Sustainability Revisited

What is “sustainability?”

“Sustainability requires the simultaneous reconciliation of three imperatives:

• The ecological imperative is to stay within the biophysical carrying capacity of the planet,

• the economic imperative is to provide an adequate material standard of living to all, and

• the social imperative is to provide systems of governance that propagate the values that people want to live by.” (p. 381)(John Robinson, “Squaring the Circle? Some Thoughts on the Idea of Sustainable Development,” Ecological Economics 48 (2004):369-84, at:doi:10.1016/j.ecolecon.2003.10.017 )

Our societies are not organized for sustainability

• Our living & working patterns are very resource-intensive• We take high consumption levels as a “right”• We fail to include the full costs of stuff in the price of

stuff• We tend not to be concerned about either distribution or

unfair impacts of consumption• We strongly resist any efforts to modify production &

consumption patterns

What kinds of operationalizing concepts do we need to think about

sustainability?• The tendency is to think in

terms of fixed concepts that can be tweaked

• For example: “Limits to growth” implies resource constraints, pollution space, population size

• But “limits” may be contingent on other factors, e.g., needs & wants; technological options; social organization; spatial configurations; history & practices

• People are habit-driven, behave according to set patterns, & dislike changing them

Patterns of behavior & social interaction—habitus--can be

formalized or not• “Habitus” fosters

continuity & certainty• It reproduces the

social order of things• It patterns our needs,

desires & relations• It shapes our hopes &

expectations• But habitus is also

fluid and malleable

What we do and consume is not simply a matter of individual choice

• We each have socially-generated expectations

• These are fostered in the family, schools, by media, peer pressure, advertising

• We come to expect a certain “living standard”

• This tends to encourage high levels of consumption

• Maintaining living standard requires rapid turnover of goods

Much of the current sustainability discourse is driven by a focus on technological change (“weak”

ecological modernization)

• Innovation in discrete hardware can generate first entrant monopoly returns until others can produce

• Well-off consumers can gain status by being early purchasers (when product is still quite costly)

• Changes oriented toward socio-technical system may contribute more to sustainability, but at lower returns

• Example of utility home energy conservation programs– Conservation is low-tech, low cost

with high energy savings– It is cheaper to reduce consumption

than to build new supply– But utilities only increase profits by

selling more product– And it is difficult to internalize

“negawatts” into rate base

Sustainability requires that we think about the following

• How do changes happen in collective worldviews and practices?

• What are the connections between micro- and macro-levels in terms of fostering such changes?

• What role does technological innovation play in fostering such changes?

• How can we get the economics “right?”

• Is it possible to “normalize” sustainable practices and behaviors?

We have to transform social practices: action, meanings, things, consequences

• The “sustainability problem” arises in the context of everyday practices

• Practices tend to be “habitual” rather than “deliberate” or wholly conscious

• These meet needs, provide services, get us “through the day,” and are very social

• How do such practices change? Can we explain or imagine changing practices?

• What are the drivers of such changes?

• Is it politically possible to do this?

Transforming the Treadmill Moving toward the steady-state

• Gradually reduce flows of materials & money via targeted (dis)incentives

• Value reduced consumption through education

• Impose responsibilities on producers & capital

• Tax pollution & waste to subsidize reductions

• Deal with global equity issues in a serious manner