, for cities to be sustainable by being composed of a constellation of ecovillages and for these to last over time. To do so, putative ecocommunities must have the capacity to successfully negotiate a number of challenges, including:

the biosystem challenge: living in an ecologically sound manner;

• the built environment challenge: minimize transportation needs, always using environmentally friendly building materials, balance of private and public space, and so on;

• the economic system challenge: economically and ecologically efficient business enterprise, equitable forms of property ownership or common use, and so on;

• the governance challenge: decision-making processes, leadership roles, conflict resolution mechanisms, and so on;

• the “glue” challenge: vision, internal and external social relationships, closeness and cohesion, and so on;

• the whole system challenge: “to get an honest sense of the scope of the undertaking and then develop an approach that allows the community to develop at a sustainable pace”.

Now let’s see some experiential examples of ecovillage or society :The Findhorn Community in the north of Scotland is one of the best known ecovillages in the UK, if not the world. It has been established for over forty years, is spiritually based, with a profound commitment to living in harmony with the natural world, is largely democratic in organization and structure, and aims to be self-sufficient in food. Over the years, it has been exceedingly enterprising in its approach to green building and design, developing external consultancy, fund raising and investment, and education and communication. In October 1998, Findhorn’s Ecovillage Project was awarded a UN Habitat Best Practice citation. 

Other examples include Ecodyfi in west Wales.Specialist agencies, local government and community groups are engaged in a range of activities, in which CAT has developed considerable expertise—for example, community-based water, wind, solar and wood fuel schemes, and sustainable land management.

The overall aim is to regenerate the Dyfi Valley in a sustainable fashion, building on its local attributes and engaging local people. Projects include horticulture, ecotourism, new green business start-ups, affordable housing and community amenity developments. The Dfyi Biosphere Area is the only accredited United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) biosphere reserve in Wales.

In southern India, the spiritual community of Auroville has the largest concentration of alternative and appropriate energy systems in the subcontinent, is self-sufficient in milk and produces half its fruit and vegetables, has reforested many acres, has an extensive seed bank, and works with other local communities in cataloguing medicinal plants.

In 2003, Auroville won an Ashden Award for Sustainable Energy.The community also hosts the well-respected Centre for Scientific Research and a Graduate School for the Environment housed in the splendid Wales Institute for Sustainable Education running with its rammed earth constructed lecture theatre, Wi-Fi and a range of externally accredited courses on sustainable architecture, energy and the environment.

Although a great deal of ecological and bioregionalist thought focuses on the small scale and the rural, the majority of the global population now lives in cities. If anything, the most important development in the twenty-first century will be to ensure that urban development is sustainable—environmentally, socially, economically and politically. In the second half of this century, up to 70 per cent of the global population will reside in urban settlements. Sustainable urban design is extremely important, and the utopian, and increasingly the sustainable, city has captured the imagination of artists, architects, planners and urbanists of various descriptions.

While we’re talking about sustainable societies, special attention should be paid on one of the most serious problems we’re facing now, that is the aging population in the societies.Cities can be full of people but remain particularly lonely places, especially for the elderly if they lack family or community support networks. Nearly 10 % of the world’s population is over 60 years of age.

By 2050, that percentage is likely to be very near 20% and will outnumber the percentage of children under 14 years of age.As a whole, the global population is still set to increase at least until mid century from when a slow decline is likely, but population aging is not only about the absolute numbers of people growing old but the fact that people are on the whole living longer.

This is most apparent in high-income countries. In Japan, 33 % of the population is over 60 years, closely followed by Germany (28 %), Italy (27 %) and Finland (27 %). The increase in longevity is largely due to advances in medical science, and although many old people live healthy and active lives, many others experience disability, dementia, poverty and discrimination. The cost of national healthcare and pensions in many countries is increasing, which is becoming increasingly difficult to meet as a higher percentage of people become economically inactive and frequently dependent. The answer may be to ensure that people can spend more of their lives in the labour market. However, this too raises difficulties that governments, businesses, educational institutions, health services and communities need to address.

The World Health Organization’s report Global Health and Ageing (WHO, 2015) states that if older people are to work longer, it will depend on what types of jobs are available to them. Although many jobs in advanced technological societies do not require great physical strength and stamina, older workers may need retraining, more flexible work schedules and adapted work environments.In other words, employers will need to develop more sustainable work systems .Thus, future research that links an ageing demographic with sustainable development is therefore of paramount importance, although for the individual the ability to live an active, long and healthy life is of paramount importance.

Therefore, being able to envision a future sustainable society is an important element in the fore，development process. Utopian thinkers and writers have wondered what a future good society, or a good place, would be like and although it is clearly mistaken to see utopian thinking as a guide to all things sustainable, it does certainly free the imagination. And it is the imagination, as well as the intellect and knowledge, that has been employed in developing sustainable communities, towns and cities across the world.

Indeed, many people have argued that the key to global sustainability lies with the way we manage our existing urban environments and build our future ones. The last few decades have witnessed many sustainable urban initiatives at a variety of scales from grand new ecocities in China and in the deserts of the Middle East to the regeneration of specific neighbourhoods in some ancient cities in Europe.

As the world’s population steadily expands towards nine billion and in many parts of the globe becomes increasingly elderly, and as more and more people are born in or migrate to cities, the everyday experience of urban life is going to be the dominant experience of social and environmental sustainability—or unsustainability. If we are to be sustainable, then it is essential that we start with where most people live and work.

7.2 Sustainability from the perspective of Production and consumption

From the perspective of production and consumption, this lecture will examine some tools and measurements designed to assess the progress made towards realizing sustainability goals, such as Carbon capture and storage, and explain why the reflection between production and consumption matters for business with the goal of sustainability.

From the logical reflection and case study, we should know, moving towards sustainability also involves unleashing creativity, doing things in different ways, experimentation and changing mindsets.Carbon capture and storage (CCS), or geosequestration, is an intermediate technical solution that is seen by many governments as a way of limiting the amount of CO2 emitted into the atmosphere.

The idea is that the CO2 produced by burning fossil fuels—for example, coal—should be captured and stored within the Earth’s crust.In this way, power companies can burn “clean coal”.

However, to perfect this process requires massive investment and technological developments that have had successes in small-scale trials but have yet to be proven at a large commercial scale anywhere in the world. Storing large amounts of carbon underground could possibly lead to unwanted environmental effects, may not actually be permanent and could result in some loss of efficiency.

The International Energy Agency (2016) has noted that significant emissions depend on the accelerated deployment of renewables, nuclear power and carbon capture, and storage with a US$450 billion investment in energy investment necessary to produce a 5% energy reduction in the projected 30% increase in energy consumption by 2040.

As to the biosequestration, schemes in China have been as successful as originally hoped. Nonetheless, 40 billion trees have been planted since 1981 and there have clearly been gradual improvements in some areas with a modest positive impact on mitigating the effects of increased carbon emissions.Biosequestration is arguably beneficial to both human society and the environment, for it is a proven way of absorbing carbon. It does offer genuine opportunities for nurturing biodiversity, preventing soil erosion, potentially enhancing food production and in some areas rural poverty by reducing the need for rural dwellers to seek work in the cities .

This type of work requires visioning and the establishment of generative conditions for a structured collaboration and partnership among professional groups, researchers in universities, corporations and politicians.These groups need to develop and share knowledge of capacity-building tools which would accelerate the development of biosequestration projects and, where possible, scale up the development of integrated low-carbon technologies.

According to the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI)(2015) , SDGs (sustainable development goals) covers a wide spectrum of sustainable development topics relevant to companies—such as poverty, health, education, climate change and environmental degradation—the SDGs can help to connect business strategies with global priorities.

Companies can use the SDGs as an overarching framework to shape, steer, communicate and report their strategies, goals and activities, allowing them to capitalize on a range of benefits such as:

First, Identifying future business opportunities

The SDGs aim to redirect global public and private investment flows towards the challenges they represent. In doing so they define growing markets for companies that can deliver innovative solutions and transformative change.Whilst the business case for corporate sustainability is already well established, the SDGs may for example strengthen the economic incentives for companies to use resources more efficiently.

Two, strengthening stakeholder relations and keeping the pace with policy developments

The SDGs reflect stakeholder expectations as well as future policy direction at the international, national and regional levels. Companies that align their priorities with the SDGs can strengthen engagement of customers, employees and other stakeholders, and those that don’t will be exposed to growing legal and reputational risks.

Three, Stabilizing societies and markets

Business cannot succeed in societies that fail. Investing in the achievement of the SDGs supports pillars of business success, including the existence of rules-based markets, transparent financial systems, and non-corrupt and well-governed institutions.

Four, Using a common language and shared purpose

The SDGs define a common framework of action and language that will help companies communicate more consistently and effectively with stakeholders about their impact and performance. The goals will help bring together synergistic partners to address the world’s most urgent societal challenges.

       7.3 Urban Areas

For Thomas Princen, one major problem confronting contemporary society in any attempt to become more ecologically sustainable is the emphasis placed on production rather than consumption. If cars pollute, then we produce catalytic converters and more fuel-efficient engines.

If traffic is congested, we produce more road signals and more roads. If suburban growth becomes too extensive, we promotesmart growth. If flooding destroys property, we produce better flood defences. If aquifers are depleted, we sink deeper wells, and so on.

The alternative is to develop an ecological conception of economic activity that incorporates environmental consideration as integral to both the analysis of economic practice and the practice itself—“goods may be good but cautious consuming is better”.

People need to produce goods and services in order to live, to engage with others in society, and to secure a decent standard and quality of life, but not all of people’s needs have to be met through the purchase of goods and services.

One problem is that the simple consumption of material goods, particularly consumer goods, does not satisfy socially constructed wants and needs for any length of time.

Advertisers promise more than the goods are able to deliver, and many are instantly disposable, not least because of fashion, but also because their functionality is either superseded by new developments or they just break down. For design critics like Jonathan Chapman, the problem is partly one of design: users and purchasers rarely relate emotionally to the product.

Design does not generally elicit an emotionally durable commitment or connection. We dispose of things, of stuff, because we basically do not care about what we throw away. Non-purchase decisions also need to be factored in, as it is quite possible for many people to secure a healthy diet by growing some produce themselves, to enjoy music by playing an instrument with others rather than buying a CD or purchasing a download. It is quite possible to meet some needs without increasing economic and material throughput.

In other words, it is quite possible to develop an ecological economics that relates biophysical conditions with human behaviour by simply focusing on various aspects of the appropriation and application of energy resources and materials for production and consumption.Obviously, consumption is necessary for the survival of any and every species on the planet. There is clearly a necessary background level of consumption, but ecological economics suggests that human consumption can lead to problems if there is too much of it or where consumption is misdirected.

Unlike other species, humans can reflect on their actions and offer moral judgements on what they do, both at a macro-aggregate and an individual level. We can simply buy something to make us happy and when that happiness wears off, we can buy something else, throwing the first purchase away.

But in doing so, we can cause both societal and individual psychological problems, and producers will continue to produce more if consumers and the market demand it. For Princen, it is therefore incumbent on producers and consumers to develop restraint if further ecological damage is to be avoided.

Simple living, micro-renewable energy generation and local currencies as used in local exchange and trading schemes, and in some‘Transition towns’are self-limiting behaviors that place ecosystem services ahead of ongoing material production, capital accumulation and resource depletion.

Consequently, a consumption perspective highlights the nature of demand. Do we need more houses because of population increases?Do new housing developments reflect their full ecological costs and impacts? Is car use facilitated by subsidized road building?Does easy credit encourage undesirable consumerism? Tied to all this, is the individualization of responsibility for living lightly and reducing environmental impacts.Apart from ignoring larger institutional responsibilities, eco-living has itself turned into a consumer product growth industry, as the publication of green lifestyle magazines and features seems to confirm.

Several guiding principles for people to live sustainably are created, such as “one planet living”.To achieve a sustainable future, we need to design communities that enable people to live sustainably—that is, within the limits of the biosphere.

Clearly, the situation in different countries will vary. Factors such as the commuting distance between home and work, where the food comes from, and how waste is dealt with will be as important as, if not more important than, the energy performance of buildings. The NGOs BioRegional and WWF aim to build on their work to promote the concepts of sustainable development and ecological footprinting, notably by establishing a set of sustainable communities in diverse contexts across the globe.

Projects are intended to be delivered via partnerships with private developers, community groups and the public sector, and must commit to and adopt the guiding principles of One Planet Living.Via these communities and associated initiatives, the programme aims to have a transformative effect on the surrounding region and inform policy changes at national and international levels.

The One Planet Living programme is based on ten guiding principles, which act as a framework to highlight the sustainability challenge in a given situation and as a mechanism for developing and presenting solutions.

The principles—zero carbon, zero waste, sustainable transport, local and sustainable materials, local and sustainable food, sustainable water, protection of natural habitats and wildlife, culture and heritage, equity and fair trade, and health and happiness—offer a clear direction, and although actions to realize them may vary according to context or organization, it is clearly possible to develop indicators identifying and communicating progress in all these areas.