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Ecological challenges
The global commons
A commons is a shared resource that a group of people uses
collectively.
 Preserving our common ecosystem and assuring its
continued use is a new imperative.
Ecological challenges (continued)
Sustainable development
 Development that meets the needs of the present without
compromising the ability of future generations to meet their
own needs.
 Protecting the
environment will require economic
development.
 Economic development must be accomplished sustainably.
Ecological challenges (continued)
Threats to the Earth’s ecosystem
 Water resources
 Fossil fuels
 Arable land
Ecological challenges (continued)
Forces of change
 The population explosion
 World poverty
 Industrialization
Ecological challenges (continued)
The limits to growth
 The world resource base is essentially finite, or bounded.
 The Earth’s rapid population growth, people’s rising
expectations, and the rapid industrialization of less developed
countries are heading for collision with a fixed barrier.
“Deciding How Much Global Warming Is
Too Much”

Under first treaty (1994) addressing global warming, 193
countries, including U.S., pledged to avoid “dangerous” human
interference w/ climate
 “Dangerous”

not defined
Kyoto Protocol took effect 2/16/05, requiring participating
industrialized countries to cut emissions
 But
targets and timetable negotiated w/ no agreement on what
amount of cuts would lead to climatic stability

President Bush rejected Kyoto Pact in 2001
 Some
experts say that by time clear evidence is at hand, calamity
later in century will be unavoidable
 Any consensus on climate risks will likely intensify pressure on
Bush administration to shift from current opposition

Source: New York Times, 2/1/05
“Deep in the Sahara, BP Tries to Put
Dent in Global Warming”

Given Kyoto Protocol, companies that will have to curb
emissions in compliance w/ their countries’ caps scrambling to
figure out how to do so wo/ killing bottom lines
 Even
in U.S., companies looking for solution, figuring it’s only
matter of time before they also face caps

BP and its partners in Algerian natural-gas processing plant
injecting carbon dioxide back one mile underground (“geologic
storage”)
 Key
question: will CO2 stay underground or come burping back up
out of earth?
 Concept drawing interest because it could curb global warming more
quickly than switching to alternative energy sources or cutting
energy use

Source: Wall Street Journal, 2/4/05
“Nations Wince at Kyoto Reality”

Now gov’ts have to figure out how to divvy up responsibility for
cuts among companies and consumers that produce emissions
 Producing

political backlash
E.g., Canada pledged to cut emissions to 6% below 1990 level by
2012
 But
its emissions are increasing 1.5%/yr
 If emissions continue to grow at current rate, Kyoto pledge will
require cutting emissions to 35% below what they would have been
in 2012 w/ no action

Source: Wall Street Journal, 2/16/05
“Senators Warm Up to Emissions Curbs”

Republican opposition to ‘greenhouse gas’ curbs is slowly easing, as concerns
mount over damage from climate change
 In Alaska, the two Republican senators say they are willing to reconsider
carbon-dioxide regulation after voting against it two years ago


Legislation proposed in Senate would require industry to reduce emissions
to 2000 levels by 2010


According to recent report by GAO, melting sea and glacier ice has resulted in
severe erosion and flooding problems in 86% of Alaska’s native villages
President Bush is opposed to regulation
Many politicians aren’t sure to what extent man-made carbon dioxide is
contributing to climate change, some scientists dispute link

Source: Wall Street Journal, 2/22/05
World Business Council for Sustainable
Development



Goals: To encourage high standards of environmental
management and to promote closer cooperation among
businesses, governments, and other organizations concerned with
sustainable development.
Called for businesses to manufacture and distribute products more
efficiently, consider their lifelong impact, and recycle
components.
Recommended revising systems of national accounting to include
the costs of environmental damage, and pricing products to reflect
their full environmental cost.
Voluntary business initiatives
Life cycle analysis
Involves collecting information on the lifelong environmental
impact of a product, from extraction of raw material to
manufacturing to its distribution, use, and ultimate disposal.
Industrial ecology
Refers to designing factories and distribution systems as if they
were self-contained ecosystems.
Design for disassembly
Means that products are designed so that at the end of their useful
life they can be disassembled and recycled.
Sustainable Development
 What
does the principle of sustainable development
mean when practiced at the level of an individual
business?
 Select a
business with which you are familiar, determine what
kinds of changes that business would need to make in order to
operate sustainably.
 Is it possible for a single business to operate sustainably, or
does sustainable business require a coordinated effort by many
companies, governments, and international agencies?