tag:theconversation.com,2011:/ca/topics/environmental-sustainability-21534/articlesEnvironmental sustainability – The Conversation2024-03-15T01:53:33Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2242532024-03-15T01:53:33Z2024-03-15T01:53:33ZUltra-fast fashion is a disturbing trend undermining efforts to make the whole industry more sustainable<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/582074/original/file-20240314-22-28steu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=50%2C10%2C6659%2C4456&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/young-woman-lying-on-pile-different-2212805919">New Africa, Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Since the 1990s, <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09593960903498300">fast fashion</a> has enabled everyday people to buy the latest catwalk trends. But the sheer volume of garments being whipped up, sold and soon discarded is <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12940-018-0433-7">contributing to a global sustainability crisis</a>.</p>
<p>Now, just when the fashion industry should be waking up and breaking free of this vicious cycle, it’s heading in the opposite direction. We’re on a downward spiral, from <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s43017-020-0039-9">fast fashion</a> to <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s40691-023-00337-9">ultra-fast fashion</a>. The amount of <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s43017-020-0039-9">natural resources consumed and waste produced</a> is snowballing.</p>
<p>Ultra-fast fashion is marked by even faster production cycles, blink-and-you’ll-miss-it trends, and <a href="https://www.marieclaire.com.au/latest-news/what-s-the-real-cost-of-shein/">poor labour practices</a>. Brands like Shein, Boohoo and Cider are liberated from the concept of seasonal collections. Instead they are <a href="https://sk.sagepub.com/cases/strategy-at-shein-the-secrets-of-ultra-fast-fashion">producing garments at breakneck speeds</a> and self-generating <a href="https://www.vogue.com/article/core-aesthetic-microtrends-2023">microtrends</a> such as balletcore, Barbiecore and even mermaidcore. At the same time there is <a href="https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/IJRDM-04-2019-0133/full/html">limited transparency or accountability</a> around clothing supply chains. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://intellectdiscover.com/content/journals/10.1386/infs_00082_7">overproduction and consumption of clothing</a> cannot be allowed to continue. Without change, the industry will account for <a href="https://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/fashion-and-the-circular-economy-deep-dive">26% of the world’s carbon budget</a> for limiting global warming to 2°C by 2050. The fashion industry must take responsibility for its actions. Policymakers also have an important role to play in enabling the necessary shift towards a <a href="https://intellectdiscover.com/content/journals/10.1386/sft_0010_1">more responsible and circular fashion economy</a>. And let’s not forget the power of consumers.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">The dark side of Shein’s success (China Tonight, ABC News)</span></figcaption>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/to-make-our-wardrobes-sustainable-we-must-cut-how-many-new-clothes-we-buy-by-75-179569">To make our wardrobes sustainable, we must cut how many new clothes we buy by 75%</a>
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<h2>Cheap clothing at what cost?</h2>
<p>It was once thought the <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15487733.2020.1829848">pandemic would trigger a transition</a> to a more sustainable fashion industry. Unfortunately in reality the industry is getting worse, not better. </p>
<p>Most ultra-fast fashion brands emerged in the late 2010s following the most well known, Shein, founded in 2008. These online, direct-to-consumer brands exploded in popularity during lockdowns, with Shein holding the title of the <a href="https://time.com/6247732/shein-climate-change-labor-fashion/">world’s most popular brand in 2020</a>.</p>
<p>Established brands such as Gap introduce <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/fast-cheap-out-of-control-inside-rise-of-shein/">12,000 new items a year and H&M 25,000</a>. But Shein leaves them in the dust, listing 1.3 million items in the same amount of time. How is this even possible? </p>
<p>The ultra-fast fashion model <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/fast-cheap-out-of-control-inside-rise-of-shein/">thrives on data</a> and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/apr/18/ultra-fast-fashion-retail-sites-shein">addictive social media marketing</a> to create insatiable consumer demand.</p>
<p>But Shein’s incredibly low prices (its website has thousands of items under A$5) come at a human cost. The company’s own 2021 Sustainability and Social Impact Report (later removed from the site) found <a href="https://fashionmagazine.com/style/shein-influencer-trip/">only 2% of its factories and warehouses met its own worker safety standards</a>, with the rest requiring corrective action. </p>
<p>The brand has also forgone in-house designers. Instead it works with independent suppliers who can <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/fast-cheap-out-of-control-inside-rise-of-shein/">design and manufacture a garment in two weeks</a>.</p>
<p>The result is an incredibly profitable business model. Shein filed for an initial public offering (IPO) last year to value the brand at US$136 billion, up from US$2.5 billion in 2018.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">How Shein Built a $66B Fast-Fashion Empire (WSJ)</span></figcaption>
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<p>Shifting from fast to ultra-fast fashion has serious environmental and social consequences. This includes even more exploitative labour practices. Shein garment workers reportedly work <a href="https://www.publiceye.ch/en/media-corner/press-releases/detail/75-hour-weeks-for-shein-public-eye-looks-behind-the-chinese-online-fashion-giants-glitzy-front">75-hour weeks and warehouses operate 24/7</a>. </p>
<p>Ignoring this shift isn’t just a fashion faux pas. Doing so jeopardises national efforts for a more sustainable fashion industry.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/fast-fashion-why-garment-workers-lives-are-still-in-danger-10-years-after-rana-plaza-podcast-203122">Fast Fashion: Why garment workers' lives are still in danger 10 years after Rana Plaza — Podcast</a>
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<h2>A seamless transition to sustainability</h2>
<p>The Australian Fashion Council is leading a <a href="https://ausfashioncouncil.com/program/seamless/">national product stewardship scheme</a> called Seamless that promises to transform the fashion industry by 2030. </p>
<p>The idea is to bring fashion into the <a href="https://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/a-new-textiles-economy">circular economy</a>. Ultimately that means zero waste, but in the meantime raw materials would be kept in the supply chain for as long as possible by designing out and minimising waste. </p>
<p>Members will contribute a four-cent levy for every clothing item they produce or import. </p>
<p>These funds go into clothing collection, research, recycling projects and education campaigns.</p>
<p>BIG W, David Jones, Lorna Jane, Rip Curl, R.M. Williams, THE ICONIC, <a href="https://ausfashioncouncil.com/womenswear-giant-sussan-group-joins-seamless-foundation-members/">Sussan Group</a> and <a href="https://cottonongroup.com.au/news/cotton-on-signs-seamless/">Cotton On</a> are <a href="https://ausfashioncouncil.com/program/seamless/">Seamless Foundation Members</a>. Each has <a href="https://ausfashioncouncil.com/meet-the-foundation-members-of-seamless/">contributed A$100,000</a> to the development of the scheme.</p>
<p>As <a href="https://ausfashioncouncil.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/AFC-NCPSS-Global-Scan-Report.pdf">one of the world’s first</a> industry-led collective product stewardship initiatives for clothing textiles, Seamless presents a unique opportunity to drive change towards a more sustainable and circular fashion industry. </p>
<p>But there is a risk ultra-fast fashion brands <a href="https://stewardshipexcellence.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/White-Paper-Overcoming-Freeriders-September-2021.pdf">may act as freeriders</a> in Seamless, benefiting from the investment and initiatives without making meaningful contributions. Shein and others will continue putting more and more product on the market, which will need to be dealt with at the end of its short life. But if they fail to commit to the scheme, they won’t be the ones paying for that. </p>
<p>The government-funded consortium must also recognise ultra-fast fashion in tackling the industry’s environmental and social sustainability challenges. At the moment they’re only talking about fast fashion and ignoring the rise of ultra-fast fashion. Their global scan, for example, includes a discussion of fast fashion and <a href="https://ausfashioncouncil.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/AFC-NCPSS-Global-Scan-Report.pdf">no mention of ultra-fast fashion</a>. </p>
<p>This also points to a lack of data more broadly in the industry but in the case of Seamless, it could have a big impact if this growing market segment is ignored. </p>
<p>Shein and Temu are estimated to earn a <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-03-08/rise-of-shein-temu-effect-on-australian-retail-ecommerce-future/103546188">combined $2 billion in sales in 2024</a>, with customers from all walks of life.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/fast-fashions-waste-problem-could-be-solved-by-recycled-textiles-but-brands-need-to-help-boost-production-213802">Fast fashion's waste problem could be solved by recycled textiles but brands need to help boost production</a>
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<h2>The critical crackdown</h2>
<p>Some brands are actively engaged and <a href="https://insideretail.com.au/business/ebay-australia-names-dempstah-as-circular-fashion-fund-winner-202402">working towards a more sustainable future</a>. But others such as Temu are learning from Shein and <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-11-06/fashion-retailer-shein-s-competitors-are-copying-its-super-fast-business-model?sref=Yg3sQEZ2">looking to emulate</a> their business model. </p>
<p>The transition to a more sustainable and responsible fashion industry requires a greater understanding of ultra-fast fashion, urgent systemic changes and collective efforts. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.uts.edu.au/isf">Institute for Sustainable Futures</a>, where I work, is a founding member of an international academic research network aimed at tackling the complexities of ultra-fast fashion. That includes how ultra-fast fashion is affecting the livelihoods of garment workers, how it’s fuelling textile waste and underscoring the industry’s struggle to embrace circular economy principles. We’re also investigating how to reshape consumer behaviour, away from <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/education/war-on-waste-shein-haul/102708968">social media-fuelled hauls</a> towards more sustainable consumption particularly among Gen-Z consumers. </p>
<p>Last month, Federal Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek announced a <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-02-21/plibersek-warns-fast-fashion-considering-clothes-levy/103492154">potential intervention</a>, perhaps by introducing minimum environmental standards or a clothing levy by July.</p>
<p>The clock is ticking. It is time to lay the foundation for a more sustainable and just fashion industry. Australia has a <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1745-5871.12460">rich fashion history</a> and is home to many leading local brands – many of whom have gone global. These brands show us what is possible when good design, sustainability and innovation drive an industry.</p>
<p>Ultimately, our collective choices wield immense power. By understanding the consequences of our fashion habits and advocating for change, we can all be catalysts for a more sustainable and just fashion industry.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/224253/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Taylor Brydges is an Advisor to the Product Stewardship Centre of Excellence, which has provided mentorship to Seamless. </span></em></p>We know fast fashion is bad for the environment. Ultra-fast fashion makes matters worse. This disturbing trend towards disposable clothing is the opposite of sustainable. Here’s what must be done.Taylor Brydges, Research Principal, University of Technology SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2031442024-03-06T03:09:41Z2024-03-06T03:09:41ZHuge housing costs make us slaves to our jobs and unsustainable growth. But there’s another way<p>Every three months, Australian economists, analysts and commentators anxiously await the new gross domestic product (GDP) figures, a key measure of economic performance and growth. The latest figures, released today, show <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/mar/06/australia-gdp-december-quarter-2023-reserve-bank-interest-rates">GDP growth of 0.2%</a> in the December quarter.</p>
<p>But our dependence on such growth is <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-023-01157-x">destroying our planet</a>. Humans are consuming resources faster than they can be replenished, and disrupting <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.1259855">vital Earth systems</a> through pollution, deforestation and other damage. </p>
<p>Why are we so reliant on an ever-expanding economy? The answer can be found in our economy’s first building block: the <a href="https://www.thelandmagazine.org.uk/articles/short-history-enclosure-britain">privatisation of land</a>. The high and rising cost of land for housing has monumental, often lifelong implications. It influences the work we do, our available time, our need for a car, and so on. We’re made reliant on growth, while care for the planet often falls by the wayside.</p>
<p>There are alternatives. Innovative examples of public housing offer hope – and a chance to move away from endless growth towards a more sustainable future.</p>
<h2>The foundation of the problem</h2>
<p>Before land was broadly <a href="https://academic.oup.com/ahr/article/117/2/365/30072">privatised</a>, people in many parts of the world survived through subsistence farming, hunting and gathering on land commons.</p>
<p>Much changed during the 16th century, starting in Europe and spreading through colonisation. The turning point was the shift to <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/41475544">larger-scale agriculture</a>, which made it increasingly profitable for the nobility and merchant classes to enclose land.</p>
<p>Once land was privatised, many people had <a href="https://uncomradelybehaviour.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/thompson-ep-the-making-of-the-english-working-class.pdf">no real option</a> but to enter the market to sell their labour. They now had to rent or buy land for shelter and food. </p>
<p>Broadly speaking, the privatisation of land serves as the cornerstone for an economy <a href="https://www.ppesydney.net/content/uploads/2021/06/19_Baumann-Alexander-and-Burdon1.pdf">tethered to economic growth</a>.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-searching-for-sanity-in-a-world-hell-bent-on-destruction-160447">Friday essay: searching for sanity in a world hell-bent on destruction</a>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Alex Baumann and Western Sydney University students describe how land commons would make economic contraction, or degrowth, possible.</span></figcaption>
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<h2>Green growth has limits</h2>
<p>Some proponents of economic growth argue a that rapid transition to <a href="https://theconversation.com/renewable-projects-are-getting-built-faster-but-theres-even-more-need-for-speed-221874">renewable energy</a> will make this growth environmentally sustainable.</p>
<p>But there’s increasing <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanplh/article/PIIS2542-5196(23)00174-2/fulltext">evidence</a> that key industries – such as retail, construction and tourism – are just too environmentally intensive. Even with <a href="https://theconversation.com/five-reasons-green-growth-wont-save-the-planet-116037">optimistic uptake of renewables</a>, continued growth will surpass <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-are-planetary-boundaries-and-why-should-we-care-213762">planetary boundaries</a>, such as the extent of global warming and biodiversity loss Earth’s systems can withstand. </p>
<p>We <a href="https://eeb.org/library/decoupling-debunked/">cannot separate</a> increases in GDP from dire environmental consequences.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/coronavirus-shows-housing-costs-leave-many-insecure-tackling-that-can-help-solve-an-even-bigger-crisis-137772">Coronavirus shows housing costs leave many insecure. Tackling that can help solve an even bigger crisis</a>
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<h2>The survival paradox</h2>
<p>Altering our dependence on economic growth is not easy. We all rely on the opportunities it provides. </p>
<p>Take me, for example. I’m a sustainability academic and my employment relies on the government to subsidise education. But a large proportion of these funds come from taxing unsustainable commodities such as iron ore, coal and gas. </p>
<p>Universities also depend on international students who fly in from overseas, contributing to aviation emissions. And the university’s business model ultimately relies on student employment in a perpetually growing economy.</p>
<p>This dependence does not sit well with me. But bills have to be paid. The biggest and most unavoidable bill is the cost of keeping a <a href="https://theconversation.com/higher-prices-have-hit-most-people-but-homeowners-have-felt-it-harder-than-renters-211200">roof over my head</a>. </p>
<p>I’m not alone. For most people, the <a href="https://everybodyshome.com.au/report-reveals-brutal-reality-of-housing-crisis/">pressures of paying for housing</a> far outweigh other survival concerns, such as those related to the environment. And those pressures are increasing. </p>
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<p>Given this, it’s not surprising that environmental concerns also take a back seat in government priorities. To remain electable, governments must foster jobs through economic growth. </p>
<p>For instance, the Labor government has rejected the <a href="https://reneweconomy.com.au/un-says-australia-must-quit-coal-by-2030-reach-net-zero-by-2040/#:%7E:text=The%20Secretary%20General%20of%20the,any%20new%20oil%20or%20gas">United Nations’ call</a> for a moratorium on fossil fuel projects, <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/devastating-impact-pm-rejects-greens-call-to-halt-fossil-fuel-exports-20220726-p5b4v3.html">citing</a> mass job and revenue losses as primary reasons.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/we-are-the-1-the-wealth-of-many-australians-puts-them-in-an-elite-club-wrecking-the-planet-151208">We are the 1%: the wealth of many Australians puts them in an elite club wrecking the planet</a>
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<h2>A practical way forward</h2>
<p>How do we escape this vicious cycle? A modern urban commons land arrangement, developed through a revitalised public housing sector, offers a way forward.</p>
<p>A noteworthy precedent can be found in <a href="https://www.news.com.au/finance/real-estate/renting/renters-utopia-greens-say-vienna-proves-public-housing-can-be-highquality-and-affordable-for-all/news-story/6df55cc046bc18a2a2ac1c4355e4aeb6">Vienna</a>, where public housing and rent controls mean 80% of residents spend only 20-25% of their income on housing.</p>
<p>This policy redefines land and housing as social or common goods, rather than just as market commodities. After all, land, like air and water, is <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/land">not a market good</a> but part of our collective natural heritage. Such policies can significantly free people from economic growth reliance. As Peter Pilz, a Viennese social housing tenant, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/23/magazine/vienna-social-housing.html">told The New York Times</a>: </p>
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<p>If people don’t have to struggle all day long to survive — if your life is made safe, at least in social conditions — you can use your energy for much more important things.</p>
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<p>These “more important things” could be activities that promote <a href="https://theecologist.org/2020/mar/04/towards-walden-wage">collaborative, sustainable ways of living</a> such as <a href="https://www.communityledhomes.org.uk/what-self-help-housing#:%7E:text=This%20could%20be%20an%20option,on%20a%20longer%2Dterm%20project.">self-help housing</a>, “share and repair” programs and local food production.</p>
<p>Such housing models are not confined to Europe. In <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-century-of-public-housing-lessons-from-singapore-where-housing-is-a-social-not-financial-asset-121141">Singapore</a>, as many as 80% of residents are publicly housed.</p>
<p>And what about Australia? The seeds are sewn in this nation’s long heritage of public housing and <a href="https://www.facs.nsw.gov.au/housing/living/rights-responsibilities/get-involved">tenant participation</a>. This includes activities such as producing food, hosting community events and managing tenancy issues. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.tenantsrights.org.au/blog/co-operative-housing-interview-co-op-renter-amalina-wallace">Emoh Ruo housing cooperative</a> in Sydney is a public tenant housing cooperative, where tenants are active in roles such as managing their tenancies. </p>
<p>Centrelink’s <a href="https://guides.dss.gov.au/social-security-guide/3/11/3/30">voluntary work option</a> for unemployed people – intended to partially fulfil their obligations for income support – also provides an Australian policy precedent.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/579829/original/file-20240305-20-z6gt17.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Protestors hold up a sign saying 'Housing for people not profit'" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/579829/original/file-20240305-20-z6gt17.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/579829/original/file-20240305-20-z6gt17.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=358&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/579829/original/file-20240305-20-z6gt17.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=358&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/579829/original/file-20240305-20-z6gt17.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=358&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/579829/original/file-20240305-20-z6gt17.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/579829/original/file-20240305-20-z6gt17.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/579829/original/file-20240305-20-z6gt17.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Civil unrest is building over the housing crisis.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/dublin-september-15-2021-protestors-gather-2111985701">Damien Storan, Shutterstock</a></span>
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<h2>A catalyst for change</h2>
<p>Of course, many barriers to such urban commons arrangements exist. </p>
<p>The main barrier is <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/sep/20/nsw-state-budget-labor-daniel-mookhey-social-housing">inadequate funding</a> of public housing. But as the housing crisis deepens, public housing is <a href="https://theconversation.com/labors-proposed-10-billion-social-housing-fund-isnt-big-as-it-seems-but-it-could-work-174406">attracting more funding</a> which could be applied to innovative housing models. </p>
<p>The right model of public housing could eventually be expanded toward the high levels seen in places such as Vienna and Singapore.</p>
<p>Not everyone wants to live in public housing, and there will likely always be a mix of housing tenure types. But widespread global adoption of public forms of housing could help balance the downsides of our current absolute reliance on economic growth.</p>
<p><em>Information in this article is drawn from a <a href="https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110778359-018/html">chapter</a> written by the author and others in the <a href="https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110778359/html">Handbook of Degrowth</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/203144/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alex Baumann is affiliated with the NTW project (<a href="http://www.ntwonline.weebly.com">www.ntwonline.weebly.com</a>). This project is working on a reframing of public housing policy settings – to provide an example of local collaborative development on public land. This association is voluntary and involves no financial interests. </span></em></p>This obsession with economic growth is destroying our planet. We must rethink private ownership of land – that’s where it all went wrong.Alex Baumann, Sessional Lecturer, School of Social Sciences & Psychology, Western Sydney UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2066772023-09-18T11:30:06Z2023-09-18T11:30:06ZWell behind at halftime: here’s how to get the UN Sustainable Development Goals back on track<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/548712/original/file-20230918-17-6icb2n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=21%2C3%2C1176%2C794&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://dam.media.un.org/CS.aspx?VP3=DamView&VBID=2AM94SCXBEN&FR_=1&W=1333&H=1245#/DamView&VBID=2AM94S66DGUNP&PN=1&WS=SearchResults">United Nations</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>This week <a href="https://www.un.org/en/conferences/SDGSummit2023">world leaders are gathering</a> at the United Nations (UN) headquarters in New York to review progress against the Sustainable Development Goals. We’re halfway between when the goals were set in 2015 and when they need to be met in 2030.</p>
<p>As authors of a <a href="https://sdgs.un.org/gsdr/gsdr2023">global UN report</a> on the goals, we have a message to share. Currently, the world is not on track to achieve any of the 17 goals. </p>
<p>There is much at stake. Failing to achieve the goals would mean <a href="https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/report/2023/">by the end of the decade</a>, 600 million people will be living in extreme poverty. More than 80 million children and young people will not be in school. Humanity will overshoot the Paris climate agreement’s 1.5°C “safe” guardrail on average global temperature rise. And, at the current rate, <a href="https://www.unwomen.org/en/digital-library/publications/2022/09/progress-on-the-sustainable-development-goals-the-gender-snapshot-2022">it will take 300 years</a> to attain gender equality.</p>
<p>But there is hope. With decisive action, we can shift the dial towards a fairer, more sustainable and prosperous world by 2030. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/we-modelled-4-scenarios-for-australias-future-economic-growth-alone-cant-deliver-the-goods-126823">We modelled 4 scenarios for Australia's future. Economic growth alone can't deliver the goods</a>
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<h2>What does the research say?</h2>
<p>The set of <a href="https://sdgs.un.org/goals">17 universal goals</a> agreed in 2015 to aim to end poverty, improve health and education, and reduce inequality – while tackling climate change and preserving our oceans and forests. Each of the goals are broken down into targets. </p>
<p>Every four years, the UN Secretary-General appoints an independent group of 15 international scientists to assess progress against these goals and recommend how to move forwards. We were among the authors of the latest <a href="https://sdgs.un.org/gsdr/gsdr2023">Global Sustainable Development Report</a> published late last week.</p>
<p>To provide a snapshot of progress, we reviewed 36 targets. We found only two were on track (on access to mobile networks and internet usage) and 14 showed fair progress. Twelve showed limited or no progress – including around poverty, safe drinking water and ecosystem conservation. </p>
<p>Worryingly, eight targets were assessed as still going backwards. These included reducing greenhouse-gas emissions and fossil fuel subsidies, preventing species extinction and ensuring sustainable fish stocks.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Hear from some of the scientists behind the Global Sustainable Development Report 2023.</span></figcaption>
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<h2>What is holding us back?</h2>
<p>Recent studies have identified feasible and cost-effective <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-021-01098-3">global</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-019-0409-9">national</a> pathways to accelerate progress on the goals. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, in many developing countries, insufficient financial resources and weak governance hinder progress. In other cases, existing investments in fossil fuels have generated strong resistance from powerful vested interests. Achieving some goals, such as responsible consumption and production, will also require big, unpopular changes in habits and lifestyles, which are very ingrained.</p>
<p>To accelerate progress on the goals, targets must be fully integrated by government and business at all levels into core decision making, budgeting and planning processes. We need to identify and prioritise those areas that lag furthest behind. To be effective, we also need to uncover and address the root causes of inadequate outcomes, which lie in our institutions and governance systems.</p>
<p>Accountability also remains weak. The goals are not legally binding and even though countries have expressed their support, this has often failed to translate into policy and investments. In practice, the targets are often “painted on” to existing strategies without redesigning norms and structures to deliver improved outcomes.</p>
<p>If the world is to accelerate progress on the goals, governments need to play a more active part, by setting targets, stimulating innovation, shaping markets, and regulating business. </p>
<p>We call on policymakers to develop tailored action plans to accelerate progress on the goals in the remaining years to 2030, including measures to improve accountability. </p>
<p>Scientists have a major role to play too. <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-02808-x#:%7E:text=It's%20crucial%20that%20scientists%20support,transformation%20pathways%3B%20and%20improving%20governance.">As we argued in Nature</a>, scientists can help us redesign institutions, systems and practices. By studying ways to strengthen governance and build momentum for tough but transformative reforms, research can overcome resistance to change, and manage negative side-effects. </p>
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<h2>What does it mean for Australia?</h2>
<p>Australia tends to perform poorly on the goals when compared to our peers in the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), <a href="https://dashboards.sdgindex.org/rankings">ranking 40th in the world in 2023</a>. Our best-performing goals include health and education, while <a href="https://www.sdgtransformingaustralia.com/">progress lags</a> on environmental goals, economic inequality and cost-of-living pressures. </p>
<p>While some <a href="https://www.dcceew.gov.au/environment/protection/waste/publications/national-food-waste-strategy">environment agencies</a>, <a href="https://acsi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/1ACSI-ESG-Reporting-Trends-in-the-ASX200-JUN22-.pdf">businesses</a> and <a href="https://www.melbourne.vic.gov.au/SiteCollectionDocuments/un-sustainable-goals-voluntary-local-review.pdf">local groups</a> have embraced the goals, Australia’s poor performance is symptomatic of limited traction and commitment at the centre of government. </p>
<p>Here, the goals are often seen as an international development issue rather than central to domestic <a href="https://dashboards.sdgindex.org/profiles/australia/policy-efforts">policy efforts</a>. We lack a high-level statement or any strategy or action plan for the goals. There is no lead unit or coordination mechanism in place and no reference to the goals in the federal budget. One promising development, <a href="https://www.sdgdata.gov.au/">a national Sustainable Development Goal monitoring portal</a>, hasn’t been updated in five years. </p>
<p>The best performing countries have taken concrete steps to mainstream the targets and ensure accountability:</p>
<ul>
<li><p><a href="https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/IDAN/2022/734766/IPOL_IDA(2022)734766_EN.pdf">Denmark</a> requires new government bills to be screened and assessed for their impacts on the goals </p></li>
<li><p><a href="https://stm.fi/en/-/action-plan-to-integrate-the-economy-of-wellbeing-into-decision-making-and-sustainability-assessment">Finland</a> has taken steps to place sustainable development and people’s wellbeing at the heart of policy and decision making. A sustainable development commission, annual citizens’ panel on sustainable development and national audits provide <a href="https://www.environmental-auditing.org/media/auzf4emi/wgea-wp5_sustainabledevelopementgoals_2022.pdf">increased accountability</a> </p></li>
<li><p><a href="https://www.futuregenerations.wales/about-us/future-generations-act/">Wales</a> requires public bodies to use sustainable development as a guiding principle reflecting the values and aspirations of the Welsh people.</p></li>
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<p>Australia’s first <a href="https://treasury.gov.au/sites/default/files/2023-07/measuring-what-matters-statement020230721_0.pdf">wellbeing framework</a> is an important step forward. The framework of 50 indicators has considerable overlap with the goals, despite notable exceptions such as the lack of a poverty indicator or any specific targets or benchmarks. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/australias-first-wellbeing-framework-is-about-to-measure-what-matters-but-its-harder-than-counting-gdp-209868">Australia's first wellbeing framework is about to measure what matters – but it's harder than counting GDP</a>
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<h2>Start lifting our game</h2>
<p>As we’ve learned through our own research, little will change if such promising initiatives remain box-ticking exercises that fail to reorient our societies and economies towards sustainable development. </p>
<p>To achieve real change, indicator frameworks need to be translated into timebound targets that clearly set the agreed direction and level of ambition. These targets must be embedded in the core decision-making processes of government and business.</p>
<p>Remember the goals are not a set of technical targets and indicators. They are the outcomes each of us want for our society and the world we live in. </p>
<p>While we are behind at halftime, the game is not over. It is up to us to lift our performance and turn the score around. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/climate-change-threatens-the-rights-of-children-the-un-just-outlined-the-obligations-states-have-to-protect-them-209587">Climate change threatens the rights of children. The UN just outlined the obligations states have to protect them</a>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Cameron Allen receives funding from the Australian Government. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Shirin Malekpour receives funding from the Australian Government.</span></em></p>Our research shows the world is not on track to achieve any of the Sustainable Development Goals. But with decisive action, we can still achieve a fairer, more sustainable and prosperous future.Cameron Allen, Research Fellow, Monash UniversityShirin Malekpour, Associate Professor in Sustainable Development Governance, Monash UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1951882022-12-20T20:13:16Z2022-12-20T20:13:16ZCOP15’s Global Biodiversity Framework must advance Indigenous-led conservation to halt biodiversity loss by 2030<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/502047/original/file-20221220-14-yqs7ym.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C2968%2C3777%2C2172&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity adopted their new post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework on Dec.19, 2022.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Paul Chiasson</span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/cop15-s-global-biodiversity-framework-must-advance-indigenous-led-conservation-to-halt-biodiversity-loss-by-2030" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>In the early hours of Dec. 19 — the last day of the 15th Conference of the Parties (COP15) conference in Montréal — the Parties to the <a href="https://www.cbd.int/">Convention on Biological Diversity</a> (CBD) adopted their new <a href="https://www.cbd.int/doc/c/e6d3/cd1d/daf663719a03902a9b116c34/cop-15-l-25-en.pdf">post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework</a>. </p>
<p>The goals and targets agreed within this framework, including the widely discussed Target 3, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1162/GLEP_a_00239">will guide conservation policy and investment for years to come</a>. Target 3 — also known as the 30x30 target — calls for the conservation of 30 per cent of global land and sea areas by 2030. </p>
<p>The CBD has long promoted the creation of protected areas (parks) for the protection of both <a href="https://doi.org/10.4103/0972-4923.138421">terrestrial</a> and marine environments. The 30x30 target is a significant increase from the Aichi targets, set during the COP10 conference in Aichi Prefecture, Japan, which called for <a href="https://www.cbd.int/sp/targets/">17 per cent terrestrial and 10 per cent marine areas</a> to be protected by 2020.</p>
<p>As researchers who study conservation governance, we have closely followed the four years of negotiations that led to this historic agreement. We believe that as protected and conserved areas increase under the framework, an <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/eet.2027">equity-based approach</a>, which respects Indigenous rights and title, is essential to help bring the transformative changes we need to halt and reverse biodiversity loss. </p>
<h2>Challenges of 30x30</h2>
<p>In 2019, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aaw2869">scientists called for a global deal for nature to save biodiversity</a>, including a minimum of 30 per cent of Earth to be formally protected. The <a href="https://www.hacfornatureandpeople.org/home">High Ambition Coalition</a> — a group of more than 100 countries including Canada — has advocated for the 30x30 target since its launch in January 2021. </p>
<p>Such area-based targets, however, raise concerns. Protected areas have <a href="https://doi.org/10.3390/land9030065">perpetuated colonial ideologies</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2020.104923">violated Indigenous rights</a>. </p>
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<p>Some international organizations, like <a href="https://survivalinternational.org/campaigns/biggreenlie">Survival International</a>, campaigned against 30x30, fearing that it would lead to further land grabs, human rights violations and dispossession of Indigenous Peoples globally, such as <a href="https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2022/06/23/in-tanzania-the-maasai-are-evicted-from-their-land-in-the-name-of-wildlife-protection-and-tourism_5987719_4.html">the recent eviction of the Maasai from the Ngorongoro Nature Reserve in Tanzania</a>. </p>
<p>At COP15, many countries insisted that the ambitious 30x30 target must be matched by similarly ambitious funding. The Democratic Republic of the Congo <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/dec/19/we-didnt-accept-it-drc-minister-laments-forcing-through-of-cop15-deal-aoe?CMP=share_btn_tw">initially rejected the framework on Monday</a>, arguing that promised financial transfers from developed to developing countries were still insufficient. Although <a href="https://enb.iisd.org/un-biodiversity-conference-oewg5-cbd-cop15-19Dec2022">Congo later agreed to the framework</a>, the tension during the meeting was high. The delegate from Namibia summarized it saying colonial injustice underlies all problems encountered in the CBD.</p>
<p>These concerns — regarding colonialism, global injustice and human rights violations — informed the negotiations of the Framework at COP15. </p>
<p>One sticking point was whether Indigenous and traditional territories should be included in Target 3 as a distinct category of conservation, separate from protected areas. The <a href="https://iifb-indigenous.org/2022/12/18/iifb-statement-plenary-171222/">International Indigenous Forum on Biodiversity</a> argued that incorporating Indigenous and traditional territories into existing conservation policies, like government-led protected areas, undermines Indigenous self-determination. </p>
<p>Ultimately, the <a href="https://www.cbd.int/doc/c/e6d3/cd1d/daf663719a03902a9b116c34/cop-15-l-25-en.pdf">final framework</a> fell short of recognizing Indigenous territories as a distinct category of protection. </p>
<p>Some organizations are concerned this will put Indigenous Peoples at <a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2022/12/biodiversity-cop15-biodiversity-deal-a-missed-opportunity-to-protect-indigenous-peoples-rights/">greater risk of human rights violations</a>, while others welcomed the <a href="https://iifb-indigenous.org/2022/12/19/indigenous-peoples-and-local-communities-celebrate-cop15-deal-on-nature-and-welcome-the-opportunity-of-working-together-with-states-to-implement-the-framework/">strong language in the framework</a> regarding respect for the rights of Indigenous Peoples and local communities. </p>
<h2>Canada’s role in 30x30</h2>
<p>Despite the concerns raised, the Global Biodiversity Framework creates opportunities to further Indigenous-led conservation. For example, following <a href="https://www.iucn.org/news/protected-areas/201911/iucn-publishes-new-guidance-recognising-reporting-and-supporting-other-effective-area-based-conservation-measures">international guidelines</a>, the creation and management of Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas (IPCAs) can count towards the 30 per cent target. </p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas are Indigenous-led, represent a long-term commitment to conservation and elevate Indigenous rights and responsibilities.</span></figcaption>
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<p>According to the <a href="https://publications.gc.ca/collections/collection_2018/pc/R62-548-2018-eng.pdf">Indigenous Circle of Experts,</a> IPCAs are Indigenous-led, represent a long-term commitment to conservation and elevate Indigenous rights and responsibilities.</p>
<p>In Canada, there is growing recognition of <a href="https://doi.org/10.3390/land8010010">the role of IPCAs in meeting conservation goals while also supporting reconciliation efforts</a>. In August 2021, for example, the Government of Canada <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/environment-climate-change/news/2021/08/government-of-canada-announces-340-million-to-support-indigenous-led-conservation.html">announced an investment of up to $340 million</a> in new funding over five years to support Indigenous leadership in nature conservation. Over $166 million of this will be dedicated to supporting IPCAs. </p>
<p>During the opening ceremony of COP15, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced funding of up to <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/indigenous-conservation-protetion-cree-inuit-firstnations-1.6677350">$800 million to support Indigenous-led conservation initiatives over seven years</a>. Later in the summit, Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Steven Guilbeault, <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/environment-climate-change/news/2022/12/introducing-the-new-first-nations-guardians-network.html">jointly announced</a> a new First Nations National Guardians Network with Valérie Courtois, the Director of <a href="https://www.ilinationhood.ca/">the Indigenous Leadership Initiative</a>. </p>
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<img alt="A man in a suit at a podium" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/502062/original/file-20221220-18-87nitv.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/502062/original/file-20221220-18-87nitv.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=380&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502062/original/file-20221220-18-87nitv.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=380&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502062/original/file-20221220-18-87nitv.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=380&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502062/original/file-20221220-18-87nitv.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=477&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502062/original/file-20221220-18-87nitv.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=477&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502062/original/file-20221220-18-87nitv.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=477&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Prime Minister Trudeau announced funding of up to $800 million to support Indigenous-led conservation initiatives over seven years during the opening ceremony of COP15 on Dec. 6, 2022.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Paul Chiasson</span></span>
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<p>The federal, provincial, territorial and Indigenous governments have also announced work towards establishing new IPCAs, <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/parks-canada/news/2022/12/governments-of-canada-and-manitoba-and-four-first-nations-zero-in-on-a-new-indigenous-protected-area-in-one-of-the-worlds-largest-ecologically-inta.html">including one in the Seal River Watershed in Manitoba</a> and another one around <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/environment-climate-change/news/2022/12/important-first-step-taken-to-establish-new-indigenous-protected-and-conserved-area-around-great-bear-lake.html">Great Bear Lake (Tsá Tué) in the Northwest Territories</a>. </p>
<p>These investments demonstrate a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-018-0100-6">growing recognition</a> that Indigenous-led stewardship has equal or better conservation outcomes than government-led conservation efforts. It also shows <a href="https://theconversation.com/protecting-not-so-wild-places-helps-biodiversity-109168">the need for innovative forms of conservation governance</a> beyond traditional protected areas. IPCAs present an <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-021-02041-4">important opportunity</a> for transformative change, where Indigenous Peoples’ rights and responsibilities are upheld, rather than undermined, while working toward global conservation goals.</p>
<h2>Beyond COP15</h2>
<p>In response to the CBD’s previous Aichi targets, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020-2773-z">the percentage of the Earth’s surface covered by protected areas increased from 14.1 to 15.3 per cent on land and from 2.9 to 7.5 per cent in the marine environment</a> between 2010 and 2019. The implementation of Target 3 could increase protected area coverage much further in the coming years.</p>
<p>According to COP15’s final agreement, the implementation of the Framework must follow a human rights-based approach, acknowledging the human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment <a href="https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/3983329?ln=en">as recognized by the UN</a>. </p>
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<p>Here in Canada, the federal government only <a href="https://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/declaration/index.html">recently passed</a> the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) Act, which recognizes and legally upholds the rights of Indigenous Peoples. The outcome of COP15, therefore, coincides with the national implementation of UNDRIP, informing the role that Indigenous rights will play in Canada’s conservation agenda.</p>
<p>Canada cannot meet its global commitments without <a href="https://thenarwhal.ca/cop15-indigenous-led-conservation/">centring Indigenous leadership</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/cop15-biodiversity-summit-in-montreal-canada-failed-to-meet-its-2020-conservation-targets-will-2030-be-any-better-195347">working in collaboration with Indigenous peoples</a>. </p>
<p>This can be achieved by following the recommendations of the Indigenous Circle of Experts to provide continued — and increased — support for Indigenous-led conservation initiatives, like IPCAs. Supporting Indigenous-led conservation can help improve biodiversity outcomes while upholding our responsibility to human rights and reconciliation.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/195188/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Noella Gray receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC).</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Victoria Hodson receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC). </span></em></p>As protected and conserved areas increase, an equity-based approach that respects Indigenous rights can help bring the transformative changes we need to halt and reverse biodiversity loss.Noella Gray, Associate Professor of Geography, University of GuelphVictoria Hodson, PhD Student, University of GuelphLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1372562020-05-04T00:18:09Z2020-05-04T00:18:09ZThe coronavirus survival challenge for NZ tourism: affordability and sustainability<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/331897/original/file-20200501-42903-spwc8z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C6%2C4132%2C2738&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Until a trans-Tasman travel bubble is <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-05-04/trans-tasman-bubble-coronavirus-what-might-happen-next/12212580">established</a>, there is little doubt the New Zealand tourism industry will <a href="https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/413845/covid-19-domestic-travellers-eyed-to-keep-tourism-sector-viable-after-lockdown">rely entirely</a> on domestic travel post-COVID-19. </p>
<p>Without underplaying the impact the pandemic will have on discretionary spending in both countries, however, there may be a silver lining to the crisis. </p>
<p>New Zealand is in the fortunate position of having an <a href="https://tia.org.nz/about-the-industry/quick-facts-and-figures/">already strong</a> domestic tourism sector. Domestic tourists spent NZ$23.7 billion annually (or NZ$65 million a day) pre-COVID-19, compared to a total spend of NZ$12.7 billion (or NZ$47 million a day) by international visitors. <a href="https://openrepository.aut.ac.nz/handle/10292/11857">Research</a> pre-COVID-19 showed 65% of New Zealanders wanted to explore more of their country, a figure expected to increase.</p>
<p>True, New Zealanders generally don’t have the deep pockets international tourists have. Their higher overall spend is a reflection of their numbers, not their bank balances. But with the big ticket tourist attractions now missing the bigger spenders, the market will rule.</p>
<p>Regional tourism organisations, attractions and operators may need to rethink their offerings and their pricing. While tramping the <a href="https://www.doc.govt.nz/parks-and-recreation/things-to-do/walking-and-tramping/great-walks/">great walks</a> may be perfectly affordable for a family of four, taking the family on a whale watch, a bungy jump or a cruise on Milford Sound may not be – especially as parts of one big holiday. Indeed, it has been found that <a href="https://openrepository.aut.ac.nz/handle/10292/11857">price</a> is the major decision-making factor for 30% of New Zealanders when it comes to holidays.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/were-in-the-era-of-overtourism-but-there-is-a-more-sustainable-way-forward-108906">We're in the era of overtourism but there is a more sustainable way forward</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>So this is also an opportunity to give New Zealanders back a piece of the summer pie – not only for the COVID-19 recovery but in the longer term. Summers have tended to be characterised by a large influx of international tourists, with Kiwis settling for shoulder seasons (and unfavourable weather) to tramp the famous tracks when they are <a href="https://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/99088942/tourists-outnumber-new-zealanders-on-the-great-walks--and-the-gaps-growing">less crowded</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/331898/original/file-20200501-42929-8lze50.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/331898/original/file-20200501-42929-8lze50.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=385&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/331898/original/file-20200501-42929-8lze50.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=385&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/331898/original/file-20200501-42929-8lze50.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=385&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/331898/original/file-20200501-42929-8lze50.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=483&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/331898/original/file-20200501-42929-8lze50.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=483&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/331898/original/file-20200501-42929-8lze50.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=483&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Attractions such as the famous Shotover Jet near Queenstown may have to adjust costs to suit Kiwi pockets.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">www.shutterstock.com</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But domestic tourists who have grown accustomed to off-peak holidays away from high-cost destinations will soon tip the scales. Now is the time for operators to win back their hearts.</p>
<p>With New Zealand’s gradual easing of its strict lockdown (possibly to the stage of allowing non-essential travel by mid-May), tourism can clearly support the economic revival of local communities. The challenge is how to reinvent New Zealand tourism as an initially purely domestic industry.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/this-could-be-the-end-of-the-line-for-cruise-ships-135937">This could be the end of the line for cruise ships</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Overall, only a handful of New Zealand destinations have depended entirely on international tourists. These also happen to be the places most heavily associated with overtourism in the past. Given that the <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14616688.2020.1759131">growth model</a> driven by short-term, dollars-first business thinking has led to an <a href="https://www.noted.co.nz/money/money-economy/nz-tourists-should-we-limit-number-visitors">unsustainable</a> tourism market, might this also be a chance to restore some equilibrium?</p>
<p>That will mean no more killing the goose that lays the <a href="https://www.pce.parliament.nz/publications/pristine-popular-imperilled-the-environmental-consequences-of-projected-tourism-growth">golden egg</a>. Some hotspots, such as the <a href="https://www.tongarirocrossing.org.nz/">Tongariro Alpine Crossing</a> and <a href="https://www.thecoromandel.com/activities/must-do/hot-water-beach/">Coromandel’s Hot Water Beach</a> may be managed by restricting visitor numbers. </p>
<p>Such strategies have long been in place in other places, such as the <a href="https://www.doc.govt.nz/parks-and-recreation/places-to-go/fiordland/places/fiordland-national-park/things-to-do/tracks/milford-track/">booking requirement</a> for the Milford Track. We have also seen tremendous problems associated with too many cruise ships in too small places. Akaroa is a prime example, and limiting both the number of visits and the size of vessels may be a feasible <a href="https://www.radionz.co.nz/audio/player?audio_id=2018685520">future strategy</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/331899/original/file-20200501-42929-1nm13fy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/331899/original/file-20200501-42929-1nm13fy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/331899/original/file-20200501-42929-1nm13fy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/331899/original/file-20200501-42929-1nm13fy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/331899/original/file-20200501-42929-1nm13fy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=498&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/331899/original/file-20200501-42929-1nm13fy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=498&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/331899/original/file-20200501-42929-1nm13fy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=498&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A cruise liner arrives at tiny Akaroa in the South Island: limiting the number of visits to small centres has already been proposed.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">www.shutterstock.com</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As part of our own research (yet to be published) into the pressing issues of overtourism we conducted interviews with various tourism stakeholders around New Zealand, including city and regional councils, the Department of Conservation, residents and operators. This took place just before New Zealand’s strictest lockdown level was imposed, without any real foreknowledge of the eventual economic impact of COVID-19. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-end-of-global-travel-as-we-know-it-an-opportunity-for-sustainable-tourism-133783">The end of global travel as we know it: an opportunity for sustainable tourism</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Nonetheless, our interviewees shared very similar sentiments when it came to how the industry can evolve sustainably only if New Zealanders themselves embrace the behaviours they expect (and sometimes demand) of foreign tourists. According to our subjects, too many Kiwis still hold on to a past when the country’s population was half its current size and SUVs and large motorhomes didn’t crowd the roads and parking lots.</p>
<p>Initiatives such as the <a href="https://tiakinewzealand.com/">Tiaki Promise</a>, which promote environmental and cultural sensitivity to tourists, have largely targeted international visitors. These now need to turn the lens inwards so that Kiwis become better ambassadors within their own backyard.</p>
<p>Kiwis love their country, but they will now need to truly discover what it has to offer, not only for a weekend of tramping or a quick getaway, but for their main summer holiday. And they will have to become better kaitiaki (or guardians) of their homeland in the process.</p>
<p>The absence of international tourists will be a huge challenge, but also an opportunity. If we get it right, when those foreign visitors are allowed to return (most likely at first from Australia) we will have found ways to grow – or limit – their numbers and their expectations so that our tourism industry can thrive as well as survive.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/137256/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The international tourism crisis offers New Zealand the opportunity to reimagine domestic tourism - if operators and consumers can adapt.Sabrina Seeler, Postdoctoral Researcher, Nord UniversityMichael Lueck, Professor of Tourism, Auckland University of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1216822019-08-13T22:17:19Z2019-08-13T22:17:19ZSwampScapes: A virtual reality field trip through South Florida’s Everglades<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/287572/original/file-20190809-144855-bmrg2m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=50%2C25%2C5611%2C3704&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Betty Osceola, a Miccosukee educator and water activist who runs her own airboat business, is one narrative guide into the Everglades in SwampScapes. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Grant Bemis)</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Before cities there were swamps. Wetlands and swamps globally have been sacrificed to pave the way for housing, agriculture and industry. Urban developers and dwellers have largely overlooked the <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-the-world-needs-now-to-fight-climate-change-more-swamps-99198">vital role that swamps play in buffering storms, capturing carbon, fostering life and filtering water</a>.</p>
<p>One of the biggest threats to swamps today is a lack of understanding of swamps’ role in human survival. This is especially true in South Florida, home to the Everglades, one of the largest swamps in North America, and the <a href="https://www.nps.gov/ever/learn/nature/cerp.htm">site of a huge and expensive wetland restoration project</a>. </p>
<p>In a time of climate emergency, it is especially important to listen and learn from the swamps around us. But what if you don’t live near a swamp? </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/287611/original/file-20190811-144862-621pcd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/287611/original/file-20190811-144862-621pcd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=525&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287611/original/file-20190811-144862-621pcd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=525&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287611/original/file-20190811-144862-621pcd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=525&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287611/original/file-20190811-144862-621pcd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=660&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287611/original/file-20190811-144862-621pcd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=660&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287611/original/file-20190811-144862-621pcd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=660&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Florida butterfly orchid found in the Everglades.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Rita Bauer)</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>I spent a semester as the visiting Knight Chair at the <a href="https://com.miami.edu/center-for-ccc">Center for Communication, Culture and Change at the University of Miami</a>, teaching a production course in interactive documentary and the Everglades. As a filmmaker and teacher who is invested in participatory processes, my goal was to explore media methods to promote what I’ve come to think of as swamp literacy. </p>
<p>Over several months, I worked in collaboration with university students, community organizations, biologists and co-directors Kim Grinfeder and Juan Carlos Zaldivar. We developed <a href="http://swampscapes.org">SwampScapes,</a> a multi-platform documentary that involved a 13-minute <a href="https://vimeo.com/316306541">Virtual Reality (VR) film</a>, a <a href="http://www.swampscapes.org/swamp-symphony">Swamp Symphony</a>, and a <a href="http://www.swampscapes.org/dist/guide.pdf">study guide</a>. For those who could not access the VR film, we shot video <a href="http://www.swampscapes.org/guides">portraits</a> that can be viewed online. </p>
<p>We were curious to explore how we could use <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2013.07.033">VR to cultivate care about a site</a> that is inaccessible to most people. Our idea was to create a virtual field trip for youth with no means or interest in wading through a swamp.</p>
<figure>
<iframe src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/316306541" width="500" height="281" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen="" mozallowfullscreen="" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">SwampScapes VR film trailer. The 13-minute VR film can be experienced with an Oculus Go headset.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Part of the appeal of the virtual field trip was to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2017.05.060">mitigate the impact of visitors on the ecosystems we were trying to protect</a>. We wanted to <a href="https://thetilt.org/democratizingvr-c13c29711ea2">democratize VR</a> by creating stories informed by environmental justice and participatory methods. </p>
<h2>Shared input</h2>
<p>A central challenge guiding the project was how we might make the process as meaningful as the final product. </p>
<p>We were inspired by activist David Bollier’s articulation of <a href="https://thenextsystem.org/commoning-as-a-transformative-social-paradigm">“commoning”</a> as a method where people foster social connections with each other and with nature to challenge the competitive logic of the market economy and its focus on resource extraction. His analysis draws on ideas about protecting and interacting with <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781316423936">resources that people depend on and share in common</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/287573/original/file-20190809-144847-1yl4v15.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/287573/original/file-20190809-144847-1yl4v15.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287573/original/file-20190809-144847-1yl4v15.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287573/original/file-20190809-144847-1yl4v15.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287573/original/file-20190809-144847-1yl4v15.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287573/original/file-20190809-144847-1yl4v15.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287573/original/file-20190809-144847-1yl4v15.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Liz Miller and graduate student Evan Karge in Fakahatchee Strand Preserve State Park.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Grant Bemis)</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Media scholars Patricia Zimmerman and Helen De Michiel describe participatory documentaries as an open space where <a href="https://www.crcpress.com/Open-Space-New-Media-Documentary-A-Toolkit-for-Theory-and-Practice/Michiel-Zimmerman/p/book/9781138720978">diverse forms of engagement can emerge to expand the public commons</a>.</p>
<p>To start our own <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11266-018-0006-y">process of media commoning</a>, I asked students to identify a personal goal, skills they might contribute and their hopes for impact. </p>
<p>This simple exercise helped to establish that the project would be shaped by our shared input, the people we met in the field and the research we developed as a group. </p>
<p>Kyle Powys Whyte and Matt Ferkany, professors of philosophy and education at Michigan State University, advocate for the need to integrate <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1761029">participatory virtues</a> such as fairness, empathy, humility or compromise into environmental education. I wanted my students to gain experience in collaborative problem solving and negotiating differences. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/287614/original/file-20190811-144843-1rn8cfy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/287614/original/file-20190811-144843-1rn8cfy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=304&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287614/original/file-20190811-144843-1rn8cfy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=304&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287614/original/file-20190811-144843-1rn8cfy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=304&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287614/original/file-20190811-144843-1rn8cfy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=382&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287614/original/file-20190811-144843-1rn8cfy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=382&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287614/original/file-20190811-144843-1rn8cfy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=382&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Our team filming biologist and guide Mike Owen in Fakahatchee Strand Preserve State Park.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Rita Bauer)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>‘Shimmering waters’</h2>
<p>Environmental justice speaks to the power imbalances in environmental struggles. It’s a framework that encourages people to think through critical questions like: “Whose perspectives are included in a media project?” </p>
<p>Anishinaabe scholar Deborah McGregor suggests that in addition to considering power imbalances between people, we must also rethink our <a href="https://www.ubcpress.ca/speaking-for-ourselves">relationships to other beings</a>. In a VR film, place itself becomes a lead protagonist, so our challenge was to limit human narration and to let users experience the place’s presence. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/287610/original/file-20190811-144843-d9qssv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/287610/original/file-20190811-144843-d9qssv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=283&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287610/original/file-20190811-144843-d9qssv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=283&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287610/original/file-20190811-144843-d9qssv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=283&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287610/original/file-20190811-144843-d9qssv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=356&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287610/original/file-20190811-144843-d9qssv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=356&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287610/original/file-20190811-144843-d9qssv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=356&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In SwampScapes, local fisherman Larry Pace describes how he respectfully shares his fishing hole with a resident alligator, explaining, ‘this is <em>his</em> territory.’</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Rita Bauer)</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We wanted to ensure that if we were hosting a virtual field trip or teleporting visitors to a fragile, sacred or faraway place, that we were careful about how a user entered the space. </p>
<p>We relied on the concept of guides, people with deep relationships to the place, to situate the user in a respectful way. Seven guides worked with us including algae specialist Larry Brand, raptor biologist Donna Molfetto, and Miccosukee educator and water activist Betty Osceola.</p>
<p>Betty explained:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“It’s important to me to help people who visit the Everglades to understand and connect with the Everglades, but also to understand my culture.” </p>
</blockquote>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/287613/original/file-20190811-144847-1gae7ng.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/287613/original/file-20190811-144847-1gae7ng.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287613/original/file-20190811-144847-1gae7ng.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287613/original/file-20190811-144847-1gae7ng.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287613/original/file-20190811-144847-1gae7ng.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287613/original/file-20190811-144847-1gae7ng.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287613/original/file-20190811-144847-1gae7ng.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Betty Osceola shared that the Miccosukee people call the Everglades <em>Kahayatle</em>, meaning shimmering waters.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Grant Bemis)</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>From audience to community</h2>
<p>Throughout the process, we tried to be self-reflexive about the intended and unintended impacts our project might have. By developing a virtual field trip to cultivate swamp awareness were we inadvertently encouraging students to be more interested in screens rather than getting outside to explore local landscapes? </p>
<p>Virtual field trips aren’t a replacement for outdoor education and technology alone does not help to cultivate care. While VR documentary projects have potential for education they can also be associated with new forms of consumerism, spectacle or electronic waste. Acknowledging entanglements is a necessary part of critical media literacy. </p>
<p>Our SwampScapes project is taking a new direction as we begin outreach. </p>
<p>We have shared our project with 85 Grade 8 students in Miami as part of their biology curriculum and we hope to reach more students.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/287695/original/file-20190812-71940-eszmr6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/287695/original/file-20190812-71940-eszmr6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=352&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287695/original/file-20190812-71940-eszmr6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=352&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287695/original/file-20190812-71940-eszmr6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=352&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287695/original/file-20190812-71940-eszmr6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=443&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287695/original/file-20190812-71940-eszmr6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=443&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287695/original/file-20190812-71940-eszmr6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=443&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Students at Carver Middle School in Miami watch SwampScapes VR film on Oculus Go headsets.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Konstantia Kontaxis)</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This summer we attended the <a href="https://docsociety.org/climate-story-lab/">Climate Story Lab</a>, a workshop where producers of environmental media and climate change experts explored how to transform audiences into communities to foster climate awareness. </p>
<p>We not only want to cultivate care about swamps — we also want to build our capacity for collaborative education.</p>
<p>[ <em>Like what you’ve read? Want more?</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/ca/newsletters?utm_source=TCCA&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=likethis">Sign up for The Conversation’s daily newsletter</a>. ]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/121682/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Elizabeth (Liz) Miller as a Knight Chair received funding from the Knight Foundation to carry out this research project.</span></em></p>A filmmaker, her students and community partners create a multi-platform documentary and study guide to teach swamp literacy and care through a trip into the Everglades.Elizabeth (Liz) Miller, Professor in Communication Studies, Concordia UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1164612019-05-14T12:46:41Z2019-05-14T12:46:41ZGlass skyscrapers: a great environmental folly that could have been avoided<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/274348/original/file-20190514-60549-11ssax8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4047%2C2730&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">New York restricts the growth of glass skyscrapers. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/panorama-midtown-manhattan-lower-dusk-blue-1334754314?src=B-eWnk4HzPFyiMtqvH7rzg-9-99">Shutterstock.</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>New York Mayor Bill de Blasio <a href="https://nypost.com/2019/04/22/de-blasio-glass-skyscrapers-have-no-place-on-our-earth/">has declared</a> that skyscrapers made of glass and steel “have no place in our city or our Earth anymore”. He argued that their energy inefficient design contributes to global warming and insisted that his administration would <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/25/nyregion/glass-skyscraper-ban-nyc.html">restrict glassy high-rise developments</a> in the city.</p>
<p>Glass has always been an unlikely material for large buildings, because of how difficult it becomes to control temperature and glare indoors. In fact, the use of fully glazed exteriors only became possible with advances in air conditioning technology and access to cheap and abundant energy, which came about in the mid-20th century. And <a href="https://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/2017/jun/high-rise-buildings-much-more-energy-intensive-low-rise">studies suggest</a> that on average, carbon emissions from air conditioned offices are 60% higher than those from offices with natural or mechanical ventilation.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/a-short-history-of-tall-buildings-the-making-of-the-modern-skyscraper-56850">A short history of tall buildings: the making of the modern skyscraper</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>As part of <a href="https://idiscover.lib.cam.ac.uk/primo-explore/fulldisplay?docid=44CAM_ALMA21432539350003606&context=L&vid=44CAM_PROD&lang=en_US&search_scope=SCOP_CAM_ALL&adaptor=Local%20Search%20Engine&tab=cam_lib_coll&query=any,contains,Schoenefeldt&sortby=rank&offset=0">my research</a> into sustainable architecture, I have examined the use of glass in buildings throughout history. Above all, one thing is clear: if architects had paid more attention to the difficulties of building with glass, the great environmental damage wrought by modern glass skyscrapers could have been avoided. </p>
<h2>Heat and glare</h2>
<p>The United Nations Secretariat in New York, constructed between 1947 and 1952, was the earliest example of a fully air conditioned tower with a glass curtain wall – followed shortly afterwards by Lever House on Park Avenue. Air conditioning enabled the classic glass skyscraper to become a model for high rise office developments in cities across the world – even hot places such as Dubai and Sydney.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/274313/original/file-20190514-60563-1nnulay.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/274313/original/file-20190514-60563-1nnulay.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/274313/original/file-20190514-60563-1nnulay.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/274313/original/file-20190514-60563-1nnulay.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/274313/original/file-20190514-60563-1nnulay.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/274313/original/file-20190514-60563-1nnulay.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/274313/original/file-20190514-60563-1nnulay.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/274313/original/file-20190514-60563-1nnulay.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The UN Secretariat building.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/un_photo/8250223333/sizes/l">United Nations Photo/Flickr.</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Yet as far back as the 19th century, horticulturists in Europe intimately understood how difficult it is to keep the temperature stable inside glass structures – the massive hot houses they built to host their collections. They wanted to maintain the hot environment needed to sustain exotic plants, and devised a large repertoire of technical solutions to do so. </p>
<p>Early central heating systems, which made use of steam or hot water, helped to keep the indoor atmosphere hot and humid. Glass was covered with insulation overnight to keep the warmth in, or used only on the south side together with better insulated walls, to take in and hold heat from the midday sun. </p>
<h2>The Crystal Palace</h2>
<p>When glass structures were transformed into spaces for human habitation, the new challenge was to keep the interior sufficiently cool. Preventing overheating in glass buildings has proven enormously difficult – even in Britain’s temperate climate. The Crystal Palace in Hyde Park – a temporary pavilion built to house the Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations in 1851 – was <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/S0066622X00004068">a case in point</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/273827/original/file-20190510-183100-ocgn5h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/273827/original/file-20190510-183100-ocgn5h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/273827/original/file-20190510-183100-ocgn5h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=310&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/273827/original/file-20190510-183100-ocgn5h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=310&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/273827/original/file-20190510-183100-ocgn5h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=310&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/273827/original/file-20190510-183100-ocgn5h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=389&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/273827/original/file-20190510-183100-ocgn5h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=389&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/273827/original/file-20190510-183100-ocgn5h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=389&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Painting of Queen Victoria opening the Crystal Palace in London, 1851.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Thomas_Abel_Prior_-_Queen_Victoria_opening_the_1851_Universal_Exhibition,_at_the_Crystal_Palace_in_London_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg">Thomas Abel Prior/Wikimedia Commons.</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The Crystal Palace was the first large-scale example of a glass structure designed specifically for use by people. It was designed by Joseph Paxton, chief gardener at the Duke of Devonshire’s Chatsworth Estate, drawing on his experience constructing timber-framed glasshouses. </p>
<p>Though recognised as a risky idea at the time, organisers decided to host the exhibition inside a giant glasshouse in the absence of a more practical alternative. Because of its modular construction and prefabricated parts, the Crystal Palace <a href="https://doi.org/10.1680/ehah.11.00020">could be put together</a> in under ten months – perfect for the organisers’ tight deadline.</p>
<p>To address concerns about overheating and exposing the exhibits to too much sunlight, Paxton adopted some of the few <a href="https://doi.org/10.1680/ehah.11.00020">cooling methods</a> available at the time: shading, natural ventilation and eventually removing some sections of glass altogether. Several hundred large louvres were positioned inside the wall of the building, which had to be adjusted manually by attendants several times a day.</p>
<p>Despite these precautions, overheating became a major issue over the summer of 1851, and was the subject of frequent commentaries in the daily newspapers. An <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/S1359135508001218">analysis of data recorded</a> inside the Crystal Palace between May and October 1851 shows that the indoor temperature was extremely unstable. The building accentuated – rather than reduced – peak summer temperatures. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/274315/original/file-20190514-60554-1xrm6xg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/274315/original/file-20190514-60554-1xrm6xg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/274315/original/file-20190514-60554-1xrm6xg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=431&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/274315/original/file-20190514-60554-1xrm6xg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=431&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/274315/original/file-20190514-60554-1xrm6xg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=431&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/274315/original/file-20190514-60554-1xrm6xg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=541&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/274315/original/file-20190514-60554-1xrm6xg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=541&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/274315/original/file-20190514-60554-1xrm6xg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=541&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A timeline of the temperature in the Crystal Palace, May to October, 1851.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://doi.org/10.1017/S1359135508001218">Henrik Schoenefeldt.</a>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>These challenges forced the organisers to temporarily remove large sections of glazing. This procedure was repeated several times before parts of the glazing were permanently replaced with canvas curtains, which could be opened and closed depending on how hot the sun was. When the Crystal Palace was re-erected as a popular leisure park on the outskirts of London, these issues persisted - despite changes to the design which were intended to improve ventilation.</p>
<h2>Chicago glass</h2>
<p>These difficulties did not perturb developers in Chicago from building the first generation of highly glazed office buildings during the 1880s and 1890s. Famous developments by influential architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, such as the Crown Hall (1950-56) or the Lakeshore Drive Apartments (1949), were also designed without air conditioning. Instead, these structures relied mainly on natural ventilation and shading to moderate indoor temperatures in summer.</p>
<p>In the Crown Hall, each bay of the glass wall is equipped with iron flaps, which students and staff of the IIT School of Architecture had to manually adjust to create cross-ventilation. Blinds could also be drawn to prevent glare and reduce heat gains. Yet these methods could not achieve modern standards of comfort. This building, and many others with similar features, were eventually retrofitted with air conditioning. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/274316/original/file-20190514-60541-xwskac.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/274316/original/file-20190514-60541-xwskac.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/274316/original/file-20190514-60541-xwskac.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/274316/original/file-20190514-60541-xwskac.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/274316/original/file-20190514-60541-xwskac.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/274316/original/file-20190514-60541-xwskac.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/274316/original/file-20190514-60541-xwskac.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/274316/original/file-20190514-60541-xwskac.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Chicago’s Crown Hall.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/yusunkwon/439825014/sizes/o/">yusunkwon/Flickr.</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Yet it’s worth noting that early examples of glass architecture were not intended to provide airtight, climate controlled spaces. Architects <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/S0066622X00004068">had to accept</a> that the indoor temperature would change according to the weather outside, and the people who used the buildings were careful to dress appropriately for the season. In some ways, these environments had more in common with the covered arcades and markets of the Victorian era, than the glass skyscrapers of the 21st century.</p>
<h2>Becoming climate conscious</h2>
<p>The reality is that the obvious shortcomings of glass buildings rarely received the attention they warranted. Some <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/American_Building.html?id=r_1PAAAAMAAJ&redir_esc=y">early critics</a> raised objections. Perhaps the most outspoken was Swiss architect Le Corbusier, who in the late 1940s launched an attack on the design of the UN Secretariat, arguing that its large and unprotected glass surfaces were unsuitable for the climate of New York. </p>
<p>But all too often, historians and architects have focused on the aesthetic qualities of glass architecture. The Crystal Palace, in particular, <a href="https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/13644/pioneers-of-modern-design/9780141932323.html">was portrayed</a> as a pristine icon of an emerging architecture of glass and iron. Yet in reality, much of the glass was covered with canvas to block out intense sunlight and heat. Similarly, the smooth glass facades of Chicago’s early glass towers were broken by opened windows and blinds.</p>
<p>There’s an an urgent need to take a fresh look at urban architecture, with a sense of environmental realism. If de Blasio’s plea for a more climate conscious architecture is to materialise, future architects and engineers must be equipped with an intimate knowledge of materials – especially glass – no less developed than that held by 19th century gardeners.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/116461/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Henrik Schoenefeldt does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Glass has always been a notoriously energy inefficient building material – but an obsession with aesthetics led architects to ignore its shortcomings.Henrik Schoenefeldt, Senior Lecturer (US: Associate Professor) in Sustainable Architecture, University of KentLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/767712018-08-13T10:22:07Z2018-08-13T10:22:07ZWalmart tried to make sustainability affordable. Here’s what happened<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/231517/original/file-20180810-2894-1eljuak.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Can Walmart go green while maintaining its commitment to low prices?</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Tom Uhlman</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>What a difference the birth of a granddaughter can make. </p>
<p>For Lee Scott, who ran Walmart from 2000 to 2009, the arrival of his granddaughter not only <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=NZWrBAAAQBAJ&pg=PT32&lpg=PT32&dq=lee+scott+walmart+sustainability+%22granddaughter%22+born&source=bl&ots=v0C2lpjRxW&sig=w0DDA9Vqi8haEptJfVu8-oNYOuA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiG09Si3r_cAhVD6lMKHXHeAscQ6AEwDHoECAMQAQ#v=onepage&q=lee%20scott%20walmart%20sustainability%20%22granddaughter%22%20born&f=false">convinced</a> him the threat of global warming was real but set him on a course that altered the very DNA of the <a href="https://www.forbes.com/global2000/list/#tab:overall">world’s largest retailer</a>. He decided he wanted to use its size and resources to make the world an “even better place for all of us,” changing the way millions shop in the process. </p>
<p>In 2005, midway through his tenure, he challenged his employees: “What would it take for Walmart to be that company, at our best, all the time?” </p>
<p>The answer became Walmart’s <a href="https://corporate.walmart.com/global-responsibility/sustainability/">sustainability program</a>, an ambitious effort to figure out how to get its budget-conscious customers to buy more sustainable products. Of course, it was more than Scott’s granddaughter that pushed the retailer in this direction. A <a href="https://topdocumentaryfilms.com/wal-mart-the-high-cost-of-low-price/">dismal perception</a> among the public as well as a <a href="https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/WMT/chart?p=WMT#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%3D">stagnant stock price</a> also played roles in prodding Scott and other Walmart officials to take the company in a more environmentally aware direction. </p>
<p><a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=cvvmqUAAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">We</a> <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/David_Hyatt5">spent</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0008125617695287">five years</a> studying the program – speaking with Walmart’s sustainability leaders, its suppliers and others who have a stake in the company’s activities such as environmental groups and farmers. Our findings highlight both the promises and perils of what one Walmart executive optimistically termed the “democratization of sustainability.”</p>
<h2>Glaciers, landfills and shopping bags</h2>
<p>During our extensive research into the implementation of Walmart’s sustainability program, we found many executives from the CEO on down who were passionate about making the company more environmentally friendly. Before the retailer even began its program, corporate executives traversed the globe to better understand what was at stake. </p>
<p>We were told stories of Scott’s summer 2005 trip to the top of Mount Washington in New Hampshire, where <a href="https://www.mountwashington.org/research-and-product-testing/past-projects/climate-change-and-air-pollutant-impacts-to-new-englands-rare-alpine-zone.aspx">scientists take measurements</a> of the ice and the wind to measure the effects of climate change and air pollution. There he met with Environmental Defense Fund President <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.com/fred-krupp/walmart-the-awakening-of_b_9253920.html">Fred Krupp</a> and some of the scientists to discuss the company’s environmental impact and what it could be doing differently. On that same trip, he also met with maple syrup farmers who explained how climate change was affecting their harvests. </p>
<p>Other company leaders made trips to parched cotton fields, landfills covered with Walmart shopping bags and melting Arctic glaciers, all with the aim of gaining a deeper understanding of sustainability and engaging with environmental groups, journalists and critics.</p>
<p>But it still wasn’t clear where all this was going until August of that year, when <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/topics/hurricane-katrina-8452">Hurricane Katrina</a> hit New Orleans, causing extensive human suffering and property damage along the coast.</p>
<p>Walmart, in an unusual move, <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/05/AR2005090501598.html">gave local managers wide discretion</a> in helping communities respond and, along with a few other large retailers, worked hard to get needed supplies to the area. In the context of <a href="https://theconversation.com/5-things-that-have-changed-about-fema-since-katrina-and-5-that-havent-83205">widely reported government failures</a> during the crisis, Walmart <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.com/ryan-scott/how-hurricane-katrina-cha_b_8043692.html">received praise</a> for its actions – a far cry from the usual criticism Scott received from social and political activists. </p>
<p>After Katrina, Scott had an epiphany, which culminated in that <a href="https://corporate.walmart.com/_news_/executive-viewpoints/twenty-first-century-leadership">speech</a> he made in October 2005 near Walmart’s headquarters in Bentonville, Arkansas, during which he announced the project: </p>
<p>“What if we used our size and resources to make this country and this earth an even better place for all of us: customers, associates, our children and generations unborn?”</p>
<h2>Seeking sustainability</h2>
<p>In the speech, Scott laid out Walmart’s sustainability vision to Walmart employees and suppliers. He called for reducing waste, using more renewable energy and selling products that “sustained people and the environment.” </p>
<p>In a way, these goals sounded easy. Simply cut down on waste, become more efficient, convince its legions of suppliers to make more sustainable products and sell them at its “low, low prices.” Sustainability goes up, costs go down, everybody wins. But as Scott and his successors learned, this was easier said than done. </p>
<p>Some aspects were relatively straightforward. The company’s efforts to operate more efficiently produced <a href="http://corporate.walmart.com/2017grr/performance-highlights">significant environmental value</a> – and helped its <a href="https://www.environmentalleader.com/2012/10/walmart-to-save-150m-with-sustainability-initiatives-in-fy13/">bottom line</a>. The efficiency of its fleet of trucks doubled within a decade. Walmart <a href="https://corporate.walmart.com/2018grr/">has now converted 28 percent</a> of the energy sources powering its stores and operations globally to renewables. </p>
<p>And last year, the <a href="https://corporate.walmart.com/2018grr/reducing-waste">company diverted 78 percent</a> of its global waste from landfills, instead finding ways to recycle, reuse or even sell the garbage. Its goal is to eventually get to 50 percent renewables and zero waste in Canada, Japan, the U.K. and U.S. by 2025.</p>
<p>Selling products that “sustained people and the environment” was harder. By 2008, its was clear that progress was not being made as fast as the company had expected. </p>
<p>Walmart had a challenging job. While the <a href="https://www.unilever.com/news/press-releases/2017/report-shows-a-third-of-consumers-prefer-sustainable-brands.html">market</a> for sustainable products is large and growing, it has primarily catered to people with a lot of disposable income <a href="http://www.nielsen.com/eu/en/insights/reports/2015/the-sustainability-imperative.html">who can afford</a> to pay the “goodness” <a href="https://www.luxurysociety.com/en/articles/2018/02/how-luxury-brands-are-practicing-sustainability-creative-ways">premium</a> for things like Toyota Priuses and organic foods. </p>
<p>What about the majority of consumers who usually see the <a href="https://www.sustainabilityconsortium.org/downloads/consumer-science-research-compendium/">high price of sustainability as a barrier</a>? Are sustainable products a luxury good only attainable by the well off? </p>
<p>The questions and challenges of selling sustainable products escalated over time. What is a sustainable product? How could it be measured effectively and efficiently? And how could this information create value for the company and customers? Would people be willing to pay for it if it was impossible to keep the costs down?</p>
<p>Two interconnected challenges it faced are particularly illuminating: the lack of a sustainability standard and how to convince suppliers and customers to go along. </p>
<h2>What’s ‘sustainable’ anyway?</h2>
<p>Walmart leaders quickly learned that the absence of a credible sustainability standard hampered their ability to market new products. </p>
<p>Back then, marketing products as “sustainable” was anything goes. While a few marketing attributes, like “organic,” are <a href="https://www.usda.gov/topics/organic">verified</a> by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, for the most part companies were free to call their products “sustainable,” “natural” or “good for you,” regardless of whether it was true or not. </p>
<p>The need for a standard crystallized when Walmart asked suppliers for proposals for a <a href="https://corporate.walmart.com/_news_/news-archive/2008/04/21/wal-mart-consumer-behavior-shows-buying-green-is-going-mainstream">2008 Earth Day promotion</a>. It wanted to specifically promote products that were sustainable. Suppliers responded with such a vast range of claims that Walmart managers could not figure out which products to include. Examples of traits that made a product “sustainable” ranged from having “reduced” packaging material – though there was no gauge as to what it was reduced from – to the use of non-toxic ingredients or the product’s overall recyclability. </p>
<p>A subsequent promotion of Campbell’s soup with a green “Earth Day” label (instead of its customary red one) generated external criticism and accusations of “greenwashing.” That is, some <a href="https://thewashcycle.wordpress.com/2009/04/13/campbell%E2%80%99s-is-going-green-or-are-they%E2%80%A6/">bloggers</a> claimed sustainability at Walmart simply meant taking existing products and putting green labels on them.</p>
<p>Lessons like these led Walmart to seek a way of defining what sustainable means for all its products – a mammoth scale given that the company had over 60,000 direct suppliers and a single store could sell about <a href="https://corporate.walmart.com/_news_/news-archive/2005/01/07/our-retail-divisions">142,000 products</a>. So, in 2009, the company helped establish the <a href="https://www.sustainabilityconsortium.org/">Sustainability Consortium</a>, a collaboration of retailers, suppliers, universities, environmental groups and others to create a data-driven index of sustainability.</p>
<p>The consortium would eventually produce a sustainability “toolkit” with key performance indicators and guidance for achieving sustainability at the product category level whether these be laundry care products, computers or beer. </p>
<p>Such indicators could then be used by consortium members in communications with their suppliers, typically in a sustainability scorecard that the supplier would complete. For instance, a manufacturer might be asked if it had plans for reducing harmful emissions – and if it didn’t, the thinking initially went, this type of information could eventually be passed on to consumers who could then make their own judgments.</p>
<p>The problem was, relying on customers didn’t work.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/231584/original/file-20180812-2909-r28tvo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/231584/original/file-20180812-2909-r28tvo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/231584/original/file-20180812-2909-r28tvo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/231584/original/file-20180812-2909-r28tvo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/231584/original/file-20180812-2909-r28tvo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/231584/original/file-20180812-2909-r28tvo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/231584/original/file-20180812-2909-r28tvo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Getting its budget-conscious customers to choose sustainable products was one of Walmart’s biggest challenges.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Images for Walmart/Gunnar Rathbun</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Focusing on suppliers – not consumers</h2>
<p>Most corporate efforts to become more sustainable are based on the premise that <a href="https://ashtonmanufacturing.com.au/66-of-consumers-willing-to-pay-more-for-sustainable-goods-nielsen-report-reveals/">consumers are willing</a> to pay more for eggs that are organic or coffee that is sustainably sourced. </p>
<p>This posed a dilemma for Walmart since its margins are so thin and most of its customers shop there for the ultra-low prices. How could they be convinced, en masse, to pay a bit more because something is tagged as sustainable? And what would be the best way to let them know a particular product was more sustainable than another? Company leaders believed, based on internal surveys, that although its customers desired (or would in the future desire) more sustainable products, many did not have the means or desire to pay extra. </p>
<p>And while Walmart’s implementation of sustainability metrics into its supplier scorecards gave it insight into supplier practices, they did not provide detailed, verifiable information required for a customer-facing label.</p>
<p>This led Walmart to focus less on consumers and more on suppliers. If it could just make sure its products were more sustainable or at least that it was able to offer more options – without a meaningful increase in price – it could go a long way toward achieving its goals. And consumers wouldn’t even realize they’re helping make the world a better place. </p>
<p>Walmart’s merchants were ready to listen. The supplier scorecards that started rolling in 2012 helped Walmart identify inefficiencies in its supplies’ own supply chains, just as the retailer had found in its own operations years earlier. Walmart used them to push suppliers to seek out similar low-cost innovations in their operations – so they could become more sustainable without altering product price tags – and aligned 5 percent of its employees’ performance goals on sustainability improvements, thus incentivizing buyers to ask about, and suppliers to report on, sustainability metrics. </p>
<p>Early indications are that Walmart’s supplier-focused product sustainability strategy has been influential. A 2014 <a href="http://purestrategies.com/downloads/the-path-to-product-sustainability">study</a> by sustainability consultancy Pure Strategies surveyed a broad range of 100 companies such as Timberland, General Mills and Coca-Cola to better understand what it takes to operate sustainably. It found that Walmart was the top-cited retailer driving suppliers’ investments in product sustainability, with 79 percent identifying the retailer as influential. </p>
<h2>It’s ‘complicated’</h2>
<p>Many of the primary lessons that Walmart has learned so far relate to an emergent understanding of the complexity of selling low-cost sustainable products.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/229464/original/file-20180726-106511-ug5gwo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/229464/original/file-20180726-106511-ug5gwo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/229464/original/file-20180726-106511-ug5gwo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/229464/original/file-20180726-106511-ug5gwo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/229464/original/file-20180726-106511-ug5gwo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/229464/original/file-20180726-106511-ug5gwo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/229464/original/file-20180726-106511-ug5gwo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Walmart Chairman Rob Walton.‘</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Walmart-Shareholders-Meeting/0197bc33de7440539e20c974b65a96a6/5/0">AP Photo/Gareth Patterson</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Commenting about the difficulty developing its sustainability index quickly, Rob Walton, Walmart chairman and son of the founder, <a href="http://fortune.com/2012/04/17/wal-mart-chairman-how-we-came-to-embrace-sustainability/">told a panel</a> in 2012: “But good gosh, this is really complicated stuff, and it’s giving our buyers information to inform decisions and compare products. It will be a great day when we can give consumers that information.”</p>
<p>Walmart’s efforts showed that balancing cost and sustainability is possible but difficult to implement. For companies, labeling a low-cost product as “sustainable” makes it harder to justify charging a higher price for a similar good that bears that label. And retailers would prefer not to waste limited shelf space providing those options.</p>
<p>Customers may <a href="https://www.unilever.com/news/press-releases/2017/report-shows-a-third-of-consumers-prefer-sustainable-brands.html">prefer</a> sustainable practices yet be unable to pay the premium, even when it’s very little. So, while Walmart can push in this direction, it probably cannot create a mass market for low-cost sustainable products on its own. The retailer and others who wish to develop such a market will likely continue to struggle with what counts as “sustainable enough” for price-conscious customers. </p>
<p>Until that question is answered, sustainable products are likely to remain “luxury” goods that fail to penetrate into the mainstream.</p>
<p>But if we care for the next generation, as Lee Scott did when he decided Walmart was going green, Walmart’s goal of bringing greater scale and scope to the typically niche market of sustainability is a vital one. </p>
<p>“As you become a grandparent,” Scott <a href="https://grist.org/article/griscom-little3/">told a journalist</a> in 2006, “you just become more thoughtful about what will the world look like that she inherits.”</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/76771/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Graham Hyatt is affiliated with the University of Arkansas, which in partnership with Arizona State, founded the Sustainability Consortium with a lead gift from Walmart. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrew Spicer does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Two business professors spent five years studying Walmart’s ambition project to bring sustainability to its millions of budget-conscious customers – a plan that began with the birth of a granddaughter.Andrew Spicer, Associate Professor of International Business, University of South CarolinaDavid Graham Hyatt, Research Associate Professor of Supply Chain Management, University of ArkansasLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/996812018-07-11T20:08:58Z2018-07-11T20:08:58ZWhat we can learn from China’s fight against environmental ruin<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/226893/original/file-20180710-70057-18q9etm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Hukou Waterfall of Yellow River, China</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow_River#/media/File:Hukou_Waterfall.jpg">Leruswing /Wikimedia </a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>A good news story about China’s environment is something you don’t hear every day. But a major review published today in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-018-0280-2">Nature</a> has found that China has made significant progress in battling the environmental catastrophes of the past century. </p>
<p>Our team, which included 19 scientists from 16 Australian, Chinese and US institutions, reviewed China’s 16 major programs designed to improve the sustainability of its rural environment and people.</p>
<hr>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/chinas-green-planning-for-the-world-starts-with-infrastructure-85438">China's green planning for the world starts with infrastructure</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>We wanted to tell the story of China’s progress, so that other nations may learn from its experience as they strive towards the United Nations’ <a href="http://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/sustainable-development-goals.html">Sustainable Development Goals</a>.</p>
<h2>A monumental effort</h2>
<p>From 1998, China dramatically escalated its investment in rural sustainability. Through to 2015, more than US$350 billion was invested in 16 sustainability programs, addressing more than 620 million hectares (65% of China’s land area).</p>
<p>This effort, while imperfect, is globally unrivalled. Its environmental objectives included:</p>
<ul>
<li>reducing erosion, sedimentation, and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/jul/21/china-flooding-worst-decade">flooding</a> in the Yangtze and Yellow rivers</li>
<li>conserving forests in the north-east </li>
<li>mitigating <a href="https://theconversation.com/chinas-desertification-is-causing-trouble-across-asia-59417">desertification</a> in the dry north and rocky south</li>
<li>reducing the impact of <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-39801555">dust storms on the capital Beijing</a></li>
<li>increasing <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agriculture_in_China">agricultural productivity</a> in China’s centre and east.</li>
</ul>
<p>Just as important were the socio-economic objectives of poverty reduction and economic development, particularly in western China. </p>
<p>Programs improved livelihoods by paying farmers to implement sustainability measures on their land. Providing housing and off-farm work in China’s booming cities also boosted household incomes and reduced pressure on land.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/226892/original/file-20180710-70039-p0sm5f.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/226892/original/file-20180710-70039-p0sm5f.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/226892/original/file-20180710-70039-p0sm5f.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=538&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/226892/original/file-20180710-70039-p0sm5f.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=538&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/226892/original/file-20180710-70039-p0sm5f.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=538&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/226892/original/file-20180710-70039-p0sm5f.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=676&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/226892/original/file-20180710-70039-p0sm5f.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=676&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/226892/original/file-20180710-70039-p0sm5f.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=676&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Click to enlarge: Investment under the 16 sustainability programs across China’s provinces from 1978 to 2015.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>An environmental emergency</h2>
<p>China’s pivot towards sustainability in the late 1990s came as a type of emergency response to the heinous condition of its rural people and environment. </p>
<p>China has been <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agriculture_in_China">farmed for more than 8,000 years</a>, but by the mid-1900s the cumulative impacts of inefficient and unsustainable agricultural practices and the over-exploitation of natural resources caused widespread poverty and environmental degradation. </p>
<p>Floods, droughts, and other catastrophes ensued, including the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Chinese_Famine">Great Chinese Famine</a> from 1959-61, which caused between 20 million and 45 million deaths.</p>
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<p>Following the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_economic_reform">1978 economic reforms</a>, six sustainability programs were established, but with only modest investment conditions continued to deteriorate. By the 1990s natural forest cover was below 10% and around 5 billion tonnes of soil eroded annually, causing major <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/nov/21/china-soil-erosion-population">water quality and sedimentation problems</a>. </p>
<p>In the Loess Plateau, the worst-affected parts were losing 100 tonnes of soil per hectare each year to erosion, and the Yellow River that flowed through it had the dubious honour of being the <a href="https://www.google.com.au/imgres?imgurl=https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ea/Hukou_Waterfall.jpg&imgrefurl=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow_River&h=2465&w=3758&tbnid=MF2lOkGHKtn_OM:&tbnh=160&tbnw=243&usg=__AkoZoewQeTMEe5cywagAheCm2T4%3D&vet=10ahUKEwigo_KLrPzaAhVEfLwKHQm4AaoQ_B0IgQIwFw..i&docid=CzZmZY0zug9bbM&itg=1&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwigo_KLrPzaAhVEfLwKHQm4AaoQ_B0IgQIwFw">world’s muddiest waterway</a>. </p>
<p>Agricultural soils were exhausted and productivity was down, <a href="http://www.conservationmagazine.org/2008/07/restoration-as-weed-control-2/">grasslands were overgrazed</a>, and more than a quarter of China was <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/danielrechtschaffen/2017/09/18/how-chinas-growing-deserts-are-choking-the-country/#15b1f5995d1b">desertified</a>.</p>
<p>In the late 1990s, China experienced a series of natural disasters widely believed to have been caused by unsustainable land management, including the <a href="http://www.eco-business.com/news/keeping-the-yellow-river-flowing/">Yellow River drought in 1997</a>, the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yangtze#Periodic_floods">Yangtze River floods in 1998</a>, and the severe dust storms that repeatedly afflicted Beijing in 2000.</p>
<p>This sustainability emergency triggered a great acceleration in investment after 1998, including the launch of 11 new programs. The portfolio included iconic programs such as the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grain_for_Green">Grain for Green Program</a>, the <a href="https://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2016/0319/China-s-forest-conservation-program-shows-proof-of-success">Natural Forest Conservation Program</a>, and the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three-North_Shelter_Forest_Program">Three North Shelterbelt Program</a> which aimed to slow and reverse desertification by planting a 4,500km <a href="http://theplaidzebra.com/china-is-building-a-great-green-wall-of-trees-to-stop-desertification/">Great Green Wall</a>.</p>
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<h2>The result</h2>
<p>After 20 years the results of these programs have been overwhelmingly positive. <a href="https://www.gizmodo.com.au/2016/03/after-years-of-deforestation-chinas-forests-are-starting-to-return/">Deforestation has declined</a> and <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/01/05/china-plant-forest-size-ireland-bid-become-world-leader-conservation/">forest cover</a> has exceeded 22%. Grasslands have expanded and regenerated. Desertification trends have reversed in many areas, and while mostly driven by climatic change, <a href="http://time.com/4851013/china-greening-kubuqi-desert-land-restoration/">restoration efforts have helped</a>. </p>
<p>Soil erosion has waned substantially and water quality and river sedimentation have improved dramatically. Yellow River sediment loads have fallen by 90% and the Yangtze is not far behind. Agricultural productivity has increased through efficiency gains and technological advances. Rural households are generally better off and hunger has largely disappeared.</p>
<p>That said, there have also been significant unintended consequences. Afforestation – or planting trees where trees never grew – has <a href="http://theconversation.com/chinas-fight-against-desertification-should-not-be-done-at-the-cost-of-water-security-83678">dried up water resources</a> and led to high rates of <a href="https://www.economist.com/news/international/21613334-vast-tree-planting-arid-regions-failing-halt-deserts-march-great-green-wall">plantation failure</a>. </p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/chinas-fight-against-desertification-should-not-be-done-at-the-cost-of-water-security-83678">China's fight against desertification should not be done at the cost of water security</a>
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<p>In the most degraded areas, significant <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/10/25/world/asia/china-climate-change-resettlement.html">cultural disruption</a> has occurred through the <a href="http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2017-01/23/content_28030111.htm">migration</a> of entire communities to less sensitive environments. More could be done to conserve biodiversity, particularly by <a href="https://e360.yale.edu/features/chinas_reforestation_programs_big_success_or_just_an_illusion">prioritising diverse natural forest restoration and regeneration</a> over single-species plantations.</p>
<p>The precise impacts of China’s sustainability programs are clouded by other influences such as the <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-02-03/the-struggles-and-benefits-of-chinas-little-emperor-generation/9323300">One Child Policy</a> and <a href="https://searchinginhistory.blogspot.com.au/2014/08/household-responsibility-system.html">Household Responsibility System</a>, urbanisation and development, and environmental change. Detailed and comprehensive evaluations are now needed to disentangle these factors.</p>
<h2>Lessons from China’s experience</h2>
<p>While the context of China’s path to sustainability is unique, other countries can learn from its experience. Nations must commit to sustainability as a <a href="https://theconversation.com/government-needs-to-front-up-billions-not-millions-to-save-australias-threatened-species-74250">long-term, large-scale public investment</a> like education, health, defence, and infrastructure. </p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/government-needs-to-front-up-billions-not-millions-to-save-australias-threatened-species-74250">Government needs to front up billions, not millions, to save Australia's threatened species</a>
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<p>We do not wish to <a href="https://theconversation.com/chinas-growing-footprint-on-the-globe-threatens-to-trample-the-natural-world-88312">pretend</a> that China is a global poster child of sustainability. Very serious <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development-professionals-network/2017/jun/02/china-water-dangerous-pollution-greenpeace">pollution of its air, water, and soils</a>, <a href="https://www.economist.com/news/china/21640396-how-fix-chinese-cities-great-sprawl-china">urban expansion</a>, vanishing <a href="http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2015/10/china-s-vanishing-coastal-wetlands-are-nearing-critical-red-line">coastal wetlands</a> and the <a href="https://unchronicle.un.org/article/will-china-say-no-wildlife-trade">illegal wildlife trade</a> still dog the world’s most populous nation. </p>
<p>As China cleans up its domestic environment, great care needs to be taken not to simply <a href="https://e360.yale.edu/features/chinas_appetite_for_wood_takes_a_heavy_toll_on_forests">shift problems offshore</a>.</p>
<p>But to give credit where credit is due, China’s vast investment has made great strides towards improving the sustainability of rural people and nature. </p>
<p>China’s path towards sustainability is clearly charted in the <a href="http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/photo/2015-11/04/c_134783513.htm">13th Five Year Plan</a> where President Xi’s Chinese dream for an <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/china-ecological-civilization-2532760301.html">ecological civilization</a> and a “beautiful China” is laid out.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/99681/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Brett Bryan is a Visiting Scientist at CSIRO and holds Adjunct Professorships at Beijing Normal University and The University of Tasmania.
This research was part-funded by the Australian Government through the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade Climate Change Engagement Program.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lei Gao does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>After cascading ecological catastrophes in the 90s, China spent 20 years seriously investing in sustainability. Now that effort is paying off.Brett Bryan, Professor of Global Change, Environment, and Society, Deakin UniversityLei Gao, Senior Research Scientist, CSIROLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/997372018-07-11T05:15:20Z2018-07-11T05:15:20ZAustralia falls further in rankings on progress towards UN Sustainable Development Goals<p>Australia is performing worse than most other advanced countries in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), according to the <a href="http://www.sdgindex.org">global SDG Index</a>, which compares different nations’ performance on the goals.</p>
<p>According to the SDG Index, released yesterday in New York, Australia is <a href="https://www.bertelsmann-stiftung.de/fileadmin/files/Projekte/Sustainable_Development_Goals_Index/BST-NW_SDG_overall_ranking_Balkengrafik_en_20180702-01.jpg">ranked 37th in the world</a> – down from 26th last year, and behind most other wealthy countries including New Zealand, Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom. </p>
<p>The best-performing countries are the northern European nations of Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Germany, all of which have a history of balancing economic, social and environmental issues.</p>
<p>The SDG Index measures progress against the 17 SDGs <a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-the-worlds-new-sustainable-development-goals-47262">agreed by all countries at the United Nations in 2015</a>. The goals encompass a set of 169 targets to be met by 2030 to achieve economic prosperity, social inclusion and environmental sustainability. </p>
<p>Yet despite the progress made by some countries, all nations still have a way to go to achieve all of the goals.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-the-worlds-new-sustainable-development-goals-47262">Explainer: the world's new sustainable development goals</a>
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<h2>Australia: the world’s worst on climate action</h2>
<p>The latest SDG Index shows that Australia is performing relatively well in areas such health and wellbeing, and providing good-quality education. But its results for the environmental goals and climate change are among the worst in the OECD group of advanced nations. </p>
<p>The new index ranks Australia as the worst-performing country in the world on climate action (SDG 13). The measure takes into account greenhouse gas emissions within Australia; emissions embodied in the goods we consume; climate change vulnerability; and exported emissions from fossil fuel shipments to other countries.</p>
<p>One of the reasons why Australia has slumped so far in the rankings is that the SDG Index is now taking into account the so-called “spillover” effects that countries have on other nations’ ability to meet the SDGs. These effects may be positive, such as providing development aid; or negative, such as importing or exporting products that create pollution.</p>
<p>The report shows that G20 nations account for the largest negative economic, environmental, and security spillover effects. Despite being among the richest nations in the world, the US, the UK and Australia are rated worst in the G20 for negative spillovers. </p>
<p>The UK, for instance, rates particularly badly on the tax haven score, which makes it harder for other countries to raise the tax revenue needed to provide health, education and other services to their citizens.</p>
<p>This year’s SDG Index also includes a key environmental spillover indicator: carbon dioxide emissions embodied in fossil fuel exports, calculated using a three-year average of coal, gas and oil exports. </p>
<p>Australia’s annual exported CO₂ emissions are a colossal 44 tonnes per person. This outstrips even Saudi Arabia (35.5 tonnes per person), and is orders of magnitude larger than the figure for the US (710kg per person). </p>
<h2>G20 leading the way?</h2>
<p>With all countries still falling short of achieving the SDGs, the SDG Index also assesses what actions G20 governments are taking to help close this gap. Most G20 countries have begun to implement the goals but there are large variations among G20 countries in how the SDGs are being embraced by political leaders and translated into action.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/227049/original/file-20180711-70042-40500k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/227049/original/file-20180711-70042-40500k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/227049/original/file-20180711-70042-40500k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=347&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/227049/original/file-20180711-70042-40500k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=347&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/227049/original/file-20180711-70042-40500k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=347&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/227049/original/file-20180711-70042-40500k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=436&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/227049/original/file-20180711-70042-40500k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=436&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/227049/original/file-20180711-70042-40500k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=436&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Composite score of national coordination and implementation mechanisms for the SDGs in G20 countries.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">SDSN and Bertelsmann Stiftung, 2018 SDG Index and Dashboards Report</span></span>
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<p>Brazil, Mexico and Italy have taken the most significant steps among G20 countries to achieve the goals, illustrated for instance by the existence of SDG strategies, coordination units in governments, or online platforms. India and Germany have at least partially already undertaken an assessment of investment needs. </p>
<p>According to this assessment, Australia has taken some initial steps to support SDG implementation. Supportive actions taken by the government include setting up a cross-departmental committee, co-chaired by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, to coordinate Government SDG activities. The Senate has established <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Foreign_Affairs_Defence_and_Trade/SDGs">an inquiry</a> to examine the opportunities to implement the goals.</p>
<p>Significantly, the federal government has also prepared a <a href="http://dfat.gov.au/aid/topics/development-issues/2030-agenda/Pages/voluntary-national-review.aspx">Voluntary National Review</a> report on progress in implementing the goals, which it will present to the UN’s High Level Political Forum next week. The report addresses how Australia is performing against each of the goals and includes many case studies of implementation from business, civil society, academia, youth and all levels of government. It is accompanied by a new <a href="https://sdgs.org.au/">Australian SDG case study hub</a>. Many of these activities occurred after the cut-off period for the SDG Index, so Australia’s overall performance on SDG implementation is actually higher than the SDG Index gives it credit. </p>
<p>However, Australia is not taking more deliberative action to address the SDGs, such as developing a national implementation plan or setting aside funding for SDG implementation. Nor are individual departments identifying the gaps in Australia’s SDG performance and identifying what they plan to do differently to address them. </p>
<p>Given Australia’s poor performance on some of the SDGs there is clearly a need for targeted action if we are to achieve the goals by the 2030 deadline.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/99737/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>John Thwaites receives funding from the Lord Mayor's Charitable Foundation and the Australian Council of Superannuation Investors for a project to analyse Australia's performance on the Sustainable Development Goals. He is a Co-Chair of the Leadership Council of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) which produces the SDG Index with Bertelsmann Stiftung. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tahl Kestin is the Network Manager for the Sustainable Development Solutions Network Regional Network for Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific.</span></em></p>A new report reveals Australia is lagging behind most wealthy nations in working towards the globally agreed goals. It’s performing particularly badly on climate and environmental indicators.John Thwaites, Chair, Monash Sustainable Development Institute & ClimateWorks Australia, Monash UniversityTahl Kestin, Sustainable Development Solutions Network Manager, Monash Sustainable Development Institute, Monash UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/903842018-02-13T04:07:47Z2018-02-13T04:07:47ZAs the world looks to put cities on a sustainable path, the Australian government goes missing<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/cape-town-drought-40300">No water for Cape Town</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/city-by-city-analysis-shows-our-capitals-arent-liveable-for-many-residents-85676">no transport for communities on the urban edge</a>, <a href="http://www.dw.com/en/life-behind-a-mask-chinas-cities-still-choking-on-smog/a-42199104">red alert</a> days for <a href="http://www.persiadigest.com/Waiting-for-snow-in-pollution-red-alert">urban pollution</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/2017-the-year-in-extreme-weather-88765">extreme events</a> with climate change, and the <a href="https://theconversation.com/vanishing-australian-backyards-leave-us-vulnerable-to-the-stresses-of-city-life-81479">loss of open space</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/half-the-worlds-ecosystems-at-risk-from-habitat-loss-and-australia-is-one-of-the-worst-64663">biodiversity</a> as cities spread: these are all clear signals that we are living beyond our means. Global leaders can now physically see the risks facing our communities and the environment. </p>
<p>Kuala Lumpur has hosted the UN Habitat ninth <a href="http://wuf9.org/">World Urban Forum</a> (WUF9) over the past week. The focus was implementing the <a href="http://habitat3.org/the-new-urban-agenda">New Urban Agenda</a> that the United Nations adopted in December 2016. Urban leaders, business and community organisations and academics came together to share leading practice and knowledge on urban futures.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/in-quito-the-world-meets-to-discuss-the-future-of-cities-67125">In Quito, the world meets to discuss the future of cities</a>
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<p>The forum, the first held in the Asia-Pacific region, brought together 61 national ministers with 30,000 participants. The Australian participants were very disappointed that their government was not represented. We have much to share and learn as one of the world’s most urbanised nations. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/206072/original/file-20180212-58348-22pify.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/206072/original/file-20180212-58348-22pify.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/206072/original/file-20180212-58348-22pify.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=324&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/206072/original/file-20180212-58348-22pify.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=324&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/206072/original/file-20180212-58348-22pify.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=324&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/206072/original/file-20180212-58348-22pify.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=408&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/206072/original/file-20180212-58348-22pify.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=408&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/206072/original/file-20180212-58348-22pify.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=408&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">The Australian participants were disappointed that their government didn’t send any representatives to the World Urban Forum.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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<h2>Cities can be drivers of change</h2>
<p>The conference theme was “Cities for all Cities 2030”. In opening the forum, the new head of UN Habitat, Maimunah Sharif, <a href="https://wuf9.org/media-centre/news/wuf9-opening-speech-by-madam-maimunah-mohd-sharif-under-secretary-general-and-executive-director-un-habitat/">said</a>:</p>
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<p>[C]ities have the potential to lead a country’s growth, as drivers of sustainability and as tools for social integration and equality. Cities often symbolise hope and possibility. Well-planned, well-managed urbanisation is a tool for development.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/206074/original/file-20180212-58348-69i25h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/206074/original/file-20180212-58348-69i25h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/206074/original/file-20180212-58348-69i25h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=783&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/206074/original/file-20180212-58348-69i25h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=783&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/206074/original/file-20180212-58348-69i25h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=783&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/206074/original/file-20180212-58348-69i25h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=984&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/206074/original/file-20180212-58348-69i25h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=984&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/206074/original/file-20180212-58348-69i25h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=984&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">The author with UN Habitat head Maimunah Sharif, whom she interviewed for her book.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>Sharif is one of 24 leaders in urban sustainability interviewed for my recently published <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Sustainable-Pathways-for-our-Cities-and-Regions-Planning-within-Planetary/Norman/p/book/9781138188303">book</a>, Sustainable Pathways for Our Cities and Regions: planning within planetary boundaries. A former director of George Town, mayor of Penang and president of Seberang Perai, Sharif has been a champion of sustainable development that is meaningful and works with local communities. </p>
<p>The leaders I interviewed stress the need for clear targets based on a 20- to 30-year urban vision with well-defined sustainable outcomes. Examples include the <a href="http://www.go100percent.org/cms/">100% Renewable Energy</a> cities alliance (including <a href="http://www.go100percent.org/cms/index.php?id=23&id=68&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=373&tx_locator_pi1%5BstartLat%5D=-27.69619975&tx_locator_pi1%5BstartLon%5D=157.73444895&cHash=9c0669d78e39d543c443ef86ad4459d2">Canberra</a>), more cycling than cars in Copenhagen (with a <a href="http://www.cycling-embassy.dk/2017/09/15/new-bicycle-track-priority-plan-copenhagen/">target of 50% cycling to work and studies by 2050</a>), and the UN Habitat <a href="https://nextcity.org/daily/entry/how-much-public-space-does-a-city-need-UN-Habitat-joan-clos-50-percent">target of 15% green open space</a> for communities in every town. </p>
<p>Social inclusion is a central message. This is because a divided society is no foundation to tackle the complex problems urban communities face. Housing is critical. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-ethical-city-an-idea-whose-time-has-come-53385">The ethical city: an idea whose time has come</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The challenges are almost overwhelming. Nearly <a href="http://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/poverty/overview">1 billion people are living in poverty</a>. That compounds the impacts of climate change on urban communities, including <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/urban-heat-25654">heat</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/search?utf8=%E2%9C%93&q=coastal+storms">coastal storms</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/sea-level-rise-6790">rising sea levels</a>. </p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/blog/2016/10/newurbanagenda/">New Urban Agenda</a> identifies five key strategies for achieving more sustainable urban growth: national urban policy; urban legislation, rules and regulations; urban planning and design; municipal finance; and local physical implementation. </p>
<p>National urban policy is central to achieving more integrated outcomes. The <a href="http://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sustainable-development-goals/">UN Sustainable Development Goals</a>, the <a href="http://www.oecd.org/cfe/regional-policy/urbanmetroreviews.htm">OECD Urban Policy Reviews</a> and, in interviews, urban leaders around the world all agree on this. <a href="http://www.oecd.org/gov/national-urban-policies.htm">National policy</a> developed in partnership with sub-national governments and community input is <a href="http://www.oecd.org/gov/national-urban-policies.htm">fundamental to creating more sustainable cities and regions</a> .</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/206076/original/file-20180212-58339-1s7uqei.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/206076/original/file-20180212-58339-1s7uqei.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/206076/original/file-20180212-58339-1s7uqei.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=901&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/206076/original/file-20180212-58339-1s7uqei.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=901&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/206076/original/file-20180212-58339-1s7uqei.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=901&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/206076/original/file-20180212-58339-1s7uqei.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1132&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/206076/original/file-20180212-58339-1s7uqei.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1132&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/206076/original/file-20180212-58339-1s7uqei.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1132&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The author interviewed 24 leaders in urban sustainability for Sustainable Pathways for Cities and Regions.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>What are the seven pathways?</h2>
<p>Sustainable Pathways for Cities and Regions proposes seven pathways for cities and regions: </p>
<ol>
<li><p><strong>Planning within planetary boundaries</strong> - every city and region has an environmental health checklist to improve its environment and minimise global impact (carbon, water, air, biodiversity, land-use change and so on)</p></li>
<li><p><strong>Long-term vision with targets</strong> - strategic and timely investment in staged development that meets community and regional needs</p></li>
<li><p><strong>Adaptive integrated planning</strong> - short and long-term spatial planning involving affected communities to help achieve timely and co-ordinated sustainable development</p></li>
<li><p><strong>National strategies to implement the Sustainable Development Goals</strong> as part of a global agenda for managing urban growth and supporting sub-national action for more sustainable cities and regions </p></li>
<li><p><strong>Net zero-carbon precincts</strong> that implement leading practice in precinct planning and design that is zero carbon, resilient and liveable</p></li>
<li><p><strong>Innovative platforms for collaboration and evaluation</strong> that better connect cutting-edge research with public policy and communities – for example, a <a href="https://theconversation.com/times-demand-a-sustainable-development-commission-to-replace-the-productivity-commission-56163">national sustainable development commission</a> and innovative partnerships with universities </p></li>
<li><p><strong>Green growth</strong> – providing jobs in renewable energy, rapid transit, water-sensitive urban design, green infrastructure and smart technology to reduce urban pollution.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>It is time we started a more informed discussion on the role of more <em>medium-sized</em> cities. We need to develop alternatives to ever-expanding mega cities. This means examining, again through a national urban policy, real options for supporting integrated development of regional centres. </p>
<p>There are many success stories to be found in cities and regions. These make it clear we have the tools to make the transition to a more sustainable future. What we need now is the collective will to make it happen and the leadership to deliver these outcomes for all communities.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/90384/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Barbara Norman has received recent funding from the Australian Research Council, the National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility, the Australian Government and the ACT Government. Barbara is Chair of the ACT Climate Change Council, a member of the Accountability Roundtable and a long term member of the Australian Labor Party </span></em></p>Representatives of nations around the world have come together to discuss how to achieve the New Urban Agenda. Collective political will is needed, but the Australian government didn’t show up.Barbara Norman, Honorary Professor, University of Warwick, Chair of Urban & Regional Planning and Director of Canberra Urban & Regional Futures, University of CanberraLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/873102017-12-07T09:38:12Z2017-12-07T09:38:12ZMoving beyond the green revolution in Africa’s new era of hunger<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/197925/original/file-20171206-938-94oaus.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Seeds and cereals are assessed in in laboratories to check the quality of the grains.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>A quarter of the world’s hungry people are in sub-Saharan Africa and the numbers are growing. Between 2015 and 2016, the number of hungry – those <a href="http://www.ifpri.org/publication/2017-global-hunger-index-inequalities-hunger">in</a> distress and unable to access enough calories for a healthy and productive life – <a href="http://www.fao.org/3/a-i7967e.pdf">grew</a> from 20.8% to 22.7%. The number of undernourished <a href="http://www.fao.org/3/a-i7967e.pdf">rose from</a> 200 million to 224 million out of a total <a href="http://www.worldometers.info/world-population/africa-population/">population</a> of 1.2 billion. </p>
<p>Conflict, poverty, environmental disruptions and a <a href="https://esa.un.org/unpd/wpp/Publications/Files/WPP2017_KeyFindings.pdf">growing population</a> all contribute to the region’s inability to feed itself. </p>
<p>To tackle hunger, the continent needs to <a href="https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutrition-and-global-health/lecture-seminar-series/agriculture-nutrition-health-and-the-environment-in-africa/">find new</a>, integrated approaches. These approaches – discussed <a href="https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutrition-and-global-health/lecture-seminar-series/agriculture-nutrition-health-and-the-environment-in-africa/">at a recent</a> Harvard conference – must increase crop yield, enhance the nutritional content of people’s diets, improve people’s health and promote sustainability.</p>
<p>This may sound like a mammoth, perhaps insurmountable task. But Africa can learn from the experiences of the <a href="http://www.ifpri.org/publication/green-revolution">Green Revolution</a>, set into motion by the US in the 1960s. The initiative was launched in response to major famines and food crises in the 1940s and 1950s. It was a complex exercise which demonstrates the power of science, technology and entrepreneurship in solving global challenges. </p>
<p>The Green Revolution <a href="http://www.agbioworld.org/biotech-info/topics/borlaug/special.html">is estimated</a> to have saved up to one billion people from starvation. Africa needs to stage its own version if its to help save its people from hunger. Its lessons are instructive because of the need to approach the hunger crisis as a <a href="https://www.belfercenter.org/publication/new-harvest-agricultural-innovation-africa">complex problem</a> – and not just to raise crop yields or aggregate food production.</p>
<h2>The Green Revolution model</h2>
<p>Geopolitics was the biggest impetus for the Green Revolution. The US and the Soviet Union were locked in the <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Hungry-World-Americas-against-Poverty/dp/0674050789">Cold War</a>. The Soviets championed a model of collectivised agriculture; the US dreamed up and implemented the Green Revolution.</p>
<p>Its focus was on increasing yields using improved rice, wheat and maize varieties. This was achieved by bundling the new varieties with fertilisers and pesticides. </p>
<p>Collaboration was a crucial part of the project’s success. A global network of <a href="http://www.cgiar.org/about-us/research-centers/">15 agricultural research centres</a> was created to localise crops that were bred in the US and Japan to countries like India and the Philippines.</p>
<p>But perhaps most importantly, political will was brought to bear. Countries recognised that there might be nutritional and environmental risks involved in adopting the technology being offered by the US. But they knew that the consequences of subsequent famines would create national security crises.</p>
<p>India, Mexico and the Philippines dramatically increased their food output. But the focus on yields left the same regions with poor nutrition, ecological degradation and farmers displaced by land consolidation.</p>
<p>There is no <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Geopolitics-Green-Revolution-Wheat-Genes/dp/0195110137">geopolitical stimulus</a> for action today. But there may be a way to tap into political will. Economic development is at the top of <a href="http://archive.au.int/assets/images/agenda2063.pdf">Africa’s development agenda</a> and African leaders recognise that they can hardly grow their economies without raising agricultural productivity. </p>
<p>This is the perfect moment to start tackling the continent’s hunger crisis. </p>
<h2>How it can be done</h2>
<p>This is not a task for one sector of society alone. Ending hunger in Africa will involve bringing together key players such as government, academia, industry and civil society. We must see what has already been done and what is already working; we must interact and learn continuously from each other.</p>
<p>African countries such as <a href="https://www.thecable.ng/adesina-nigeria-increased-food-production-21m-tonnes-4-years">Nigeria</a> and Ethiopia, that have increased their food production, relied on a system wide approach – not the traditional reliance on isolated projects. The measures include investing in rural infrastructure, improving technical training of farmers, leveraging new technologies, upgrading food processing and expanding local market access. Ethiopia went further and created the <a href="http://www.ata.gov.et">Agricultural Transformation Agency</a> to better coordinate this strategy.</p>
<p>Learning must happen from across sectors. For instance, what can the transition to clean energy teach us about transitioning to “cleaner”, healthier, more nutritious – food? It has inspired <a href="https://www.wider.unu.edu/publication/political-economy-clean-energy-transitions-0">a shift</a> to new technological applications that increase energy use while reducing ecological effect. </p>
<p>A comparable scenario can be envisaged for transitions in food systems to; reduce <a href="http://www.harvestplus.org/viewpoints/improving-health-and-nutrition-through-rice-science">nutritional deficiencies</a>, curb the spread of non-communicable diseases (such as <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-obesity-africa/focused-on-ending-hunger-africa-neglects-rising-obesity-idUSKBN1D61AA">obesity</a>), and protect the environment through practices such as <a href="https://www.belfercenter.org/publication/innovation-sustainable-intensification-africa">sustainable intensification</a>. </p>
<p>Fostering energy transitions also involves diversifying and conserving energy. Similar approaches to expand food sources and reduce <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306919217302440">food loss and waste</a> will need to part of food transitions. </p>
<h2>Technical experts</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.worldfoodprize.org/en/dr_norman_e_borlaug/about_norman_borlaug/">Norman Borlaug</a>, a scientist who spearheaded the Green Revolution and won the Nobel Prize in 1970, also laid the groundwork for some of what can be achieved in Africa.</p>
<p>In his later years, Borlaug led studies seeking to improve indigenous African crops in a bid to help expand the continent’s food baskets. He chaired a committee of the US National Academy of Sciences that added reports on Africa’s <a href="https://www.nap.edu/catalog/11763/lost-crops-of-africa-volume-ii-vegetables">vegetables</a> and <a href="https://www.nap.edu/catalog/11879/lost-crops-of-africa-volume-iii-fruits">fruits</a> to an earlier study on <a href="https://www.nap.edu/catalog/2305/lost-crops-of-africa-volume-i-grains">grains</a>. </p>
<p>This kind of work needs to be expanded systematically to include other food sources such as <a href="https://theconversation.com/if-africa-learnt-to-feed-its-chickens-it-could-feed-its-people-65571">livestock</a>, fisheries, and insects.</p>
<p>For all of this to happen, universities must get involved in producing new generations of technical experts, policymakers and practitioners. These are the people who will support food transition and safeguard Africa’s food future. And this doesn’t require reinventing the academic wheel: for instance, engineering schools that focus on solving social problems have the opportunity to expand their roles from supporting manufacturing to including agriculture. </p>
<p>This is already being done by institutions such as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In many other cases new universities will need to be created as was done in Costa Rica in 1990 with the founding of <a href="http://www.earth.ac.cr">EARTH University</a>, possibly the world’s first sustainable development institution of higher learning.</p>
<p>Africa’s complex hunger challenges can only be addressed by taking into account emerging concerns about nutrition, health, non-communicable diseases, food loss and waste and environmental projects. These are also <a href="https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutrition-and-global-health/lecture-seminar-series/agriculture-nutrition-health-and-the-environment-in-africa/">global challenges</a>, making Africa’s efforts relevant to the rest of humanity.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/87310/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Calestous Juma does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>African countries, like Nigeria and Ethiopia, increased their food production using a system-wide approach, and not the traditional reliance on isolated projects.Calestous Juma, Professor of the Practice of International Development, Harvard Kennedy SchoolLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/831102017-09-05T14:44:21Z2017-09-05T14:44:21ZHow Nigeria is wasting its rich water resources<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/184708/original/file-20170905-32271-1wr0e59.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A man sells bottled water in Lagos Nigeria, a country with abundant water resources but little to drink.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Reuters/Akintunde Akinleye</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Nigeria is so rich in water resources that many of its 36 states are named after rivers. In addition to surface water found in nearly every part of the country, <a href="https://www.ajol.info/index.php/stech/article/view/103123">there’s also plenty stored in the ground</a>. The country has <a href="https://www.omicsonline.org/open-access/threats-to-water-resources-development-in-nigeria-2329-6755-1000205.php?aid=54945">215 cubic kilometres a year</a> of available surface water. This is a lot higher than many African countries, particularly those in the southern and northern regions of the continent. South Africa, for example, has about <a href="http://www.dwa.gov.za/documents/Other/Strategic%20Plan/NWRS2-Final-email-version.pdf">49 cubic kilometres a year</a>. </p>
<p>One would imagine that Nigerians have plenty of water to drink. </p>
<p>But this isn’t the case. In fact, only 19% of Nigeria’s population has access to <a href="http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/publications/jmp-2017/en/">safe drinking water</a>. Although 67% of people have basic water supply, access is uneven. In cities, 82% of people <a href="http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/10665/258617/1/9789241512893-eng.pdf?ua=1">have a basic supply</a>. In rural areas, <a href="http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/10665/258617/1/9789241512893-eng.pdf?ua=1">only 54% do</a>. </p>
<p>Wealth also distorts access. About 80% of wealthy Nigerians have access to at least a basic water supply, in comparison to only 48% of poor Nigerians. </p>
<p>The lack of accessible, reliable and safe drinking water, together with poor sanitation and hygiene, is estimated to cost Nigeria about <a href="https://www.wsp.org/sites/wsp.org/files/publications/WSP-ESI-Nigeria-brochure.pdf">USD$1.3 billion</a> in access time, loss due to premature death, productive time lost and health care costs. </p>
<p>Why is this happening in a country with abundant water resources? Nigeria suffers from “economic <a href="https://thewaterproject.org/water-scarcity/water_scarcity_2">water scarcity”</a> – the inability to properly manage, use and protect water resources for socioeconomic development and environmental sustainability.</p>
<h2>Regulation challenges</h2>
<p>Nigeria aims to provide water that meets the standards set out by the <a href="https://www.unicef.org/nigeria/ng_publications_Nigerian_Standard_for_Drinking_Water_Quality.pdf">World Health Organisation</a>. In practice, poor regulatory, legal and institutional frameworks prevent this. It’s no surprise that potentially toxic concentrations of metals have been <a href="http://article.sapub.org/10.5923.j.re.20120203.01.html">reported in Nigeria’s drinking water</a>. </p>
<p>Another major problem is that the country has adopted a “control and command” approach to water resource management. It focuses on engineering physical infrastructure and excludes other perspectives. This means that authorities managing water don’t sufficiently engage with the people using it. Infrastructure in communities tends to collapse when users aren’t involved in planning or running it. There has also been little coordination between federal, state and local government agencies. </p>
<p>New <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/07900627.2014.907087?needAccess=true">research shows that</a> water management needs different approaches. These include broader stakeholder involvement, collaboration between sectors, more attention to the human dimensions of management, and recognition of the economic, social, ecological and cultural values of water. </p>
<p>South Africa provides a legal example that Nigeria can learn from. <a href="http://www.dwaf.gov.za/Documents/Legislature/nw_act/NWA.htm">The South African National Water Act</a> provides for the basic rights of humans and the environment. The first prescribes the minimum amount and quality of water required for domestic activities and hygiene, to which everyone is entitled. The latter prescribes the minimum amount and quality of water to which the environment is entitled to maintain and protect ecosystems. The Act also expects ordinary citizens to have a say in the water sector. In Europe, the <a href="http://ec.europa.eu/environment/water/water-framework/index_en.html">European Commission Water Framework Directive</a> also provides for broader stakeholder involvement in the management of water resources.</p>
<h2>The role of pollution</h2>
<p>Pollution is another major cause of water <a href="https://www.omicsonline.org/open-access/threats-to-water-resources-development-in-nigeria-2329-6755-1000205.php?aid=54945">scarcity in Nigeria</a>. It’s common to see waste dumped in rivers and streams. In cities, storm water carries pollutants which contaminate water resources. </p>
<p>Pollution has led to high levels of toxic chemicals such as metals and pesticides being reported in Nigeria’s water resources. </p>
<p>Underground water is also being polluted through seepage from <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10668-016-9894-4">waste dump sites</a>. This is a major health risk. </p>
<p>Poor water quality affects people, the economy and the environment. Contaminated water is the primary cause of diseases such as <a href="http://global-disease-burden.healthgrove.com/l/3644/Typhoid-Fever-in-Nigeria">typhoid fever</a>, diarrhoea and dysentery in Nigeria. These diseases kill people and are very costly to the economy. </p>
<p>In the Niger Delta, contamination by <a href="http://www.amnesty.eu/static/documents/2009/Nigeria0609Report.pdf">oil exploration activities</a> is a big worry.
It has led to declining fish harvests and <a href="http://www.scialert.net/qredirect.php?doi=jfas.2014.352.358&linkid=pdf">loss of biodiversity</a>.<a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/AFR44/017/2009/en/">The poor</a> are affected the most. </p>
<h2>What must be done</h2>
<p>Nigeria needs to change the way it manages water.</p>
<p>Firstly, it should include a wider range of stakeholders. Secondly, it should draw on the knowledge and disciplines of a variety of sectors. </p>
<p>Providing potable water involves science, policy and practice. All these must be considered in developing the proper management system for water in the country. Such a system needs more flexible, adaptive and responsible institutions. </p>
<p>Federal, state and local governments should work together to update and tighten regulations controlling water quality. </p>
<p>Nigeria also needs a water quality monitoring network and a water quality database. The database would store physical, chemical, biological and ecological information. </p>
<p>It’s also important to raise public awareness about the value of water and to increase public participation in water supply schemes. Getting people involved helps to sustain water infrastructure.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/83110/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nelson Odume receives funding from The Water Research Commission, National Research Foundation, Rhodes University Council Grant, Carnegie-RISE. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrew Slaughter does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Nigeria is rich in water resources. but poor management has led to water scarcity in the country.Nelson Odume, Researcher, Rhodes UniversityAndrew Slaughter, Visiting professor, University of SaskatchewanLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/778842017-07-03T03:06:19Z2017-07-03T03:06:19ZHow an obscure Austrian philosopher saw through our empty rhetoric about ‘sustainability’<p>“Sustainability” is, ironically, a growth industry. Ever since the term “sustainable development” burst onto the scene in 1987 with the release of <a href="http://www.un-documents.net/wced-ocf.htm">Our Common Future</a> (also known as the Brundtland report), there has been a dizzying increase in rhetoric about humanity’s relationship with our planet’s resources. Glossy reports - often featuring blonde children in front of solar panels or wind turbines - abound, and are slapped down on desks as proof of responsibility and stewardship.</p>
<p>Every few years a new term is thrown into the mix - usually preceded by adjectives like “participatory” or “community-led”. The fashionability of “resilience” as a <em>mot du jour</em> seems to have peaked, while more recently the “<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circular_economy">circular economy</a>” has become the trendy term to put on grant applications, conference notices and journal special editions. Over time journals are established, careers are built, and library shelves groan.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, the <a href="https://theconversation.com/logically-how-is-it-possible-to-use-more-resources-than-earth-can-replenish-79743">planetary “overshoot”</a>, to borrow the title of a terrifying <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Overshoot-Ecological-Basis-Revolutionary-Change/dp/0252009886">1980 book</a>, goes on - exemplified by <a href="https://scripps.ucsd.edu/programs/keelingcurve/">rising concentrations of atmospheric carbon dioxide</a>, <a href="https://www.epa.gov/climate-indicators/climate-change-indicators-sea-surface-temperature">warmer oceans</a>, <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/728edc40-b0d5-11e6-a37c-f4a01f1b0fa1">Arctic melting</a>, and other signs of the times.</p>
<p>With all this ink being spilled (or, more sustainably, electrons being pressed into service), is there anything new to say about sustainability? My colleagues and I think so.</p>
<p>Three of us (lead author <a href="http://www.sci.manchester.ac.uk/people/ulrike-ehgartner">Ulrike Ehgartner</a>,
second author <a href="http://www.sci.manchester.ac.uk/people/patrick-gould">Patrick Gould</a>
and myself) recently published an article called “<a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/23269995.2017.1300417?journalCode=rgld20">On the obsolescence of human beings in sustainable development</a>”.</p>
<p>In it we explore the big questions of sustainability, drawing on some of the work of an unjustly obscure Austrian political philosopher called Gunther Anders.</p>
<h2>Who was Günther Anders?</h2>
<p>He was born <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%BCnther_Anders">Günther Siegmund Stern</a> in 1902. While he was working as a journalist in Berlin, an editor wanted to reduce the number of Jewish-sounding bylines. Stern plumped for “Anders” (meaning “other” or “different”) and used that <em>nom de plume</em> for the rest of his life.</p>
<p>Anders knew lots of the big philosophical names of the day. He studied under <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmund_Husserl">Edmund Husserl</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Heidegger">Martin Heidegger</a>. He was briefly married to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hannah_Arendt">Hannah Arendt</a>, and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Benjamin">Walter Benjamin</a> was a cousin.</p>
<p>But despite his stellar list of friends and family, Anders himself was not well known. Harold Marcuse <a href="http://www.history.ucsb.edu/faculty/marcuse/anders.htm#zelka">points out</a> that the name “Stern” was pretty apt, writing: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>His unsparingly critical pessimism may explain why his pathbreaking works have seldom sparked sustained public discussion.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>While Hiroshima and the nuclear threat were the most obvious influences on Anders’ writing, he was also crucially influenced by the events at Auschwitz, the Vietnam War, and his periods in exile in France and the United States. But why should we care, and how can his ideas be applied to modern-day ideas about sustainability? </p>
<p>Space precludes a blow-by-blow account of what my colleagues and I wrote, but two ideas are worth exploring: the “Promethean gap” and “apocalyptic blindness”.</p>
<p>Anders suggested that the societal changes wrought by the industrial age – chief among them the division of labour – opened a gap between individuals’ capability to produce machines, and their capability to imagine and deal with the consequences. </p>
<p>So, riffing on the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prometheus">Greek myth of Prometheus</a> (the chap who stole fire from Mount Olympus and gave it to humans), Anders proposed the existence of a “Promethean gap” which manifests in academic and scientific thinking and leads to the extensive trivialisation of societal issues. </p>
<p>The second idea is that of “apocalyptic blindness” – which is, according to Anders, the mindset of humans in the Age of the Third Industrial Revolution. This, as we write in our paper:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>…determines a notion of time and future that renders human beings incapable of facing the possibility of a bad end to their history. The belief in progress, persistently ingrained since the Industrial Revolution, causes the incapability of humans to understand that their existence is threatened, and that this could lead to the end of their history.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Put simply, we don’t want to look an apocalypse in the eye, even if it’s heading straight towards us.</p>
<h2>The climate connection</h2>
<p>“So what?” you might ask. Why listen to yet another obscure philosopher railing about technology, in the vein of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_Mumford">Lewis Mumford</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacques_Ellul">Jacques Ellul</a>? But I think a passing knowledge of Anders and his work reminds us of several important things.</p>
<p>This is nothing new. Recently, the very notion of ‘progress’ has come under renewed assault, with books questioning our assumptions about it. This is not new of course - in a 1967 <a href="http://www.spikemagazine.com/shirley-hazzard-people-in-glass-houses.php">short story collection</a> about life at the United Nations, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shirley_Hazzard">Shirley Hazzard</a> had written:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>About this development process there appeared to be no half-measures: once a country had admitted its backwardness, it could hope for no quarter in the matter of improvement. It could not accept a box of pills without accepting, in principle, an atomic reactor. Progress was a draught that must be drained to the last bitter drop.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The time - if ever there was one - for tinkering around the edges is over. We need to take stronger action than simply pursuing our feelgood preoccupation with sustainability.</p>
<p>This begs the question of who is supposed to shift us from the current course (or rather, <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1467-9558.2010.01385.x/abstract">multiple collision courses</a>. That’s a difficult one to answer.</p>
<p>The hope that techno-fixes (including 100% renewable energy) will sort out our problems is a dangerous delusion (please note, I’m not against 100% renewables - I’m just saying that green energy is “necessary but not sufficient” for repairing the planet). </p>
<p>Similarly, the “circular economy” has a rather circular feeling to it – in the sense that we’ve seen all this before. It seems (to me anyway) to be the last gasp of the “ecological modernist” belief that with a bit more efficiency, everything can simply keep on progressing.</p>
<p>Our problems go far deeper. We are going to need a rapid and fundamental shift in our values, habits, behaviours, and outlooks. Put in Anders’ terms, we need to stop being blind to the possibility of apocalypse. But then again, people have been saying that for a century or more.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/77884/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
Every day brings new calls for sustainability, as humanity’s actual behaviour moves ever further away from it. What can we learn from an obscure Austrian philosopher?Marc Hudson, PhD Candidate, Sustainable Consumption Institute, University of ManchesterLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/741022017-04-13T11:45:07Z2017-04-13T11:45:07ZHow to embrace urban living, but avoid an apocalypse<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/164070/original/image-20170405-14629-1ch9u30.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=172%2C46%2C1853%2C1061&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The future of cities?</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Paul Jones/Northumbria</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Cities – we are repeatedly told – are the future. Governments and global corporations seek to increase productivity by accelerating urban growth, while more and more citizens migrate to cities, in search of a better life. Indeed, the Chinese government <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/apr/04/china-plans-build-new-city-nearly-three-times-the-size-of-new-york">recently unveiled plans</a> to construct a city three times the size of New York, <a href="http://usa.chinadaily.com.cn/epaper/2017-04/03/content_28783856.htm">calling it</a> a “strategy crucial for a millennium to come”. </p>
<p>Yet as it stands, visions of our urban future are bleak. </p>
<p>By 2050, <a href="https://esa.un.org/unpd/wup/publications/files/wup2014-highlights.Pdf">it is predicted</a> that up to six billion inhabitants will live in urban areas – more than two thirds of the world’s population. There could be as many as 30 cities with populations exceeding 10m, and massive urban areas may merge to form megacities, resulting in urban populations exceeding 50m. </p>
<p>According to Mike Davis, author of <a href="https://www.versobooks.com/books/2293-planet-of-slums">Planet of Slums</a>, approaching two billion of the world’s inhabitants will live in slums, scratching out an existence without access to the basic services necessary for life. Another four billion will live severely compromised lives within urban sprawl, left to fight for resources as city governments fail to cope with the rapid influx of people. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/164089/original/image-20170405-14615-bn3t88.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/164089/original/image-20170405-14615-bn3t88.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=296&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164089/original/image-20170405-14615-bn3t88.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=296&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164089/original/image-20170405-14615-bn3t88.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=296&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164089/original/image-20170405-14615-bn3t88.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=372&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164089/original/image-20170405-14615-bn3t88.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=372&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164089/original/image-20170405-14615-bn3t88.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=372&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A dim prospect.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisjongkind/15022907263/sizes/l">Tokyoform/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Social services and health facilities will break down. <a href="http://www.who.int/healthinfo/global_burden_disease/GlobalHealthRisks_report_part2.pdf">Human catastrophes</a> such as starvation and the spread of disease will result from unsanitary conditions and high population density. The megacities of the future will have weak and unsustainable local economies, that will negatively affect citizens’ lives in myriad ways.</p>
<p>Wealth will not provide immunity from these issues. Pollution will rise exponentially, with toxic smog regularly enveloping entire cities. This will inevitably lead to a rise in respiratory diseases, which are already emerging as one of the three major health risks to the modern population. Bad air quality will be made worse by the <a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-why-are-cities-warmer-than-the-countryside-53160">urban heat island effect</a>, as parks and rural hinterlands are built over to house the influx of people. </p>
<p>Nature will struggle to gain a foothold in the future city, with rural land <a href="http://www.fao.org/docrep/017/i1688e/i1688e.pdf">predicted to shrink</a> by 30% to accommodate urban expansion. The lack of countryside and green space will ultimately contribute to the <a href="http://voices.nationalgeographic.com/2012/03/28/the-sixth-great-extinction-a-silent-extermination/">sixth recorded mass extinction</a> of animal and plant species. </p>
<h2>A brighter future</h2>
<p>But there is a way to avert this apocalyptic vision. Efforts to control the rapid and chaotic expansion of cities must go hand in hand with tackling the global environmental crisis, brought about by climate change. Governments, however, have proved unwilling or unable to reconcile the interests of global corporations with those of everyday people and the environment; this can be seen through their support of projects such as mining the <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2014/09/the-alberta-tar-sands/100820/">Alberta Sands</a> and oil operations in the <a href="http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2007/02/junger200702">Niger Delta</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/164088/original/image-20170405-14626-1re0c3o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/164088/original/image-20170405-14626-1re0c3o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=270&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164088/original/image-20170405-14626-1re0c3o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=270&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164088/original/image-20170405-14626-1re0c3o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=270&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164088/original/image-20170405-14626-1re0c3o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=340&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164088/original/image-20170405-14626-1re0c3o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=340&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164088/original/image-20170405-14626-1re0c3o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=340&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Mining Alberta’s tar sands.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/kk/6863477149/sizes/o/">Kris Krug/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As such, any alternative to this bleak urban future will require a radical shift in governance and economic philosophy. Scholars <a href="http://www.steadystate.org/discover/definition/">argue that</a> society’s economic aim should be the sustainable production and fair distribution of wealth – rather than the maximisation of profit. Devolving wealth and power will help to build robust local economies and strong communities, which can mitigate the pressures of global urbanisation. </p>
<p>These changes should also be manifest in the physical structure and form of urban communities, with compact, densely populated, sustainable and self-governing community developments, as opposed to laissez-faire urban sprawl. In alternative future cities, urban blocks will support all the immediate needs of their inhabitants; from healthcare to housing, education, food production, clean water and sanitation. </p>
<h2>Welcome to the Organicity</h2>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/164078/original/image-20170405-14626-1bnt6ax.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/164078/original/image-20170405-14626-1bnt6ax.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/164078/original/image-20170405-14626-1bnt6ax.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=203&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164078/original/image-20170405-14626-1bnt6ax.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=203&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164078/original/image-20170405-14626-1bnt6ax.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=203&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164078/original/image-20170405-14626-1bnt6ax.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=255&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164078/original/image-20170405-14626-1bnt6ax.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=255&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164078/original/image-20170405-14626-1bnt6ax.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=255&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A cut-through view of the Organicity.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Paul Jones/Northumbria</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>To better understand what such a place might actually be like, David Dobereiner, Chris Brown and I created Organicity: an illustrated prototype for localised, autonomous, sustainable, urban community infrastructure. The Organicity is densely occupied, with residential, urban agriculture, retail, industry, commerce, education and health facilities stacked above each other, accommodating approximately 5,000 people per unit. </p>
<p>Automated industries and waste processing are located beneath the living zone, where there is no need for natural light. Each unit has a primary industry which trades with other neighbouring communities to generate income to support the infrastructure. Resources should be managed at a local level, with a higher level of responsibility than is currently shown by global corporations. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/164083/original/image-20170405-14636-gz0k1q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/164083/original/image-20170405-14636-gz0k1q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/164083/original/image-20170405-14636-gz0k1q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=269&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164083/original/image-20170405-14636-gz0k1q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=269&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164083/original/image-20170405-14636-gz0k1q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=269&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164083/original/image-20170405-14636-gz0k1q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=339&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164083/original/image-20170405-14636-gz0k1q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=339&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164083/original/image-20170405-14636-gz0k1q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=339&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Nature and knowledge, side by side.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Paul Jones/Northumbria</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Protecting the environment and supporting a diverse range of wildlife would be a natural function of these new communities. Biodiversity could be promoted by green corridors, situated near education, health and office spaces so that children and workers can benefit from the proximity of a rich natural environment. </p>
<h2>People power</h2>
<p>Investing in local people through the provision of skills and education will add to the commercial viability of the community, as well as building cohesion, purpose and mutual respect. As the sociologist <a href="http://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/86059/the-economy-of-cities-by-jane-jacobs/9780394705842/">Jane Jacobs argued</a> back in the 1970s, for cities to remain viable they should become the producers of resources, rather than insatiable consumers. </p>
<p>In the Organicity, each development will have the necessary expertise for the community to flourish, including doctors, architects, solicitors, dentists, as well as skilled and unskilled labour. This new urban model transforms city blocks into productive environments. For example, the development of urban farming would boost food production and prevent starvation, which would be an inevitable consequence of unimpeded urban growth. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/164080/original/image-20170405-14620-co5810.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/164080/original/image-20170405-14620-co5810.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/164080/original/image-20170405-14620-co5810.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=273&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164080/original/image-20170405-14620-co5810.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=273&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164080/original/image-20170405-14620-co5810.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=273&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164080/original/image-20170405-14620-co5810.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=344&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164080/original/image-20170405-14620-co5810.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=344&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164080/original/image-20170405-14620-co5810.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=344&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Community greenhouses.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Paul Jones/Northumbria</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The developments will vary in scale, with the bigger ones housing hospitals and other community facilities that require specialist facilities. The prototype reinvents the concept of “terraced housing”: land is stepped backwards up a slope, forming true terraces, where rows of houses are arrayed to embrace the public plaza and allotment gardens. </p>
<p>Within these communities, it is essential that people work close to where they live, to reduce the impacts of transport: not only will this tackle pollution, it will also afford people more quality time with their families and local community. </p>
<p>Sharing communal resources – including machinery and cars – is an important principle of urban sustainability. Communal ownership of assets, including real estate and green space, is essential for this model to work. Renewable technologies could also be community-owned, which would help to break people’s dependency on fossil fuel. </p>
<p>By shifting from globalisation to localisation, and creating smaller, self-sufficient communities within sustainable developments, cities could regain their equilibrium. From where we stand today, the Organicity may sound like a Utopian dream. But if we’re to avoid an urban apocalypse, we’re going to need strong alternative visions, to change the way we imagine and plan for the cities of the future.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/74102/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Paul Jones receives funding from AHRC and HEA. </span></em></p>Pollution, poverty, disease and death: future cities will be grim places, unless we do things differently.Paul Jones, Professor of Architecture, Northumbria University, NewcastleLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/714572017-02-02T07:50:46Z2017-02-02T07:50:46ZIs Costa Rica the world’s happiest, greenest country?<p>Costa Rica was the most environmentally advanced and happiest place on earth last year, followed by Mexico, Colombia, Vanuatu and Vietnam.</p>
<p>That was the conclusion of the New Economics Foundation’s <a href="http://happyplanetindex.org/">Happy Planet Index</a>, which recently released its 2016 ranking of “where in the world people are using ecological resources most efficiently to live long, happy lives”. </p>
<p>That neither the US nor any European nations make the <a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/07/greenest-happiest-country-in-the-world?utm_content=bufferf4193&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer">top ten</a> may be surprising, but Costa Rica’s winning position is not; this small Central American nation also topped the <a href="http://happyplanetindex.org/countries/costa-rica">2009 and 2012 rankings</a>. </p>
<p>The Happy Planet Index measures life expectancy, well-being, environmental footprint and inequality to calculate nations’ success – all areas where Costa Rica’s government has made significant effort and investment. </p>
<h2>Less war, more health</h2>
<p>In 1949, Costa Rica took a big gamble of eliminating its army and investing military funds into health and education. The decision has paid off on numerous fronts.</p>
<p>By <a href="http://www.elfinancierocr.com/opinion/educacion_publica-presupuesto-gasto-gasto_publico_0_994100615.html">2016</a>, education comprised 8% of Costa Rica’s national budget – up from 2.6% in 1994 and 5.9% 2014, according to a <a href="http://www.academiaca.or.cr/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Analisis-Ronulfo-6-2014C.pdf">2014 study</a>.</p>
<p>By <a href="http://www.datosmacro.com/estado/gasto/educacion">comparison</a>, nearby El Salvador spends 3.42% of GDP on education, the US spends 5.22% and Colombia allocates 4.67%.</p>
<p>In the environmental realm, Costa Rica has long been a pioneer. In the 1990s, the country passed a series of “green culture” laws including the tax-funded <a href="https://www.cne.go.cr/cedo_dvd5/files/flash_content/pdf/spa/doc387/doc387-contenido.pdf">National Forests law</a> that protects forests, waters, biodiversity and natural beauty as both tourist attractions and scientific resources. It also developed a <a href="http://www.fonafifo.go.cr/psa/">financing system</a>, supported by both the government and by international organisations, such as the <a href="https://www.oas.org/dsd/Documents/Lospagosporserviciosambientales.pdf">World Bank</a>, to pay for environmental protection programmes. </p>
<p>Other green initiatives include the <a href="http://reddcr.go.cr/fbs/ecomarchamo">Eco-Marchamo</a>, which is a voluntary complementary tax that allows drivers to offset 100% of the emissions generated by fuel consumption for one year and the <a href="http://www.ambientico.una.ac.cr/pdfs/ambientico/247.pdf">Carbon Neutral Framework</a> that incentivises good environmental practice by Costa Rican companies.</p>
<p>Under President Luis Guillermo Solís, Costa Rica’s <a href="https://www.ministeriodesalud.go.cr/index.php/biblioteca-de-archivos/sobre-el-ministerio/politcas-y-planes-en-salud/politicas-en-salud/2746-politica-nacional-de-salud-2015/file">national health policy</a> also now includes the explicit goal of achieving “environmentally sustainable socio-economic development”, based on the theory that such growth will better position the small country to face big international challenges, such as health crises, increasing violence and climate change.</p>
<p>In short, Costa Rica has built into its whole governance model the ability to face the major environmental and health challenges facing the world.</p>
<p>As a result, in addition to its top ranking on the Happy Planet Index, Costa Rica also does very well on the <a href="https://www.larepublica.net/noticia/costa-rica-es-tercero-en-indice-global-de-trabajadores-felices">Global Index of Happy Workers</a> (at number three), in <a href="https://www.larepublica.net/noticia/costa-rica-entre-los-mas-competitivos-de-america-latina">Doing Business 2017</a> (at number five) in the region Latin American and on the <a href="https://www.larepublica.net/noticia/costa-rica-es-segundo-en-la-region-en-libertad-individual">Individual Liberties Index</a>. Costa Rica is also a <a href="https://www.larepublica.net/noticia/costa-rica-lider-en-centroamerica-en-respeto-a-derechos-laborales">leader within Central America in labour rights</a> and ranks among the <a href="https://www.larepublica.net/noticia/costa-rica-entre-los-mas-competitivos-de-america-latina">most competitive economies in Latin America</a>. (There’s more, too – <a href="https://www.larepublica.net/seccion/ranking">you can find it here</a>). </p>
<p>This reveals a key issue highlighted by the Happy Place Index: public policies have a great impact on the well-being of a populace. </p>
<h2>Limits to the rankings</h2>
<p>But they’re not the only factor and such rankings, while perhaps a point of pride for a tiny Central American nation, have serious limitations. </p>
<p>First, global indexes inevitably include certain indicators and exclude others. This can lead to certain cognitive dissonance. It is notable that among the WEF’s <a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/07/greenest-happiest-country-in-the-world?utm_content=bufferf4193&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer">top ten</a> “happiest” places are two highly under-developed nations, Vanuatu and Bangladesh. Both not only have <a href="http://www3.weforum.org/docs/gcr/2015-2016/Global_Competitiveness_Report_2015-2016.pdf">low global competitiveness</a> but also do badly on the <a href="http://hdr.undp.org/sites/default/files/hdr_2015_statistical_annex.pdf">UN’s Human Development Index</a> (134th and 142nd, respectively). </p>
<p>How is it possible for a country to be eco-happy but underdeveloped? </p>
<p>Well, the Happy Planet Index does not look at such indicators as education, income, access to water and electricity or poverty rates. Accounting for those facts would create a more complete, and probably very different, perception of happiness. </p>
<p>Vanuatu, which the Happy Planet Index ranks fourth happiest in terms of sustainability, comes in 134th on Yale University’s <a href="http://epi.yale.edu/sites/default/files/2016EPI_Full_Report_opt.pdf">Environmental Performance Index</a>, which examines how countries protect human health and the ecosystem. Costa Rica, first on the 2016 Happy Planet Index, ranks 42 place on the EPI. Meanwhile, Ecuador, tenth on the Happy Planet Index, <a href="http://www.cdi.org.pe/InformeGlobaldeCompetitividad/index.html">is 76th</a> in global competitiveness, according to the CDI’s 2016-2017 rankings, and 103rd on Yale’s EPI.</p>
<p>According to the <a href="http://unctad.org/es/Paginas/PressRelease.aspx?OriginalVersionID=160">UN’s Conference on Trade and Development</a>, the world’s least-developed countries are characterised by having deficient per capita income and economic vulnerability. That is, at least <a href="http://unctad.org/es/Paginas/PressRelease.aspx?OriginalVersionID=382">50%</a> of the population lives in extreme poverty. They’re also the countries that are most exposed to <a href="http://www.newwayssustainability.org/2016/11/02/medidas-alentar-desarollo-paises-menos-adelantados/">climate change and its consequences</a>. </p>
<p>So is a country that’s green necessarily a happy place? </p>
<h2>What is happiness?</h2>
<p>The Happy Planet Index is useful in reconceptualising happiness in terms of environmental well-being and sustainable practices, but it needs fine-tuning. </p>
<p>In underdeveloped countries, a low carbon footprint clearly has more to do with the lack of industry than with environmental policy. These countries simply didn’t undergo the same economic growth processes that the rich world did, from the Industrial Revolution through to the second world war. </p>
<p>And it is <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-do-we-measure-well-being-70967">confusing</a> to talk about happiness in countries where life conditions are not even minimally acceptable. Even the authors of the report on the Happy Planet Index note <a href="http://happyplanetindex.org/countries/costa-rica">when discussing Costa Rica</a> that despite its environmental commitment, Costa Rica’s ecological footprint is not small enough to be totally sustainable, and that its income <a href="http://happyplanetindex.org/countries/costa-rica">inequality</a> remains quite high. </p>
<p>The same could be noted of the other top countries in the Happy Planet Index, <a href="http://datos.bancomundial.org/indicador/SI.POV.GINI">Mexico and Colombia</a>, whose 2014 GINI ratings of 48.2 and 53.5, respectively, reflect starkly uneven wealth distribution. In fact, Colombia is the <a href="http://www.bbc.com/mundo/noticias/2016/03/160308_america_latina_economia_desigualdad_ab">second-most unequal</a> country in Latin America, a region characterised by its wealth gap. </p>
<p>Costa Rica has achieved a lot since it turned away from war and toward national well-being a half century ago. But many challenges – from preventing violence to increasing income equality – remain for it to become both green and truly happy. </p>
<p>To create the kind of sustainability that fundamentally links human, environmental and social development, policy, science, education and citizen activism must all work together. </p>
<p>That’s how we’ll redefine the meaning of happiness – in Costa Rica and beyond.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/71457/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ariana López Peña does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Environmental sustainability has a role in increasing national well-being.Ariana López Peña, Professor, School of International Relations, Universidad Nacional de Costa RicaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/701662016-12-12T03:39:59Z2016-12-12T03:39:59ZTrump, carbon neutrality and the next phase of business sustainability<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/149478/original/image-20161209-31396-19d1ano.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Google last week announced that it is on target to power its operations 100 percent by renewable energy, an example of businesses trying to change the energy system.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://pixabay.com/en/wind-farm-windmills-turbines-energy-538576/">Pixabay</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Trump administration appears to be moving in one direction on the issue of climate change with the appointment of climate skeptic <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/07/us/politics/scott-pruitt-epa-trump.html">Scott Pruitt</a> to head up the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and a transition team led by and stacked with <a href="http://www.utilitydive.com/news/report-trumps-pro-fossil-fuel-transition-team-worries-climate-advocates/431943/">fossil fuel interests</a>. </p>
<p>Yet many within corporate America are heading in another direction. Consider Kevin Butt, <a href="http://toyotanews.pressroom.toyota.com/article_display.cfm?article_id=2195">regional environmental sustainability director</a> for Toyota Motor North America, and his charge to take the company “beyond zero environmental impact” by reducing and eventually eliminating CO₂ emissions from vehicle operation, manufacturing, materials production and energy sources by 2050.</p>
<p>This type of effort is not as crazy as it may seem. Solutions to climate change require new types of aggressive thinking. While <a href="http://unfccc.int/paris_agreement/items/9485.php">global treaties</a> to reduce greenhouse gas emissions are important, they are not enough. Eventually society has to go carbon neutral, and then it has to go <a href="http://energy.umich.edu/research/projects/beyond-carbon-neutral">carbon negative</a>.</p>
<p>The ultimate responsibility for making this shift is falling first and foremost on business. Companies are developing the next buildings we live and work in, the clothes we wear, the food we eat, the forms of mobility we employ and the energy systems that propel them. With their unmatched powers of ideation, production and distribution, business is the only entity that can bring the change we need. Indeed, if there are no solutions coming from the business world, there will be no solutions at the necessary scale. </p>
<p>While business has been addressing sustainability challenges <a href="http://www.sup.org/books/title/?id=3692">since the 1990s</a>, and climate change since the 2000s, the focus of this effort is now at an inflection point, as Toyota’s “beyond zero impact” effort shows. Rather than looking to government for solutions, many businesses are taking responsibility for climate change seriously and changing the system on their own. </p>
<h2>Business sustainability 1.0: Enterprise integration</h2>
<p>Over the past quarter-century, companies have framed environmental sustainability as a market shift that fits into the existing ways of managing a business, an approach that we at the <a href="http://erb.umich.edu/">Erb Institute</a> call Enterprise Integration. The notion is that <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Competitive-Environmental-Strategy-Changing-Landscape/dp/1559637722">key business constituents</a> bring sustainability to the business through existing corporate functions, thereby making it a strategic concern. </p>
<p>For example, <a href="http://webuser.bus.umich.edu/ajhoff/books/2006%20Pew%20Report.pdf">Whirlpool</a> is innovating on appliance energy efficiency, not because of corporate social responsibility, but because it has watched energy efficiency move from number 10 or 12 in consumer priorities in the 1980s to number three, behind cost and performance. And it expects those concerns will continue to grow. Similarly, most auto companies are moving into hybrid and electric drivetrains because they see electrification as the <a href="http://www.aol.com/article/2012/01/26/how-the-chevy-volt-became-a-political-punching-bag/20157651/">future of the sector</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/149481/original/image-20161209-31383-1pqxq9w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/149481/original/image-20161209-31383-1pqxq9w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/149481/original/image-20161209-31383-1pqxq9w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149481/original/image-20161209-31383-1pqxq9w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149481/original/image-20161209-31383-1pqxq9w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149481/original/image-20161209-31383-1pqxq9w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149481/original/image-20161209-31383-1pqxq9w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149481/original/image-20161209-31383-1pqxq9w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Like Toyota and its hybrid Prius program, GM invested in electric cars such as the Chevy Volt (seen here in production) to be part of the auto industry’s move to electrification, not solely to meet government mandates.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/wiredphotostream/6302997579/in/photolist-aAYvA4-7ByCq8-6SbjWB-7ByCyk-9BZ8zC-7QscM4-aPgj5z-8fchRD-7x4DAf-7nXcqc-amUT74-amXrZd-5PX9GZ-8fcfRr-aEJnyj-ebVZSf-aEJmkw-aEEwLB-aEExAv-aEEvnV-9R27c2-yGSo6-4nj4Tz-cXmTxb-99JTzb-7A6YR1-7M1N7n-8hm4MK-9BWrSz-97MNdw-9BWrzB-7M5Lmh-ajT1qY-dxZFY3-7Le1P2-cXmTAL-ajQbyv-b76tU2-amXFxQ-amUDNn-6e5MXH-cXmTz3-ajT7jL-4zqdYA-6fcF7V-7M5LdQ-6Sfqh3-9pDB6N-bW3MrH-7oxrqX">Jim Merithew/Wired.com</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>To make the business case, companies turn to traditional sources and motivations. Once insurance companies apply sustainability pressures on the business, the issue becomes one of risk management. From competitors, it becomes an issue of strategic direction. From investors and banks, it becomes an issue of capital acquisition and cost of capital. From suppliers and buyers, it becomes an issue of supply chain logistics. From consumers, it becomes an issue of market demand. </p>
<p>Put in such terms, much of the specific language of sustainability recedes, being replaced by the core language of standard business strategy. As such, companies can remain agnostic about the science of particular issues (such as climate change) but still recognize their importance as business concerns. In doing so, they are turning the false dichotomy between the economy and the environment on its head.</p>
<p>Indeed, recent surveys show that <a href="http://sloanreview.mit.edu/projects/sustainabilitys-next-frontier/">85 percent</a> of business executives believe that climate change is real (well above the national average of <a href="http://www.gallup.com/poll/190010/concern-global-warming-eight-year-high.aspx">64 percent</a>) and more than <a href="https://www.unglobalcompact.org/docs/news_events/8.1/UNGC_Accenture_CEO_Study_2010.pdf">90 percent</a> of CEOs believe that sustainability in general is important to a company’s profits. This leads more businesses to develop sustainability strategies, create positions like <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/hbsworkingknowledge/2014/10/08/what-do-chief-sustainabilty-officers-do/#5ebdb2ef1a96">chief sustainability officer</a> to carry them out and publish <a href="https://www.globalreporting.org/Pages/default.aspx">annual reports</a> on sustainability to track and share the results. This is the first model of business sustainability and it would seem to be setting us on a path to becoming more sustainable.</p>
<p>But, not so fast.</p>
<p>As promising as these developments are, our world continues to become less, not more, sustainable, and the nature of the problems we face are markedly different than they were in the 1990s. To mark this shift, scientists have proposed that we have left the Holocene and entered the <a href="http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v415/n6867/full/415023a.html">Anthropocene</a>, a new geologic epoch that acknowledges that humans are now a <a href="https://theconversation.com/an-official-welcome-to-the-anthropocene-epoch-but-who-gets-to-decide-its-here-57113">significant operating force within the Earth’s ecosystems</a>. </p>
<p>Recognition of the Anthropocene has broad implications for how we think about business sustainability. Rather than fitting sustainability into the existing models of the market, we must now recognize that the market is taking control of natural systems with potentially catastrophic consequences. Climate change, ozone depletion, droughts, wildfires, food insecurity, water scarcity and the social unrest that results all point to a fundamental system failure created by our market (and political) institutions. </p>
<p>As a result, the first phase of business sustainability – integrating these practices within core corporate functions – is inadequate for the scope of the issues we now face. Using this model, we are slowing the velocity at which we are approaching a <a href="https://theconversation.com/to-manage-earth-in-the-anthropocene-we-need-to-focus-on-systems-change-38452">system collapse</a>, but we are not averting that eventual outcome. A new model of thinking is emerging. </p>
<h2>Sustainability 2.0: Market transformation</h2>
<p>The next mode of business sustainability, which we call market transformation, involves corporations making <a href="http://yalebooks.com/book/9780300158434/sustainability-design">systemic changes</a> in the business environment. It sees the corporation as a positive force in society, ameliorating our legacy of harm and mitigating the impacts from a global population expected to reach nine billion by 2050. </p>
<p>We can already see some of the <a href="https://theconversation.com/capitalism-must-evolve-to-solve-the-climate-crisis-47338">elements of this shift</a> coming into view. Here are some core tenets of this change to creating sustainability: </p>
<ul>
<li><p>Focus on the <a href="http://www.sup.org/books/title/?id=22399">system</a>. The notion of an energy company installing a windfarm and calling itself sustainable makes no empirical sense. A more sustainable energy system incorporates the whole grid, encompassing generation, transmission, distribution, use and mobility. <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/06/technology/google-says-it-will-run-entirely-on-renewable-energy-in-2017.html">Google</a>, for example, plans to run all of its data centers entirely from renewable energy by 2017. This goes far beyond a token commitment, creating a hedge against <a href="https://www.ceres.org/resources/reports/power-forward-why-the-world2019s-largest-companies-are-investing-in-renewable-energy/view">future energy volatility</a> by changing the overall energy system on which the company depends.</p></li>
<li><p>Involve the entire supply chain. Systemic approaches to business sustainability require a broader consideration of operations and supply chain logistics, using concepts such as <a href="http://css.snre.umich.edu/">life cycle analysis</a>, <a href="http://cie.research.yale.edu/">industrial ecology</a> and the <a href="https://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/circular-economy/overview/concept">circular economy</a> to reduce material and energy use among all the constituents in the supply chain.</p></li>
<li><p>The government as collaborator. Since the days of Adam Smith, government has been the <a href="https://www.technologyreview.com/s/602490/capitalism-behaving-badly/">arbiter of the market</a>, helping to set the rules in the service of humans and adapting to changes as needed. You can’t price-fix, you can’t collude, you can’t sell drugs; we accept these as rules of the market. In the future, the market will restrict (or eliminate) the emission of greenhouse gases as a way to promote economic growth, not hinder it. Forward-thinking companies seek ways to constructively participate in policy formation.</p></li>
<li><p>Questioning our standard models and metrics. Ultimately, market transformation is prompting a reexamination of the models now used to understand and explain the market, such as <a href="http://www.mckinsey.com/global-themes/long-term-capitalism/redefining-capitalism">neoclassical economics</a> and <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/research/the-problem-of-corporate-purpose/">principal-agent theory</a>. Both of these are built on rather dismal simplifications of human beings as largely untrustworthy and driven by avarice, greed and short-term thinking. Anyone in business will tell you that their motivations and resultant strategies are far more complex. For example, some, like former GE CEO Jack Welch, are questioning the assumption that <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/stevedenning/2013/06/26/the-origin-of-the-worlds-dumbest-idea-milton-friedman/#205a8e58214c">the singular purpose of the corporation</a> is to make money for its shareholders. </p></li>
<li><p>As these models are questioned, new ones are emerging, from <a href="http://capitalinstitute.org/regenerative-capitalism/">regenerative capitalism</a> to <a href="http://www.collaborativeconsumption.com/">collaborative consumption</a>, from <a href="http://www.conflictfreesourcing.org/">conflict-free sourcing</a> to the <a href="http://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21573104-internet-everything-hire-rise-sharing-economy">sharing economy</a>.</p></li>
</ul>
<h2>Different from the Reagan years</h2>
<p>These are just some of the emergent notions of a new framework for corporate sustainability. Companies are altering the systems in which they operate, driving entire industries toward a set of market rules that bring us toward a sustainable future. </p>
<p>So, while President-elect Trump’s approach to the EPA bears similarities to <a href="https://theconversation.com/climate-change-and-the-presidential-race-lessons-from-the-reagan-years-66194">President Reagan</a>’s attempts to roll back environmental regulations in the 1980s, and likely faces a similar backlash, there is one big difference; some of that backlash will come from businesses who are leading on greenhouse gas reductions and renewable energy and not fighting government-led environmental policies as they did in the 1980s. To get a sense of the shifting economic landscape, <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-05-25/clean-energy-jobs-surpass-oil-drilling-for-first-time-in-u-s">jobs in the clean energy sector</a> exceeded those in oil drilling for the first time in 2016 and continue to grow. Indeed, many within these and other sectors are <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/dec/01/climate-change-donald-trump-us-companies?CMP=share_btn_tw">already pushing back</a> on Trump’s dismissal of climate change and continuing with strategies of their own.</p>
<p>They will do this with, or <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/08/us/politics/trump-climate-epa-coal-jobs.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=first-column-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news">without</a>, the cooperation of governments and their political shifts back and forth on these critical issues. </p>
<p>For example, Toyota, in its effort to go carbon-neutral, must think systemically and include many partners, just as Tesla is doing as it challenges the calculus for electric cars sector-wide. To enact system-wide change, companies are also working with governments to <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/17/business/how-the-chemical-industry-joined-the-fight-against-climate-change.html?_r=0">phase out heat-trapping HFC chemicals</a>, set <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/17/business/energy-environment/epa-truck-emission-standards.html">new efficiency standards on trucks</a>, establish transparency <a href="http://wdi-publishing.com/casedetail.aspx?cid=1429411">rules on conflict minerals</a> or participate in negotiations on a global climate change agreement. Examples of companies doing it on their own include changes in the <a href="http://www.pri.org/stories/2016-08-24/michelin-isnt-reinventing-wheel-its-reinventing-rubber-supply-chain">supply chain on rubber</a> or the reduction (even elimination) of <a href="http://www.wsj.com/articles/meat-companies-go-antibiotics-free-as-more-consumers-demand-it-1415071802">antibiotics in chicken</a>. </p>
<p>In each of these cases, companies are stepping into, in the words of Unilever CEO Paul Polman, “<a href="http://www.managementtoday.co.uk/mt-interview-paul-polman-unilever/article/1055793">a very interesting period in history</a> where the responsible business world is running ahead of the politicians” and taking on a broader role to “<a href="http://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/sustainability-and-resource-productivity/our-insights/business-society-and-the-future-of-capitalism%20%22%22">serve society</a>.”</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/70166/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrew J. Hoffman does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>With a Trump administration hostile to action on climate change, businesses need to go beyond just complying with environmental regulations and take on the whole system.Andrew J. Hoffman, Holcim (US) Professor at the Ross School of Business and Education Director at the Graham Sustainability Institute, University of MichiganLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/689572016-12-07T02:08:51Z2016-12-07T02:08:51ZTrump Tower, the skyscraper and the future of urban development<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/148719/original/image-20161205-8030-odvdwn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">In many cities, the only direction to go is up.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/download/confirm/432955621?src=&id=432955621&size=huge_jpg">'Skyscrapers' via www.shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>George Washington had Mount Vernon. Thomas Jefferson had Monticello. Now President-elect Donald Trump has his eponymous Manhattan skyscraper, <a href="https://www.trumptowerny.com">Trump Tower</a>. Our first and third presidents saw their plantations as both productive and symbolic of American identity that was rooted in the land itself. President-elect Trump looks out from his tower onto a dense, dynamic cityscape that represents American capitalism.</p>
<p>Washington lavished huge amounts of attention and money on building and furnishing <a href="https://www.mountvernon.org">Mount Vernon</a>. Jefferson spent practically his entire adult life constructing, expanding and renovating <a href="https://www.monticello.org/">Monticello</a>. Trump Tower is loaded with polished metal and stone and clad in reflective glass. Will it stand just for the questionable taste of the one percent, or could it stimulate more creative, sustainable approaches to urban development?</p>
<p>Initially, this might sound far-fetched. After all, Donald Trump, during the recent presidential campaign, refuted many of the environmental movement’s tenets, most notably climate change. Commentators have worried that he will, at best, fail to provide leadership on environmental issues and, at worst, <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-trumps-vow-to-kill-obamas-sustainability-agenda-will-lead-business-to-step-in-and-save-it-68616">embolden polluters and climate change deniers</a>.</p>
<p>But especially now that we know that Trump’s wife and son, Barron, <a href="http://nymag.com/thecut/2016/11/melania-and-barron-trump-will-stay-in-new-york-city.html">will continue to reside in Manhattan</a>, the president-elect is at least bringing attention to the urban tower as a residential building type. And some architects and urbanists believe that the skyscraper offers one important solution to climate issues. </p>
<p>Yes, building and operating tall buildings <a href="http://global.ctbuh.org/resources/papers/download/447-ecoskyscrapers-and-ecomimesis-new-tall-building-typologies.pdf">require massive amounts of energy</a>. But skyscrapers can also provide adequate housing in high-demand areas, reduce energy use and pollution when built over transportation hubs and preserve green space and agricultural land through their relatively small footprints. </p>
<h2>Challenges in skyscraper design</h2>
<p>Early skyscrapers – tall office buildings erected before World War I – were less harmful to the environment than their successors. </p>
<p>Capitalizing on a number of late 19th-century technological advances, they used iron and steel structural frames and, eventually, electric lighting and elevators. Early skyscrapers also employed <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=lrnFW_Wv9FsC&pg=PA16&source=gbs_toc_r&cad=4#v=onepage&q&f=false">“passive”</a> (nonmechanical) methods for cooling and illumination, such as functioning windows that were deeply set into the walls so that they were shaded from the summer sun. Because they sometimes had usable roof gardens and most desks were close to windows, the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2015/apr/02/worlds-first-skyscraper-chicago-home-insurance-building-history">first skyscrapers</a> offered comfortable work environments while inspiring the public.</p>
<p>Yet skyscrapers terrified others. Many worried they would collapse. They soared over passersby, and their sheer size could be oppressive. </p>
<p>For designers, this created challenges. As the famed Chicago architect Louis Sullivan <a href="https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/architecture/4-205-analysis-of-contemporary-architecture-fall-2009/readings/MIT4_205F09_Sullivan.pdf">put it</a> in 1896: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“How shall we impart to this sterile pile, this crude, harsh, brutal agglomeration, this stark, staring exclamation of eternal strife, the graciousness of those higher forms of sensibility and culture that rest on the lower and fiercer passions?” </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Sullivan called for nothing less than imparting values to the skyscraper that were more typically attached to the home, such as beauty and tranquility. To tackle the challenge of skyscraper design, <a href="http://www.upress.virginia.edu/title/4985">architects borrowed</a> forms from medieval cathedrals, churches and mercantile buildings to express the dynamism of the soaring building and the metropolis surrounding it.</p>
<p>Besides design challenges, there have been other issues skyscrapers have had to contend with. There’s the fire danger they pose, since their height far exceeds that of the tallest firetruck ladder. As it became common in the post-war period to clad skyscrapers completely in glass, they required huge amounts of energy to heat and cool. And on 9/11, terrorism became a new, hitherto unimaginable consequence of skyscraper building. </p>
<p>Despite their drawbacks, skyscrapers embody the excitement of urban life, a quality that artist John Marin captured in <a href="http://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/367734">his prints and watercolors of the Woolworth Building</a> in 1913. Tall office buildings also encourage efficiency and productivity by putting workers in proximity to one another. Residential skyscrapers <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2011/03/how-skyscrapers-can-save-the-city/308387/">cut down on commute times and urban sprawl</a>. And as designers are now demonstrating, skyscrapers have the potential not only to generate their own power but to <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=lrnFW_Wv9FsC&pg=PA16&source=gbs_toc_r&cad=4#v=onepage&q&f=false">contribute to the power supply</a> of cities.</p>
<p>For these reasons, the skyscraper is here to stay. Of the 78 1,000-foot-plus skyscrapers in the world, <a href="http://www.urbanophile.com/2013/08/20/trends-in-american-high-rise-construction-by-david-holmes/">58 were built since 2000</a>. </p>
<p>Of these, only four are in the U.S., where the Great Recession and the collapse of the real estate market slowed their construction. Nonetheless, one of the four – One World Trade Center – was named one of the world’s “Best Tall Buildings” by the <a href="https://www.bdcnetwork.com/worlds-best-new-skyscrapers-2015">Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat</a> in 2015. Also topping the list are Milan’s Bosco Verticale and the Burj Mohammed Bin Rashid Tower in Abu Dhabi.</p>
<p>The Skyscraper Museum in New York City has even charted the recent spread of the <a href="http://skyscraper.org/EXHIBITIONS/TEN_TOPS/slender.php">Super-Slenders</a>: tall and slim apartment buildings that fit onto tight urban plots to offer fabulous views.</p>
<h2>New directions</h2>
<p>Some of the most unique advances in skyscraper construction come from the use of a “new” material: <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2016/04/26/design/wooden-skyscrapers-timber-trend-catching-fire/">wood</a>. </p>
<p>Wood may offer several advantages over metal construction. Most notably, it’s a renewable material. And new ways of engineering wood, like laminating it, also promise to make it as durable and strong as steel and lighter than concrete, which makes it less expensive to transport to building sites. Proponents of wood argue that substantial timber construction is actually more <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2016/04/26/design/wooden-skyscrapers-timber-trend-catching-fire/">fire resistant</a> than steel.</p>
<p>Today fantastic wood skyscraper projects abound, including a 100-story tower for London nicknamed “<a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-05-16/the-race-for-the-wood-skyscraper-starts-here">The Splinter</a>.” The tallest wood building in the world, the <a href="http://news.ubc.ca/2016/09/15/structure-of-ubcs-tall-wood-building-now-complete/">Brock Commons</a> at the University of British Columbia rises 18 stories and is set for completion in May 2017.</p>
<p>While wood-based skyscraper projects attempt to reduce the energy used for skyscraper construction, other projects seek to reduce the energy used to heat and cool tall buildings.</p>
<p>For example, the Pearl River Tower in Guangzhou, China, is shaped so that the winds swirling around it churn two turbines <a href="http://www.som.com/projects/pearl_river_tower__sustainable_design">that produce energy for the building</a>. </p>
<p>Making a tower an energy producer is one way of dealing with the excessive energy consumption – always a concern with skyscrapers. The Gensler architecture firm’s Tower at PNC Plaza in Pittsburgh, completed last year, confronted this challenge. Among its green innovations is the <a href="https://www.thetoweratpncplaza.com/#tower_talk_blog">tower’s “breathing” façade</a>, a system that uses outside air to heat and cool the building – unlike the sealed skyscrapers of the mid-20th century that shut out the natural environment.</p>
<p>Trump Tower, with its gaudy use of expensive materials, represents the skyscraper’s dilemma. If it can be made energy efficient, then it may provide sustainable living and working space for urbanites who will be able to avoid lengthy, polluting car commutes, as well as urban sprawl. But it can be more than a lofty perch for the rich to conduct business or live glamorously only once its manifest environmental drawbacks are addressed.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/68957/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kevin D. Murphy does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>George Washington had Mount Vernon. Thomas Jefferson had Monticello. Now Trump has his eponymous tower. Can it stimulate a more creative, sustainable approach to building skyscrapers?Kevin D. Murphy, Andrew W Mellon Chair in the Humanities and Professor and Chair of History of Art, Vanderbilt UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/485562015-10-13T19:08:24Z2015-10-13T19:08:24ZBuilding a case, over time, for adding sustainability to nutritional guidelines<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/97970/original/image-20151010-9157-6n1yud.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">More of these for personal and planetary health. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/i5design/5557049040/">i5design/flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The question of whether government-issued dietary guidance should address sustainability has been in the headlines. A <a href="http://health.gov/dietaryguidelines/2015-scientific-report/">report</a> issued by the US Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee (DGAC) earlier this year recommended that sustainability be a factor in determining the 2015 Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGAs). </p>
<p>In an effort to influence the final decision of the secretaries of Health and Human Services and Agriculture, both pro- and anti-sustainability petitions emerged. Campaigns on Change.org amassed signatures, including a cleverly titled “<a href="https://www.change.org/p/tom-vilsack-sylvia-burwell-hands-off-my-hot-dog-inject-common-sense-in-2015-dietary-guidelines">Hands Off My Hot Dog</a>” petition initiated by the meat industry; members of Congress weighed in with letters to the Obama administration, including one <a href="http://www.agri-pulse.com/Uploaded/DietaryGuidelinesLetter03122015.pdf">cosigned by 30 senators</a> and another by <a href="http://hartzler.house.gov/sites/hartzler.house.gov/files/20150331_Dietary%20Guidelines%20Letter%20to%20Secs%20Vilsack%20Burwell.pdf">71 representatives</a>, demanding rejection of sustainability considerations and questioning the scientific integrity of the DGAC process; and the “<a href="http://www.myplatemyplanet.org/">My Plate, My Planet</a>” coalition of sustainability advocates purchased full-page advertisements in newspapers to publicly urge inclusion of sustainability.</p>
<p>The melee all came to a screeching halt October 6 when the secretaries posted a <a href="http://blogs.usda.gov/2015/10/06/2015-dietary-guidelines-giving-you-the-tools-you-need-to-make-healthy-choices/">blog</a> declaring that sustainability was outside the scope of the DGAs and would be excluded from the final guidelines, which are expected in December. While we very much wanted a different decision, we see many positives coming from the debate and remain optimistic.</p>
<h2>Clear science</h2>
<p>Why? The American public has awoken to the issue of sustainability in dietary guidance, and their interest and demands are not likely to dissipate. </p>
<p>According to Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell, of the 29,000 <a href="http://health.gov/dietaryguidelines/dga2015/comments/Default2.aspx">public comments</a> received on the DGAs during this year’s comment period, 19,000 focused on sustainability, and of those, 97% were positive on its inclusion. Notably, the US Conference of Mayors passed a <a href="http://usmayors.org/83rdAnnualMeeting/media/resolutions-adopted.pdf">resolution</a> supporting sustainability in the DGAs. Clearly, consensus is building. </p>
<p>As the lone member of the House Agriculture Committee to support sustainability during the hearing on changing the guidelines, Representative Jim McGovern <a href="http://mcgovern.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/mcgovern-house-gop-attacks-on-dietary-guidelines-put-politics-ahead-of">lamented</a> “that sustainability seems to be such a dirty word for some of my colleagues.” </p>
<p>As academics who have studied sustainability and food, we are among the people who believe that ordinary citizens are ready to confront the politics of the plate, even though Congress and the administration are unwilling to tackle the food industry pushback against sustainability.</p>
<p>In the October 9 edition of <a href="http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/rapidpdf/science.aab2031v1?ijkey=E7jTC7HZzzEpc&keytype=ref&siteid=sci">Science</a>, we wrote about the political maneuvering under way to excise sustainability from DGA discussions, but we paid little attention to the science supporting the need to do so. </p>
<p>The reason is simple: the science is there, it is not complicated and the results are neither surprising nor controversial within the scientific community. </p>
<h2>Environmental impact of food</h2>
<p>In general terms, the studies reviewed by the government-appointed DGAC (18 are referenced in the DGAC report) show that different diets use resources differently. </p>
<p>More specifically, the studies considered in the past and 2015 DGAs agree that shifting current diets toward more plant-based patterns and appropriate portion sizes (we eat too much, which, in itself has environmental impacts) reduces the environmental impact of diets.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/97971/original/image-20151010-9124-2ar1ci.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/97971/original/image-20151010-9124-2ar1ci.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/97971/original/image-20151010-9124-2ar1ci.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/97971/original/image-20151010-9124-2ar1ci.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/97971/original/image-20151010-9124-2ar1ci.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/97971/original/image-20151010-9124-2ar1ci.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/97971/original/image-20151010-9124-2ar1ci.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/97971/original/image-20151010-9124-2ar1ci.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">No question: diets with more plant-based foods and appropriate size portions have less impact on the environment and natural resources.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/unitedsoybean/10060030604/in/photolist-gjYhBw-kuRRYJ-nHK8pE-fEzigq-qCXvEN-5dmCCm-4SR1qD-bYBcyq-89aF34-Psp4V-rbiHMq-q5PeeZ-fEz8oj-v8t4Qr-8ACY98-fEhJq8-gkgbs-xKpTMm-rhLyqq-9sacEP-a1JeR9-ttPZs1-eUHRgW-8ACN5g-rPzAem-eUHRSb-rAYUg-F4keD-sE5hLE-6sW79x-8ojbag-35uLLB-PAYAo-5Ajp6y-2EvQ14-cmbdby-8oqRZM-89aMZi-89e3no-9ro1FF-fj2VwZ-gjYhs3-89aKgp-89aJEz-89aEwP-acA4NU-rM5Vta-dYJudn-fEhGmK-8LpdYZ">United Soybean Board</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The process for establishing the evidence base was entirely consistent with what is expected of the DGAC in developing its report. This process includes collecting and synthesizing all available information via a systematic review of the literature, which was conducted by the Nutrition Evidence Library at the US Department of Agriculture and is summarized in the report. </p>
<p>New evidence was included as it became available; for example, a notable <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25383533">meta-analysis by David Tilman and Michael Clark</a> was published in November 2014, and was considered by the DGAC. Many of the studies evaluated in the review used methods such as life-cycle assessment, which is a standardized method for estimating and partitioning the impacts of a product (including food products).</p>
<h2>Long game</h2>
<p>If history is the teacher, we should not be too discouraged that sustainability is not yet part of the DGAs. Consider the precedent of physical activity, a topic that could also be ruled “out of scope,” as it is not specified in the DGA law. It took three cycles of DGA discussions before physical activity was included in 1995: “Balance the food you eat with physical activity: maintain or improve your weight.” Ever since, the DGAs have included physical activity, and the connection is considered obvious and necessary. </p>
<p>Another historical lesson: scientific research citations to the 2010 DGAC report greatly exceed citations to the final 2010 DGAs. In other words, the 2015 DGAC has contributed to the scientific foundation supporting sustainability assessments, and the 2015 DGAC report will continue to be an important scientific reference regardless of the final DGA recommendations.</p>
<p>The dialogue around the inclusion of sustainability in the 2015 Dietary Guidelines has created strong and extensive collaborations between health and sustainability experts. We should all be optimistic that these new linkages will yield success in the long term.</p>
<p><em><a href="http://www.nutrition.tufts.edu/faculty/wilde-parke">Parke Wilde</a> and <a href="http://www.nutrition.tufts.edu/faculty/goldberg-jeanne">Jeanne Goldberg</a> from Tufts University and <a href="http://publichealth.gwu.edu/departments/exercise-science/faculty">Kimberly Robien</a> and <a href="http://www.icfi.com/about/our-people/non-icf/d/dietz-william">William Dietz</a> from George Washington University contributed.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/48556/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The commentary grew out of a November 2014 symposium
on sustainability and dietary guidance supported by the W.K.
Kellogg Foundation and Grace Communications Foundation.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Timothy Griffin does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Environmental sustainability will not figure into this year’s Dietary Guidelines for Americans, but the process helped build evidence – and consumer support – for inclusion in future DGAs.Kathleen Merrigan, Professor of Public Policy and Executive Director of Sustainability, George Washington UniversityTimothy Griffin, Associate Professor of Nutrition Science and Policy, Tufts UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.