An Introduction to Sustainability

and Systems

Tom Eggert

WI School of Business

tleggert@wisc.edu

sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of the future generations to meet their own needs.

~The Brundtland Commission 1987 (WCED 1987)

Sustainable Development

“Sustainability is equity over time. As a value, it refers to giving equal weight in your decisions to the future as well as the present. You might think of it as extending the Golden Rule through time, so that you do onto future generations (as well as your present fellow beings) as you would have them do onto you.”

Robert Gilman, Director, Context Institute

Sustainability

Sustainability

"A world that works

     for 100% of humanity

     in the shortest possible time

     through cooperation

     without ecological offense

     or the disadvantage of anyone."

Buckminster Fuller

Sustainable Development is both a philosophy and pragmatic goal based upon the principle that healthy and sustainable human systems emulate natural cycles, where all outputs are simply an input for another process. It means designing and managing resource extraction, materials and production processes in ways that conserve and recover all resources, and do not destroy, bury or transform them in ways that limit the ability of human and natural systems to safely reuse them for productive purposes.

Mayor Chris Patterson, Camden NJ

Sustainable Development

Sustainability: Defining Traits

Sustainability considers the whole instead of the specific.

Sustainability: Defining Traits

Sustainability emphasizes relationships rather than pieces in isolation.

Sustainability

sustainability is a political choice, not a technical one. It’s not a question of whether we can be sustainable, but whether we choose to be

~Gary Lawrence, director of the Seattle Planning

Department

Sustainability & Basic Science

• Matter and energy cannot appear or disappear (Conservation law)

• Matter and energy tend to spread spontaneously (2nd Law of Thermodynamics)

• Biological value lies in the concentration and structure of matter (Syntropy)

– Green cells, through sun-driven processes are essentially the only net producers of concentration and structure (Photosynthesis)

A Framework for Sustainability: The Natural Step

† Keep it in the crust† Don’t make nasty stuff† Don’t pave paradise† Be thrifty and fair

Principles of Sustainability

Principles of Sustainability

William McDonough: Cradle to Cradle• Waste = Food• Adore Diversity• Live on Current Solar Income• Love all the Children

Herman Dalythree rules for long-run sustainability: -renewable resources cannot be used

faster than they regenerate. -non-renewable resources cannot be used

faster than their waste products can be broken down by nature.

-pollutants cannot be emitted at greater rates than the environment can process them.

Principles of Sustainability

Sustainability

1) Business needs a healthy, secure society and a bountiful environment within which to operate.

2) Healthy societies need businesses to provide goods and services.

3) And the natural world is best protected when businesses and societies are healthy.

Sustainable Companies

a sustainable company is a company that will last—a company that can maintain its value to society, indefinitely.

Sustainability in Action

what can we do to become more sustainable?

quit thinking about [sustainability] as solely an economic problem, but examine each question in terms of what is ethically and

aesthetically right, as well as what is economically expedient. a thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability and

beauty of the biotic community. it is wrong when it tends to do otherwise.

~Aldo Leopold

Sustainability

Sustainability is a journey, not a destination.

Sustainability

• Our current systems are on a collision course with each other

• No one has “The Answer”.• Many effectively articulate either only

the problem or only an argument for “Business As Usual”.

A Bit on Systems

“Prediction is very difficult, especially about the future” –

Niels Bohr “I think there is a world market for maybe five computers.” --Thomas Watson (1943)

“Heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible.” --Lord Kelvin (1895)

“This ‘telephone’ has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us.” --Western Union (1876)

“Everything that can be invented has been invented.” --Charles H. Duell (1899)

“Airplanes are interesting toys but of no military value.” --Marshal Ferdinand Foch

“The wireless music box has no imaginable commercial value. Who would pay for a message sent to nobody in particular?” --David Sarnoff

“Who the hell wants to hear actors talk?” --Harry M. Warner (1927)

“There is no reason for any individuals to have a computer in their home.” --Ken Olson (1977)

The Collision of Systems:• What’s Colliding?

–Financial (what we assume dominates)–Social–Natural

"Systems thinking is a discipline for seeing wholes. It is a framework for seeing interrelationships rather than things, for seeing patterns of change

rather than static 'snapshots'...

Peter Senge,The Fifth Discipline

Why Systems Thinking?

"Today systems thinking is needed more than ever because we are becoming overwhelmed by complexity.

Perhaps for the first time in history, humankind has the capacity to create far more information than anyone can absorb, to foster far greater interdependency than anyone can manage, and to accelerate change far faster than anyone's ability to keep pace."

Peter Senge,The Fifth Discipline

Why Systems Thinking?

• The importance of each component of a system is tied to its relationship to the whole. And the essential properties of a living system (whether an organism or community) are properties of the whole. 

• Nature does not show us isolated building blocks, but rather a complex web of relationships that become parts of

a unified whole. 

Systems Thinking Lessons

• Human communities are all living systems, supported and supplemented with almost an infinite number of subsystems.

• Systems are reflected in the corporate, governmental, and non-profit sectors. 

Systems Thinking Lessons

• The power of systems thinking comes from a focus on systemic structures, which is where the greatest leverage for problem solving and positive change lies.

• A systems approach can help shed light on current problems—especially those that seem to continually repeat—by viewing them from a different perspective.

• Systems make change very difficult. Systems protect themselves and the status quo.

Systems Thinking Lessons

• Systems thinking requires us to understand that while there is only one Earth, it is composed of a multitude of subsystems all interacting with each other.

• These subsystems are connected together by intricate feedback

loops.

Systems Thinking Lessons

• Although environmentalists used to be concerned primarily about running out of sources, today more people are concerned about running out of sinks.

• Global warming, the ozone hole, and conflicts over the international shipment of hazardous waste are all problems that have arisen from our attempts to dispose of resources faster than the natural sinks can absorb

them.

Systems Thinking

• The purpose of this class is to help you find the greatest levers for changing the systems that have been created around the linear take-make-waste production models and mechanical organizational designs that dominate most public and private organizations today.

Systems Thinking

And remember, there is no Easy Button!

Systems Thinking