The Human-Environment Relationship: Key Concepts and Models

Fulbright Lectures ABV IIIT-M Gwalior

30 Jan-12 Mar 2014

Humans Environment Sustainable Development

Stephen Zavestoski, PhDAssociate ProfessorSociology and Environmental StudiesUniversity of San FranciscoSan Francisco, California [email protected]

The Human-Environment Relationship: Key Concepts and Models

Stephen Zavestoski, PhDAssociate Professor

Sociology and Environmental StudiesUniversity of San Francisco

San Francisco, California [email protected]

Lecture 1

Overview

• Key Questions

• Key Concepts

• Diagrams and Figures

• Intro to the next lecture

What does “environment” mean?

• Is this an image of “environment,” “nature,” “wilderness,” or something else?

• What makes up the environment?

• What is NOT part of the environment?

What does “development” mean?

• What is being developed?

• Who is doing the developing?

• Do species other than humans “develop”

• What does development have to do with “environment?”

How do we know when a developing country has become developed?

• Income level per capita?

• Infant mortality?(link)

• Life expectancy?

• Mobile ownership rate?

• Washing machine ownership rate?

• Human Development Index?

• Reduction in social inequality?

• Ecosystem health?

2012HDIrank

Name Type Abbreviation

2012HDI

Value

2012Life

Expectancy

atBirth

2010MeanYears

ofSchool

ing

2010MeanYears

ofSchool

ingNote

2011Expect

edYears

ofSchool

ing

2011Expect

edYears

ofSchool

ingNote

3 United States Ranked Country USA 0.937 78.7 13.3 16.8

7 Sweden Ranked Country SWE 0.916 81.6 11.7 c 16

61 Mexico Ranked Country MEX 0.775 77.1 8.5 13.7

92 Sri Lanka Ranked Country LKA 0.715 75.1 9.3 c 12.7

101 China Ranked Country CHN 0.699 73.7 7.5 11.7

136 India Ranked Country IND 0.554 65.8 4.4 10.7

146 Bangladesh Ranked Country BGD 0.515 69.2 4.8 8.1

Page 1 of

Table 1: Human Development Index and its componentsBased on Table 1: Human Development Index and its components

UN Development Program’s Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)

Why is the U.S. more developed than India?

• Determinist explanations geography (e.g., resources, climate)

• Structuralist explanations power, exploitation

• Social constructivist/cultural explanationsbelief systems, definitions of development

Why is the U.S. more developed than India?

Key Concepts: Society

• the aggregate of people living together in a more or less ordered community

• the community of people living in a particular country or region and having shared customs, laws, and organizations

Key Concepts: Culture

• the arts and other manifestations of human intellectual achievement regarded collectively

• the customs, arts, social institutions, and achievements of a particular nation, people, or other social group

Key Concepts: Culture (cont.)

• The totality of socially transmitted behavior patterns, arts, beliefs, institutions, and all other products of human work and thought.

• Anthropologists consider that the requirements for culture (language use, tool making, and conscious regulation of sex) are essential features that distinguish humans from other animals.

Key Concepts: Culture (cont.)

• Culture … consists of language, ideas, beliefs, customs, taboos, codes, institutions, tools, techniques, works of art, rituals, ceremonies, and symbols. Every human society has its own particular culture, or sociocultural system. Variation among cultures is attributable to such factors as differing physical habitats and resources; the range of possibilities inherent in areas such as language, ritual, and social organization; and historical phenomena such as the development of links with other cultures … Culture change takes place as a result of ecological, socioeconomic, political, religious, or other fundamental factors affecting a society. (from Encyclopedia Brittanica online)

Key Concepts: Culture (cont.)

• Culture has played a crucial role in human evolution, allowing human beings to adapt the environment to their own purposes rather than depend solely on natural selection to achieve adaptive success.

Key Concepts: Sustainable

• Able to be maintained at a certain rate or level.

• In Ecology (esp. of development, exploitation, or agriculture) conserving an ecological balance by avoiding depletion of natural resources.

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Key Concepts: Sustainable Development

• The 1987 Brundtland Report, defined sustainable development as development that "meets the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs”

Key Concepts: Carrying Capacity

• In Ecology: the maximum number of individuals of a given species that a site can support during the most unfavorable time of year, without causing deterioration of the site.

• Human carrying capacity: the maximum rate of resource consumption and waste discharge that can be sustained indefinitely without progressively impairing the functional integrity and productivity of relevant ecosystems

What about the environment?

• Historically, development as measured by per capita income has been inversely correlated with ecosystem functioning.

UN Human Development Report

• Good News

• Between 1990 and 2012 there is a general trend towards greater human development around the world

• Bad News

• “To ensure sustainable economies and societies, new policies and structural changes are needed that align human development and climate change goals in low-emission, climate-resilient strategies and innovative public-private financing mechanisms.”

Which brings us to “sustainable development”

• Can a country increase GDP per capita without significant increases in CO2 per capita?

• Comparing US, China, India (link)

Two conceptualizations of Sustainable Development

Triple Bottom Line Subsystems of the Environment

How do we measure it?• Evolution of measurement...

• POET

• IPAT

• Carrying Capacity/Ecological Footprint

• Planetary Boundaries

Models of the Human-Environment RelationshipThe POET Model

Models of the Human-Environment Relationship

The IPAT Model

Models of the Human-Environment RelationshipHuman Uses of the Environment (Hypothetical)

Habitation

ResourcesWaste

Ecos

yste

m L

imits

Primary area of concern (20th c.)

Human Uses of the Environment (Actual)

Habitation

ResourcesWasteEc

osys

tem

Lim

its

Of continued concern (21st c.)

New areas of concern (21st c.)

Models of the Human-Environment Relationship

Planetary Boundaries

The inner green shading represents the proposed safe operating space for nine planetary systems. The red wedges represent an estimate of the current position for each variable. The boundaries in three systems (rate of biodiversity loss, climate change and human interference with the nitrogen cycle), have already been exceeded.

from “A safe operating space for humanity,” Rockström et al., Nature 461, 472-475 (24 September 2009) !

Ecological Footprint

• A measure of how much area of biologically productive land and water an individual, population or activity requires to produce all the resources it consumes and to absorb the waste it generates, using prevailing technology and resource management practices.

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The Two Worlds of Development

• Humans are part of and exist within a biophysical reality

• This biophysical reality, which many cultures call “nature,” is home to ecological processes that result in the ecosystem services essential for human survival.

• Ecosystem services include • purifying water and air • mitigating droughts and floods • processing our wastes • maintaining biodiversity • stabilizing the climate

The Two Worlds of Development

• Humans also construct social worlds within which social life processes are carried out.

• These processes, which include economic, political and cultural systems) constitute the forms of social organization that ensure, in theory, that basic human biological needs are met.

• But they also give meaning to human life and shape how we make sense of our world as well as how we pursue fulfillment of biological needs.

• The reality of our social world also shapes how we strive to fulfill many subjective needs (e.g., happiness, love, sense of community, status, etc.).

• And our strategies might result in unintended consequences for the biophysical world.

Social World-Biophysical World CommunicationECOLOGICAL PROCESSES Water and air purification Drought and flood mitigation Decomposition and detoxification of wastes Generation and renewal of fertile soil Pollination Seed dispersal and translocation of nutrients Maintenance of biodiversity Protection from UV rays Climate stability Moderation of extremes (e.g., temp., waves, wind) (Daily 1997)

SOCIAL LIFE PROCESSES Cultural beliefs

Technology

Material culture

Value systems

Economic systems

Political systems

Social institutions

Self-concept

Socialization

Social control

Social structure

Social Life Processes

Ecological Processes

Biophysical WorldSo

cial

Wor

ld

Transitive Property

• If A = B

• and B = C

• then ??

• A = C

Transitive Property

• Therefore…

• If Time = Money

• and Time = Happiness

• then Money = Happiness

• Do you agree?