A New Way of Thinking about Sustainability, Risk and Environmental Decision‐Making

Kastenberg, W.E.; Hauser-Kastenberg, Gloria; Norris, David A.

doi:10.1002/3527604251.ch6

“…Hence, it is not as Pearce argued that we did not try this path; we tried it already and it failed. It would be illogic to employ the same mechanisms as solution that created the problem (Kastenberg et al 2005). …”

Section: The Illegitimacy Of Weak Sustainablymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Moreover, Dittmar (2012) points out that peak uranium will not allow the green economy scenario to come true. The trust in technology, born in times of industrial revolution, (Kastenberg et al 2005) peaks in self-deception (Nel and Ward 2015) in order to keep the current system alive. The insight that technology may cause more harm than cure 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 Emissions (CO2 eq.)…”

Section: The First Incidence Of Relative Decouplingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Jevons' paradox

Alcott¹

2005

Ecological Economics

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Since the introduction of the sustainability challenge, scientists disagree over the interpretation of the term ''sustainability.'' Weak and strong sustainability are the two main interpretations of sustainability, which are opposing each other. Some researchers stated that the interpretation of the term depends on the context; others disagree pointing out that it always implies the meaning of continuation. The term ''sustainability'' can be used as attribute, which adds a certain characteristic to the noun. If something can be attributed as being sustainable, it can also be unsustainable. The sustainability challenge consists of shifting from the current unsustainable towards a sustainable system. This paper outlines that the weak sustainability term is illegitimate, as it leads to a contradiction with the acknowledged assumption that the current state is unsustainable. This contradiction is revealed through an analysis of the occurrence of decoupling in agriculture: Agricultural land use could be decoupled from agricultural production, but only with the trade-off of massive increases in fertilizer, pesticide, energy and water usage. This paper outlines an inherent inconsistency within the ongoing discussion about the interpretation of sustainability. Through identifying the invalidity of the weak sustainability interpretation the focus can be shifted form the discourse to the sustainability challenge itself.

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“…This linear view assumes that non-linear effects are small, and boundaries in which impacts occur are well defined. Contrary to this, post-normal science (Funtowicz andRavetz 1991, Modvar andGallopín 2005) suggests that socio-ecological systems are complex, uncertain and dynamically evolving, non-linear effects are significant and boundaries permeable (Kastenberg et al 2005). Systems also have the capacity to "flip" into irreversible dynamic paths if their capacity to buffer external or internal shocks is transgressed (Kohn 1999).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 93%

Australian local government action on climate change adaptation: some critical reflections to assist decision-making

Kennedy

¹

,

Stocker

²

,

Burke

³

2010

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The primary objective of this paper is to discuss the limitations of risk management as a strategy for Australian local government climate change adaptation and explore the advantages of complementary approaches, including a social-ecological resilience framework, adaptive and transition management, and vulnerability assessment. Some federal and local government initiatives addressing the limitations of risk-based approaches are introduced. We argue that conventional risk-based approaches to adaptation, largely focused on hazard identification and quantitative modelling, will be inadequate on their own for dealing with the challenges of climate change. We suggest that responses to climate change adaptation should move beyond conventional riskbased strategies to more realistically account for complex and dynamically evolving social-ecological systems.

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The idea of weak sustainability is illegitimate

Biely

¹

,

Maes

²

,

Passel

³

2016

Environ Dev Sustain

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Since the introduction of the sustainability challenge, scientists disagree over the interpretation of the term ''sustainability.'' Weak and strong sustainability are the two main interpretations of sustainability, which are opposing each other. Some researchers stated that the interpretation of the term depends on the context; others disagree pointing out that it always implies the meaning of continuation. The term ''sustainability'' can be used as attribute, which adds a certain characteristic to the noun. If something can be attributed as being sustainable, it can also be unsustainable. The sustainability challenge consists of shifting from the current unsustainable towards a sustainable system. This paper outlines that the weak sustainability term is illegitimate, as it leads to a contradiction with the acknowledged assumption that the current state is unsustainable. This contradiction is revealed through an analysis of the occurrence of decoupling in agriculture: Agricultural land use could be decoupled from agricultural production, but only with the trade-off of massive increases in fertilizer, pesticide, energy and water usage. This paper outlines an inherent inconsistency within the ongoing discussion about the interpretation of sustainability. Through identifying the invalidity of the weak sustainability interpretation the focus can be shifted form the discourse to the sustainability challenge itself.

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A New Way of Thinking about Sustainability, Risk and Environmental Decision‐Making

Cited by 3 publications

References 9 publications

Jevons' paradox

Jevons' paradox

Australian local government action on climate change adaptation: some critical reflections to assist decision-making

The idea of weak sustainability is illegitimate

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