The quest for sustainability involves connecting what is known through scientific study to applications in pursuit of what people want for the future. There are several methods to measure the ecological footprint, ecological debt, carrying capacity, and sustainable yield of the human impacts on Earth. These are in the larger context of planetary boundaries. Other factors include environmental economics, social and cultural.
Planetary Boundaries
The idea of “planetary boundaries” is that there are limits to the carrying capacity of the Earth. It is important not to cross these thresholds to prevent irreversible harm to the Earth. These planetary boundaries involve several environmental issues like climate change and biodiversity loss.
Some experts refer to biodiversity loss as change in biosphere integrity and refer to chemical pollution as introduction of novel entities. Types of pollutions include biogeochemical (nitrogen and phosphorus), ocean acidification, land use, freshwater, ozone depletion, atmospheric aerosols, and chemical pollution.
IPAT is a framework that is used to measure environmental impact. In this acronym, “I” represents environmental impact, “P” represents population, “A” represents affluence, and “T” represents technology.
The IPAT formula measures the environmental impact of humans. It states this impact is proportional to human population, affluence and technology. This implies various ways to increase environmental sustainability. One would be human population control. Another would be to reduce consumption and affluence such as energy consumption. Another would be to develop innovative or green technologiessuch as renewable energy. In other words, there are two broad aims. The first would be to have fewer consumers. The second would be to have less environmental footprint per consumer.
Economic Costs
Experts in environmental economics have calculated the cost of using public natural resources. One project calculated the damage to ecosystems and biodiversity loss. This was the Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity project from 2007 to 2011.
An entity that creates environmental and social costs often does not pay for them. The market price also does not reflect those costs. In the end, government policy is usually required to resolve this problem.
Decision-making can take future costs and benefits into account. The tool for this is the “social discount rate”. The bigger the concern for future generations, the lower the social discount rate should be. Another approach is to put an economic value on ecosystem services. This allows us to assess environmental damage against perceived short-term welfare benefits. One calculation is that:
“For every dollar spent on ecosystem restoration, between three and 75 dollars of economic benefits from ecosystem goods and services can be expected”.
In recent years, economist Kate Raworth has developed the concept of “doughnut economics”. This aims to integrate social and environmental sustainability into economic thinking. The social dimension acts as a minimum standard to which a society should aspire. The carrying capacity of the planet acts an outer limit.
Barriers to Sustainability Best Practices
Some barriers to sustainability best practices arise from nature and its complexity (“everything is related”). Others arise from the human condition. One example is the “value-action gap”. This reflects the fact that people often do not act according to their convictions. Experts describe these barriers as intrinsic to the concept of sustainability.
Other barriers are extrinsic to the concept of sustainability. This means it is possible to overcome them. One way would be to put a price tag on the consumption of public goods. Some extrinsic barriers relate to the nature of dominant institutional frameworks. Examples would be where market mechanisms fail for public goods. Existing societies, economies, and cultures encourage increased consumption. There is a structural imperative for growth in competitive market economies. This inhibits necessary societal change.
Furthermore, there are several barriers related to the difficulties of implementing sustainability policies. There are trade-offs between the goals of environmental policies and economic development. Environmental goals include nature conservation. Development may focus on poverty reduction. There are also trade-offs between short-term profit and long-term viability. Political pressures generally favor the short term over the long term.
Barriers to sustainability may also reflect current trends. These could include consumerism and short-termism.
As we try to figure out how best to co-exist on Earth over a long time, understanding sustainability measures, metrics, and barriers are key.