Transition towns michael field

Michael Field - Sustainability Practitioner

Who am I?Who am I? Sustainability Manager – North Shore City Council

Corporate sustainability programmes Energy management Procurement Fleet management WasteWise programme Carbon accounting Sustainability reporting

Sustainability Consultant Specialising in Corporate Sustainability

Sustainability Manager – Interface Inc Management Consultant

Specialising in Hertzberg’s theories

SustainabilitySustainability

Over the last 200 years… Some food for thought…

Mammal species – 25% threatened

Coral reefs – 50% in danger

Sea fisheries 70% over-fishedor collapsed

Farmland – 67% degraded

Wetlands – 50% gone

Freshwater fish populations50% less

Large rivers 60% dammedor diverted

Bird species – 10% threatened

Mangroves – 50% gone

Original forest – 80% gone

So what areour chance of

survival?

50%

Depressed yet?

Sustainability definitionsSustainability definitions

Official definition: Intergenerational Equity

But what does this mean?

“Meeting the needs of today, without inhibiting future generations from

meeting their own needs”

InterconnectivityInterconnectivity

We live in an interconnected and interdependent ecological system

This is a fact, not an opinion

Every single action we take impacts on something else

Often numerous other things

This needs to be recognised and accounted for when we make decisions

Joined up thinkingJoined up thinking

Sustainability is really all about how we think

A new way of thinking We think one topic at a time

After all, it’s easier to do This needs to change fast

Includes Environmental, Social, Economic and Cultural impacts (massively simplified)

An unpopular example…

Huntly Power StationHuntly Power Station Environmental push to close Huntly

Good for the environment But what else will it do? Energy shortage (just one aspect)

Impacts on families (ability to heat and cook) Impacts on industry (ability to produce) Impacts on the price of energy (hits both industry

and families) Impacts on the economy (the cost to produce

goes up – hits employment and cost of living) Impacts on the available money circulating within

the economy – potential to lead to a recession

The Precautionary PrincipleThe Precautionary Principle

Erring on the side of caution If we don’t clearly understand the range

of impacts from an action or the severity of them, we should not do it

CFC’s – a great example CFC’s are totally benign Didn’t realise the effect that solar

radiation would have on it once it hit the ozone layer

The urgent driversThe urgent drivers Climate Change

Regardless of whether you believe it’s ‘human induced’ or not, it’s happening Again, this is a fact, not an opinion

Major impacts for New Zealand Ocean level rise (1m to 5m – NIWA report

Oct 08) Temperature extremes (hotter and colder) Severe weather events (storms, ocean

surges, extreme rainfall events

Energy depletionEnergy depletion

It’s far bigger than just peak oil – it’s peak energy

All non-renewable resources are being depleted

This includes materials required for nuclear power production (Uranium)

Remember that nuclear power requires water (more on that in a moment)

But it’s even more than that…

Resource depletionResource depletion

In fact, the vast majority of resources are being depleted or cannot be replaced as fast as the growth in demand:

Again, often through interconnected issues like climate change

Food both crop yields and animal stocks

Water Through use and pollution

Metals

Resource useResource use - - The Funnel MetaphorThe Funnel Metaphor

Res

ou

rces

Time

Demand

Supply

?

The causeThe cause

All of the issues we face can sound very confusing and complex (and they are)

But really it is due wholeheartedly to one single cause…

Human population levels!

PopulationPopulation

1950 = 2.56 billion Exceeded in ’80s 2006 = 6.53 billion Each year 77

million added

The solutionThe solution

Since a culling spree is pretty much out of the question, what can we do?

We need to reduce the ‘impact’ and ‘resource usage’ per capita

A frugal existence can start with obvious ‘waste’ elimination

For example…

Energy in our homesEnergy in our homes

Space heating – 34% Water Heating – 29% Lights & appliances – 37% NZ uses about $128 million per year on

stand-by mode alone We get no value from this whatsoever An example of truly wasted resources for

no gain Lighting…

Energy efficiencyEnergy efficiency Lights

Energy efficient florescent bulbs Remember, they are a hazardous waste

Light Emitting Diodes (LED’s) use around 60% less energy than eco-

bulbs ‘white’ light (more like sunlight, better for

the eyes) Dimmable No ‘start up’ energy spike

‘‘A Deeper Shade of Green’A Deeper Shade of Green’

A collaborative book by matter experts A great resource on all thing ‘Sustainable

Living’ related - $65 per copy

[email protected]

Organisational SustainabilityOrganisational Sustainability

Organisations have a major impact

Managing this not only delivers environmental gains, but financial ones as well

But why engage (we’re doing OK right now aren’t we)?

Risk and LiabilityRisk and Liability

Who’s job is it to manage the risks and liabilities of an organisation?

Ultimately the CE’s Where do all the risks and liabilities come

from?

How can you know without sustainable thinking?

The cost of changeThe cost of change

Sustainability

Legislation

Minimum requirement

Cost of change too highBusiness fails

Gradual investment over time

Basic Finance 101Basic Finance 101

Waste = Money Waste in any form costs money

people, materials, energy

Reducing waste therefore saves money Also future proofs you

The concept of ‘lean’ operations

What’s includedWhat’s included Ecological protection Climate change Peak oil Energy Transport Infrastructure Reputation management Buildings Materials efficiency Waste minimisation Species protection Impact assessment (holistic) Sustainable development???

In real terms…In real terms…

Materials minimisation Emissions

carbon accounting Effluents and waste Green procurement Energy efficiency Biodiversity Work-flow efficiency

Economic performance Sustainability policies Sustainability training and education Stakeholder engagement Sustainability reporting Environmental / Sustainability

Management System

Start with what you measureStart with what you measure It’s true what they say:

“you can’t manage what you don’t measure” Start with ‘accounting’ related areas

(those you’ll have invoices for) Fuel (how can you reduce) Electricity (energy efficient technologies) Gas (reduction technologies) Office consumables (paper usage etc)

Ideas from what we’re doingIdeas from what we’re doing Seaweed diversion = $70k per year Organic waste diversion = $90k per year

Also generates income from fertiliser Energy efficiency = $120k in 1 year

1 million kWh (enough to power 1000 homes) Gas boiler efficiency = $174k per year for 1 unit Plastic cup removal = $4k per year LED lighting = 60% energy

reduction We have 64 projects in total

right now

Government, business and usGovernment, business and us

The biggest issue – how do we all work together to move in the right direction?

A couple of my personal thoughts that may help…

GovernmentGovernment

We all expect government to lead us, but why?

We live in a democratic society, so by definition, governments don’t lead, they follow

They exist and stay in power, so long as they do what we want them to do

So we need to start asking!

BusinessBusiness Business only exists to provide us with the

goods and services that we pay them for In fact, they are almost wholeheartedly funded

by us So why do we buy from organisations that don’t

act in a sustainable manner? Why aren’t we demanding they change? We are paying for them to do the wrong thing

Without our money they cannot exist

UsUs So, it really boils down to us (humanity)

and our lack of engagement We don’t ask governments to do what we

want them to do Threatening to withhold our vote

We don’t demand businesses act sustainably

Threatening to withhold our money But why?

A lack of knowledgeA lack of knowledge In general, people don’t know enough

about the issues we all face If they do, it’s all too big for them They don’t know what to ask for

Or even that they can ask or how

The messages we put out are unclear And the way we communicate these

messages doesn’t work…

Communicating the messageCommunicating the message

We communicate to educate or influence It’s wasted effort if people don’t ‘get it’ or

don’t engage

Definitely must not sound ‘preachy’

Why preaching doesn’t workWhy preaching doesn’t work

Guilt based messages have worked with some people

most were already ‘left of the centre’

We just need to ask them to do things and they’ll generally do it

But what about everyone else the vast majority?

Everyone elseEveryone else

The old messages haven’t engaged them quite often pushed them the other way

Guilt doesn’t work with them – they tune out or become defensive

It needs to be meaningful and easy Tell them ‘what to do’ not ‘what not to do’ Simply leads to Cognitive Dissonance

Another technical term nobody understands..

Cognitive DissonanceCognitive Dissonance

Values

Behaviour

‘Behaviour’ must match our ‘Values’

The theoryThe theory

If values and behaviours don’t match, this leads to stress

Either behaviour or values must change We assume people will change behaviour

if a value conflict is pointed out In fact, much easier to change our values

than our behaviour

A positive exampleA positive example

But we’re getting there Paying attention to human psychology

Even the traditionally ‘extreme left’ have started to recognise it

Focus on changing ‘what’s acceptable’ Removing the ‘status’ from negative

behaviour

Leaving on a positive noteLeaving on a positive note We’re getting far better at communicating

messages Learning from PR and Communications

companies If their strategies can sell widgets we

don’t need, why not sustainability?

A Greenpeace example…

Doing it better…Doing it better…

Questions?Questions?