Sustainable development and sustainable living

Teaching and learning strategies for sustainable development

What is sustainable development? – interactive activity on definitions

Analysing an issue Moving from issues to solutions Measuring sustainable development Ecological footprints and carbon

footprints – websites and trialling Simulation game

What does Sustainable development mean to you?

Sustainabingo

Some definitions

Discuss the following definitions

Who or what are they aimed at? Do they recognise limits of the

biosphere?

Sustainable development is

development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

Our Common Future, World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED, 1987), (also known as the Brundtland Report)

Sustainable development Improving the quality of life while

living within the earth's carrying capacities.

(World Conservation Union / United Nations Environment Programme / World Wide Fund for Nature, (1991) Caring for the Earth: A Strategy for Sustainable Living.)

Sustainable development maintenance of essential

ecological processes and life support systems, the preservation of genetic diversity, and the sustainable utilization of species and ecosystems. IUCN, WWF and UNEP (1980) The World Conservation Strategy. Gland, Switzerland.

Sustainable development is about: ensuring a better quality of life for everyone

now and for generations to come. This means meeting five objectives at the same time, in the UK and the world as a whole: – improving the quality of life while living within the

earth's carrying capacities;– social progress that recognises the needs of

everyone;– effective protection of the environment;– prudent use of natural resources;– maintenance of high and stable levels of economic

growth and employment.

HM Government (1999), UK Government Sustainable Development Strategy, July 1999.

Huckle (1996, p 3)

Like liberty, justice and democracy,

sustainability has no single agreed

meaning.

It takes on meaning within different

political ideologies and programmes

underpinned by different kinds of

knowledge, values and philosophies.

Views of sustainable development

adapted from http://www.sustainablemeasures.com/node/42 (accessed February 2011)

Giddings, Hopwood and O’Brien (2002)Available at: http://www.sustainable-cities.org.uk/db_docs/SDarticle2.pdf (accessed February 2011)

Giddings, Hopwood and O’Brien, 2002 Available at: http://www.sustainable-cities.org.uk/db_docs/SDarticle2.pdf (accessed February 2011)

local global

futurepast

Who decides?

Drivers for change?

Analysing an issue

Natural What resources are used?What are the impacts on

the environment?

EconomicWhat are the

positive/negative effects, who

gains, who loses?

SocialWhat are the cultural

impacts, Who gains, who loses?

Who decides?Where are the decision makers located? Who is in control of the process? What is the impact?

N

E

S

W

Ways of measuring sustainable development

Indicators GDP (Gross Domestic Product)= (consumption + investment +

government spending) – (indirect taxes + exports – imports)

Human development index - lifespan, knowledge, and standard of living (GDP)

Human Poverty index

– probability at birth of not surviving to age 40,

– adult literacy rate, – population without sustainable

access to an improved water source, – children underweight for age, – population below income poverty

line

The Index of Sustainable Economic Welfare

ISEW = Consumer spending adjusted for income inequality + non-defensive public expenditure + Growth in capital + non-money contributions to welfare

minus

Defensive private expenditure – cost for environmental degradation – depreciation of environmental capital

Ecological footprinting

Put simply, the amount of the environment necessary to produce the goods and services necessary to support a particular lifestyle.

The first Footprint study of Wales showed that the average Welsh person uses 5.25 global hectares of resources

– if present global trends go unchecked, the human population would need three Earth-sized planets to sustain our current consumption patterns.

USA average is around 8ghapp

Measure your ecological footprint

www.globalfootprint.org (accessed February 2011)

Carbon Footprint at http://www.carbonfootprint.com/calculator.aspx (accessed February 2011)

Actions for change

Discuss possible actions and those which you have seen happening

Action for sustainable change strong leadership; goal setting; co-ordinated policy approach which

addresses all different aspects of development;

legislation and taxes - international, national and local levels;

collaboration; making sufficient funding available

Actions for SD continued

education at all levels Opportunities for grass roots

organisations and co-operatives lobbying for change individual action systems analysis and life cycle

analysis life cycle analysis of a product (also

known as cradle to grave analysis) precautionary principle

INTERNATIONAL DRIVERS - examples

1992 – Rio Earth Summit and Agenda 21 1997 – The Kyoto Protocol 2002 - World Summit on Sustainable

Development 2004 – Bonn political declaration of renewable

energies

– Millenium Development Goals 2010 5th Sustainability Summit: Asia 2010 –

Remodelling Growth 2011 The First Sustainable Infrastructure

Financing Summit

Science and technology debate

Appropriate technology Practical Action website http://www.practicalaction.or

g.uk/education/resources-water-sanitation (accessed February 2011

Different views of technology Read the views on P.46 of the

Sustainable Change Module Reader

What will you do?

This slide set has been released as part of the OSIER project, which is promoting the use of resources to support the training of practitioners in Education for Sustainable Development and Global Citizenship within the curricula of all of the home nations of the United Kingdom. You can find out more about the project on the ‘About’ page of the project repository site.

OSIER is part of the second round of the UK OER (Open Educational Resources) programme, funded by HEFCE and administered by the Higher Education Academy (HEA) and the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC).

The slide set was prepared by Sheila Bennell and copyright resides with the author. Any images or other materials are original unless stated otherwise. Copyright images may be excluded from the Creative Commons licence described below.

The resource is made freely available under Creative Commons licence BY-NC-SA which allows you to use this material for any purpose as long as you:

• acknowledge the original author• do not use it for commercial purposes• publish any derived materials under the same licence conditions

You can find out more about this licence at: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

June 1st, 2011