IS 363Review of The Natural Step

By Karl-Henrik Robert

http://www.naturalstep.org

The Natural Step FrameworkIn order for a society to be sustainable, nature’s functions and diversity are not

systematically...

• 1. Subject to increasing concentrations of substances extracted from the earth’s crust.

• 2. Subject to increasing concentrations of substances produced by society,

The Natural Step FrameworkIn order for a society to be sustainable, nature’s functions and diversity are not

systematically...

• 3. Impoverished by overharvesting or other forms of ecosystem manipulation

• 4. Resources are used fairly and efficiently in order to meet basic human needs worldwide!!!!

Natural Step for Sustainability

• Karl-Henrik was a cancer researcher at Karolinska Institute in Sweden

• Founded a large-scale social and environmental movement 1988

• “If you want a large number of people to work together in a coordinated way, they must share an image of the system of which they are a part”

Simple Goal

• Not to consume natural resources faster than they can be replaced

• Focus is not on campaigning for change

• Presents undisputed information, and invites listeners to open a dialogue in order to explore the issue of sustainability.

• responsibility for action is with those in a position to act.

Effects of Mass Media

• People en mass are more interested, in getting richer and driving faster despite negative environmental effects and robbing children of their right to a clean planet with adequate resources.

• Personally he noted parents desperate to help their children diagnosed with cancer.

He believed

• People love their children and care about their future, thus they care about the habitat that supports them.

• Defined the concept of sustainability

• Business & Government invested in programs that systematically practice the principles of sustainability.

Federation of Associations

• Scientists for the Environment

• Economists for the Environment

• Medical Doctors for the environment

• Nurses for the environment

Key is the trunk

• All share the same trunk and main branches that nourish the system

• “Principles of Sustainability”

• Soccer team members have different roles but same goals.

Perceiving systems as organized through principles

• Schooling may obscure our ability to see the overall principles.

• Believes we have an enormous capacity for systems thinking.

• Why do we have trouble collaborating?

Earth as a system

• Matter - closed

• Energy - open system Solar SUN

• Light energy enters - heat energy is released

• Population expansion coupled with high consumption patterns have an ever increasing demand.

Expanding

Waste

N.R.

Matter

waste

Natural

Resources

Matter

Waste

Nat.Res.

Laws of Physics

• First Law of Thermodynamics - nothing disappears

• 1900 same matter• 2000 same matter• Difference is quality

of matter.

• Second Law - that everything has a spontaneous tendency to disperse

• Change to diminish material quality

Chaos/Assemblage into Quality

• 1 drop of ink in the bathtub soon disperses

• diffusion• the more the drops,

water quality is degraded and the ink quality is degraded

• Restructuring of materials - cells are the basic units of production

• Plant cells (directly)• Animal cells

(indirectly)• All use sun’ energy

Life as an evolving system

• Sun delivers energy to the earth

• Living things utilize energy and disperse it during production

• Waste is produced into environment

• Earth at 3.5 byo was swirling stew of cyanides, co, ch4, ammonia etc.

• 1 byo plant cells in ocean

Life beget order & quality

• Life continued to evolve and mineralized or (locked in some wastes that are harmful)

• As life increased, it became cleaner

• life forms evolved, humans evolved 2 mya and participated in this process

• Resources not consumed faster than replaced

Concentrated Energy

• Humans discovered fossil fuel and nuclear power

• This power enables humans access to tremendous flows of matter which create waste.

• CO2 in atmosphere, particulates, ground level ozone, increased methane, increased NO2, SO2

Reverse in direction

• Waste is produced faster than natural systems can reconvert waste into natural resources.

• The evolutionary trend of life increasing quality of environment is reversed.

Three major principles

• 1 Waste must not systematically accumulate in nature

• 2 We must reconstitute any natural materials we consume

• 3 We must process matter in alignment with the sun-driven cycles of nature to preserve the current capacities of our environment and protects the diversity of nature.

Rates must balance

• Extraction of fossil fuels = redeposition rate• Extraction of metals = rate of deposition• Most substances become toxic at some level• Toxicities cause irreparable harm• Ex. salt accumulation in irrigated fields• Ex. Aluminum accumulation in tropical soils• Ex. lead poisoning, global greenhouse gases

Human substances

• Human-made substances must not systematically increase in biosphere.

• Concentrations need to be a natural levels to prevent harm to the system.

• Earth’s productivity & biodiversity must not be systematically deteriorated. Safeguard capacity of nature to reconstitute wastes back into resources.

Human-Made substances

• CFC ‘s chloroflurocarbons

• Atrazine

• polychlorinated biphenyls PCB’s

• Earth has no recycling mechanism for human-made substances

• In systems thinking, alien components will jar or break the system.

Humans

• Human needs must be met with a fair and efficient use of energy and other natural resources.

• 2 billion people are starving or living in subsistence. One third of mankind.

• Inequity of basic needs causes social instability. (sanctions of dictators)

Can sustainability be economical?

• Dumb question for the long run. U.S. has 3 year business plans.

• Consultants work to make changes sustainable, save money & improves efficiency

• Business professionals realize -their resources will become in shorter supply & more costly in a geometric pattern

• Management of toxic waste will skyrocket in price.

• Concentration of mercury is 90 times natural levels yet it is still mined in Sweden

• Human breast milk has so much DDT that it couldn’t be sold for human consumption.

• Downstream details cloud the solution

• What concentration of DDT correlates with carcinogen and other diseases?

• Scientific study costly, answers not soon enough

Business Networks

• Production remnants brought to other industries for use

• Cooperate in sustainable pathway

Definitions- Educational Group

• Collaboration– Problem to be solved

– Team members have varying skills and backgrounds

– All are equal, yet each is expert in an area.

• Cooperation– Problem to be solved

– All members have same skill and background

– Expertise varies, all not necessarily equal