Planned and Perceived Obsolescence

• Planned obsolescence is a company's strategy to design products that will need replacement
• This may involve using materials that degrade easily or making devices with non-replaceable batteries.
• Perceived obsolescence is when consumers believe a product is outdated due to trends, regardless of its functionality.

Externality

• An externality refers to external factors from a third party that are unaccounted for in the manufacturing of a product/process.
• Externalized costs are the negative consequences a third party experiences due to manufacturing processes.
• This include pollution or worker diseases, which are not reflected in the product's final price.
• People involved in the consumerism cycle include: factory workers exposed to hazards, consumers affected by product use, and marginalized communities.
• Marginalized communities suffer the most abruptly due to proximity to production sites and lack of resources.
• Factoring negative externalities into product pricing increases costs
• This leads to decreased sales and production, pushing companies towards more sustainable practices.

Renewable, Non-Renewable, and In-Between Resources

• Renewable resources include solar, geothermal, and wind energy.
• Resources that fall in between include water, forest products, agricultural crops, and soils.
• Non-renewable resources include coal, natural oil, gas, copper, aluminum and other metals.

Ecosystem Services

• Ecosystem services are services provided by the ecosystem essential for life, economies, health, and development.
• Bees are pollinator agents, are crucial for the survival of plants which produce food and oxygen and maintain biodiversity.
• Ecosystem services have non-market values not included in the price of goods/services.
• Assigning monetary value is difficult due to costs involving ecosystem restoration and agent participation.
• The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment 2005 revealed degradation of ecosystems due to human population.
• Findings indicate that 15 of 24 ecosystems are degraded, impacting human well-being and economic activities.
• Scientists believe ecosystem degradation contributed to the Mayan civilization's downfall due to reduced crops and soil erosion from environmental pressure.
• Other factors include deforestation, overpopulation, and political instability.

I=PAT Model

• The I=PAT model defines Total Impact (I) based on Human Population, Affluence, and Technology.

Population Growth

• The population has reached 8.1 billion due to methodologies/technologies
• These methodologies include: industrial/agricultural revolutions, and new technologies, that have aided in crop growth and increased creation.

Overpopulation Views

• Thomas Malthus (18th century) believed population must be controlled to avoid starvation, disease, and war.
• Neo-Malthusians argue population growth has disastrous effects.
• Anne and Paul Ehrlich stated agricultural growth only postpones current issues (The Population Bomb, 1968).
• Garrett Hardin stated users act in their own interest, leading to unregulated exploitation and resource depletion.
• He applied his model to population growth and resource consumption; freedom to breed is intolerable, cultural context is key.

Demographic Transition

• Demographic transition consists of a boom phase with declining death rates and increasing birth rates, causing exponential population increase.
• Followed by a stationary phase where birth rates stabilize and decline to match lower death rates.

Conservation

• Conservation involves efforts to preserve natural resources by preventing environmental stress from exploitation or resource consumption/destruction.

Preservation vs. Conservation

• John Muir advocated for preservation, emphasizing that sustained environmental goods should be completely untouched and wilderness should be protected.
• Muir founded the Sierra Club in 1982 and aided in establishing Sequoia and Yosemite National Parks.
• Gifford Pinchot advocated for conservation, emphasizing environmental goods should be used wisely for economic gains.
• Pinchot was the first chief of the U.S. Forest Service and supported utilitarian forest conservation.

Sustainable Development

• Sustainable development meets present needs without compromising future generations.
• Sustainable development requires long-term and the conscious long-term management of environmental resources.

Pillars of Sustainability

• Economic sustainability generates maximum economic welfare while maintaining assets.
• Environmental sustainability preserves, ensures resilience, and promotes adaptation of physical and biological systems.
• Socio-cultural sustainability is people-oriented, identified with the stability and cultural diversity of social systems.

Green vs. Brown Issues of Sustainability

• Green issues include biodiversity, climate change, and marine pollution.
• Brown issues prevalent in developing countries, include air pollution, housing problems, and poor sanitation/water quality.

Participatory Approach

• The participatory approach is used to acknowledge concerns and different realities
• It promotes sustainable development by enabling key stakeholders to work together.

Conferences

• The 1949 Scientific Conference on the Conservation and Utilization of Resources reunited 706 experts from 48 countries to address improvident resource use.
• The 1972 Conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm was the first global recognition of environmental endangerment which the government had to address collectively
• The 1987 UN General Assembly established the World Commision on Environment and development with the outcome of our common future (Brundtland Report)
• The 1992 Earth Summit in Rio focused on climate, setting the framework for the FCCC to combat climate change. -This had the primary objective of stabilizing greenhouse gas concentrations, leading to the Kyoto Protocol and the Paris Agreements.
• The 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg was a follow-up that discussed sustainable development.
• These reflect community and consolidation of the millennium development goals while strengthening the environmental goals

Harmonious Nature Myth

• The harmonious nature myth (inaccurate) falsely assumes previous generations lived in harmony with the environment.
• Even with less pollution, indigenous people still exploited ecosystem services.

Ashoka Pillar Edicts

• The Ashoka Pillar edicts prohibited tree cutting and set punishments, managing hunting and protecting species.

Phases of Conservation

• Pre-colonial conservation showed diversity in sustainability methods.
• Colonial conservation involved British forest policy declaring the colonial state protector, irrigation development
• The colonial/post colonial mindset undervalued natural resources, using slash-and-burn.
• Post-colonial conservation granted resources to people living near them.

Green Colonialism

• Green colonialism is post-colonialism in parts of Africa, East Asia, and South America.
• Wealthy countries exploit developing countries for their gain, with conservation efforts harming marginalized communities.

Philosophies

• Francis Bacon was a 17th-century enlightenment thinker.
• He believed humans are separate from (and superior to) nature, that nature should supply human needs.
• Thoreau/Emerson/Transcendentalism - 19th century writers, and philosophers believed in the inherent goodness of people and nature.
• Society/institutions polluted people
• Example Cut more trees, Pollute more water resources or Kill more animals
• Nature gives proof of gods new nation
• George Washington Carver - Father of specifically sustainable agriculture
• Aldo Leopold - Conservation ethics, Ecocentric or holistic ethics regarding land. Emphasized biodiversity and ecology and Found of the science of wildlife management Took major issue with conservation ethics
• Grifford Pinchott - first chief on the U.S. forest service- conservation ethic use resources. Most costs are measured by their impact on people
• Rachel Carson was a biologist, aIncreased awareness of environmental problems shifted public priorities and policy
• 1962: Silent Spring ->river got in fire and polluted both the env and the air surrounding it
• Marjorie Stoneman Douglas will never give up, Friends of everglades, that require regulation of all of the: This is still a place that requires regulation of all of the Irrigation Fertilizers exploited in this area
  • . In October 27-31, 1948 Donora, PA
• Sulfur dioxide and still paying Price
• Cuyahoga River, Ohio was polluted Cleveland Caught multiple times: Environmental shifting Great sparrow killed

Significance Of Events

• Chipko Andolan originated in the Himalayan region of Uttarakhand in 1973, and then spread to India
  • This was a nonviolent movement that involved people/woman in forest rights
• PA -
  • emissions from nearby steel and still paying Price
• In Ohio, the Cuyahoga River in multiple events - Environmental shifting: -Great sparrow: Kill spars, bugs/ mosquitos - if you Sparrow Will become detrimental og cause the environment significantly and the Insects have their purpose

Planned obsolescence is when companies design products with a limited lifespan. Perceived obsolescence occurs when consumers believe a product is outdated due to trends. Externalities are external factors from a third party that are unaccounted for in the manufacturing of a product/process.