Modernity - Lecture 1 Flashcards
(40 cards)
How did the 1972 Club of Rome speak about sustainability?
It discussed it in terms of limits to growth
Described it as ‘a condition of ecological and economic stability that is sustainable far into the future and capable of satisfying the basic material needs of all people’
What did Goldsmith (1972) say about sustainability?
Spoke about it in terms of a blueprint for survival
A ‘stable society’ that could be ‘sustained indefinitely while giving optimum satisfaction to its members’
What did the 1987 Brundtland’s World Commission on Environment and Development say on sustainability?
‘Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs’
What are the multiple dimensions of sustainable development according to Lafferty & Meadowcroft (2000)
- Satisfying basic needs
- Promoting welfare
- Environmental protection
- Fate of future generations
- Equity
- Participation (from society not just government)
Therefore, what sorts of solutions do we need?
As a society, we move from short term fixes to long term solutions for a problem.
Solutions for problems we are facing now which can be taken into the future and do not use so much natural economic and social capital that future generations are in bad shape.
This is all about: condition of ecosystems, stresses on ecosystems and the implications of this for humans, social/institutional capacity to cope with hazards and exercise stewardship
What is development?
A process of wealth accumulation which may mean different things in different contexts
What is the idea of contraction and convergence according to Giddens?
A process of development whereby ‘reducing overall emergence of greenhouse gases to a safe level (contraction) resulting from every country bringing its emissions per capita to a level which is equal for all countries (convergence)’
What are some other meanings of development?
Taking people out of poverty (meeting primary needs)
Economic growth and GDP growth for promoting increased consumption including ‘secondary’ needs
What can we say about the development of wellbeing in the Netherlands?
It depends on the definition of wellbeing (e.g. welfare, GDP growth, natural environment)
What can we say about the impact of the economy on energy use?
Use of bioresources has slowed down
Use of mineral resources increased but it is somewhat slowing down now
Use of fossil fuels keeps growing producing more money and more energy
What impact has the EU Sustainability Norm for 2030 had?
Some influence as stabilised CO2 emissions a little bit but not that much. Paris Treaty helping to pull this down
SO2 emissions have declined under the norm
What trends did we see until 1960 (GDP, Energy, Wellbeing)
GDP increased linearly with population and income
Energy, resource use grew linearly with GDP
People were content - wellbeing
What trends did we see after 1960 (Energy, GDP)
Energy, resource use grew faster with GDP
Pollution became policy dependent
What trends did we see since around 2000 (Fortuijn and beyond) (GDP and wellbeing)
GDP is not equal to wellbeing.
Growing discontent among people in both the Netherlands and all European countries and the US
Led to reconsidering welfare and wellbeing, need for change
What did President Sarkozy do?
2008 he asked Stiglitz and Sen to develop benchmarks for wellbeing and sustainability
What recommendations did Stiglitz and Sen come up with?
Broadening the scope of the traditional indicators used to measure economic progress to include a whole set of measures of quality of life, inequality and wellbeing
Taking greater account of sustainable development and the environment: what does welfare creation do to social, natural and economic capital
Able to see what aspects of life people are happy and what aspects people are unhappy
What did the OECD introduce?
Made a system like this with different categories relating to material conditions and quality of life with measurable indicators. Done for the first time in 2015.
Making use of natural capital, economic capital, human capital and social capital to produce these well-beings and processes
Improved indicators for wellbeing and sustainability Progress of Societies and Better Life Initiative
EU- GSP and Beyond: tripartite process of re-defining societal progress
What is the Monitor Brede Welvaart?
The Dutch version of measures for ‘wellbeing and sustainability beyond GDP’
June 2016 Dutch Parliament asked for a way to measure wellbeing and sustainability beyond GDP
What are the Sustainable Development Goals?
SDGs to be reached in all countries around the world by 2030
There are 17 in total
UN monitoring how countries around the world do in terms of meeting them
Sustainable development isn’t just one thing, it has to be differentiated. There are so many dimensions that people will emphasise different ones
What makes sustainability a political question?
It has a variety of dimensions with different perspectives yielding different wonders
It has a variety of objectives with different perspectives yielding different priorities
Has different levels of development with different development imperatives
Especially in affluent societies: relations welfare/GDP-wellbeing- ecological side effects - different perspectives may yield different appreciations of trade offs
What are the central ideas of modernity?
Central ideas: empiricism (science and reality), control through knowledge (nature of reality and society, understanding and prediction of consequences to control a system, using science and technology to control reality), progress, autonomy, tolerance (through ratio)
There are institutions nurturing these ideas: nation state, science, mass media, industrial markets, democracy to produce this kind of society
How did these ideas spread to attain a global influence?
Through mechanisms including diffusion and appropriation, migration, colonialism, globalisation… which allowed modernity to spread over the globe
What is the technical project of modernity
Based on empirically grounded knowledge, universal laws and enabling predictions. Progress made through interventions, informed by universal laws with predictable effects, enabling control of nature (and Society) - Sorensen and Christiansen