OUGD601 - Extended Essay - Linking Information / Notes - Consumption the problem

Consumption the Problem

Issue / Effect

Increased use of resources and exponential growth

There is a higher demand for limited resources (yellow)

Consumption in wealthy nations has been rapid (yellow)

Increased consumption has played a part in all environmental concerns (dark green)

Consumption of resources does not rise in line with population, instead it outstrips it, meaning people are consuming more than is needed (pink)

More is used than in previous decades (green)

Things are considered resources if they have commercial value – commercial resources are taken from the Earth quicker than they can naturally be created meaning resources are low (pink)

Exponential growth makes the problem worse (purple)

Unsustainability Spreading

Unsustainability is normalised and promoted by Western / Northern cultures (yellow)

hyperconsumerism from the west spreading around the would (green text)

Value of resources

Resources are cheap and considered to have little worth (brown)

Earth resources have value, of which we are draining (yellow)

There will be little respect for resources if we continue to consider resources as valueless until processed industrially (brown)

Natural resources have value originally not just when humans have processed them (purple)

Sustainable principles view resources as having value in their raw form (brown)

Intrinsic and Commercial Value

Intrinsic value should be considered an ethic to encourage more responsible action towards the environment (purple)

A new world view is needed for the intrinsic value of nature to become an ethic (purple)

It benefits humans to care for the environment – care for the environment benefits humans – the environment has intrinsic value even when it cannot be used for human activities (purple)

The way that depletion of ‘natural capital’ has been counted as income in national accounts symbolizes the way economist’s historically have treated the environment as valueless (light blue) pg 119

Nature only has value so long as it can be turned into something economically valuable. Technology can turn many things which were once economically useless into valuable resources (light blue) pg 119

Disregard for the environment / Power

Nature is seen as the provider of resources which humans can use, take and disregard as they please, however there is denial over the infinite nature of these resources (brown)

Nature provides resources which we take with disregard (brown)

Society lacks respect for the environments resources (brown)

Society has become detached from nature and is seen as a thing to be used (neon orange)

Natural capitalism considers the value of natural resources (dark green)

Greens encourage respect for the Earth and increased ties with it (purple)

Sustainable development actually marks a break by the dominant strand of western culture from an idea it has been firmly wedded to for the past two centuries – faith in progress (neon yellow) pg5

People assumed that advancing science and technology, by increasing human mastery over nature, would decrease our dependence on it (neon yellow) pg 5

Faith in human beings capacity to successfully master nature or even to collectively control our own destiny has been diminished (neon yellow) pg 5

‘control over nature’ is a phrase conceived in arrogance, born of the Neanderthal age of biology and philosophy, when it was supposed that nature exists for the convenience of man (neon yellow) pg 23

The anthropocentric world view that that we are separate from nature is damaging and needs to be altered to a biocentric / ecocentric view

Take lots give little back

Humans are alone in taking so much and giving so little biological resources back (dark green)

We use more resources than we give back to the environment (pink)

Nature gives and takes (dark green)

  

Denial / Ignore

Nature is seen as the provider of resources which humans can use, take and disregard as they please, however there is denial over the infinite nature of these resources (brown)

Although finite, the great majority of other mainstream raw materials and the materials … are in sufficient quantities for fears about their depletion to be minimal (red dot)

Effects of consumption

There will be social, economic and environmental effects if we continue using and wasting extreme amounts of resources (brown)

Warnings about environmental breakdown are often talked about by ecologists (Purple)

Complex issues causing

Environmental problems are extensive and have complex causes (dark green)

Waste

90% of materials from the Earth become waste after three months (pink)

Waste of materials is due to unessecaery durability and short product use time (pink)

  

World giant organism – connected to earth - Interdependence

Every living thing relies on one another in some way (dark green)

Gaia Principle – the world is a giant organism ( dark green)

We are part of the Cycle of life so have a responsibility for the planet and the things we create and have to acknowledge that disrupting the cycle cause problems universally (brown)

Gaia considers every element of the biosphere to have value (purple)

Nature is an interdependent system with reliance and equality between beings (purple)

Damage to the environment has an effect on things living on the planet – Interdependent (purple)

Limits to Growth

Naturalism shows how there are natural limits to growth (purple)

Growth may be natural but it does have limits (brown)

Malthus suggested that human growth would have dire consequences for the Earth (dark green)

George Bastille, when speaking of pressure, states that …….. critical mass has been accomplished will growth level off’ (Pink)

Rethink on system needed …. System rethink needed because of natural limits to growth (purple)

Limits to growth = limits to consumption (purple)

Growth needs to be within the limits of the Earth (purple)

Malthus – he argued that the tendency of population towards geometric growth meant that it would always outstrip growth in food supply (neon yellow) pg 11

Entrophy sets a limit to the physical scale of the economy (neon yellow) pg 29

Green view that continuous growth is physically not possible for the Earth even with technological solutions (purple)

Will restrict economic growth

Economic growth is restricted by the Earths capacity to carry, produce and absorb resources (purple)

Limited industrial growth available due to finite resources (purple)

Less growth would make equality more difficult (neon yellow) pg 33 

Defining Sustainability

Sustainable means being able to meet the demands of both now and the future (neon yellow)

Sustainable design considers the economic, social and environmental impacts of design equal (yellow)

Equity between generations and equity within generations (neon yellow)

Sustainability to ecologists means ensuring natural resources from natural processes continue into the future rather than just human processed materials (purple)

Debate about sustainability could be defined as the ideas that emerge when concern for the global environment and concern for global social justice meet (neon yellow) pg 33

Sustainable development

Concept of sustainable development was the aim to integrate environment al considerations into economic policy (light blue) pg 38

Balance environmental concern with endorsement of economic growth (light blue) pg 38

Conflicting ideas of sustainability – vague

Sustainability and sustainable development are general terms with multiple meanings (purple)

Sustainability as a term is not useful because it can be applied widely, it is too vague (pink)

Defining green can be difficult and can have different definitions (brown)

O’Riordan expressed the concern that the vagueness of the definition would allow people to claim almost anything as part of ‘sustainable development’, reducing the term to meaninglessness (light blue)

Conflicting Business and Environmental sustainability

Sustainable development form some focusses on economics, whilst for others, focuses on the environment (neon yellow)

We are accustomed to thinking industry and the environment as being ……it is considered that industry and the environment are in contrast (dark green)

Severe tensions between the utilitarian basis of mainstream economics and sustainabilitys concern for equity within and between generations (neon yellow) pg4

Business

Business relies on growth to continue (dark green)

No growth for business is negative (dark green)

People considered environmental approaches to be separate from economics or even damaging to profit (dark green)

Focus on increased consumption in developed countries for economic growth (yellow)

Economists have concerns that sustainable development could lead to reduced growth due to environmental concerns (neon yellow)

Slowing of resource use goes against growth economics (yellow)

GNP as a measure of health

GNP does not consider the environment (purple)

Greens have a negative view of GNP to measure the economy (purple)

There is wariness of measuring an economy through GNP because it does not consider the sustainability of the system (purple)

It does not consider the whether production processes are sustainable (purple)

Calculations og Gross National Product (GNP) were seriously misleading as a measure of human welfare because they included the cost of defensive measures such as anti pollution expenditure and failed to count negative effects of affluence like aircraft niose against growth (neon yellow) pg 25

‘The GDP takes only one measure of progress into account: activity. Economic activity’ – GDP only considers economic progress to be progress – GDP only considers increased productivity to be progress (dark green)

This idea of progress was formulated when our perception of resources and quality of life were different (dark green)

A place can be economically successful however other factors can be failing (dark green)

Economics is considered first, with the environment and human health sidelined (dark green)

In calculating GNP statistics, economists treat the consumption of the Earths capital as if it were income (light blue) pg 81

  

Cannot coexist

Conflicting needs between nature and industry suggest both systems cannot coexist (dark green)

Can sustainability and business work together? (light blue)

Sustainable and industrial design not compatible (light blue)

It appears that these two systems cannot thrive in the same world – they cannot coincide (dark green)

Business dominant

The economy is usually focussed upon with the other sidelined and considered after (dark green)

But in the race for economic progress, social activity, ecological impact, cultural activity, and long term effect can be overlooked – focus on economic progress leads to other aspects being forgotten (dark green)

 Sustainable Development - Can they coexist?

Can work together

Brundtland report suggested through sustainable development both the environment and economy could be protected (neon yellow)

Both business and the environment can both work well together (dark blue)

Sustainable design can have positive implications for consumption and the environment (dark green)

Need other ways of measuring sustainability (neon orange)

Sustainability needed

Sustainability needs to be considered for both the environment and economy (neon orange)

Sustainability / sustainable development  - vague - disagreement

Definition that was at the very least rather vague (light blue) pg 39

Beyond limits

Humans are the same as other species, however we have expanded beyond our natural boundaries (brown)

Actions affect wider world and impacting us

Everything made and produced has an impact on the environment (Neon Orange)

Environmental impact are having an effect on various aspects of our lives. Sustainability is being perceived more in terms of economic s . Environmental impacts are now seen as a problem as they are having visible effects on ecology, economy, health and wellbeing (neon orange)

Our impacts on the environment call into question the sustainability of life on the planet (Brown)

Our industrial system is a small part of the wider natural system, meaning any impact on natural resources has a negative effect on the economy (brown)

The effects of increased industrialisation and population growth affect the whole world (neon pink)

Historical context

Industrialists considered resources to be infinite (dark green)

‘Resources seemed immeasurably vast. Nature itself …… natural resources were considered infinite during the industrial revolution (dark green)

Historically we have considered the environment to have infinite resources and viewed ourselves as superior to the environment, this viewpoint has continued into modern thinking (brown)

We have become detached from the Earth because of industrialism (purple)

Themes that are debatable today around the issue of the environment would be recognisable to a Victorian intellect (neon yellow) pg 19

Modern industries still operate according to paradigms that developed when humans had a very different sense of the world – manufacturing today still relies on this sytem despite understanding the world in a different way (dark green)

The Industrial Revolution allowed humans power over nature, however this has disconnected us with the environment (dark green)

Pass on to future

Generations after us should not have to bare the consequences of design in the past  (dark green)

Environmental damage from consumption could be what we pass onto future genrations (pink)

‘Poor design on such a scale reaches far beyond our own life span. It perpetrates what we call intergenerational remote tyranny – our tyranny over future generations through the effects of our actions today’ – our industrial and design system will have effects on future generations not just our own

Finite resources

 Although finite, the great majority of other mainstream raw materials and the materials made from them …… are available in sufficient quantities for fears about their depletion to be minimal (red dot)

Earth has finite resources (purple)

Resources are limited but we use them as if they are endless (brown)

We now need to understand that resources used to create products are not endless (red)

A finite resource system means shortages of resources are a certainty which will eventually increase prices (purple)

The planet has been able to put up with a level of industrialism and consumerism, however change is needed as resources are finite (green)

‘natural resources’ are infinite or infinitely substitutable – be able to find a substitution because of technical progress (light blue) pg 122

Consumption unsustainable / failure to be sustainable / exponential growth

Current production and consumption unsustainable in numerous ways (light blue)

Huge use of resources shows how industrial countries have failed to be sustainable (yellow)

Exponential growth within system unsustainable (purple)

Growth predictions unsustainable (purple)

Consumption is currently unsustainable and the complete solution is not clear (yellow)

Rise of living standards quantify problem

Increase in living standards worldwide will increase problem (yellow)

More strain put on environment by newly emerging economies (yellow)

It is not possible for all countries to have the same living standards as rich countries (purple)

Suggestions of universal consumption reduction is not necessary because consumption levels are not the same universally (Purple)

Rethink on consumption levels

To be sustainable citizens we have to think about our consumption (yellow)

Reassess material consumption (light blue)

Understood politically and academically that consumption needs to be reduced (yellow)

There needs to be a rethink on how we extract / get materials (red)

It is not plausible for society to continue thinking they can grow and consume (purple)

Rethink on system needed …. System rethink needed because of natural limits to growth (purple)

Churn needs to be reduced to help the environment but this argument is mixed with anti – capitalist tones (green type)

For a sustainable society to be achieved, consumption in industrial countries needs to be reduced and increased economic growth does not effectively meet human needs (purple)

Design the problem?

There is a link between how things are designed and used and the environmental problems that are faced – Design is in numerous ways the cause of environmental problems (brown)

Enlightenment link with Industrial Revolution Context

Enlightenment places humans centrally in relation to the rest of the world and living things as well as the universe (purple)

Enlightenment is the belief that the world was created for humans, meaning nothing should be hidden from them (purple)

This world view remained dominant but allowed green ideology to form in reaction to this (purple)

Western science that allowed human beings to break free of the technological limits which had constrained earlier civilisations, leading to the emergent belief in progress (neon yellow) pg 7

The technology and social organization that flowed out of the Industrial Revolution gave human beings a degree of control over nature unparalleled in previous history (neon yellow) pg 11