Integrated Knowledge Approach to Sustainability Policy
Dr. Dongwon Shin Director-General & Regional Administrator
Wonju Regional Environmental Office, Korean Ministry of Environment
The colors of the rainbow in these days
• Red• Yellow• Green• Blue• Violet• Orange• Indigo
Rainbow is always rainbow, but the colors of rainbow are changed in the human mind.
The colors of the rainbow in early days
• Red• Yellow• Green• Blue• Violet +
+
Rainbow is always rainbow, but its expressed colors are changing in the human mind.
World best 10 GDPs and 10 GSIs
1. USA
2. Japan
3. Germany
4. UK
5. France
6. Italy
7. China
8. Canada
9. Spain
10. Mexico
1. Finland
2. Norway
3. Canada
4. Sweden
5. Switzerland
6. New Zealand
7. Australia
8. Austria
9. Iceland
10. Denmark
GDP Best10 (’05) GSI Best 10 (’01)
World best 10 HPIs31. China
65. Switzerland
81. Germany
95. Japan
102. South Korea
108. U.K.
111. Canada
129. France
150. U.S.A.
178. Zimbabwe
1. Colombia
2. Costa Rica
3. Dominica
4. Panama
5. Cuba
6. Guatemala
7. Vietnam
8. Bhutan
9. Sri Lanka
10. Philippines*** Happy Planet Index means ‘the average years of happy life be a given society.’(HPI= Life Satisfaction (human mind) x Life Expectancy / Ecological Footprint)
Capitalistic society and Sustainable society
Profitability and Sustainabilityas a driving energy of subsystems
Economy Bureaucracy
SocietalCommunityCulture
Industrial Production Government
The Community
Profitability
Human Mind and Ecosystem
Sustainability
Human Mind
The Ecosystem
21001900
Club of Roman’s Long-term Perspectivebased on Human Civilization
Industrial Production
Pollution
Natural Resources
Ecologist H. Odum’s Perspective based on the System of Ecology
SUN
Fuels Materials
Environmentalsystem
INDUSTRY
ConsumptionAnd Human
ServiceAgricultural system
Used Energy
Economist Daly’s Perspective based on Economy
SUN
MACRO ECONOMY(Human Mind)
ECOSPERE
Heat Loss
M
E
M
E
Recycle
M = matter E = energy : Material and energy flows
MBA-type Strategic Perspective based on Management
GovernmentalAffairs
Engineering
Strategic
planning
Marketi
ngAccounting
Legal
counse
l
Humanresources
EnvironmentalHealthsafety
Finance
Political &
Community
relations
R & D
environmental quality Based upon diverse human mind
What is Integrated Knowledge?
Analytical judgment & Synthetical judgment (Immanuel Kant, 1724 - 1804)
• Analytical judgment;• Definition: The predicate B
belongs to the Subject A. • Example: ‘Water consists of
2 hydrogen and 1 oxygen.’ • Process:
• Synthetical judgment;• Definition: The predicate B lies c
ompletely outside the Subject A.• Example: When the snow in Cana
da melts, spring is coming.’ • Process:
Starting here!
Starting here!Clear, but nothing new!
Unclear, but something new
: Concept
Good example 1 of synthetical, therefore, integrative knowledge
• Genesis Chapter 2 Verse 24:
“ A man will leave his father and mother,
and be united to his wife.”
Good example 2 of synthetical, therefore, integrative knowledge
• Nuclear fusion:
The joining of two light nucleus form
a heavier nucleus and produce great energy.
21H + 2
1H 32He + 1
0n
Sustainable Society Requires a New Mode of Knowledge.
Difference between the knowledge of classical society and the knowledge of sustainable society*
Classical Society Sustainable Society
Economy
Knowledge
• Public interest • Income related to need• Egalitarian• Collective provision
• Market focus • Rewards for achievement• Differentials• Individual self-help
• Nature as ample reserves • Confidence in science and technology• Rationality of means• Logical Positivism for the freedom of human mind
• Nature as nature • Limits to science and technology• Rationality of ends• New Mode of Knowledge - Integration of facts/value and thought/feeling for the sustainability
*Adapted from ‘S. Cotgrove and A. Duff, 1980 (Environmentalism, Values and Social Change, British Journal of Sociology 32, No.1: p.341’)
We Need A New Mode of Knowledge.
• Just think about ‘global warming, deforestation, freshwater, desertification, genetically modified foods,’ and that how many sciences and stakeholders are interconnected there.
• Nevertheless, many scientists have a tendency not only to view the context of sustainability from their narrow focus, but also to take the boundaries between the scientific, the social, and the technological worlds. (A. Irwin, 2001, sociology and the environment)
We Need A New Mode of Knowledge.
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Design for Enviornment
Recycling
New Material
Good Housekeeping
Process Modification
New Technology
Technology Research Incentive Regulation Awareness Infra
We Need A New Mode of Knowledge.
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Design for Enviornment
Recycling
New Material
Good Housekeeping
Process Modification
New Technology
Technology Research Incentive Regulation Awareness Infra
Epistemological Conflicts in a sustainable society
The Human Mind over the Non-human World
Economy Bureaucracy
SocietalCommunityCulture
Industrial Production Government
The Community
Value 1
The Ecosystem
Value 2
Value 1
Human history has developed to realize the one value:
the freedom of human mind.
The sustainable society requires not only the freedom of human mind,
but also that of the nature.
Inborn Dualism in a sustainable society
Industrial Production Government
The Community
The Ecosystem
Perspective I
Perspective II
viewer’sposition
viewer’spositionobject
object
Paradigm of Economics
Paradigm of Ecology
Endless Wars Everywherebetween Two Paradigms
Data
Information
Opinions
Knowledge
Science
Beyond Science
Opinions
Knowledge
Science
Information
Perspective I
Perspective I
Perspective I
Perspective I
Perspective I
Perspective II
Perspective II
Perspective II
Perspective II
Beyond Science
Perspective I
Perspective II
Contextual Knowledge
Technological Knowledge
Reconciliatory Knowledge
Question statement
What is the problem? How can we solve the problem?
Why we have to solve the problem?
Objective Understanding the situation
Suggesting means for solutions
Managing goal-means chains
Function Detecting ‘destination’ Selecting ‘vehicles’ Effecting ‘driver’
Approach Largely Logical positivism
Imagination & innovation
Reflective moral knowledge
Framework Environmental paradigm
Economic paradigm Sustainability paradigm
Beneficiary the community enterprise government
Relevant disciplines
Environmental and social sciences, economics.
Engineering, microeconomics, and the art of design
Human ecology, macroeconomics, policy science including the art of SIA
Three Subsystems of New Knowledge
Basic Unit of a New Mode of Knowledge in the Age of Sustainability
TechnologicalKnowledge
Contextual Knowledge
ReconciliatoryKnowledge
Brown Supplier Cleaner Supplier
Demander for Better Commons
Demander for Better Market Compliance Program
More Sustainable ProgramDesign and buildKnowledge infrastructure
towardssustainability
Conclusion:
1. EIA focuses mainly on the contextual level of knowledge.
2. EIA needs to evolve into more interwoven level of knowledge-infraincluding technology and policy,
3. Where eco-governance issues should be founded.