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State of the World
State of the World 2013: Is Sustainability Still Possible?
Every day, we are presented with a range of “sustainable” products and activities—from “green” cleaning supplies to carbon offsets—but with so much labeled as “sustainable,” the term has become essentially sustainababble, at best indicating a practice or product slightly less damaging than the conventional alternative. Is it time to abandon the concept altogether, or can we find an accurate way to measure sustainability? If so, how can we achieve it? And if not, how can we best prepare for the coming ecological decline?In the latest edition of Worldwatch Institute’s State of the World series, scientists, policy experts, and thought leaders tackle these questions, attempting to restore meaning to sustainability as more than just a marketing tool. In State of the World 2013: Is Sustainability Still Possible?, experts define clear sustainability metrics and examine various policies and perspectives, including geoengineering, corporate transformation, and changes in agricultural policy, that could put us on the path to prosperity without diminishing the well-being of future generations. If these approaches fall short, the final chapters explore ways to prepare for drastic environmental change and resource depletion, such as strengthening democracy and societal resilience, protecting cultural heritage, and dealing with increased conflict and migration flows.State of the World 2013 cuts through the rhetoric surrounding sustainability, offering a broad and realistic look at how close we are to fulfilling it today and which practices and policies will steer us in the right direction. This book will be especially useful for policymakers, environmental nonprofits, and students of environmental studies, sustainability, or economics.
465 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 1, 2013
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338 people want to read
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February 2, 2019
This is the final version of a review for this book.
Note: I hope people have time to read this review (just the review, not all the links.)
However, I also hope that among the links, the following two are read. These are summaries of what I thought to be the most inspiring chapters in the book.
The first version was a review of just chapter 20, on Big History. That can be linked to from the Chapter 20 heading below, or right now, here.
The second version was an essay on chapter 20 titled “Ethics, Morality, Social Justice - What Is To Be Done?”. That is now here.
In this final version, I just want to pull things together and present a summary of the book.
But first I think I should explain why I’ve devoted so many hours (perhaps as many as a couple hundred) to reading (closely), underlining, making notations, and writing synopses of about half the chapters in the book. Simply put, I think it’s a very important book, and anything I can do to encourage people to read it, or to think about what I’ve written, will be (I hope) worth the time I’ve invested.
I started reading the book in a Group Read in the Transition Movement group, which is a group that I set up about a year and a half ago. This went along okay for a while, but for whatever reason(s), after about six chapters of the book, it seemed that most everyone had dropped out. I continued myself, and began posting brief overviews of things in the chapters, just page numbers with a sentence or a phrase indicating something I thought was interesting.
Eventually I decided to try to write more readable synopses of the chapters as I read them (mostly one per week, as per the original schedule). These started with chapter 16.
So, what I’ve now done is to transfer all those synopses into a new piece of My Writing. Below will be found links to each of the chapter synopses from 16 through 34, with the exception of chapters 18 and 19 (more on that in a while). There is also a link to a chapter of links, to all the discussion threads for chapters 1-15, 18 and 19.
I did this so if anyone wants to make any comments on these synopses, they can do it by commenting directly on the Writing chapter, instead of having to join the Group to comment.
State of the World 2013 : Is Sustainability Still Possible?
We’ve all heard the words “sustainable” and “sustainability” scores if not hundreds of times in recent years. The book itself speaks of “sustainabable”. But despite the effort by people and organizations to promote sustainability as a path down which we must, and hopefully are, turning, it is becoming more apparent with each passing year that the way of life of the advanced nations of the world is not sustainable in its present form.
We continue to burn fossil fuels as (a) the climate continues to change, and (b) as the fossil fuels themselves continue to require more effort, expense, and pollution to discover and recover. Of course they are not inexhaustible. The fossil fuel age is drawing to a close, the only question being whether we will stop burning them in time to avert climate catastrophe, or whether we will continue burning them until there are no more left or until civilization collapses – whichever occurs first.
The developed nations of the world continue happily on their journey of mega-capitalism, with its mandate of continual economic (and profit) growth, ultimately sustained by the fostering of a consumer lifestyle. On a finite planet, with finite resources but an expanding population, this is unsustainable.
The increasing stresses which humanity is placing on the oceans; on fish populations; on land subjected to overgrazing; on the fertility (and very existence) of the soil, on land being over exploited by factory farming; on fresh water supplies; and on the biosphere itself, are unsustainable.
Hence this book, and the question it asks.
The book is comprised of 35 chapters, each one written about a particular topic, by one or more knowledgeable professionals. The chapters are grouped into three sections.
The first section, The Sustainability Metric, examines the questions “How should sustainability be defined” and “How should attempts at getting there be measured?“ The second section, Getting to True Sustainability, uses conclusions drawn in the first section to propose actions and changes that could be undertaken to make a sustainable civilization on the planet. The third section, Open in Case of Emergency, examines from several perspectives the sorts of things we will have to deal with, and possible ways of preparing for them, if changes are not made soon.
By the way, the book is loaded with references, fifty pages worth of footnotes at the back, many of them extremely useful. Almost every paragraph of the individual chapters has a footnote to references. This is typical of the way Worldwatch puts these State of the World volumes together. They also have good indexes.
The Sustainability Metric (chapters 2-9)
The problems discussed in this section were mostly things I was familiar with, but there was certainly information, perspectives, and insights that were new.
The main things that really impacted my thinking were in chapters 2-4, which I am sorry I did not try to summarize long ago in the way I did the later chapters.
Chapter 2, Respecting Planetary Boundaries and Reconnecting to the Biosphere, presented (Table 2-1) nine “planetary boundaries”, each defined by an “Earth system process”, with measurable parameters, proposed boundary values, the current status, and an estimated Pre-industrial Value.
For example, for the process of the Nitrogen Cycle, the parameter is “Amount of N2 removed from the atmosphere for human use (millions of tons per year); the boundary is 35, the current number is 121 (the boundary has been significantly crossed!) and the pre-industrial value was 0.
A second example: The phosphorous cycle has parameter “Quantity of P flowing into the oceans (millions of tons per year)”, boundary of 11, current measure of 8.5-9.5, and preindustrial value of -1.
(Note: These two cycles are taken to define together a single planetary boundary, but have separate lines in the table; thus nine boundaries, but ten lines of tabular data.)
Chapter 3, Defining a Safe and Just Space for Humanity, uses the planetary boundaries of chapter 2 in Figure 3-1, which shows a donut shaped space labelled “the safe and just space for humanity – inclusive and sustainable economic development”. In the center of the donut are eleven “social foundations”. In a separate table Humanity is given a grade on each of these foundations, in terms of how far below the “Social Foundation” we are. For example, for the Foundation “Food security”, the “Indicator of Global Deprivation” metric is per cent of population undernourished: 13%. Thus, humanity is falling 13 per cent below the social foundation of Food security.
The eleven foundations, in order of increasing deprivation, are Education, Food Security, Income, Health Care, Social Equity, Water and Sanitation, Energy, Gender Equality; the last three, Voice, Jobs and Resilience, have TBD values.
Chapter 4, Getting to One-Planet Living, is not a “how-to” chapter; rather it is a “how very difficult to” chapter. The unit of a “gha”, or “global hectare” is introduced; it represents “a hectare of global average biological productivity”. Distributing the estimated 11.9 billion gha on the planet equally to its population of 7 billion allow each person 1.7 gha as their fair share.
After pointing out how far beyond a “one-planet” life style those living in the highly developed, “First World” nations really are (requiring between three and six times that 1.7 gha value) , the point is brought home by a discussion of data from Vancouver Canada. This city, with its aspirations of being the “world’s greenest city”, has been estimated to have an Ecological Footprint of 4.2 gha per capita – almost 2 ½ times the equitable one-planet share per person!
Thus, when we in developed nation, consumer driven societies talk of “sustainable living”, aren’t we kidding ourselves? We somehow believe that by buying our electricity from renewable resources (which does help), and by recycling stuff (which does help), and by changing to energy-efficient light bulbs, we will have achieved a sustainable lifestyle!
And what would a truly sustainable life style be for us? Let’s skip to chapter 10.
Getting to True Sustainability (chapters 10-23)
This section of the book addresses the problems and issues of the first section, and attempts to formulate strategies which could lead humanity towards that donut-shape of chapter 3, that safe and just space.
Chapter 10, Re-engineering Cultures to Create a Sustainable Civilization, starts by emphasizing the inequalities pointed out in chapter 4, then states that the root of our exceeding the capacity of the earth is the consumer lifestyle of the developed nations, and the growing consumerism of developing nations. “Moving away from consumerism … will undoubtedly be the most difficult part of the transition to a sustainable society.”
But ultimately consumerism will decline whether people act proactively or not, as human society has far transcended Earth’s limits. Our profligate use of fossil fuels has all but guaranteed an increase in average global temperatures of 2 degrees Celsius, and current projections suggest that unless a dramatic shift in policies and behaviors occurs, an increase of 4 degrees Celsius or more by the end of this century, or even mid-century, is possible.
Box 10-1 then presents an answer to our question from chapter 4: the so-called “2000 watt lifestyle”. Saul Griffith, an Australian research and inventor, researched this, finding
Here I’m going to stop the detailed descriptive stuff; suffice that the remainder of chapter 10 is very interesting.
Chapter 11 (Building a Sustainable and Desirable Economy-in-Society-in-Nature) is a highly relevant essay by several “new” economists searching for new economic paradigms.
Chapter 14 (Keep Them in the Ground: Ending the Fossil Fuel Era) is really an idea that absolutely must be implemented, and the sooner the better for the entire Earth.
And now we are at the point where readable synopses of the chapters become available.
Chapter 16 Energy Efficiency in the Built Environment.
Chapter 17 Agriculture: Growing Food - and Solutions.
Chapter 20. Crafting a New Narrative to Support Sustainability.
Chapter 21. Moving Toward a Global Moral Consensus on Environmental Action.
Chapter 22. Pathways to Sustainability: Building Political Strategies.
Chapter 23. Moving From Individual to Societal Change.
Open in Case of Emergency (chapters 24-34)
Chapter 24. Teaching for Turbulence.
Chapter 25. Effective Crisis Governance.
Chapter 26. Governing in the Long Emergency.
Chapter 27. Building an Enduring Environmental Movement.
Chapter 28. Resistance: Do the Ends Justify the Means.
Chapter 29. The Promises and Perils of Geoengineering.
Chapter 30. Cuba: Lessons from a Forced Decline.
Chapter 31. Climate Change and Displacements.
Chapter 32. Cultivating Resilience in a Dangerous World.
Chapter 33. Shaping Community Responses to Catastrophe.
Chapter 34. Is It Too Late?
Other Discussions (for chapters 1-15, 18 & 19)
Links to discussions of other chapters
I’d like to say something inspiring here, but I don't think there are any words left at present.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Previous review: Portnoy's Complaint
Random review: My Antonia
Next review: I Could Read the Sky
Previous library review: State of the World 2008 Worldwatch
Next library review: Plan B 4.0 Mobilizing to Save Civilization - by Lester Brown
Note: I hope people have time to read this review (just the review, not all the links.)
However, I also hope that among the links, the following two are read. These are summaries of what I thought to be the most inspiring chapters in the book.
The first version was a review of just chapter 20, on Big History. That can be linked to from the Chapter 20 heading below, or right now, here.
The second version was an essay on chapter 20 titled “Ethics, Morality, Social Justice - What Is To Be Done?”. That is now here.
In this final version, I just want to pull things together and present a summary of the book.
But first I think I should explain why I’ve devoted so many hours (perhaps as many as a couple hundred) to reading (closely), underlining, making notations, and writing synopses of about half the chapters in the book. Simply put, I think it’s a very important book, and anything I can do to encourage people to read it, or to think about what I’ve written, will be (I hope) worth the time I’ve invested.
I started reading the book in a Group Read in the Transition Movement group, which is a group that I set up about a year and a half ago. This went along okay for a while, but for whatever reason(s), after about six chapters of the book, it seemed that most everyone had dropped out. I continued myself, and began posting brief overviews of things in the chapters, just page numbers with a sentence or a phrase indicating something I thought was interesting.
Eventually I decided to try to write more readable synopses of the chapters as I read them (mostly one per week, as per the original schedule). These started with chapter 16.
So, what I’ve now done is to transfer all those synopses into a new piece of My Writing. Below will be found links to each of the chapter synopses from 16 through 34, with the exception of chapters 18 and 19 (more on that in a while). There is also a link to a chapter of links, to all the discussion threads for chapters 1-15, 18 and 19.
I did this so if anyone wants to make any comments on these synopses, they can do it by commenting directly on the Writing chapter, instead of having to join the Group to comment.
State of the World 2013 : Is Sustainability Still Possible?
We’ve all heard the words “sustainable” and “sustainability” scores if not hundreds of times in recent years. The book itself speaks of “sustainabable”. But despite the effort by people and organizations to promote sustainability as a path down which we must, and hopefully are, turning, it is becoming more apparent with each passing year that the way of life of the advanced nations of the world is not sustainable in its present form.
We continue to burn fossil fuels as (a) the climate continues to change, and (b) as the fossil fuels themselves continue to require more effort, expense, and pollution to discover and recover. Of course they are not inexhaustible. The fossil fuel age is drawing to a close, the only question being whether we will stop burning them in time to avert climate catastrophe, or whether we will continue burning them until there are no more left or until civilization collapses – whichever occurs first.
The developed nations of the world continue happily on their journey of mega-capitalism, with its mandate of continual economic (and profit) growth, ultimately sustained by the fostering of a consumer lifestyle. On a finite planet, with finite resources but an expanding population, this is unsustainable.
The increasing stresses which humanity is placing on the oceans; on fish populations; on land subjected to overgrazing; on the fertility (and very existence) of the soil, on land being over exploited by factory farming; on fresh water supplies; and on the biosphere itself, are unsustainable.
Hence this book, and the question it asks.
The book is comprised of 35 chapters, each one written about a particular topic, by one or more knowledgeable professionals. The chapters are grouped into three sections.
The first section, The Sustainability Metric, examines the questions “How should sustainability be defined” and “How should attempts at getting there be measured?“ The second section, Getting to True Sustainability, uses conclusions drawn in the first section to propose actions and changes that could be undertaken to make a sustainable civilization on the planet. The third section, Open in Case of Emergency, examines from several perspectives the sorts of things we will have to deal with, and possible ways of preparing for them, if changes are not made soon.
By the way, the book is loaded with references, fifty pages worth of footnotes at the back, many of them extremely useful. Almost every paragraph of the individual chapters has a footnote to references. This is typical of the way Worldwatch puts these State of the World volumes together. They also have good indexes.
The Sustainability Metric (chapters 2-9)
The problems discussed in this section were mostly things I was familiar with, but there was certainly information, perspectives, and insights that were new.
The main things that really impacted my thinking were in chapters 2-4, which I am sorry I did not try to summarize long ago in the way I did the later chapters.
Chapter 2, Respecting Planetary Boundaries and Reconnecting to the Biosphere, presented (Table 2-1) nine “planetary boundaries”, each defined by an “Earth system process”, with measurable parameters, proposed boundary values, the current status, and an estimated Pre-industrial Value.
For example, for the process of the Nitrogen Cycle, the parameter is “Amount of N2 removed from the atmosphere for human use (millions of tons per year); the boundary is 35, the current number is 121 (the boundary has been significantly crossed!) and the pre-industrial value was 0.
A second example: The phosphorous cycle has parameter “Quantity of P flowing into the oceans (millions of tons per year)”, boundary of 11, current measure of 8.5-9.5, and preindustrial value of -1.
(Note: These two cycles are taken to define together a single planetary boundary, but have separate lines in the table; thus nine boundaries, but ten lines of tabular data.)
Chapter 3, Defining a Safe and Just Space for Humanity, uses the planetary boundaries of chapter 2 in Figure 3-1, which shows a donut shaped space labelled “the safe and just space for humanity – inclusive and sustainable economic development”. In the center of the donut are eleven “social foundations”. In a separate table Humanity is given a grade on each of these foundations, in terms of how far below the “Social Foundation” we are. For example, for the Foundation “Food security”, the “Indicator of Global Deprivation” metric is per cent of population undernourished: 13%. Thus, humanity is falling 13 per cent below the social foundation of Food security.
The eleven foundations, in order of increasing deprivation, are Education, Food Security, Income, Health Care, Social Equity, Water and Sanitation, Energy, Gender Equality; the last three, Voice, Jobs and Resilience, have TBD values.
Chapter 4, Getting to One-Planet Living, is not a “how-to” chapter; rather it is a “how very difficult to” chapter. The unit of a “gha”, or “global hectare” is introduced; it represents “a hectare of global average biological productivity”. Distributing the estimated 11.9 billion gha on the planet equally to its population of 7 billion allow each person 1.7 gha as their fair share.
After pointing out how far beyond a “one-planet” life style those living in the highly developed, “First World” nations really are (requiring between three and six times that 1.7 gha value) , the point is brought home by a discussion of data from Vancouver Canada. This city, with its aspirations of being the “world’s greenest city”, has been estimated to have an Ecological Footprint of 4.2 gha per capita – almost 2 ½ times the equitable one-planet share per person!
Thus, when we in developed nation, consumer driven societies talk of “sustainable living”, aren’t we kidding ourselves? We somehow believe that by buying our electricity from renewable resources (which does help), and by recycling stuff (which does help), and by changing to energy-efficient light bulbs, we will have achieved a sustainable lifestyle!
And what would a truly sustainable life style be for us? Let’s skip to chapter 10.
Getting to True Sustainability (chapters 10-23)
This section of the book addresses the problems and issues of the first section, and attempts to formulate strategies which could lead humanity towards that donut-shape of chapter 3, that safe and just space.
Chapter 10, Re-engineering Cultures to Create a Sustainable Civilization, starts by emphasizing the inequalities pointed out in chapter 4, then states that the root of our exceeding the capacity of the earth is the consumer lifestyle of the developed nations, and the growing consumerism of developing nations. “Moving away from consumerism … will undoubtedly be the most difficult part of the transition to a sustainable society.”
But ultimately consumerism will decline whether people act proactively or not, as human society has far transcended Earth’s limits. Our profligate use of fossil fuels has all but guaranteed an increase in average global temperatures of 2 degrees Celsius, and current projections suggest that unless a dramatic shift in policies and behaviors occurs, an increase of 4 degrees Celsius or more by the end of this century, or even mid-century, is possible.
Box 10-1 then presents an answer to our question from chapter 4: the so-called “2000 watt lifestyle”. Saul Griffith, an Australian research and inventor, researched this, finding
he would need to own one tenth as much stuff and make it last 10 times as long, that he would have to fly rarely, drive infrequently (mostly in efficient vehicles fully loaded with passengers), and become six-sevenths vegetarian.
Put simply, a 2,000-watt lifestyle looks like the way much of the world lives today, or better, but gone are the celebrated entitlements of the high-income lifestyle – 79 kilograms of meat a year … nearly daily access to a private car (often with only one passenger), air-conditioned homes, family pets, and unfettered access to flights around the world. In truth, these luxuries will no longer be routinely accessible to the vast majority of people in a truly sustainable society, though they may be available as rarer treats [like the once-every-three-years flight to visit his parents that Saul factored into his new energy allowance].
Sometimes these lost consumer luxuries will be difficult sacrifices to make … though rarer consumption of luxuries might actually make them more enjoyable... But offsetting these sacrifices… will in all likelihood be improved health, more free time, less stress, a strengthening of community ties … and, most important, a stop to the decline of major ecosystems on which a stable human civilization depends.
Here I’m going to stop the detailed descriptive stuff; suffice that the remainder of chapter 10 is very interesting.
Chapter 11 (Building a Sustainable and Desirable Economy-in-Society-in-Nature) is a highly relevant essay by several “new” economists searching for new economic paradigms.
Chapter 14 (Keep Them in the Ground: Ending the Fossil Fuel Era) is really an idea that absolutely must be implemented, and the sooner the better for the entire Earth.
And now we are at the point where readable synopses of the chapters become available.
Chapter 16 Energy Efficiency in the Built Environment.
Chapter 17 Agriculture: Growing Food - and Solutions.
Chapter 20. Crafting a New Narrative to Support Sustainability.
Chapter 21. Moving Toward a Global Moral Consensus on Environmental Action.
Chapter 22. Pathways to Sustainability: Building Political Strategies.
Chapter 23. Moving From Individual to Societal Change.
Open in Case of Emergency (chapters 24-34)
Chapter 24. Teaching for Turbulence.
Chapter 25. Effective Crisis Governance.
Chapter 26. Governing in the Long Emergency.
Chapter 27. Building an Enduring Environmental Movement.
Chapter 28. Resistance: Do the Ends Justify the Means.
Chapter 29. The Promises and Perils of Geoengineering.
Chapter 30. Cuba: Lessons from a Forced Decline.
Chapter 31. Climate Change and Displacements.
Chapter 32. Cultivating Resilience in a Dangerous World.
Chapter 33. Shaping Community Responses to Catastrophe.
Chapter 34. Is It Too Late?
Other Discussions (for chapters 1-15, 18 & 19)
Links to discussions of other chapters
I’d like to say something inspiring here, but I don't think there are any words left at present.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Previous review: Portnoy's Complaint
Random review: My Antonia
Next review: I Could Read the Sky
Previous library review: State of the World 2008 Worldwatch
Next library review: Plan B 4.0 Mobilizing to Save Civilization - by Lester Brown
November 1, 2017
Knowing that most of you will not read this policy-wonk book written by and for sustainability professionals, I will cut to the chase, in answering the central question: Is sustainability still possible?
Theoretically, yes, but probably no.
"But ultimately consumerism will decline whether people act proactively or not, as human society has far transcended Earth’s limits. Our profligate use of fossil fuels has all but guaranteed an increase in average global temperatures of 2 degrees Celsius, and current projections suggest that unless a dramatic shift in policies and behaviors occurs, an increase of 4 degrees Celsius or more by the end of this century, or even mid-century, is possible."
And the planet can't sustain that elevation in heat; we are seeing the dramatic effects of that coming already, and sooner than anyone might have predicted. We knew about issues of sustainability already in the nineteenth century, and have largely ignored them, planet-wide. There's some small moves that could become huge, as some nation-states and corporate structures seem finally willing to make some changes.
I will not repeat Ted's review, which I share here, and urge you to read:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I liked the science fiction writer's (Red Mars) Kim Stanley Robinson's chapter "Is it Too Late?" He didn't, as of 2013, think it was. In the light of current U.S. policies on the environment, what would he say now?
If sustainability soon no longer becomes an option, then what are our options if we abandon it for something more realistic as we face ecological decline? And what might that even look like? A catastrophic dystopian future? Living small and soundly ecological even if others do not? It's a triage strategy, where freshwater reserves get protected at all costs. It's moving to renewable energy now--even yesterday--even as fossil fuel advocates continue on their suicidal path. Changing science and the corporate world to focus on ever more sustainable approaches. I think, with David Orr, that possible solutions are not primarily at this point technological or even economic, but political, a matter of we and not us/them. Of will. Maybe spiritual is the word, the idea, the path.
Theoretically, yes, but probably no.
"But ultimately consumerism will decline whether people act proactively or not, as human society has far transcended Earth’s limits. Our profligate use of fossil fuels has all but guaranteed an increase in average global temperatures of 2 degrees Celsius, and current projections suggest that unless a dramatic shift in policies and behaviors occurs, an increase of 4 degrees Celsius or more by the end of this century, or even mid-century, is possible."
And the planet can't sustain that elevation in heat; we are seeing the dramatic effects of that coming already, and sooner than anyone might have predicted. We knew about issues of sustainability already in the nineteenth century, and have largely ignored them, planet-wide. There's some small moves that could become huge, as some nation-states and corporate structures seem finally willing to make some changes.
I will not repeat Ted's review, which I share here, and urge you to read:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I liked the science fiction writer's (Red Mars) Kim Stanley Robinson's chapter "Is it Too Late?" He didn't, as of 2013, think it was. In the light of current U.S. policies on the environment, what would he say now?
If sustainability soon no longer becomes an option, then what are our options if we abandon it for something more realistic as we face ecological decline? And what might that even look like? A catastrophic dystopian future? Living small and soundly ecological even if others do not? It's a triage strategy, where freshwater reserves get protected at all costs. It's moving to renewable energy now--even yesterday--even as fossil fuel advocates continue on their suicidal path. Changing science and the corporate world to focus on ever more sustainable approaches. I think, with David Orr, that possible solutions are not primarily at this point technological or even economic, but political, a matter of we and not us/them. Of will. Maybe spiritual is the word, the idea, the path.
November 18, 2013
This is a very packed book which attempts to cover an impossible range of topics, as the title should attest to.
Will attempt a run-through sort of review aimed purely at piquing interest over the next couple of days.
Meanwhile, it might be fun (or scary) to go through the updates below - some of them seemed particularly good to me.
I have also used excerpts/ideas from the book multiple times to update my fb page. Here is the link to that: Wandering Mirages
October 20, 2013
State of the World 2013: Is Sustainability Still Possible? by The Worldwatch Institute is a collection of articles about the ecological state of the world, the rapidity at which we are approaching catastrophic disaster, and what can be done to avert or at least minimize the damage.
It is sometimes a somber but always a thought-provoking work. It should be required reading for all high schoolers and maybe for all of us. The first two-thirds of the work consists of articles discussing the varieties of ways in which the biosphere is threatened as well as a variety of ways in which we can respond helpfully. These responses run the gamut of promoting grass-roots activism to large-scale protests to better environmental education for high school and college to the idea that there may be a need for revolutionary action to save the planet.
The last third or so of the book contained a collection that was more narrative and less statistically based. It provided a balance to the previous sections although I learned an amazing amount in a short period of time.
The work stirred me to seek out more information and to begin a new journey-it's way too early to say where it will lead but it is definitely an essential, vital journey that it seems we should all be taking together.
Often, what I read made me feel hopeless, but there was usually some grounds given for hope,for action, sometimes in the unlikely places by unlikely people. Including you. Including myself.
It is sometimes a somber but always a thought-provoking work. It should be required reading for all high schoolers and maybe for all of us. The first two-thirds of the work consists of articles discussing the varieties of ways in which the biosphere is threatened as well as a variety of ways in which we can respond helpfully. These responses run the gamut of promoting grass-roots activism to large-scale protests to better environmental education for high school and college to the idea that there may be a need for revolutionary action to save the planet.
The last third or so of the book contained a collection that was more narrative and less statistically based. It provided a balance to the previous sections although I learned an amazing amount in a short period of time.
The work stirred me to seek out more information and to begin a new journey-it's way too early to say where it will lead but it is definitely an essential, vital journey that it seems we should all be taking together.
Often, what I read made me feel hopeless, but there was usually some grounds given for hope,for action, sometimes in the unlikely places by unlikely people. Including you. Including myself.
August 27, 2013
I greatly enjoyed this collection of essays and highly recommend it to anyone who...actually, to anyone. Throughout, I appreciated:
1) Diversity -- While the theme of living within a 'Safe and Just Space for Humanity' (to borrow Kate Raworth's term, elaborated upon in chapter 3) ties these essays together, there is no homogeneity of thought here. Familiar topic (renewable energy, social and political institutions, 'green growth', over-population, food and engergy scarcity, lifestyle choices, natural capitalism) are visited from adversary positions. This is not to say each topic is given a fair analysis or that all sides are represented; far from it -- there is no claim of neutrality or middle-of-the-road-ness here. Rather, the variety of thought presented demonstrates the complexity (and difficulty) of the goal of sustainability.
2) Opportunities for further reading -- Each chapter is a relatively brief, usually well-written, introduction to a vastly larger field and contains many references for further action or education. You needn't visit the bibliography to find these threads to follow -- they are front and center in the text. When a essay strikes you (and several will, though who can say which ones) there is plenty more to dig into from there.
Chapters I found of particular interest:
3. Defining a Safe and Just Space for Humanity, Kate Raworth
8. Renewable Energy's Natural Resource Impacts, Makhijani & Ochs
20. Crafting a New Narrative to Support Sustainability, Collins et al.
23. Moving from Individual Change to Societal Change, Annie Leonard
27. Building an Enduring Environmental Movement, Erik Assadourian
29. The Promises and perils of Geoengineering, Simon Nicholson
30. Cuba: Lessons from a Forced Decline, Murphy & Morgan
1) Diversity -- While the theme of living within a 'Safe and Just Space for Humanity' (to borrow Kate Raworth's term, elaborated upon in chapter 3) ties these essays together, there is no homogeneity of thought here. Familiar topic (renewable energy, social and political institutions, 'green growth', over-population, food and engergy scarcity, lifestyle choices, natural capitalism) are visited from adversary positions. This is not to say each topic is given a fair analysis or that all sides are represented; far from it -- there is no claim of neutrality or middle-of-the-road-ness here. Rather, the variety of thought presented demonstrates the complexity (and difficulty) of the goal of sustainability.
2) Opportunities for further reading -- Each chapter is a relatively brief, usually well-written, introduction to a vastly larger field and contains many references for further action or education. You needn't visit the bibliography to find these threads to follow -- they are front and center in the text. When a essay strikes you (and several will, though who can say which ones) there is plenty more to dig into from there.
Chapters I found of particular interest:
3. Defining a Safe and Just Space for Humanity, Kate Raworth
8. Renewable Energy's Natural Resource Impacts, Makhijani & Ochs
20. Crafting a New Narrative to Support Sustainability, Collins et al.
23. Moving from Individual Change to Societal Change, Annie Leonard
27. Building an Enduring Environmental Movement, Erik Assadourian
29. The Promises and perils of Geoengineering, Simon Nicholson
30. Cuba: Lessons from a Forced Decline, Murphy & Morgan
May 15, 2013
This particular Worldwatch Institute report is critical reading for community leaders, activists, and students, as it addresses the difficult questions of how we can thrive and survive as a planet undergoing major climate change. Our existing governance practices and inequitable distributions of wealth, the slow pace of technological and economic adaptation, and the dramatic and rapid increase in climate change and disasters are the ordinary challenges we need to address. Each chapter, written by different experts, focuses on specific issues that connect together to create sustainability. It would be easy for this work to be so grim and alienating that it would disempower people to create change, but the authors and editors strike a balance between the harsh realities in which we live and the vibrant and hopeful solutions people are seeking and trying.
October 8, 2020
State of the World 2013: Is Sustainability Still Possible published by Island Press is a collection of articles from experts in their fields on sustainability. It examines what is sustainability, where we are, and what needs to be done. Sustainability has almost become a meaningless term like “green” or “eco” when referring to SUVs or “all natural” when referring to heavily processed food sweetened with HFC.
This book is scary. Not scary in a fear mongering way, but in a way that when you read it you know its true: that certain feeling of dread. We are beyond the point of wondering if climate change is real and far beyond preventing it. We are beyond the point of slowing down production green house gases and hoping the planet will recover. The threshold has been crossed and the damage has been done and little is being done to control the damage. It took 200,000 years for human population to reach one billion; and 200 years for it to reach seven billion. Modernization of China and India and their desire to have the same standard of living as the West will create even more stress on the environment; if not cripple it. We live in a world where the wealthiest 10% of the population holds 57% of the worlds income and the top 11% of the population contribute 57% of the green house gasses.
The West, particularly the United States, has created an economy that cannot be sustained in the United States or the world. We may feel good about recycling or buying “green” but billions of dollars in advertising are telling Americans to buy more, buy newer, buy better products continuously. Your IPhone 4 isn't the best anymore; you need the IPhone 5. Buy, buy, buy, consume, consume, consume and Americans listen and obey. It's the American way, but in no way sustainable. Disaster awaits us when the rest of the world tries to do the same.
Energy and materials are a major problem for the future. A variety of renewable resources need to be developed. It will cost money, but then too our present system costs money too. U.S. tax payers spend $345 billion a year paying for pollution related illnesses from coal. Many countries are making progress with solar and wind energy. Drilling costs for oil is rising as well as costs for mining raw materials. Costs will continue to rise as raw materials become more scarce. As costs rise, even people in the developed world will feel the pinch.
Change is needed. We need to pressure our governments for change. That is a problem in rich democracies for several reasons. In the America so much of the political system is based on interests and lobbies. Our leaders listen to who gives them the money and the worst offenders seem to have more than their share of the money. Secondly, we have become selfish; something even more than selfish. I want to drive rather than bike or take public transportation or car pool; furthermore, I want to drive in a huge vehicle that gets 18mpg. People fight against bicycle lanes and even crosswalks. Cities will even prevent public transportation because it will attract undesirables (poor people). This, I fear, will cause governments and people to ignore the problem until it becomes a disaster and then everyone will wonder how could this have happened.
The book covers many areas and covers them well. The book goes beyond the greenhouse gas problem and fossil fuel. It covers fresh water, fishing, crops, population, and politics. It is very well written and very well documented. The book makes an interesting study of Vancouver and Cuba after the Soviet Union fell. State of the World 2013 is well thought out and well worth the read. It's an overdue wake-up call.
For the record, I am a strict vegetarian and do not drive a car.
This book is scary. Not scary in a fear mongering way, but in a way that when you read it you know its true: that certain feeling of dread. We are beyond the point of wondering if climate change is real and far beyond preventing it. We are beyond the point of slowing down production green house gases and hoping the planet will recover. The threshold has been crossed and the damage has been done and little is being done to control the damage. It took 200,000 years for human population to reach one billion; and 200 years for it to reach seven billion. Modernization of China and India and their desire to have the same standard of living as the West will create even more stress on the environment; if not cripple it. We live in a world where the wealthiest 10% of the population holds 57% of the worlds income and the top 11% of the population contribute 57% of the green house gasses.
The West, particularly the United States, has created an economy that cannot be sustained in the United States or the world. We may feel good about recycling or buying “green” but billions of dollars in advertising are telling Americans to buy more, buy newer, buy better products continuously. Your IPhone 4 isn't the best anymore; you need the IPhone 5. Buy, buy, buy, consume, consume, consume and Americans listen and obey. It's the American way, but in no way sustainable. Disaster awaits us when the rest of the world tries to do the same.
Energy and materials are a major problem for the future. A variety of renewable resources need to be developed. It will cost money, but then too our present system costs money too. U.S. tax payers spend $345 billion a year paying for pollution related illnesses from coal. Many countries are making progress with solar and wind energy. Drilling costs for oil is rising as well as costs for mining raw materials. Costs will continue to rise as raw materials become more scarce. As costs rise, even people in the developed world will feel the pinch.
Change is needed. We need to pressure our governments for change. That is a problem in rich democracies for several reasons. In the America so much of the political system is based on interests and lobbies. Our leaders listen to who gives them the money and the worst offenders seem to have more than their share of the money. Secondly, we have become selfish; something even more than selfish. I want to drive rather than bike or take public transportation or car pool; furthermore, I want to drive in a huge vehicle that gets 18mpg. People fight against bicycle lanes and even crosswalks. Cities will even prevent public transportation because it will attract undesirables (poor people). This, I fear, will cause governments and people to ignore the problem until it becomes a disaster and then everyone will wonder how could this have happened.
The book covers many areas and covers them well. The book goes beyond the greenhouse gas problem and fossil fuel. It covers fresh water, fishing, crops, population, and politics. It is very well written and very well documented. The book makes an interesting study of Vancouver and Cuba after the Soviet Union fell. State of the World 2013 is well thought out and well worth the read. It's an overdue wake-up call.
For the record, I am a strict vegetarian and do not drive a car.
September 3, 2019
Could it be that it is already too late?
“We have not inherited the earth from our fathers, we are borrowing it from our children.” —Native American proverb (p. 5)
Not to be flippant but the answer to the question in the title, “Is Sustainability Still Possible?” is blowing in the wind (like so much topsoil after a brush fire). As pointed out by Jennie Moore and William E. Rees in the chapter on “Getting to One-Planet Living”:
“System collapse is a complicated process. Ecosystem thresholds are not marked with signs warning of impending danger. We may actually pass through a tipping point unaware because nothing much happens at first.” (p. 40)
The whole planet is the ecosystem and we are just part of it.
Also complicated is this book on the “State of the World 2013” with over 400 glossy pages and 34 chapters on subjects as diverse as cultural change and climate change, biodiversity and the morality of using more than we need, Rapa Nui and the petri dish. And perhaps the Really Big Question: Is it already too late?
Seems extreme to put it that way, doesn’t it? But given that “humanity is currently consuming the ecological capacity of 1.5 earths” (see the endnote on page 382 and elsewhere in the book) with more consumption to come and no way to put the brakes on, it could be true and we wouldn’t even know it. And consider this: “societies are unlikely to enact policies and programs that favor the future (or nonhuman life) at the expense of people living in the present, especially the poorer among us.” (p. 8) In fact it’s a very real moral dilemma, and as a practical matter it’s hard to believe that people living today are going to voluntarily lower their standard of living for people yet unborn. Most people I suspect believe that the future can take care of itself, and besides who’s to say what science and technological advances are to come that will clean up the mess we leave and restore a depleted planet?
Consequently it is my position that the problem is human nature. Until and unless we are able to come to grips with the not very nice nature of our limbic systems—perhaps through cyborg add-ons or genetic engineering, or even in the long run through human evolutionary change brought about by thousands of years of system collapse and system rebuilding—until and unless we can overcome our shortsightedness and become stewards of the planet we may be doomed.
You’ll forgive me for sounding extreme. The book itself is not extreme. It is carefully written by experts from many fields who express their concerns and make their arguments with facts and deep thought supported by 51 pages of endnotes. Their words are balanced between dread and a cautious hope. They are realistic and not as pessimistic as I am.
In Chapter 10 Erik Assadourian notes that “consumerism” has become “the dominant paradigm across most cultures” in the world today. Nurtured by “business and government leaders over the past few centuries” many “people are defining themselves first and foremost through how they consume...” His point is that “consumerism is not a viable cultural paradigm on a planet whose systems are deeply stressed and that is currently home to 7 billion people...” (p. 113)
Adding some serious gloom is the fact that fossil-fuel based carbon dioxide emissions (a result of more consumption) show a steady upward trend, again with no end in sight considering that the vast populations of China and India not to mention sub-Saharan Africa are only going to consume more fossil fuel energy as they move toward a higher standard of living. It would appear that nothing can stop the irrepressible drive to dig up all that buried sunlight. Worldwatch Institute President Robert Engelman remarks, “This trend leads some scientists to suggest it may be too late to stop future warming in a safe temperature range for humanity” The endnote on page 382 cites BP (that’s British Petroleum) itself as the source for this 1965-2011 trend.
And this thought brings me to make this suggestion: bribe the fossil-fuel companies into becoming part of the solution instead of being in the vanguard of the problem by giving them financial incentives to get out of the fossil fuel business and into something sustainable. They have an enormous capacity for research and development. If we can get them to put their resources into finding ways to economically develop renewable energy we could perhaps solve our problem. All they want to do is make money. If we make it profitable for them to do it some other way they will.
Putting my perspective aside, we can perhaps see that it all comes down to education, knowledge, and understanding. If the contents of this deep, dense and very wise book were somehow to become public knowledge, something that everybody knows, then we could expect (in the world’s democracies at least) giant steps being taken toward sustainability. In Chapter 24, “Teaching for Turbulence” Michael Maniates makes the metaphorical point that we are facing “a white-water turbulence of climate instability, ecologic decline, and attendant economic and political dislocation, with winners, losers, and persistent inequality.” The solution? Better environmental studies and science (ESS) programs in our universities. I would take that a step further and insist that ESS be a mandatory part of the high school curriculum with an awareness of the need for sustainability beginning in elementary school.
And yes it would be wonderful if we could somehow get members of congress and the White House to read as least some parts of this book. But I take the cynical and somehow sanguine view that if humans continue to trash the planet and go the way of the dodo that’s just an ephemeral problem in the long run since surely some other perhaps wiser creatures will evolve in a few million years or so. Well, that is if global warming leading to a runaway greenhouse effect doesn’t turn the planet into another Venus.
Oops, did I use the “alarmist,” politically incorrect, and frankly verboten (and not found in the book’s index) phrase “runaway greenhouse effect”? Yes, I did.
—Dennis Littrell, author of “The World Is Not as We Think It Is”
“We have not inherited the earth from our fathers, we are borrowing it from our children.” —Native American proverb (p. 5)
Not to be flippant but the answer to the question in the title, “Is Sustainability Still Possible?” is blowing in the wind (like so much topsoil after a brush fire). As pointed out by Jennie Moore and William E. Rees in the chapter on “Getting to One-Planet Living”:
“System collapse is a complicated process. Ecosystem thresholds are not marked with signs warning of impending danger. We may actually pass through a tipping point unaware because nothing much happens at first.” (p. 40)
The whole planet is the ecosystem and we are just part of it.
Also complicated is this book on the “State of the World 2013” with over 400 glossy pages and 34 chapters on subjects as diverse as cultural change and climate change, biodiversity and the morality of using more than we need, Rapa Nui and the petri dish. And perhaps the Really Big Question: Is it already too late?
Seems extreme to put it that way, doesn’t it? But given that “humanity is currently consuming the ecological capacity of 1.5 earths” (see the endnote on page 382 and elsewhere in the book) with more consumption to come and no way to put the brakes on, it could be true and we wouldn’t even know it. And consider this: “societies are unlikely to enact policies and programs that favor the future (or nonhuman life) at the expense of people living in the present, especially the poorer among us.” (p. 8) In fact it’s a very real moral dilemma, and as a practical matter it’s hard to believe that people living today are going to voluntarily lower their standard of living for people yet unborn. Most people I suspect believe that the future can take care of itself, and besides who’s to say what science and technological advances are to come that will clean up the mess we leave and restore a depleted planet?
Consequently it is my position that the problem is human nature. Until and unless we are able to come to grips with the not very nice nature of our limbic systems—perhaps through cyborg add-ons or genetic engineering, or even in the long run through human evolutionary change brought about by thousands of years of system collapse and system rebuilding—until and unless we can overcome our shortsightedness and become stewards of the planet we may be doomed.
You’ll forgive me for sounding extreme. The book itself is not extreme. It is carefully written by experts from many fields who express their concerns and make their arguments with facts and deep thought supported by 51 pages of endnotes. Their words are balanced between dread and a cautious hope. They are realistic and not as pessimistic as I am.
In Chapter 10 Erik Assadourian notes that “consumerism” has become “the dominant paradigm across most cultures” in the world today. Nurtured by “business and government leaders over the past few centuries” many “people are defining themselves first and foremost through how they consume...” His point is that “consumerism is not a viable cultural paradigm on a planet whose systems are deeply stressed and that is currently home to 7 billion people...” (p. 113)
Adding some serious gloom is the fact that fossil-fuel based carbon dioxide emissions (a result of more consumption) show a steady upward trend, again with no end in sight considering that the vast populations of China and India not to mention sub-Saharan Africa are only going to consume more fossil fuel energy as they move toward a higher standard of living. It would appear that nothing can stop the irrepressible drive to dig up all that buried sunlight. Worldwatch Institute President Robert Engelman remarks, “This trend leads some scientists to suggest it may be too late to stop future warming in a safe temperature range for humanity” The endnote on page 382 cites BP (that’s British Petroleum) itself as the source for this 1965-2011 trend.
And this thought brings me to make this suggestion: bribe the fossil-fuel companies into becoming part of the solution instead of being in the vanguard of the problem by giving them financial incentives to get out of the fossil fuel business and into something sustainable. They have an enormous capacity for research and development. If we can get them to put their resources into finding ways to economically develop renewable energy we could perhaps solve our problem. All they want to do is make money. If we make it profitable for them to do it some other way they will.
Putting my perspective aside, we can perhaps see that it all comes down to education, knowledge, and understanding. If the contents of this deep, dense and very wise book were somehow to become public knowledge, something that everybody knows, then we could expect (in the world’s democracies at least) giant steps being taken toward sustainability. In Chapter 24, “Teaching for Turbulence” Michael Maniates makes the metaphorical point that we are facing “a white-water turbulence of climate instability, ecologic decline, and attendant economic and political dislocation, with winners, losers, and persistent inequality.” The solution? Better environmental studies and science (ESS) programs in our universities. I would take that a step further and insist that ESS be a mandatory part of the high school curriculum with an awareness of the need for sustainability beginning in elementary school.
And yes it would be wonderful if we could somehow get members of congress and the White House to read as least some parts of this book. But I take the cynical and somehow sanguine view that if humans continue to trash the planet and go the way of the dodo that’s just an ephemeral problem in the long run since surely some other perhaps wiser creatures will evolve in a few million years or so. Well, that is if global warming leading to a runaway greenhouse effect doesn’t turn the planet into another Venus.
Oops, did I use the “alarmist,” politically incorrect, and frankly verboten (and not found in the book’s index) phrase “runaway greenhouse effect”? Yes, I did.
—Dennis Littrell, author of “The World Is Not as We Think It Is”
July 19, 2014
Fascinating! Although the chapter on ocean acidification is disturbing. This book is not only a call to action, but serves as a revocation to denying the damage of the planet caused by humans. On the NY Times Best Seller List earlier in the Spring, it gives hope that people are becoming exposed to the magnitude of the issue.
May 9, 2021
İstatistikler biraz eskimiş olmasına rağmen pek çok yeni şey öğrendim. Ancak bazı kavramların Türkçe'ye çevririsi yanlış yapılmış. Konu hakkında okuma yapan kişiler kastedileni tahmin edebilirler ancak bilmeyenler için kafa karıştırıcı olabilir. Sanırım bu tür kitapların çevirilerinin akademik bir gözden geçmesi faydalı olur. Ekoloji, çevre ve enerji meselelerine ilgi duyanlara faydalı olur diye düşünüyorum.
March 4, 2014
This is one of the best collections of writing on sustainability that I have read for a very long time. The book has inspired several blog posts:
http://chrisriedy.me/2014/03/04/the-m...
http://chrisriedy.me/2014/02/24/what-...
http://chrisriedy.me/2014/02/14/big-h...
http://chrisriedy.me/2014/02/06/the-e...
http://chrisriedy.me/2014/01/28/livin...
Highly recommended for anyone wanting some of the latest thinking on our sustainability challenges.
http://chrisriedy.me/2014/03/04/the-m...
http://chrisriedy.me/2014/02/24/what-...
http://chrisriedy.me/2014/02/14/big-h...
http://chrisriedy.me/2014/02/06/the-e...
http://chrisriedy.me/2014/01/28/livin...
Highly recommended for anyone wanting some of the latest thinking on our sustainability challenges.
May 27, 2014
Exhaustingly complete review of the situation followed by a review of the state of proscriptions. If you are a glass half full type there is lots of hope here, if you are a half empty type it is a review of just how seriously fucked we are and how deep a population crash we should expect. As annoyingly Pollyannish as the proscription side may seem it may just be out last best hope to save the human race from choking on its own shit and many of the behaviours are ones my family have already embraced on our small subsistence farm. Perhaps the wise man does take up the lost cause.
July 22, 2014
If you want the hard truth about the state of the world, this is it. Warning, it isn't pretty, but you need to know it. The articles aren't written by journalists, either, but by the scientists and academics who are studying these topics, every day. I disagree with some of their arguments, especially that the only real solutions to the problems can come from big government. On that one, I strongly disagree. But their assessments of what is wrong? Dead on, I'm afraid.
May 17, 2015
A loose collection of articles by scientists on the title question. Some repetition, many different aspects. I missed an overarching point of view taking into account all articles. My overall impression was, that from a scientific point of view, in most aspects (energy, economy, etc.) archieving sustainablility seems to still be possible - however, the necessary political and societal changes seem to be utterly lacking...
May 11, 2013
Chapter 11 was particularly good. The book includes some excellent pieces by a wide range of prominent authors.
August 1, 2015
A few really good essays in here but otherwise repetitive. Also super depressing.
March 16, 2014
Review here -- http://www.solidarity-us.org/site/nod...
December 5, 2014
A bit uneven, but great overall. Succeeds in scaring the shit out of you...
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews