Submit responses that demonstrate critical thinking and support from course materials to the following Final Reflection questions by 11:59 pm on Thursday, March 19th. Include evidence from at least 7 sources from the course readings, lectures and guest speakers with parenthetical references and a reference list in APA style.
SUS 350: Sustainable Communities
Final Reflection
Worth up to 100 points
Submit responses that demonstrate critical thinking and support from course materials to the following Final Reflection questions by 11:59 pm on Thursday, March 19th. Include evidence from at least 7 sources from the course readings, lectures and guest speakers with parenthetical references and a reference list in APA style.
1. The first day of class (Jan 7th), I asked you to respond to the following questions as part of the first in-class activity:
· How would you define sustainability?
· What are you specific interests within sustainability?
· What do you want to sustain in your own life?
· How would you define community?
· What are some characteristics of sustainable communities?
For question one, please cut and paste your response from Jan 7th. In 3-4 paragraphs explain how your ideas have evolved since January 7th. Include references to course readings and/or lecture or guest speaker content to support your response.
If you were not present in class on Jan 7th and did not complete this activity, please respond to the questions above in 3-4 paragraphs. Include references to course readings and/or lecture or guest speaker content. (25 points)
2. Define each of the following in your own words. Describe at least 2 important considerations within each dimension that resonated with you this term.
· Environmental sustainability
· Social sustainability
·
Economic sustainability (20 points)
3. Choose one
UN Sustainable Development Goal
. Create a systems map that incorporates the triple bottom line framework as well as targets, indicators and information about progress in 2019. Include a one to two paragraph narrative of your systems map. (30 points)
4. In class on Feb 4th, you chose several change agent skills to develop to address sustainability challenges in your community. In one to two paragraphs, describe how you practiced these skills (identify at least two) through your group project (service-learning project, grant proposal, grant poster, team communication and problem solving, etc.). Do you intend to further develop these skills moving forward? (10 points)
5. Group project reflection:
a. Write a 1-2 paragraph self-assessment evaluating your contributions to the project over the course of the term. What challenges did you encounter and how did you work to overcome them? What did you learn about your chosen topic and about yourself while working on this proposal?
b. Write a 1-2 paragraph reflection on your group process throughout the term. What went well? What were the challenges? How will you approach a project like this differently in the future? Are there changes that you would recommend for this project (in general or for specific assignments) in future terms? (20 points)
Extra credit (up to 10 points):
1) What were your biggest take-aways from the course?
Community Development Grant Proposal
Applicant Names: Charles H Stephens, Jake Goodwin, Noah Denker, Lam Ho Yung, Rosel alsadah, Emily Thomas, Felix Brucker
Community Partner:
Corvallis Transit System
Start Date: 02/25/2020
End Date: 02/25/202
1
Total Requested: $20,000
Project Summary:
Our group is looking to reduce the carbon emissions of public transport in the city of Corvallis by converting existing buses to electric drive systems. The funding will be used to convert a single test bus using Long lasting Nickel Iron chemistry batteries. This converted bus will be used as a test platform to offer more data for a informed future decision on later conversions/upgrades to the Corvallis bus system. The goal would be that this trial bus is a success and that the City of Corvallis would take note and would like to collaborate in funding. This would entail asking for further funding or fundraising with the community to raise funds for a full fleet of these buses. Along with the buses, we would get the community excited and supportive on our project by postering up an ad campaign, having a social media ad presence, and fundraising from the community via events or an online kickstarter link. This would be just a couple of many options that would be considered in support for this team effort, our main goal is to get the conversion process going as soon as possible while remaining as productive and efficient as possible.
Corvallis Sustainability Coalition Action Plan Goal:
Choose one goal from the Corvallis Sustainability Coalition Action Plan and explain how
Your proposed project will work toward achieving this goal in the Corvallis community.
(200-300 words)
The goal from the Corvallis Sustainability Coalition: Transportation Action team that our proposal best fits is their main goal 2, which reads: “By 2040, community members will reduce per-capita gasoline consumption to 90 gallons annually, 50% below 2008 levels.” We hope to bring CSC closer to this goal with our proposal, which is for a pilot program to switch the Corvallis buses from biodiesel to electric.This would decrease the amount of CO2 emissions from the buses, which run multiple bus routes most of the day, with some night routes. Electric, or even partially electric, would cut the emissions from the buses by at least 50%, if not close to 100%. As of 2008, we were using 180 gallons per capita of fuel, so if we can offset that by over 50% for a larger portion of the Corvallis population, we will be well on our way of decreasing that to 90 gallons per capita by 2040, which is a major improvement and one of our goals. This pilot proposal would be for a single bus as a prototype. By only converting a single bus initially, this allows us to ensure a successful implementation before investing in converting the entire fleet. It also lets us collect data to ensure we get the maximum emission reduction, and thus bringing us closer to our goal of less than 90 gallons per capita annually.
Community Partner Description:
The C.T.S.(Corvallis Transit System) aims to offer transportation to the population of Corvallis in an environmentally-friendly, inexpensive way. This organization has already taken steps towards reducing dependency on fossil fuels with the introduction of biodiesel usage in the current busses. We hope to further pursue this goal with the phasing out of I.C.E.(internal combustion engines) from use and replacing them with a long lasting Nickel Iron chemistry battery system. This would cut down the gas usage entirely while cutting down heavily on carbon emissions in Corvallis. Not only would this improve the buses, but we hope that this will inspire other forms of public transit and general transportation in Corvallis to become more efficient and safe for the environment. We think collaborating with them rather than competing is the most productive approach to this project since we’re trying to better our community and better the systems we currently have. They house a large fleet of transit busses outside of the busses on shift, so it would not be difficult to take advantage of their resources to pull one aside and experiment. This would help inspire Beaver Busses, Dial-a-bus, and the shuttles that circulate through Corvallis to follow in our lead and convert their fleets for a greener transit system.
Project Goals:
We will decrease Corvallis’s gasoline consumption and gas emissions so that by 2040, per capita gas consumption will be down to 90 gallons annually.
-Taking the Corvallis transit system and converting their gas engines into Long lasting Nickel Iron chemistry batteries so that there will be zero gas consumption.
Secondly, we will fundraise a minimum of $500,000 to start converting multiple buses after our initial prototype.
-We will do this via our advertisement campaign, and general community engagement while reaching out to local businesses and entrepreneurs.
Third, once we have a solid backbone to renovate a couple buses, we will have an endorsement with a bus company to produce our buses for us.
-This will inspire other communities to take the same initiative and produce zero-gas buses as well.
Dimensions of Sustainability:
This project is primarily environmental in focus, but will benefit social and economic dimensions of sustainability through this focus. Converting the buses will have the immediate impact of helping reduce direct fossil fuel use. This is both due to a reduction in emissions, the elimination of diesel usage, and the increased attractiveness for public transportation it will provide. Culturally, more sustainable buses will create a sense of progress and accomplishment, which will be much more local and concentrated in its affect than the direct environmental impact. This is important in connecting the project to the local Corvallis community generally. It would provide both a moral boost for existing users and also potentially attract more. More use of public transportation is also good for local ecological communities. Less traffic and road emphasis helps lessen habitat fragmentation, air pollution, light pollution, and noise pollution. Roadkill is the most obvious effect of habitat fragmentation in a day-to-day manner, but the reduction of fragmentation and pollutants is ultimately essential to preserving biodiversity and keeping ecosystem services intact. On a worldwide scale, the reduction of CO2 also of course helps ecosystems around the world on land as well as it does on sea (considering ocean acidification).
Project Evaluation:
This project will impact the Corvallis community and public transportation by reducing the carbon footprint. This will be accomplished by turning to more sustainable electric buses instead of carbon buses. Moreover, the impact will be measured by taking the current footprint of the public transportation in Corvallis and its effect on the environment, and compare it to the footprint and the environmental effect a year after the project gets implemented which is the qualitative data. In addition, we will be measuring the quantitative data by looking into whether the change has motivated the people in the city of Corvallis to use the electric bus and public transportation by measuring the number of people who used buses before and after the change. The results will be shared in the group poster and by working with our community partner to announce the results and the difference that has been done when we use an environmentally friendly bus, to motivate more people to use electric buses by knowing the difference that they have made on the environment.
Project Description and Timeline:
Upon the start of our group’s specific Corvallis sustainability study (via SUS 350) we would take our class knowledge and community volunteering experience to use the proper language and etiquette to solve our specific sustainability issue. With fixating on the buses of Corvallis, our system would start by reaching out and finding a local automotive maintenance company to help us begin converting a prototype bus that would be more efficient and safer for the environment. As the conversion process begins, that’s when we’d work on fundraising with an ad campaign to get the Corvallis community to donate and help our cause for a future eco-friendly bus system. We’d work on social media, banners and posters, and digital ads via local graphic designers and marketing teams to help out via volunteering or collaboration. Once the first bus prototype is ready to hit the streets, we would start showing it to City Hall, the State of Oregon, entrepreneurs, and bigger corporations to inspire funding and assistance to get a full fleet in production. The combined efforts of fundraised money from the community and support from outside help, this would fund the final production and implementation of said final fleet. For this proposal’s sake, our timeline ends at the prototype’s finish, because that’s when our $20,000 cap would reach. Our goal is that by then, we’d have a backbone of fundraised support to keep moving forward without delay.
Jan: Group equips further knowledge on sustainability issues within Corvallis to narrow down our project focus.
Feb: Start planning and volunteering within the community to learn more about our project’s urgency while finishing project proposal.
March: Bring in local eco-friendly automotive maintenance company.
April: Start development on bus prototype
April: Start fundraising campaign
May: Join with local designers/marketers to make social media/poster/ads for supporting the project
August: Finalizing Bus prototype
August: Begin showing progress/sponsorship for further production to automotive companies, entrepreneurs, etc.
Collaboration:
Due to the Corvallis Transportation Action Team report by CTS, there are 16 fixed-routes in Corvallis. At present, based on the limitations of funds and technology, under the constant discussion of our group, we found that “Scania.Co” (North America) has designed green power for petrol buses and launched petrol and electric buses (Euro 6). Scania they contributed with the bus companies and government internationally. They aim an innovative bi-articulated bus that will be of growing interest to cities around the world as they now address urban pollution and lessening their carbon footprint. We indeed decided to reach the manufacturers ahead to discuss with CTS the existing Corvallis bus and choose one of the routes was handed over to the manufacturers to change from fuel engines to electric engines. Including testing whether it is directly proportional to eco-friendly commercial. However, after the remodeled electricity can be provided to Scania.Co for commercial advertising purposes as build up a college town.
The Netherlands replaced their diesel buses with electric buses that can drive 300 km within a single charge and can carry up to 90 people. They did this to improve their air quality, and it has been very successful since they replaced 11 buses in september 2017, and have ordered 55 more to deliver a full range of electric buses around the city. For our project we have taken their success story of replacing their buses to electric with 300km except for one charge which is that our project and aim is to come out with the most sustainable buses for Corvalis.
In China they have not only turned their busses into electric buses, they also thought about how they will charge it and the power grid impact on the city, since it’s a large amount of electricity that is going to be needed for more than one bus at time. For that they have implemented a technology model and algorithm that will help the charging stations lower the electrical output that is coming out at a one time. However, there is still more work that is needed to better the technology used. Moreover, we also have taken their success story of implementing the electric buses where there’s an estimate of 5 million more busses will be used in 2020. In addition, it gave us the idea of thinking about charging stations, but since there’s a low number of electric busses currently, there isn’t any huge impact on the stations, but in the long run their work would be helpful to learn form to help the people we are trying to help.
In Utrecht they are also implementing electric buses and working on improving their bus system by 2028. Where they are looking into larger busses that can hold more people. Which is what we were aiming for, for the bus to carry enough people without making it too crowded. For that their work will help us learn and improve our goal.
Long term benefits of the project could continue indefinitely. Unlike conventional Li-Ion batteries which have a cycle life of around 2000 cycles the nickel Iron cells we purpose to use have been known to continue working for over 80 years of service and some from their original invention by Edison are still usable to this day. The electric drive system is also very robust requiring minimal maintenance for brushless motors. The disposal of the materials when needed also doesn’t pose an issue due to no heavy metals or highly toxic chemicals being needed for the batteries unlike Li-ion, or conventional sealed lead acid batteries.
Value for Team:
Each group member writes one individual paragraph (100 – 150 words per person) see outline for further instruction.
Emily Thomas:
From this project, I hope to learn more about what it takes to convert to an electric bus. This is a long term goal overall, especially to see the benefits, so it will help me with my patience problem. Learning anything new is always fun for me, but learning how to be more conscientious of ways to be more sustainable both in my personal life and in a company or professional setting. Not only will this help me personally learn more, but academically it is helpful to be able to convey ideas and strategies to people from all backgrounds and experience levels.
Jake Goodwin:
I can consult on the technical aspects of the project offering insight into the workings and maintenance of electrical vehicles and battery systems. I can also analyze data logged and collected during the duration of the project, using the R programing language to offer statistical information on the newly implemented systems effectiveness.
Charles Stephens:
I hope to gain experience in creating and working on a community service project that actually benefits people. I hope to learn what it really takes to run and lobby for a proposal. I hope that I can enhance my presentation and communication skills through this project. I have never been good at presenting and communication and hope that by working on this project, helping and talking to people as well as presenting will help me improve these skills to a level where I can implement them in my life moving forward. This project will also help me expand my knowledge on ways to live more sustainability.
Lam Ho Yung:
Mostly a major in an international affair of political science, I felt I am inpatient of listening to people’s thoughts. I continuously manage the time allocation for my groupmates to achieve a short amount of time and maximum benefits so that everyone in a group can use the shortest time to deliver half the cost and save everyone time.
Noah Denker:
I work best with groups and connecting with my team members, so keeping everyone motivated and stoked on the project is something I find myself good at. Finding out what everyone would rather do, feel comfortable working on, or just general hlp to make sure the project is running smoothly is something I prioritize and do my best to check in with. Besides soft skills, I come from an artistic/design background, so thinking about the concept, abstractions, and processes of a project in its uniqueness or most wholesome is something I work on for design projects and general volunteering, systematic work.
Rosel alsadah:
I hope to learn more about how this project has impacted the city of corvallis when it comes to their air quality and carbon footprint, and just by looking into other projects that have been done, i believe that this will give me the push that i need to work on future sustainable projects. Moreover, this project helped me when it comes to working skills like cooperation and leadership and working with a group is a great way to learn about working with other people to achieve the best outcome. Moreover, i believe that this experience has given me a lot of knowledge that can be helpful in the future if i decided to go into the transportation side of civil engineering.
Felix Brucker:
Transferring to more sustainable systems is something many people need to gain experience in. It is very necessary for the world, but complex tasks like this also require experience, which projects like this can provide. It is a matter of learning from mistakes and becoming stronger for them, rather than seeing them as an obstacle. I also am learning more about the communities that surround me and connected local power structures that facilitate change. This project is additionally a group effort, which provides what I think is one of the most important aspects of experience – learning to work with people effectively and productively. I mean productive in the efficiency sense, but also in the sense that we can together produce things that affect our lives after this particular project is said and done.
Qualifications and Experience:
Each group member should write one individual paragraph. Your resume and
qualifications and experience section should align. Make sure information you
emphasize in one is reinforced in the other.
Please describe why you are interested in creating this project, and why you believe
you’re qualified to carry out this project. Include any relevant experience you have
(volunteer work, employment, courses, etc.). Include a description of the change agent
skills that you contribute to your team.
(100-150 words per person)
Jake Goodwin:
I have experience working in the renewable energy sector on wind turbines as well as my work on personal projects involving electric vehicles utilizing battery management systems and brushless direct current motors along with their controller software. I have also earned an AAS in renewable energy technology and taken SUS350 at Oregon State University.
Charles Stephens:
I have gained knowledge from taking SUS 350 and ATS 341 that has made me more aware and think more deeply about climate change and how to live more sustainability. I am also proficient in Microsoft Word, Microsoft Powerpoint, and Microsoft Excel. I also have experience in customer relations and customer service and have good organization skills. All together I can use these skills to assist my teammates in all facets of these projects. As well as help communicate with Community partners. I can also help organize and format our projects to make sure they are clear, concise, and well formatted.
Lam Ho Yung:
In the previous term, I have gained knowledge of climate change in political thought, which is a huge social topic in the world, and every country should start to place attention on that. Perhaps, ideas of environmental politics, those about the different nations or state how they keep their homeland to be sustainable. Due to that, I had felt sustainability is the thing that could help earn a profit or waste a massive amount of cost. Put back in this project, and this would be a real experiment to show that to build a sustainable environment, which costs a lot of the price before you see the result.
Noah Denker:
As a graphic designer, my skillset falls in line with all of my random interests and I love working on diverse projects with groups of diverse people. I have been wanting to use this for wholesome causes (such as sustainability efforts) and I believe I have the background knowledge to effectively do this. My BIO 101 class prepared me for the sciences and was a great gateway to taking SUS 103 and into SUS 350. Along with the basis material, I have been working in my GD 325 Collaborative class to work on sustainability based projects to improve waste processes on campus. With this in mind, I find that my approach to this project is unique to the group and a great asset to help with processes, design, and development.
Rosel alsadah:
As a civil engineer major I fall into the category of transportation which is one of my interests, and my number one goal is to be sustainable which means I look forward to having all sustainable cars that will better our environment. Moreover, before I signed up for the SUS350 I have taken introduction to civil engineering where we had a lecture about transportation engineering. I have also taken a writing engineering class where I presented a susceptible concrete that heals itself using water and becatira which means less repairs and more sustainable. In addition, with this gained knowledge from the courses and research I believe I’m qualified to take on this project and give ideas and expertise.
Emily Thomas:
As a member of the Corvallis community, I always enjoy seeing new ways to create more sustainability for residents. I not only have a personal investment, but a professional one as well. With my background in both geology and physics, I understand just how dire the situation is with climate change. The switch to electric buses can help mitigate that significantly. My qualifications I bring include employment assisting on electronics in the aviation industry, a healthy amount of working with people in a service role, and several years in creating new systems which were used to help streamline and perfect processes.
Felix Brucker:
As a computer science major I am fascinated in complex systems, taking unknowably complex things and poking around for half-decent leverage points. It’s not made of code but transportation and the world that transportation effects absolutely is one of those complex systems. I can use my familiarity with logical systems as a unique vantage point on the issue and how to approach electric busses. With this class, another sustainability class, and a geography class, I have gained significant exposure to sustainable management topics that inform my choices in this project. I also have the tools to express those choices because of various communications classes I have taken, and my artistic experience.
Budget and Budget Justification:
Please provide a line-item budget estimating all costs for the project (including in-kind
donations and items funded through other sources). Please include information about
where your purchases are being sourced and the sustainability of the materials.
Preference will be given to budgets that reflect consideration of the ethical, material, and
economic sustainability of proposed expenses. Consider borrowing, renting, or sourcing
donated materials. Follow the example below
Expense
Unit
Price
# of
Units
Total
Price
Funding
Source/ Donation
Vendor
Sustainability
Factors
Considered
Fundraising Campaign
“varies”
“varies”
$1,000
Front the cost
US
It’s a community project that the community helps support.
Advertising Campaign
“Varies
“Varies”
$2,000
Fundraising Fund
Youtube,Bus Ads,
To help get are message out there
Bus Conversion
1
1
$8,000
Fundraising Fund
Corvallis Transit System
Uses environmentally safe elements in high cycle life cells and does not release CO2 emissions over its life
Charging Infrastructure
1
1
$8,000
Fundraising Fund
Corvallis Transit System
The material production uses harmful materials but worth the cost to cut back emissions.
Resumes:
See resumes under this assignment folder.
Systems Map (image and Narrative)
When looking at the systems around electric busses, we can separate them into two main camps. There are systems involving the creation of these busses. These systems are mostly economic (funding & taxation), though there are strong ties to environmental systems (construction supplies both effect and depend on natural ecologies through potentially damaging extraction processes and the health of ecosystem services) and even stronger ties to social systems (various levels of government) if you trace things back far enough. Then there are the systems involving the impact of the busses. These are largely environmental (both local ecosystems and global climate change), though these environmental impacts are important largely for their social (quality of life) and economic (ecosystem services) impacts. Both of these groups are connected by people. People are distinctly both part of the creation and the affected, when it comes to these busses. Their part in this system closes a loop, in which people (the Our Team node) put in motion legislation which pays money to help transportation which helps people (the Better Quality of Life node). When we look at the materials and electricity used to make the busses we are also ultimately reliant on environmental aspects (ecosystem services) for them, which are affected positively by green transportation being successful.
Supplemental Materials:
In the future we will be aiming for more sustainable buses like using buses with hydrogen fuel. In London they had a great success with hydrogen powered transit to reduce 60% of their carbon emission by 2025. They started in 2011 with only 6 buses, and more busses are being turned to hydrogen to improve their quality of air and to get to their goal by 2025. In addition, their way of reducing carbon emission is more effective but expensive for our project budget for that a sustainable electric bus is more effective. However, in the long run we would like to switch to Hydrogen fuel to reduce the footprint even more. The hydrogen method will also save time when it comes to filling the fuel since it is used just like a gas station, where on the other hand electric busses will take time to charge, for that it is more efficient to use hydrogen, and we’re hopeful that in the long run there will be no carbon buses that affect the environment.
Scania unveils first bi-articulated Euro 6 gas bus. (n.d.). Retrieved February 21, 2020, from https://www.scania.com/global/en/home/experience-scania/features/scania-unveils-first-bi-articulated-euro-6-gas-bus.html
SUS350
Sustainable Communities
Kim Townsend
Winter 2020
v
v
1
Contemporary Global Issues Learning Objectives
Analyze the origins, historical contexts, and implications of contemporary global issues.
Explain the complex nature and interdependence of contemporary global issues using a multi-disciplinary approach.
Articulate in writing a critical perspective on contemporary global issues using evidence as support.
Course Learning Objectives
Identify major ecosystem services and how they are utilized by humans.
Define sustainability and resilience and describe the interdependence between ecological, social and economic systems.
Utilize critical and systems thinking skills to analyze complex sustainability issues.
Identify personal motivations for sustainability action at the individual and community levels.
Identify and apply sustainability change agent skills.
Course Components
Participation (250 points)
• In-Class Activities
• Guest Speaker Reflections
Corvallis Sustainability Coalition Action Team Research Assignment (100 points)
Group Project Assignments:
• Proposal Idea Selection (75 points)
• Group Project Contract (75 points)
• Service Learning Project (100 points)
• Grant Proposal (150 points)
• Poster Presentation (150 points)
Final Reflection (100 points)
Total Points: 1000
Service Learning Requirement
You are required to complete 4 hours of service outside of the classroom
Service Learning groups will be set up on Canvas
Deanna Lloyd, the experiential learning coordinator, will join us in class on Jan 14th to introduce the service learning project
Getting to know you
Is anyone brand new to OSU?
Is anyone brand new to Canvas?
What majors are represented today?
Getting to know you
Who has taken another SUS course?
Who has taken another sustainability related course?
Who is enrolled in the Sustainability Double Degree Major or Minor?
Who is new to the field of sustainability?
Who is here to complete the bacc core Contemporary Global Synthesis requirement?
Who is here to fulfill an elective?
Who is here for fun?
In-Class Activity Part 1
How would you define sustainability?
What are your specific interests within sustainability?
What do you want to sustain in your own life?
How would you define community?
What are some characteristics of sustainable communities?
Sustainability Frameworks
Echoes from the Past
“In our every deliberation, we must consider the impact of our decisions on the next seven generations”
The Great Law of the Iroquois Confederacy 1142 A.D.
Echoes from the Past
Look and listen for the welfare of the whole people and have always in view not only the present but also the coming generations, even those whose faces are yet beneath the surface of the ground — the unborn of the future Nation
The Great Law of the Iroquois Confederacy 1142 A.D.
Echoes from the Past
“Then I say the earth belongs to each…generation during its course, fully and in its own right. The second generation receives it clear of the debts and encumbrances, the third of the second, and so on. For if the first could charge it with a debt, then the earth would belong to the dead and not to the living generation. Then, no generation can contract debts greater than may be paid during the course of its own existence.”
Thomas Jefferson 1789
“The “greatest good for the greatest number” applies to the people within the womb of time, compared to which those now alive form but an insignificant fraction. Our duty to the whole, including the unborn generations, bids us to restrain an unprincipled present-day minority from wasting the heritage of these unborn generations.”
“The conservation of natural resources is the fundamental problem. Unless we solve that problem it will avail us little to solve all others.”
Theodore Roosevelt 1916
Fig. 3 The current status of the control variables for seven of the nine planetary boundaries.
The current status of the control variables for seven of the nine planetary boundaries. The green zone is the safe operating space (below the boundary), yellow represents the zone of uncertainty (increasing risk), and red is the high-risk zone. The planetary boundary itself lies at the inner heavy circle. The control variables have been normalized for the zone of uncertainty (between the two heavy circles); the center of the figure therefore does not represent values of 0 for the control variables. The control variable shown for climate change is atmospheric CO2 concentration. Processes for which global-level boundaries cannot yet be quantified are represented by gray wedges; these are atmospheric aerosol loading, novel entities, and the functional role of biosphere integrity. Modified from (1).
“about the accelerating deterioration of the human environment and natural resources and the consequences of that deterioration for economic and social development.”
Coined the term “sustainable development”
Defined sustainable development as development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.
Brundtland Report
The ‘interlocking crises’
“…the industries most heavily reliant on environmental resources and most heavily polluting are growing most rapidly in the developing world, where there is both more urgency for growth and less capacity to minimize damaging side effects.
These related changes have locked the global economy and global ecology together in new ways.
We have in the past been concerned about the impacts of economic growth upon the environment. We are now forced to concern ourselves with the impacts of ecological stress – degradation of soils, water regimes, atmosphere, and forests upon our economic prospects.
We have in the more recent past been forced to face up to a sharp increase in economic interdependence among nations. We are now forced to accustom ourselves to an accelerating ecological interdependence among nations.
Ecology and economy are becoming ever more interwoven locally, regionally, nationally, and globally into a seamless net of causes and effects.”
Brundtland Report
An optimistic message
“Our Report is not a prediction of ever increasing environmental decay, poverty, and hardship in an ever more polluted world among ever decreasing resources.
We see instead the possibility for a new era of economic growth, one that must be based on policies that sustain and expand the environmental resource base.
And we believe such growth to be absolutely essential to relieve the great poverty that is deepening in much of the developing world.”
Brundtland Report
Emphasized three key components of sustainable development:
Economic growth/development
Environmental quality/protection
Social equity
Corporate Social Responsibility and the Triple Bottom Line
John Elkington (1998)
sustainability should be perceived as a: “triple bottom line, focusing on economic prosperity, environmental quality, and … social justice”
emphasizes a change in corporate responsibility from “shareholders” to “stakeholders”
In-Class Activity Part 2
Is continuing economic growth sustainable? Why or Why not?
What is the importance of intact ecosystem structure and function?
Is social equity achievable? Does your answer change depending on scale?
“It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change.”
Leon C. Megginson
Sustainability Frameworks
Triple bottom line (TBL)
Three-legged stool
3 Es: Environment, Equity, Economics
3Ps: People, Profit, Planet
3 Pillars of Sustainability
3 Dimensions of Sustainability
Defining the Social Leg
What is social justice?
Philosophical construct that involves
Equality
Social fabric of communities
Basic human rights
Acknowledgement and respect for dignity of individuals
What is social equity?
Equal opportunity Redistribution of wealth/income
Social Equity: Its Legacy, Its Promise
Mary E. Guy and Sean A. McCandless
To be clear, “equity” and “equality” are terms that are often used interchangeably, and to a large extent, they have similar meanings. The difference is one of nuance: while equality can be converted into a mathematical measure in which equal parts are identical in size or number, equity is a more flexible measure allowing for equivalency while not demanding sameness.
Perception is Everything
Sustainability is the point where human endeavors reflect social equity, political stability, and economic development that is balanced with the capacity of ecosystems to absorb impacts without declining ecosystem structure and function
https://fa.oregonstate.edu/sustainability/academics/sustainability-course-lists
Least sustainable
More sustainable
Most sustainable
A New Way of Thinking
What are the origins, end-points and impacts of the resources we consume?
How are human communities linked by their activities?
What are the relationships between economic decisions, social equity and ecological conditions?
How can we design an economy that mimics the way nature works (operates within physical limits)?
Lessons to Take Forward
Sustainability requires viewing each decision within a system of interconnected and interdependent parts
Change involves uncertainty, and uncertainty is the norm in complex systems
Dealing with uncertainty requires an adaptive approach
In-Class Activity Part 1
Part 1: Work in groups of 2-3 to create your own visual model of sustainability. Submit both the image that you create and a paragraph or two explaining your image to the Visual Representations of Sustainability Discussion Board on Canvas.
In-Class Activity Part 2
Part 2: Comment on at least three sustainability models. Consider the following in your comments:
Explain what impresses or resonates with you.
Can you see other ways to interpret the model?
Did this model reinforce or expand your understanding of sustainability?
Next week:
Tuesday:
Systems Thinking
Introduction to Service Learning Projects by Deanna Lloyd
Thursday:
Community Resilience
Overview of Group Project, introduction to first assignment.
Common Pool Resource Management
Kim Townsend
SUS 350 Sustainable Communities
Key Features of Common Pool Resources
Goods that are difficult or costly to exclude users from
Subtractability-use of a resource by one person means it is not available to another
Core resource-a measure of the stock which must be retained to provide non-declining future stock
Fringe units-extractable units where availability is a function of the relative productivity of the core resource and rate of harvest
Marine Fisheries CPR Example
Used by multiple individuals through time and at the same time.
Subtractable—over-fishing reduces availability of stock for other users.
Core—total number of fish in a specific population required to sustain the population through time.
Fringe—number of fish that can be harvested without reducing the ability of the population to sustain itself through time.
Water
Subtractability-use of a resource by one person means it is not available to another
Core?
Fringe?
We must consider both quantity and quality of water in a system
Why is water quantity/quality important?
The Tragedy of the Commons
Narrative created by Garrett Harden, a renowned ecologist, in a 1968 Nature paper
Is this model too simplistic? Which assumptions can be questioned?
Elinor Ostrom: Sustainable Development
and the Tragedy of the Commons
Elinor “Lin” Ostrom (born Elinor Claire Awan;[2] August 7, 1933 – June 12, 2012) was an American political economist
[3]
[4]
[5] whose work was associated with the New Institutional Economics and the resurgence of political economy.[6] In 2009, she shared the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences with Oliver E. Williamson for “her analysis of economic governance, especially the commons”.[7] To date, she remains the only woman to win The Prize in Economics.
7
Elinor Ostrom’s Cooperative Management Conditions
Dr. Ostrom studied thousands of locally self-governed CPR systems all around the world
to determine what the sustainable systems had in common, and what the failures had in common.
Ostrom developed a set of design principles associated with sustainable local community governance of small-scale CPRs.
Ostrom’s Cooperative Management Conditions (1/2)
Clearly defined boundaries
Who gets access, who doesn’t
Resource boundaries
Congruence
Costs ≈ Benefits of cooperating
Appropriation rules are fair and sensible, locale-specific
Argues against “one rule system fits all” approach.
Collective-choice arrangements
Most individuals affected have a voice in changing the rules
Monitoring
Monitors are the cooperative members
Ostrom’s Cooperative Management Conditions (2/2)
Graduated sanctions
Punishment scaled to the offence
Sanctions administered by the cooperative
Conflict-resolution mechanisms
Access to low-cost, rapid, local way to resolve conflicts
Recognition of Rights to Organize
Community’s right to organize not challenged by government
Nested Enterprises
All of the above are organized in multiple layers of nested enterprise
Layering of governance structures matches the interdependence and complexity of CPR systems.
The Deschutes River Conservancy
Founded by Environmental Defense Fund, Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs, local irrigation districts
Mission: restore stream flow and improve water quality in the Deschutes Basin
The vision of the Deschutes Water Alliance is simple: uses of water resources in the Deschutes Basin are balanced to serve and sustain agriculture, urban and ecosystem needs.
The mission of the DWA, intended to achieve this vision, contains three elements:
Move stream flows toward a more natural hydrograph while securing and maintaining improved instream flows and water quality to support fish and wildlife
Secure and maintain a reliable and affordable supply of water to sustain agriculture
Secure a safe, affordable, and high quality water supply for urban communities
Deschutes Water Alliance Water Bank
Matches buyers who need water and must mitigate for their water use with sellers
Buyers can purchase permanent in-stream credits or use a temporary lease
DRC’s Four Program Areas
Water conservation
Water rights transfers
Water rights leasing
Water management planning and monitoring
Water Conservation
Nearly 90% of the flow of the Deschutes in Bend is diverted through irrigation canals
Piping/lining canals
On-farm efficiency
Water Rights Transfers and Leases
First in time, first in right
Fair market purchase of existing water rights
Transfer: Permanently dedicated for in-stream or mitigation purposes
Lease options
5 year opt out lease – water rights are leased for 5 years. The lessor can opt out of the lease each year 30 days prior to start of the irrigation season.
1 year standard lease – water rights are leased for one irrigation season in-stream.
Split season lease – water rights are used for part of a season and leased for part of a season in the same year.
Water Rights Transfers and Leases
Overall Results
To date, the DRC’s programs have restored nearly 250 cubic feet per second (cfs) to the Deschutes River and its tributaries
Groundwater Mitigation Bank
Premise: groundwater and surface water are linked in Central Oregon
Groundwater withdrawals may affect surface water withdrawals
State enacted groundwater withdrawal limits and required mitigation
Users must mitigate for groundwater withdrawals by purchasing or leasing instream or mitigation credits
http://pubs.usgs.gov/circ/circ1139/index.html
Water Management Planning and Monitoring
The Upper Deschutes Basin Study- $1.5 million effort to create a plan to meet water needs for the next 50 years
Climate change analysis included to ensure planning for future conditions
Strategic Plan created for 2015 to 2025 http://www.deschutesriver.org/Strategic%20Plan%20-%202015%20Mar%2031%20-%20FINAL
Questions?
Elinor Ostrom’s Cooperative Management Conditions
Dr. Ostrom studied thousands of locally self-governed CPR systems all around the world
to determine what the sustainable systems had in common, and what the failures had in common.
Ostrom developed a set of design principles associated with sustainable local community governance of small-scale CPRs.
Ostrom’s Cooperative Management Conditions (1/2)
Clearly defined boundaries
Who gets access, who doesn’t
Resource boundaries
Congruence
Costs ≈ Benefits of cooperating
Appropriation rules are fair and sensible, locale-specific
Argues against “one rule system fits all” approach.
Collective-choice arrangements
Most individuals affected have a voice in changing the rules
Monitoring
Monitors are the cooperative members
Ostrom’s Cooperative Management Conditions (2/2)
Graduated sanctions
Punishment scaled to the offence
Sanctions administered by the cooperative
Conflict-resolution mechanisms
Access to low-cost, rapid, local way to resolve conflicts
Recognition of Rights to Organize
Community’s right to organize not challenged by government
Nested Enterprises
All of the above are organized in multiple layers of nested enterprise
Layering of governance structures matches the interdependence and complexity of CPR systems.
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