Ecological approaches to sustainability Flashcards
(17 cards)
What is the great acceleration?
Human beings impact on the planet are considered so vast that we have started calling the approach the Anthropocene which is the age of humans.
Historical trends show steep increases in both social systems and earth systems resulted from human influences - major drivers are human.
What are the different ecological lenses in corporate sustainability?
Progress indicators
Approaches for sustainable organising
Sustainability innovation concepts
Critiques of growth
Social science and indigenous contributions (alternative knowledge systems)
What are progress indicators concerned with?
measuring and assessing progress on sustainability. Some of these progress indicators focus specifically on the natural environment. For example, SDGs, planetary boundaries, doughnut economies and net zero.
What are planetary boundaries?
sets of interconnected science-based indicators aiming to determine a safe operating space for humanity.
Underpinned by 9 critical earth system processes that govern life as we know it.
What are the basic premise of planetary boundaries?
We can scientifically identify and evaluate progress on key planetary boundaries that we should stay within to avoid catastrophic abrupt environmental changes.
Transgressing these boundaries can pose substantial risks destabilising the earth systems - in 2023, 9 boundaries are assessed and 6 are crossed.
What does Whiteman say about planetary boundaries?
Apply planetary boundaries to corporate sustainability is no longer a marginal topic in business research, but ecological progress indicators keep worsening.
Business studies paid little attention to what happens on the ground, in the air and through the water, system thinking and data from natural sciences (this is often ignored)
How do planetary boundaries provide a ecological foundation for corporate sustainability?
By informing our understanding of businesses environmental impacts - 12 years later there’s been increased planetary boundaries in management research.
Planetary boundaries can be used to analyse business activities in a geographically contextualised way, the focus is on a region rather than the company.
How has Houdini sportwear brand used planetary boundaries?
Conducted planetary boundaries assessments to understand the company total footprint and using an impact formula in its design philosophy i.e. product impact x volumes produced x lifestyle promoted = company’s impact
What is Net Zero?
with every increment of global warming, regional change in mean climate and extremes becomes more widespread and pronounced.
Net Zero is a progress indicator for climate action balancing greenhouse gas emissions realised into and removed from the atmosphere.
Focus often lies on carbon s cutting this will leave 0 in the atmosphere.
How are GHG emissions removed and reduced?
Reducing - is done by decarbonisation (renewables), offsetting of greenhouse gases.
Removing - carbon capture and storage.
2015 - 196 countries agreed to the Paris Agreement, by 2030 countries must cut emissions by at least 45% compared to 2010 levels
What are some industry contributions to Climate change?
climate responsibilities of industrial carbon producers. 63% of cumulative CO2 and methane emissions (1854 - 2010) from 90 largest producers of coal, oil, natural gas and cement.
What companies are aiming for Net Zero?
Microsoft (removing by 2050 the amount the company added), BP, IKEA, Patagonia
What are limitations of the Net Zero target?
Reliance on offsetting - low standards an greenwashing, shifting responsibility to others, postponing emission reductions, equity concerns (wealthy nations can afford carbon offsets, while poorer communities bear the brunt of CC)
technological optimism - but there is technological uncertainty CCS and direct air capture are still expensive and unproven at scale.
What do progress indicators focus on?
on science based targets and limits, emphasising scientific ways of knowing about sustainability.
Planetary boundaries foreground thinking in systems - acknowledging complexity and interlinkages between different earth systems and human impact on these systems.
What do universal indicators lack?
Lack considering the plural perspectives of the world, specifically the meaning of place to those dependent on the land on which sustainability transactions take place.
What is the lived realties of places?
of the land and how its used however, they are often central to sustainability struggles in which businesses are involved.
e.g. rights to nature - ‘it is about people’s love of the river’ - swimming group fighting for rights in the Avon.
New Zealand mountain gets same legal rights as a person.
What are place based and relational ecological approaches to sustainability?
Universal indicators like net zero risk a detachment from the lived realties of places, which reinforces inequalities and colonial power structures.
Place based and relational perspectives could extend ecological approaches for sustainability beyond progress indicators. This links to other knowledge systems, including the indigenous way of knowing, which tend to be based on profound connection between humans and nature - often subjugated by colonial power.
From this perspective, ecological crisis are a product of human nature dualism and enlightenment thinking.
