October 9, 2008 Campus Sustainability Engineering and Sustainability Office of Campus Sustainability.

October 9, 2008 Campus Sustainability

Engineering and Sustainability

Engineering and Sustainability

Office of Campus Sustainability


Why is Sustainability Important?

Why is Sustainability Important?

Or

Why Isn’t Engineering Sufficient?


Mother Earth -- Our Home

It is has water, oxygen and a hospitable climate


Human activities have changed the composition of the atmosphere since the pre- industrial era

Human activities have changed the composition of the atmosphere since the pre- industrial era


Global mean surface temperature is projected to increase during the 21st century

Global mean surface temperature is projected to increase during the 21st century



Ecological FootprintEcological Footprint






Hard NumbersHard Numbers

• 400 wealthiest Americans with only 4% of their wealth could spend $50 billion to bring ALL people potable water.

• Average income of top 400 individuals in U.S. is $174 million or more than 1,600 times the income of a minimum wage worker


Earth Day to 21st CenturyEarth Day to 21st Century

1970 3.7 Billion people

• 203 million U.S.

• 25 million U.S. live in poverty

• 1,100 sq. ft. ave. house

2007 6.6 billion people

• 303 million U.S.

• 36 million U.S. live in poverty

• 2,350 sq. ft ave. house



Do we understand how wasteful we are?

10,000 kg

Raw Resourc

e

Manufacture

1000 kgFinished Product

(consumed)

6 months 100 kglong-termdurables

leftin home

EXTRACT CONVERT USE DISCARD

From Biffa, 2000


Economics of Happiness


1992 Scientists’ Warning to Humanity

Human beings and the natural world are on a collision course. Human activities inflict harsh and often irreversible damage on the environment and on critical resources. If not checked, many of our current practices put at serious risk the future that we wish for human society and the plant and animal kingdoms, and so alter the living world that it will be unable to sustain life in the manner that we know. Fundamental changes are urgent if we are to avoid the collision our present course will bring about.. Union of Concerned Scientists, Statement of 1,700 scientists, November, 1992


100 Nobel Laureates Statement, Dec. 7, 2001

100 Nobel Laureates Statement, Dec. 7, 2001

• The most profound danger to world peace in the coming years will stem not from the irrational acts of states or individuals but from the legitimate demands of the world's dispossessed. Of these poor and disenfranchised, the majority live a marginal existence in equatorial climates. Global warming, not of their making but originating with the wealthy few, will affect their fragile ecologies most. Their situation will be desperate and manifestly unjust.


What IS Sustainability?What IS Sustainability?


Definitions of SustainabilityDefinitions of Sustainability

Our Common Future

"Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs."Page 8, World Commission on Environment and Development. Our Common Future. (Oxford, Great Britain: Oxford University Press, 1987). (Frequently referred to as the Brundtland report after Gro Harlem Brundtland, Chairman of the Commission)


Definition of SustainabilityDefinition of

Sustainability

We envision a sustainable community as one that provides for the social and economic needs of all its members for many generations to come, without compromising the health of our Biosphere.

MSU Campus Sustainability


A view of community as three separate, unrelated parts: an economic part, a social part and an environmental part.



A view of community as three concentric circles: the economy exists within society, and both the economy and society are wholly-owned subsidiaries of the environment.


Prism of SustainabilityPrism of Sustainability


Design Question to Answer

Design Question to Answer

How Do We Love All the Children?

William McDonough




Earth CharterEarth Charter

• Respect and Care for the Community of Life• Ecological Integrity• Social and Economic Justice• Democracy, Nonviolence, and Peace

www.earthcharter.org


Time for a New LabelTime for a New Label


Criteria for Fair TradeCriteria for Fair Trade

• Guaranteed minimum prices to producers, plus social development premium

• Advance credit or pre-payment• Democratically run producer organizations

or workplaces • Long-term contracts, trading relationships • Environmentally sustainable prod’n practices • Safe, non-exploitative working conditions

(Sources: Equal Exchange; Fair Trade Federation; FLO; Global Exchange; TransFair USA)

So What Does It Have to Do With Me?

So What Does It Have to Do With Me?

We’re All In This Together



Spheres of InfluenceSpheres of Influence

• Self• Family• Workplace• Faith Community• Neighborhood• Marketplace• Governance


What to do on Campus?What to do on Campus?

• Turn things off• Use CFL’s in place

of incandescents• Use duplex

printing• Buy recycled

content• Get a department

bike

• Shop as Surplus, send unwanted items there

• Buy Energy Star equipment

• Set equipment to go to sleep

• Smile more• Share your gifts


Things we can do anywhere

Things we can do anywhere

• Share your gifts• Drive less or drive

a more fuel efficient vehicle

• Eat more local/seasonal food

• Turn things off• Invest in your

values

• Raise thermostat in summer, and drop in winter

• Buy Energy Star appliances

• Use CFL’s• Smile more• Listen better


Food ChoicesFood Choices

• Buy locally raised food

• Buy Fair Trade Coffee, tea, chocolate

• Eat less meat• Support locally

owned businesses

• Eat seasonally• Reduce

disposables• Have more

potlucks• Compost your

waste• Grow your own• Share the bounty


Green PurchasingGreen Purchasing

•Buy 100% post-consumer recycled copy paper at University Stores. It saves, energy, water, and reduces pollution.

•Ask for Fair-Trade coffee, it ensures a fair price to the farmer andIs usually grown organically in shady conditions which are environmentally more sustainable.

•When all else is equal support local merchants, not global giants.


The Look and Sound of Sustainability

The Look and Sound of Sustainability

Video clipwww.ecofoot.msu.edu

October 9, 2008 Campus Sustainability Engineering and Sustainability Office of Campus Sustainability.

Documents

campus sustainabilitywhy

campus sustainabilityglobal

campus sustainabilityearth

world peace

natural world

living world

collision course

people potable water