Sustainable Facilities Chapter 1 PDF

0 The Rationale for Sustainable Development DOI: 10.4324/9781003081128-l CHAPTER OBJECTIVES The objectives for this chapter are: To explore the ongoing challenges for the planet and its inhabitants To describe the cause and effects of climate change To identify the reasons...

0 The Rationale for Sustainable Development DOI: 10.4324/9781003081128-l CHAPTER OBJECTIVES The objectives for this chapter are: To explore the ongoing challenges for the planet and its inhabitants To describe the cause and effects of climate change To identify the reasons for the over-exploitation of finite resources To recognise the significance of fresh water depletion To discuss the consequences of over-population To establish the linkages between the economy and carrying capacity To interpret the limits of the current economic system To describe the challenges linked to globalisation To explore the concept of sustainable economics Ongoing Challenges for the Planet Humankind consumes what nature has to offer and in return creates waste and depletes the Earth's natural reserves. All our actions have an impact on the Earth's ecosystems that are only able to renew themselves at low levels of consumption. For thousands of years, humankind's impact on the environment was negligible. Enter: industrialisation of manufacturing and agriculture, burning of fossil fuels on a large scale and a general increase in living standards since the 1950s. The global community entered the time of the 'Great Acceleration' in which resource consumption, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and global warming accelerated as never seen before (Steffen et al., 2015). We now consume more of the Earth's resources than the planet can regenerate; the planet is in a state of 'ecological overshoot'. In 2021, the Earth Overshoot Day was on July 29th. On that day, humanity had exhausted nature's budget for the entire year and operated beyond the natural carning..£..!!naci!Y. of the Earth (Global Footprint Network, 2021 ). Our current consumption levels are far too high and action needs to be taken as the planet's non-renewable resources are being depleted, creating a climate crisis in the process. This depletion is accelerated by the continuous growth of the world population and its changing consumption patterns. Climate Change Mounting scientific evidence proves that the changing climate we experience today is a consequence of human activity during the past 150 years. The recent Climate Change 2021 report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Chang~ (IPCC, 2021) stated that 'it is unequivocal that human influence has warmed the atmosphere, ocean and land. Widespread and rapid changes in the atmosphere, ocean, cryosphere and biosphere have occurred' (p. 5). Within the troposphere (the lower part of the atmosphere about 10--15 km deep) it is perfectly normal to find GHGs. When sunlight reaches the Earth, some of it is converted to heat. GHGs absorb some of the heat and trap it near the Earth's surface, so that the Earth is warmed up. The most important greenhouse gases are carbon dioxide (CO2), chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), nitrogen oxides CN2O) and methane (CH4). This process is commonly known as the greenhouse effect. Life, as we know it, exists only because of this natural greenhouse effect which regulates the Earth's temperature. Without these gases, the surface temperature on Earth would be approximately 30°C lower. However, there is an increase in the concentration of these gases which have exceeded the amount sequestered in the biomass, the oceans and other sinks. This has led to increases in air temperatures around the globe since 1880, when modem record-keeping began (NASA, 2011) and is known as global warming. The American National Oceanic and Atmosnheric Administration announced that the 2020 Earth surface temperature was the second-hottest ever recorded, just 0.02°C cooler than the all-time record of l.0°C above the twentieth- century average in 2016. Overall, ten of the warmest years on Earth ever recorded occurred since 2005 (NOAA, 2021). The consequences of this development are clear and present by now. In 2020 alone, a record number of 103 storms occurred (NOAA, 2021), wildfires in the 'U.S., Australia, the Arctic and Brazil made it the fifth most expensive year for wildfire losses on record' (Masters, 2021, para. 1), the Amazonian rainforest saw the greatest deforestation rate this decade and turned from an important carbon sink to being a net CO2 emitter, due to deforestation and land-use change (Gatti et al., 2021). The IPCC has long warned 'taken as a whole, the range of published evidence indicates that the net damage costs of climate change are likely to be significant and to increase over time' (IPCC, 2007). Consequences of climate change are multiple and beyond the scope of this chapter. However, key consequences from climate disruptions are already affecting the tourism and hospitality industry. These include but are not limited to ( 1) a surge in extreme weather patterns; (2) added pressure on natural ecosystems and their role as buffers; (3) disruption in water supply and water quality; (4) unstable food supply; and (5) increase in infrastructure damage from sea level rise or extreme heat (National Climate Assessment, 2014). Scientists have so far measured a global mean sea level (GMSL) rise of about 19 cm from 1900 to 2019, accelerating over time. Depending on the future GHG emission scenarios, the GMSL will continue to rise to 0.61- 1.10 metre (high emissions), or 0.29--0.59 metre (low emissions) by 2100. In the event of faster melting of the polar ice sheets, GMSL could even rise to 2.4 metre in 2100 and 15 metre in 2300 (European Environment bgfil!fY., 2021; IPCC, 2021 ). Even sea level rise projections under low emission scenarios are extremely serious for all nations, especially coastal communities and low-lying island states (e.g., Pacific islands such as the Marshall Islands and Kiribati). About 190 million currently live on land that will likely be affected by the low emission case sea level increase by 2100; the high-emission scenario will affect up to 630 million people. The civil implications are tremendous. Imagine twice the population of the US displaced from their homes, because of flooding. The Global South will likely be hit the hardest, because of its densely populated, low-lying coastal areas